The Complete Evolution of The Joker | From Comics to the Big Screen

How did one character go from this

to this in just a few short years

Okay, it was more like a multiple-decade situation, but still. How is one character so malleable and so flexible

that he's inarguably gained the position as the greatest antagonist of all time

The answer's simple, reinvention. Joker brand. I get a grand again. Love it, Joker

Created by Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger, and Bob Kane, the clown prince of crime made his debut in Batman No. 1 in the spring of 1940

The character was inspired by Conrad Veidt's iconic starring role in the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs

In his first appearance, the Joker is depicted as a dastardly criminal

who uses gas and pure terror to wreak havoc on Gotham City

His main source of carnage is his Joker Venom. By the time we move out of the Golden Age and into the Silver Age

the character was practically played for laughs. It would be this version of the character that made it to the small screen, initially

Cesar Romero would portray the Joker in the now-iconic Batman television series

Lasting three seasons and 120 episodes on ABC, the Batman show of 1966 was as much a parody of the Caped Crusader

as it was an actual adaptation. With emphasis on bright colors, scripts that centered on the ludicrous nature

of superheroic antics and over-the-top performances, Curses! It's got more lines than a cat

The show proved to be instantly successful. It even received its own feature film

titled simply Batman. Cesar Romero's Joker was undoubtedly one of the keys to the series' success

From his enthusiastic guffaw to his fully camped mannerisms, he fully knew what the show was doing

and was trying his best to make it succeed. However, his dedication to the show's success

stopped short of the inconvenience of shaving his mustache. The production just slathered makeup over the top of it adding an even more surreal flavor to his small screen version of the Joker After the end of the series in 1968 everyone was convinced that Batman was done

including many people at the character's longtime publisher. His popularity had peaked, and there

was no way to reel the character back in from the goofy, silly Adam West incarnation

Enter Denny O'Neill and Neil Adams. The writer-artist team set about restoring Batman

and his rogues gallery to the dark and brooding icons they once were

In 1973, after four years of not appearing in any publications, O'Neill and Adams created

The Joker's Five-Way Revenge, published in Batman number 251. This story and the duo's subsequent work re-cemented the insane maniac version of the character

But it wouldn't be until 1989 that Sam Hamm and Tim Burton's Batman would make a big

splash on the silver screen, finally helping the outside world to see the greatness and

somber gothic majesty that Batman could display. A massive component to that success

Jack Nicholson's version of the Joker. This incarnation took things back to the source material

He was a 1940s-inspired gangster, a criminal with a sadistic side. And yeah, maybe the film went a bit too far saying that the Joker killed Martha and Thomas

Wayne, but overall, it re-cemented the character into an almost more iconic incarnation than

his previously remembered version, something that, at the time, appeared almost impossible

Nicholson's laconic draw, inimical smile, and piercing persona were a perfect fit for

the character. And Warner Brothers knew it. In order to get him to agree to be in the film

they had to give him a $6 million deal that also included box office participation and profits from

Joker-related merchandise and toy sales. This ultimately ended up netting the actor close to

90 million dollars. See, you can make a good decision when you try

It would be off the success of the theatrical Batman that Batman the animated series would be greenlit

which was initially intended to tie into Burton universe This version of the Joker would be played by someone everyone can agree was destined to embody Gotham number one lunatic Tim Curry You stink so bad I can smug you from here

Pew! Pew, pew! His performance was deemed too disturbing, and Mark Hamill was offered the role

Needless to say, for many fans, the blend of Silver Age goofiness, sinister baritone voice, and near-demonic laugh

is the closest thing that the Joker ever got to being ripped right out of a comic book page

The pairing of Hamill as Joker Remind me to thank the Mad Hatter if he ever wakes up

And Kevin Conroy as Batman became something so beloved by fans that they would become an almost inextricably linked pair

performing across multiple TV shows, films, and video games together. In 2008, after the live-action Batman franchise had been run aground and resurrected by Christopher Nolan

fans were curious to see how he would pay off the playing card cliffhanger at the end of Batman Begins

And when Heath Ledger was announced as Joker, almost no one thought he could do it

So I knew it was open for a fresh interpretation, and I also instantly kind of had something up my sleeve

which happened to be exactly what Chris was kind of looking for

Ledger's version of the Joker is divergent from almost everything that came before

Gone is the operatic laugh and ear-to-ear grin replaced by scars, lies, and an emphasis on his eyes, peering out through half-smeared makeup

In The Dark Knight, the Joker serves as a literal personification of anarchy

He's unpredictable and has a lethal approach to existence, and Ledger embodied all of that

From applying his own makeup to directing the hostage torture sequence himself

he took large amounts of creative responsibility in regards to this character

and audiences reacted in kind. The film was a gargantuan success, both critically and commercially

and The Joker was the primary reason for that success. Nolan and company instantly knew

they had a gold mine on their hands, planning a proposed third entry into the series

that would have followed the trial of The Joker, only tragedy struck

Ledger passed away just months before the film's release. It would be eight more years before The Joker would appear in live action again Jared Leto would be cast in a newly re version of the Joker that had tattoos Yeah the version of the Joker that shows up in Suicide Squad is blatantly miscalculated

I'm not going to kill you. I'm just going to hurt you really, really bad

DC execs and director David Ayers were obviously attempting to save the ailing DCEU by pulling out the big guns

People love the Joker, right? Let's put him in the movie. Only one problem. The most iconic and

critically beloved version of the character is still very fresh in people's minds. So how did

they try to differentiate him? By making him look like a rejected Hot Topic Halloween costume

This version of the Joker didn't work, and DC moved on to bigger and brighter pastures relatively

quickly. In 2019, Joaquin Phoenix starred in the Joker's first solo outing, simply titled Joker

The film was a mix of Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver

It attempted to delve into the Joker's psychosis, examine what drove him to commit these crimes

and how the political landscape that he found himself in fostered these impulses

And somehow, beyond all reasonable comprehension, the film made a billion dollars, won Oscars

and has a musical sequel being released. Last but not least, we have the Batman's version of Joker, played by Barry Keegan

The Batman is a near masterpiece. From the costume design to the production design

the film feels like the Batman film we've all been waiting for. And then this dude shows up and sucks all the oxygen out of the room

He's a nobody. Wants to be somebody. What is this version's point of view on the Joker

Couldn't tell you other than scars. He's got a lot of scars. But plot-wise, his inclusion in the film just completely undermines everything we've seen up to this point

Truly a misstep. At this point, the Joker is an iconic character on the level of Batman

He's as malleable and transformable as any of the heroes in the DC stable

However, the key to a truly great iteration of the Joker is that he has to be both familiar

and yet new at the same time. That's a high bar to ask of both a performer and screenwriter

How do you square that circle by giving people both what they expect and what they don't expect

at the same time