Here are all 6 Joker actors ranked, from worst to best.
Also, we’re only counting film Jokers, and not animated ones.
Disagree? Great, that’s what the comments are for. Here we go.
Joaquin Phoenix
The emperor has no clothes. We know: Joaquin Phoenix’s take on The Joker in Joker was a spectacular success, bringing in a billion dollars and winning Phoenix an Oscar for Best Actor.
Well, everyone was wrong. It was painful to watch Phoenix’s Joker ham it up through some nonsensical psychological condition cobbled together from superior movies like Taxi Driver and Fight Club.
Phoenix’s Joker was cool visually — his emaciated body was more resonant than any of his dialogue — but his knockoff Travis Bickle felt so disconnected from any real human being that he and his movie had no stakes. He was the last thing the Joker should be: boring.
Jared Leto
What if The Joker were hot? That seems to be the odd approach to Jared Leto’s Joker of Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. He came off like one of those sexy influencers constantly insisting that they’re “deep” and “complex.” Not one for subtlety — he’s The Joker — he even had the word “Damaged” tattooed on his forehead.
This is a matter of personal taste, but we prefer the idea of The Joker as a miscreant who could never survive in polite society, no matter how hard he might try, who turns to The Joker persona out of desperation. Leto’s Joker could have just quit crime to go into modeling.
There were some cool things about Jared Leto’s Joker, for sure. He had the best clothes of any Joker, and we liked how he took fashion and tattoo inspiration from East L.A. gangsters. But maybe he should have just been a new character, not The Joker.
Barry Keoghan
2022’s The Batman went in the opposite direction from Jared Leto’s sexy Joker, portraying The Joker as having some kind of complicated skin condition that looks like a cross between burns and syphilis, in addition to his demented grin.
We think Barry Keoghan is one of the best actors around, but we can’t abide by the decision to give him glorified cameo status as an fellow Arkham resident who cheerleads Paul Dano’s (terrific) Riddler. Keoghan gets more to do in a deleted scene that really should have been in the movie.
Many versions of The Joker seems to use a pretense of comedy to mask profound despair and depression, but Keoghan’s seems to be just depressed and low energy. He doesn’t have the undeniable presence of the best Jokers.
He’ll reportedly return in the next Batman film, and will hopefully have more to do.
Jack Nicholson
It was great to see Jack Nicholson pop up at the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary show on Sunday, reminding everyone of what a cool screen presence he’s always had.
Speaking of cool: He seemed a little above Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman — he didn’t phone it in, exactly, but he also avoided exploring any real pain or messiness in his version of the Clown Prince of Crime. He just seemed like he was having fun.
One thing we especially like about Nicholson’s Joker is that unlike all the others, he really did have pale skin and green hair, a consequence of a long dip in a huge vat at Axis Chemicals. We weren’t as sold on his interest in art, which seemed like too many things, or the notion that he killed Bruce’s parents, which felt a little on the nose.
Cesar Romero
Some people would deduct points for Cesar Romero’s refusal to shave his mustache to play The Joker in the 1966 Batman film and the 1966-68 TV series. But we love it: It’s the most Joker thing he could possibly do. It’s a completely anarchic, middle-finger-to-the-world level of commitment — or refusal to commit — that is as Joker as you can get.
We also find Romero’s Joker effortlessly creepy in a way no other Joker is. He’s kind of suave and dashing, which makes him somehow even more grotesque. His voice, alternately sinewy and gravelly, is compelling. And his laugh is the best of any Joker’s. He also had the best hair, especially when it bounced as he shook with rage.
You got the sense that he thought his whole ensemble — the purple suit, the green hair — looked good. Rather than seeming ashamed of his appearance, he seemed vain, which gave him an unnerving element of narcissism. You can say his Joker was too broad, but come on: He’s a criminal who dresses like a clown to play to the cheap seats. He set the standard for all future Jokers.
Heath Ledger
Only one actor has gotten The Joker exactly right, honoring the comic-book legacy of The Joker while grounding him completely in reality. In Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger delivered a Gen X Joker, pragmatic and detached — so detached that he seems meta.
He refuses to disclose an origin story, instead offering several — one of many ways he maintains a jittery sense of perpetual menace. But the real pleasure of The Dark Knight is realizing that despite his disheveled appearance and chaotic appearance, the war-painted misanthrope is the most meticulous planner in Gotham, whether robbing a bank of staging a moral showdown between ferry passengers.
“His Joker was deeply, deeply warped and damaged, though you never find out exactly why, or what he’s really looking for,” Ledger’s Dark Knight co-star, Michael Caine, observes in his recent memoir. “Looking back, I think Heath’s excellence made all of us raise our game. The psychological battle between The Joker and Batman is completely riveting. Are they in any way the same? What nudges one man to do good, and the other to do evil? The Joker wants to torment Bruce by convincing him that they’re two of a kind.”
Ledger earned a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film. Sadly, he died before its release.
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Main image: Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Jared Leto as The Joker in Suicide Squad. Warner Bros.