Joker Batman: Every Actor Who Played the Joker

The Joker is the criminal mastermind who keeps returning to Gotham to test Batman, and across the theatrical films he is a villain every time, never a hero. He appears under several credits: "The Joker" for Cesar Romero in Batman (1966), "Joker / Jack Napier" for Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989), "the Joker (voice)" for Mark Hamill in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, "Joker" for Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, and "Joker (voice)" for Zach Galifianakis in The Lego Batman Movie.

So, who were the Jokers in Batman? There are five, and each fits the tone of his film. Romero plays the clown prince in a bright, comic adventure directed by Leslie H. Martinson, where the Joker joins the Penguin, the Riddler and Catwoman as the United Underworld. Nicholson plays a gangster turned showman in Tim Burton's film. Hamill voices the animated version in Mask of the Phantasm. Ledger plays an agent of chaos in Christopher Nolan's film, and Galifianakis voices a wounded rival in a comedy.

One point of naming is worth clearing up, since people search for the Joker's name in Batman. Batman (1989) is the film that names him as Jack Napier, a lieutenant of the mob boss Carl Grissom. The other films in this franchise present him simply as the Joker, so if you want a character with a backstory on screen, 1989 is the place to start. For the heroes he faces, see our batman characters index, and for the order of the films see batman movies in order.

The Joker's story on screen is five separate stories rather than one long arc, because each film starts him afresh. In batman 1966 movie, he and three other villains call themselves the United Underworld and use an invention that turns people into powder to kidnap the members of the Security Council. Batman and Robin survive torpedoes and a bomb, and the villains are beaten.

In batman 1989, the arc is an origin. Jack Napier is sent by Grissom to a raid at Axis Chemicals that is really a scheme to get him killed. After a fight with Batman he falls into a vat of chemicals and emerges disfigured as the Joker. He kills Grissom, takes over the city's mob and poisons everyday hygiene products with Smylex, a toxin that makes victims die laughing. He then lures Gotham to a bicentennial parade where balloons carry the gas, and shoots down the Batwing. On a cathedral roof, Batman learns that Napier killed his parents.

In batman mask of the phantasm, the Joker is Valestra's former enforcer. Valestra hires him to kill Batman, and he kills Valestra instead. He poisons the councilman Arthur Reeves, who confesses, and he bombs Andrea Beaumont's apartment before the story ends at the abandoned World of the Future fair.

In the dark knight, he robs a mob bank and arranges for his accomplices to betray one another so he alone leaves with the money. He then offers the mob bosses a deal: he will kill Batman for half the fortune hidden by their accountant Lau. He murders people connected to the trial, demands that Batman reveal his identity, and is captured. In custody he says that Rachel and Harvey Dent are held in two separate buildings rigged to explode, but he has swapped the locations. He escapes, burns the money, and pushes the grieving Dent toward revenge. His final scheme rigs two ferries, one with civilians and one with prisoners, so that each can blow up the other. Nobody presses the button, and Batman captures him without killing him.

In the lego batman movie, the arc is emotional. Batman dismisses the Joker's claim that they share a special bond, and the Joker lets himself be caught on purpose so that Batman has nothing to fight. After Batman sends him toward the Phantom Zone, Harley Quinn helps him escape, and he returns with a crowd of monsters and movie villains. When his bombs start to tear Gotham apart, Batman gets him to cooperate.

A last detail connects Batman and the Nolan films. At the end of batman begins, Gordon shows Batman a Joker playing card left at a crime scene. This is the only trace of him in that film, and it sets up a sequel.

Batman's relationship with the Joker is that of a hero and his most persistent opponent, and every film frames it a little differently. In Batman (1989) the link is made literal, because Napier killed Bruce Wayne's parents, so the Joker is both a rival and a part of Batman's origin. In The Lego Batman Movie the relationship is the whole point: the Joker wants to be called Batman's greatest enemy, and Batman's refusal to say so drives the plot.

In The Dark Knight he is set against Batman, Harvey Dent and Commissioner Gordon at once. He wants Batman to reveal his identity, he pushes Dent toward revenge after the death of Rachel Dawes and his own scarring, and he tests Gotham's citizens on the ferries. In this film he also never takes Batman's life, since Batman captures him alive. For the others in that story, see two face batman, commissioner gordon and bruce wayne.

He is also a partner and a rival of other villains. In 1966 he teams up with the Penguin, the Riddler and Catwoman. In Mask of the Phantasm he is hired by the mobster Valestra and kills him instead, and he ends up facing Andrea Beaumont, who is the Phantasm. In 1989 he serves under Grissom before killing him. In The Lego Batman Movie Harley Quinn helps him escape the Phantom Zone plan. The wider rogues are on our batman villains page, including penguin batman and riddler batman.

The Joker dies in only one of the five films: in Batman (1989) he falls from a cathedral roof after Batman hooks his leg to a gargoyle that breaks away. In the other four he is left alive, defeated or missing.

In Batman (1966) the villains are beaten and the Security Council members are brought back to life unharmed, so the Joker is simply defeated. In Batman: Mask of the Phantasm he surrenders to Andrea, and the two of them vanish as the World of the Future fair blows up. In The Dark Knight he is captured by Batman at the end of the ferry plot, without Batman killing him. In The Lego Batman Movie he works with Batman to hold Gotham together, and the story ends with Batman accepting his team as family, with the escaped villains given a head start before he goes after them.

So the answer to "Joker Batman death" is the 1989 film, and Jack Nicholson's Joker is the one who dies. That is also why Heath Ledger's Joker is remembered for a different reason: he loses the game of the ferries and is captured alive.

In my opinion, the best Joker moment is the way he pushes the grieving Dent toward revenge in The Dark Knight after Rachel's death. It could be argued that the film's real trick is that the Joker never needs to win a fight: Ledger's character wins by making other people choose. Perhaps the ferries are the clearest case, because the Joker is wrong about Gotham, and the film lets him be wrong.

My second pick is the Smylex parade in Batman (1989). Nicholson's Joker turns a city street into a stage, and Burton stages the balloons and the free money as a piece of pure showmanship. To my mind it is also the film's best set piece, even though it ends with the Batwing being shot down.

Third, I would pick the stretch of The Lego Batman Movie where Batman sends the Joker toward the Phantom Zone, because the Joker's wounded pride is both the joke and the point. Galifianakis voices a villain who wants to matter to someone, and the film is cleverer for it. A last mention goes to Romero in Batman (1966), whose Joker is a cheerful presence in the United Underworld and helps set the comic tone for the whole film.

If you are new to the character, start with The Dark Knight for the most serious version and Batman (1989) for the origin. If you want something lighter, try the 1966 film or The Lego Batman Movie. For a full ranking, see batman movies ranked.