– John Saavedra The Parade – Batman (1989)Īs much as we love his clashes with Batman, the Joker isn’t dangerous because he knows how to press Batman’s buttons. It’s the kind of manic energy that defines Nicholson’s Joker, who thinks the party’s only just begun once there are a few dead bodies on the dance floor. Prince’s fun, bouncy “Partyman” accompanies the chaos and destruction that follows, as Joker dances his way through the museum, knocking over statues, while his men vandalize paintings with knives and paint brushes.

Once the smoke has cleared, in comes the Joker and his boombox-carrying posse to get the real party started. (“Love that Joker!”) But little does Vicki know that the mass murder she’s witnessed is just setting the mood for Joker’s big entrance. Joker has a big crush on photographer Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) and has a fantastic idea for a first date, forcing her to watch as every other person in a Gotham City museum chokes to death on his signature poison gas. Museum Murder Dance Party – Batman (1989)īy this point in Tim Burton’s first Batman film, Jack Nicholson has already amassed quite the body count, but he’s not done yet. Played by Barry Keoghan in a brief scene at the end of the film, this Joker seems poised to play an even bigger role in Matt Reeves’ Batman sequels. This year’s The Batman introduces yet another version of the Joker, one vastly different to the ones who have come before. Joaquin Phoenix, the second actor to win an Oscar for portraying the villain, turned to the contemporary real-world issues of the late 2010s, such as gun violence, class inequality, and a decaying mental health system. Jared Leto’s eyebrow-less, heavily tattooed clown was as unhinged as the movies he was featured in. The late, great Heath Ledger’s Academy Award-winning performance brought us a Joker who preyed on our post-9/11 fears of terrorism. Nicholson’s turn in ’89 felt like the perfect marriage between the campy version played by the legendary Cesar Romero in the ’60s and the much darker sadist featured in the comics of the late ’80s. His unique appearance, unpredictable methods, indecipherable past, and insatiable hunger for evil have kept filmmakers and actors coming back for more over 30 years later, which has resulted in several reinventions of the character, most of which feel definitive for their moment. Ever since Jack Nicholson brought this laughing madman to theaters in 1989, film-goers have been obsessed with the supervillain who plagues Gotham City and haunts the Batman‘s nightmares. Few movie villains (not named Dracula or Darth Vader) have been portrayed as many times on the big screen as the Joker, DC’s infamous agent of chaos, the Clown Prince of Crime himself.

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