The Dark Knight : Who is the best joker?

Re: Who is the best joker?


No he's not supposed to be funny.

The clownlike appearance and name are ironic.

Read the first Joker story from 'Batman' #1.

Is the Joker in any way funny in that story?

Read the classic 'The Joker's Five Way Revenge' from 'Batman' #251.

Is the Joker in any way funny in that story?

Read the equally classic 'The Laughing Fish/Sign of the Joker' from 'Detective Comics' #475 and #476.

Is the Joker funny in that story.

Read 'The Killing Joke'.

Is the Joker funny in that story.

Read 'The Dark Knight Returns'

Is the Joker funny in that story?

Read 'The Man Who Laughs'.

Is the Joker funny in that story.

And on and on...

The Joker is meant to be funny only to himself. To everyone else he should be terrifying.

And Ledger's Joker was funny in this way. The shrug and reaction to the delayed hospital explosion. The pencil trick. These things were classic Joker humor.

The 'funny Joker' was a product of censorship and a watering down of not just the Joker but of Batman as well that came about as parents and politicians in the 1940's started to fret about comic books causing juvenile delinquency.

That version of the character still pops up in a limited capacity from time to time but for the most part Ledger's Joker is very much the Joker of the comics. There are, to be sure, some minor changes, but on the whole Ledger's Joker was a very faithful version of the character created by Jerry Robinson in 1940 and very much a faithful version of the predominant version of the character that has appeared since Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams 'The Joker Five Way Revenge' in 1973.



I read the entire thread and this is the best post.

Couldn't explain it better myself.

Nicholson looks more like the Joker, but Ledger nailed the character. A mix between golden era Joker and Killing Joke Joker.

Re: Who is the best joker?

Mark Hamill.

Re: Who is the best joker?

Heath Ledger
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