The Joker is arguably as popular as his archenemy, Batman, at the moment. According to WorldCat (a catalog of libraries in over 170 countries), the DC villain has appeared in over 250 productions, including movies, television shows, books/comics, and video games. In live-action, the Joker has appeared almost as many times as the Gotham hero he hates so much and has been portrayed by many talented actors.
Cesar Romero played a more comical version of him in the 1966 Batman television series and companion movie, Jack Nicholson played him in Tim Burton’s Batman, Heath Ledger in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Jared Leto in the DCEU, Cameron Monaghan in the Fox show Gotham, Joaquin Phoenix in the 2019 Oscar-winning film Joker and the 2024 sequel Joker: Folie à Deux; and Barry Keoghan in the 2022 film The Batman.
After Phoenix and Ledger won Oscars for portraying the Joker, the villain became one of only three fictional characters played by different actors to be awarded an Academy for multiple portrayals. The others are Vito Corleone from The Godfather trilogy and Anita from West Side Story.
However, including the Joker in live-action movies doesn’t always guarantee quality. Movies featuring the Clown Prince of Crime have been received differently by critics, and here’s how they rank against each other according to Rotten Tomatoes’ critical Tomatometer.
8 Suicide Squad (2016)
26%
In David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, the intelligence officer, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), devises a way to make incarcerated villains useful. Because there is a void left after Superman’s death, she convinces the U.S. government to greenlight Task Force X, a team of captured supervillains to combat meta-human threats. Each of them is kept in check via nanite bombs implanted in their necks. Later, the Joker (Jared Leto) appears to try and snatch his lover, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) from Waller’s grip.
- Release Date
- August 5, 2016
- Runtime
- 123 minutes
A Weak Screenplay and an Underused Joker
The Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus notes that the movie has a talented cast and plenty of humor but “they aren’t enough to save the disappointing end result from a muddled plot, thinly written characters, and choppy directing.” Casting Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Ben Affleck, and Jay Hernandez sure was an ambitious move by David Ayer, but he was like a chef who throws in all the right ingredients and hopes for the best. There ought to have been a proper plot for the movie to work, and James Gunn showed us all how it’s supposed to be done in the sequel.
Despite the poor script, Jared Leto does well as the Joker. He is reported to have adopted method acting and spent time alone listening to gospel music from the 1920s. Unfortunately, the character is underused, even though the trailers had suggested the movie would revolve around him.
7 Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)
33%
Joker: Folie à Deux finds Arthur Fleck in a version of Arkham Asylum that is overrun with switchblade-wielding punks and brutal guards. Though the other patients have caved to fear and resignation, he remains optimistic as he awaits trial for the murders he committed in the previous movie. His stint at the facility also allows him to build a connection with Lee (Lady Gaga), but everything crumbles in the end.
Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to Todd Phillips’ critically acclaimed comic book thriller Joker. Reprising his Academy Award-winning performance as the failed comedian Arthur Fleck, Joaquin Phoenix revisits the iconic DC character alongside Lady Gaga, who makes her debut as Joker’s lover Harley Quinn in this standalone continuity of the DC Universe.
- Release Date
- October 4, 2024
- Cast
- Joaquin Phoenix , Lady Gaga , Brendan Gleeson , Catherine Keener , Zazie Beetz , Steve Coogan , Harry Lawtey , Leigh Gill , Jacob Lofland , Sharon Washington , Troy Fromin , Bill Smitrovich , John Lacy , Ken Leung
- Runtime
- 138 Minutes
Switch off the Music
Part jukebox musical, part courtroom drama, Todd Phillips Folie à Deux is the first live-action superhero movie to lean on song and dance. The film was meant to be revolutionary, but it has triggered endless backlash from fans, with many concluding that it fails on just about every level. Lady Gaga jazzes up the picture with her singing prowess too, but that’s not enough. Most criticism stems from the choice to go the musical route, rather than just make a fun crime drama. And as Rotten Tomatoes notes, the film “dances around while the story remains still.” Too bad.
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6 Joker (2019)
68%
Joker is the kind of origin story DC fans always wanted. It follows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a failed clown and struggling stand-up comedian whose mental illness slowly causes him to become amoral and nihilistic. With everything going wrong for him, Fleck becomes a resentful reactionary. He soon turns to crime, becoming the villain known as the Joker, and inspires a brutal countercultural revolt against Gotham City’s elite.
- Release Date
- October 2, 2019
- Runtime
- 122
The Joaquin Phoenix Show
Joker “gives its infamous central character a chillingly plausible origin story that serves as a brilliant showcase for its star — and a dark evolution for comics-inspired cinema,” according to the final word on the review aggregator. There was some slight criticism too, hence the 68% Rotten Tomatoes score. Rarely does a film with such a score get 11 Oscar nominations, but Joker did just that, taking home two trophies, including a Best Actor win for Joaquin Phoenix. The actor had clearly filled Heath Ledger’s boots, and fans gave a thumbs up too.
Throughout the 122-minute running time, Phoenix remains the movie’s strongest pillar. And even with cracks in the walls, he manages to keep the ceiling firm.
5 Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
71%
Zack Snyder’s Justice League wasn’t supposed to happen. Fans made it happen. After it was revealed that Warner Bros. execs had meddled with Snyder’s original Justice League, fans demanded to see his original vision, and they got it. In this version, the Justice League attempts to stop Steppenwolf, who has been sent to destroy Earth by Darkseid. The Joker, who wasn’t in the original film, also appears here in a Knightmare sequence after Batman breaks him out of prison to help him retrieve a Motherbox.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
A Major Consolation
The film is one of the shiny jewels in the DCEU’s muddy field. Batman is all bile and bottled-up rage, a hero who knows the world’s fate rests on his shoulders. Snyder’s extraordinary use of CGI is also part of the re-edited film’s immediate appeal, but everything hinges on the captivating dialogue. Here, we get one of the best Joker remarks since Heath Ledger’s “Why so serious?”
“We live in a society where honor is a distant memory. Isn’t that right… Batman?”
Fans were indeed justified in demanding this version, and critics agree. The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus notes that the film “lives up to its title with a sprawling cut that expands to fit the director’s vision, and should satisfy the fans who willed it into existence.”
4 Batman (1989)
77%
In the early stages of Batman, the Caped Crusader doesn’t have much to worry about. His problems only come in the form of less-influential hoodlums and the crime boss, Carl Grissom. However, a real threat soon emerges in the form of Grissom’s right-hand man, Jack Napier. After falling into a vat of chemicals, Napier begins a reign of terror as the criminal known as the Joker, forcing Batman to do everything in his power to stop him.
- Release Date
- June 23, 1989
- Runtime
- 126 Minutes
Dancing with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight
Tim Burton’s Batman is pure fun and the review website describes it as “an eerie, haunting spectacle,” adding that it “succeeds as dark entertainment, even if Jack Nicholson’s Joker too often overshadows the title character.” Well, the film sure is different from what fans had been used to seeing up until that point. The Caped Crusader is more serious and resourceful, character traits that have been maintained on screen ever since. The Joker, on the other hand, treats everything like a game, and Jack Nicholson has plenty of fun in every scene.
True to the critics’ consensus, the villain indeed outshines the hero, but that’s a good thing. To date, fans love this Joker just as much as they love Heath Ledger’s version.
3 Batman: The Movie (1966)
81%
Holy first Batman feature film! Based on the critically acclaimed TV series of the same name, Batman: The Movie finds the titular character (portrayed by Adam West) and his sidekick, Robin, trying to stop various Rogues Gallery members (including the Joker), who have figured out a way to dehydrate the entire population for ransom. The film premiered two months after the Season 1 finale and includes most members of the original TV cast, except for Julie Newmar as Catwoman, who was replaced by Lee Meriwether.
Gotham Is One Huge Amusement Park
Like the TV show, Batman: The Movie never takes itself too seriously, and the Rotten Tomatoes summary puts it perfectly, stating that the film “elevates camp to an art form — and has a blast doing it, every gloriously tongue-in-cheek inch of the way.” Here, Gotham feels more like an amusement park, a parody of the actual lore, and the Joker is very much at the center of the fun.
The film is also distinctive in many ways. It has plenty of cool gadgets and equipment, most of which have been retired. These include the Batcopter, the Batboat, and the Batcycle. Additionally, despite the comedy, it dives into serious geopolitical topics, addressing the Cold War, and featuring a glory-hunting president.
2 The Batman (2022)
85%
Matt Reeves’ The Batman introduces us to a younger Caped Crusader who is only in his second year as a crime fighter. As he uncovers corruption tied to his own family, he is met with a new challenge. A murderer who operates much like the Zodiac Killer is targeting the city’s elite, and needs to be stopped. At the end of the film, Barry Keoghan makes a cameo appearance as a version of the Joker currently locked up at Arkham Asylum.
Batman is forced to investigate the city’s hidden corruption and question his family’s involvement when The Riddler starts killing key political figures. Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz and Paul Dano star.
- Release Date
- March 4, 2022
- Runtime
- 2hr 55min
As Dark as Gotham Gets
This gripping DC fable has as much to say about the challenges that novices face and the hardscrabble lives of Gotham’s population as it does the psyche of the criminal mind. It has a gritty, grubby feel that works perfectly with the setting, tone, and man-eat-man atmosphere.
As the saga unfolds, Reeves skillfully creates tension around whether the Riddler will be captured and whether more villains will show. The Joker is then teased, and his appearance serves as a reminder that Gotham’s problems are far from over. Harrowing and refreshingly realistic, The Batman illuminates the darker corners of the superhero landscape. Rotten Tomatoes says it’s “among the Dark Knight’s bleakest, and most thrillingly ambitious live-action outings,” and hardly anyone can dispute that.
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1 The Dark Knight (2008)
94%
The Dark Knight is a masterclass on how to make a proper sequel. While Batman Begins was good, it didn’t make any major headlines. The follow-up, on the other hand, was quite a spectacle. This time, Batman (Christian Bale) is doing his best to keep order in Goatham with the help of Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Soon, a vile crime kingpin calling himself the Joker (Heath Ledger) emerges, seeking to test how far Batman will go to save the city.
- Release Date
- July 14, 2008
- Runtime
- 152
A Flawless Production From a Great Filmmaker
Arguably the greatest superhero movie of all time, The Dark Knight was analyzed by many critics, and most of them found it to be stainless. The final word is that the movie “succeeds not just as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling crime saga,” and that’s indeed correct.
From the visuals to the action, Christopher Nolan gets everything right here. And he was lucky enough to have Heath Ledger, who blessed the proceedings immensely with his talent and dedication. Stories of the lengths the actor went to portray the villain perfectly are well documented, and, unlike Gotham residents, we will forever thank him for what he did.