The Joker is the most popular supervillain of all time. The clown prince of crime made his first appearance in 1940 in Batman #1 and while he was originally supposed to die, the character has since gone on to become Batman’s arch nemesis and has been featured in every major adaptation against the caped crusader. There have been so many actors who’ve played Joker, that they could rival the number of actors who’ve played Batman. However, there was one actor who stood out among the others and is still beloved by the Batman community. That actor is Heath Ledger.
Ledger first starred in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You back in 1999, which launched his career as an established actor. Instead of being pigeonholed into one type of movie star persona, Ledger quickly made his name as a serious character actor going on to star in movies like A Knights’ Tale and Monster’s Ball and beat out other actors in order to star in and be Oscar-nominated for Brokeback Mountain. While Ledger passed on playing Batman in Batman Begins, he approached director Christopher Nolan himself about playing the Joker in The Dark Knight.
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Ledger was a recognized character actor who seemed to have a long exciting career ahead of him that was about to go to the next level with the release of The Dark Knight before he tragically passed away in January 2008 at the age of 28. While many were initially skeptical about Ledger’s casting upon first hearing it, by the time the first look at the character was revealed and the trailers hinted at his unique voice, audiences were excited. The Dark Knight was the movie of not just the summer of 2008 but the whole year, and a large part of that was due to Ledger’s performance as the Joker.
Update October 6th, 2022: This article has been updated with additional context regarding Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight.
Ledger’s performance was universally lauded by fans and critics alike and set a whole new standard for how the comic-book villain was portrayed. He posthumously won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker. He was even hailed as the greatest actor to play the clown since Jack Nicholson and even with Joaquin Phoenix also winning an Academy Award for playing the Joker, to many, Ledger still remains the definitive Joker. Some say that the tragedy surrounding Ledger’s death had influenced the dark appeal of the performance, but there are other more artistic reasons why Heath Ledger has proven himself as the greatest Joker of all time, and here are five of them.
Ledger’s the Most Diabolical Joker
Warner Bros.
Of all the incarnations of the Joker, this iteration seems to be the most violent and cunning. The Caesar Romero Joker was a more slapstick version of the character, and while Nicolson’s version killed people there was a comical flair to them. Ledger’s Joker, however, had a gritty visceral nature to him, one that got his hands dirty with sharp knives as well as having a chaotic procession to his plans.
He threatened to bomb a group of civilians on a boat, incited violence by attempting to shoot the Mayor of Gotham City, blew up a hospital, and killed Gambol (Michael Jai White) after he told one of his many conflicting stories about how he got his scars. The second Joker walked into a room full of mobsters and killed somebody using a pencil under the guise of a magic trick, audiences knew this was a more violent yet still darkly comical Joker.
The character’s nefarious schemes have dwarfed that of other actors who had their time as the archenemy of Batman. His evil intentions, combined with the realistic city landscape of the film’s Gotham City as opposed to earlier gothic architecture, puts this Joker more at home with a domestic terrorist than a comic book supervillain. Combine that with the real-world history of serial killers dressed like clowns and this is a nightmare that feels all too real.
Ledger Has More Than Some Jokes
Of course, with “why so serious” as a catchphrase, the Joker is known for his comical innuendoes and inflections that make the character ‘joke’ around in contrast to The Dark Knight’s cold stoicism. However, there is more to Ledger’s Joker than just his jokes. This Joker is conniving, and while he makes some funny quips at the expense of Gambol and Batman, he does not simply rely upon the persona of a cackling annoyance who commits a petty crime and then makes a slew of lame jokes.
While he has a signature laugh, the Joker in this film is more of a philosopher than a comedian; he is interested in nihilism and is pretty subversive because of it. The joke is less on what he is pulling on people, and more on himself laughing at the rules everyone else has held themselves up to. He laughs at the rules of society, making him the perfect foil for a character who perseveres the status quo like Batman. When being detained, he tells Batman that they are more similar (and ethically ambiguous) than they realize, and when Gotham City no longer needs him, they will discard him. Ledger’s dynamic soliloquy perfectly captures the relationship between the two enemies that no other iteration of the character has.
Dark Knight’s Joker is a Mystery
In the comics, the Joker has proven to be one of the most mysterious characters in DC Comics history. His background and origin are very obscure without certain grounded facts. There was a plot line that dealt with the Joker’s origins in Detective Comics, and different movies and shows have told different stories, but the clown never completely reveals where he came from to his enemies. Even the iconic The Killing Joke storyline, which is often cited as exploring the Joker’s origin, reveals that it is one possible version and that the Joker sees his story as a multiple choice option.
1989’s Batman provided an origin story for the character heavily inspired by The Killing Joke, and even Jared Leto’s Joker in the DCEU and 2019 film Joker give the character some sort of origin. However, The Dark Knight draws from the comics’ often conflicting origin stories for the character and makes that an aspect of the character. In the film, Joker tells multiple conflicting stories of how he received the scars on his face. This notion cements his anonymity, as it is never confirmed what his true origin is, and indicates his utter disdain for truth.
Commissioner Gordon even claims that the Joker has no proof of identification. In some iterations of the character, the Joker was given more background and development, which undermined his sense of elusive mystery. This Joker does not have an origin story, he appears to have just shown up fully formed and nobody, from the audiences or Batman, ever truly gets the full truth. Ledger’s version, he is a pure agent of chaos, unknown and unknowable, akin to Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men.
Ledger Disappears Into the Role
Though the script and direction distinguish this Joker from the rest, Heath Ledger was ultimately the man behind the makeup, and he was excellent at his craft. While the other actors have played the character, Ledger becomes the character yet without the need for method acting techniques that alienate crew members like Jared Leto did on Suicide Squad.
In an almost unrecognizable performance that separates the man himself from the villain (so that nobody sees the Joker and thinks of one of People Magazine’s “sexiest men alive”), Ledger is unrecognizable as the Joker. He changes his voice entirely, and even Ledger’s signature curly hair here is transformed into something unkept and troubling. It almost seems impossible to imagine what other actors could play him in this film.
In the End, the Joker Wins
Warner Bros.
Despite all that Ledger’s Joker has accomplished with his time on screen, he has done something that no Joker has ever done: he wins. When Joker has his men kidnap Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes, Batman attempts to go after Dawes, but the clown switches the addresses and the caped crusader instead saves Dent. As a result, Rachel is killed in an explosion, and half of Harvey’s face is burnt off. Joker not only hurt Batman in a deeply personal way, but he also set off a time bomb that would later go on to scar the city with the creation of Harvey Dent into Two-Face.
By the end of the film, Joker may be caught, but by that time the damage is done. Two-Face has already killed so many people, and even though Batman stops him if the truth gets out all the good work that Harvey did would be in vain. While Batman and Gordon attempt to cover it up, by the next film The Dark Knight Rises the eventual truth comes out and Gotham begins to tear itself apart. Joker not only broke Harvey Dent’s spirit, but he also forced Batman and Gordon to lie to the city where the cracks eventually formed over and collapsed the city. Even though Joker is not present or even mentioned in the next Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, his crimes hang over the film.
Most Jokers have committed crimes and then been sent to prison without causing irreparable damage. However, Ledger’s Joker destroys countless lives and makes a permanent mark on Gotham City and Batman’s identity. The character cast a shadow over Gotham City, just as Ledger’s performance of Joker has cast a shadow on the character in popular culture that every performer who steps into the role or new comic will be compared to.
