Joker in other media

Batman (1966–1968 TV series)

Cesar Romero portrayed the character in the 1960s Batman television series. Romero refused to shave his distinctive mustache for the role, and it is partially visible beneath the white face makeup applied. This version of the Joker is based on the character in the 1960s comics, who is more of an elaborate prankster than a psychopathic madman.

Other television portrayals

Cesar Romero reprised his role in the 1966 film Batman, in which the Joker is a member of the United Underworld, alongside fellow Gotham City villains the Penguin, the Riddler and Catwoman.

Jack Nicholson played the Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 film Batman, and received acclaim for his performance; the Newsweek review of the film stated that the best scenes are due to the surreal black comedy portrayed in the Joker. In 2003, American Film Institute ranked Nicholson's performance #45 on their list of 50 greatest film villains. Hugo Blick and David U. Hodges play the character in flashbacks in Batman and Batman Forever, respectively.

In the film, Jack Napier is the right-hand man of mob boss Carl Grissom prior to his transformation into the Joker. During a confrontation with the vigilante Batman in a chemical factory, Napier's face is wounded by a ricocheting bullet and he falls into a vat of chemical waste, which turns his hair green, his skin chalk white and his lips bright red. A botched attempt at plastic surgery leaves him with a permanent rictus grin. Driven insane by his reflection, the Joker kills Grissom and takes over his syndicate, launching a crime wave designed to outdo Batman, whom he feels is getting too much press. The Joker describes himself as "the world's first fully functional homicidal artist" who makes avant-garde "art" by killing people with cosmetics laced with Smilex, which leaves its victims with a grotesque grin similar to his own. Bruce Wayne later recognizes the Joker as the mugger who murdered his parents, leading him down the path of becoming a crime-fighter. After telling Batman that they "made each other", the Joker attempts to escape via helicopter, but Batman ties a grappling hook around his leg and attaches it to a stone gargoyle, causing the Joker to fall to his death when the statue breaks loose of its moorings.

Nicholson was to reprise his role as the Joker in Batman Unchained, the fifth film planned for the Batman series. He was to return as a hallucination in Batman's mind caused by the Scarecrow's fear toxin, and Harley Quinn was to appear as his daughter trying to get revenge on Batman for his death. Due to the critical and commercial failure of Batman & Robin, however, this film was cancelled.

Heath Ledger played the Joker in Christopher Nolan's 2008 film The Dark Knight, and was posthumously nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance, ultimately winning the Oscar.

Academy Award-winning method actor Jared Leto portrays the Joker in the DC Extended Universe. Originally set to appear in Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the character was ultimately cut from the film.

The Joker makes his debut in the 2016 film Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer. Flashbacks reveal that the Joker, already known to be Gotham City's most powerful crime lord, manipulated psychiatrist Dr. Harleen Quinzel into falling in love with him during his time as a patient at Arkham Asylum. He eventually managed to convince Dr. Quinzel to free him, and he subsequently gave her electroshock therapy. The Joker then took her to the Ace Chemicals plant, and Quinzel voluntarily jumped into the chemicals that created her lover, bleaching her skin and completing her transformation into Harley Quinn. At some point, the Joker killed the vigilante Batman's partner, Robin, with Harley's help, though Quinn was ultimately apprehended and blackmailed into joining Amanda Waller's government task force composed of captured supervillains. In the present day narrative, the Joker attempts to extract Harley from the task force. He tortures one of Waller's security officers into leading him to the facility where the nano bombs used to control the criminals are manufactured, and threatens an A.R.G.U.S. scientist there to disable the bomb implanted in Harley's neck. After commandeering a military helicopter, the Joker and his men rescue Harley in Midway City and make their getaway. However, the chopper is shot down, and Harley jumps out while Joker seemingly perishes in the explosion, prompting Quinn to rejoin the task force. After the "Suicide Squad" defeat the Enchantress, Joker, who survived the crash, breaks into Belle Reve Prison with his gang to free Harley from her cell, and the pair reunite as the movie ends. Critics praised Jared Leto's performance despite his character's negligible screen time. Mark Hamill, the voice of the Joker in various DC projects, stated that he "loved" Leto's take on the character. Although many scenes featuring the Joker were omitted from the theatrical release, some of this unused footage did make it into the extended cut. Leto later reprised his role in the music video "Purple Lamborghini", by Skrillex and Rick Ross, from the film's soundtrack.

Theatre

The Joker appears in the 2011 theatrical production Batman Live (portrayed by Mark Frost), in which the character masterminds a plot to defeat Batman by uniting several of the superhero's greatest foes, including Harley Quinn, Riddler, Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, and Scarecrow. The show is an adaptation of the Batman property, drawing inspiration from the 1966 television series, Tim Burton's series of Batman films, and the 1992 animated series, among others.

Filmation

The Joker appears as a recurring villain in the 1968–1969 Filmation series The Adventures of Batman, voiced by Larry Storch. He also appears in five episodes of Filmation's 1977 series The New Adventures of Batman, voiced by Lennie Weinrib.

Hanna-Barbera

Storch reprises his role as the Joker in two crossover episodes of the 1972 series The New Scooby-Doo Movies, in which he teams up with the Penguin and runs afoul of Batman, Robin and the Mystery Inc. gang.

The Joker appears in The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985–1986) episode "The Wild Cards", voiced by Frank Welker. He assists Darkseid by disguising himself as Ace, the leader of The Royal Flush Gang.

The Joker appears in various animated series set within the DC animated universe, voiced by Mark Hamill, who is often credited as the iconic voice for the animated version of the character because of his wide range of "joyful, gleeful, maniacal, [...] malevolent and evil laughs."

The Joker first appeared in Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995). The show is notable for introducing his accomplice and lover, Harley Quinn, to such acclaim that she became a character in the comics. The Joker was later prominently featured in the spin-off film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993).

The Joker returned in the follow-up series The New Batman Adventures (1997–1999) with a stylistic redesign. His white skin now had a bluish-gray tinge, while his eyes had their sclerae removed, and were replaced by cavernous black spaces with white pupils. His trademark ruby-red lips were omitted, focusing more attention on his teeth, and his green-tinged hair was now almost completely black. His tuxedo's colors were also changed from purple and orange to purple and green. In the Superman: The Animated Series (1996–2000) episode "World's Finest", the Joker travels to Metropolis and makes a deal with Lex Luthor to kill Superman. In the Justice League (2001–2006) episodes "Injustice For All" and "Wild Cards", the Joker joins Luthor's Injustice Gang, and pits the Justice League against the Royal Flush Gang as part of an elaborate ruse, respectively. He also starts a crime spree in the Static Shock (2000–2004) episode "The Big Leagues".

The Joker made his final chronological appearance in the direct-to-video feature film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000), in which he mysteriously returns to Gotham City in the future. Flashbacks reveal that before he died, the Joker kidnapped and tortured Robin (Tim Drake), turning him into an insane, miniature version of himself dubbed 'Joker Junior'. The Joker's death was edited and redubbed amid controversy surrounding the Columbine High School massacre; The original version sees Joker Junior shoot the Joker in the heart, whereas the edited version simply sees him push the Joker into damaged cables to be electrocuted out of sight. However, a microchip implanted in Drake's neck was revealed to have possessed a copy of the Joker's consciousness and DNA, allowing him to take over his host until he is defeated by the new Batman (Terry McGinnis).

The Batman (2004–2008)

The Joker appears in The Batman, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. This version has long, wild hair, and initially wore a purple straightjacket, though he later adopts his signature purple suit. He also appears in the 2005 direct-to-video spin-off film The Batman vs. Dracula (2005).

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008–2011)

The Joker appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jeff Bennett. His appearance and personality are similar to the Silver Age version as drawn by Dick Sprang. On a parallel earth, he is known as the heroic vigilante Red Hood.

Young Justice (2010–2013)

The Joker appears in Young Justice, voiced by Brent Spiner, as a member of the Injustice Gang.

Justice League Action

The Joker appears in Justice League Action, with Mark Hamill reprising his role.

DC Super Friends

John Kassir voices the Joker in "The Joker's Playhouse" (2010), an original video animation produced for Fisher-Price Imaginext's DC Super Friends.

Lego Batman

The Joker appears in the animated special Lego Batman: Be-Leagured, with John DiMaggio reprising the role from Batman: Under the Red Hood.

Film

The Joker has appeared in several DC Universe Animated Original Movies:

Video games

As Batman's arch-nemesis, the Joker has appeared in several Batman-related video games.

Early appearances (1988–2003)

The Joker's earliest video game appearance was in Batman: The Caped Crusader (1988) developed by Ocean Software for 8-bit home computers such as the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 and by Data East for other platforms such as the Apple II, Commodore Amiga, and PC. The game contains two parts that can be played in any order—the Joker's story or the Penguin's story. The Joker also appears in several games based on the 1989 film, released between 1989–1992, including Batman: The Movie for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and ZX Spectrum; Batman: The Video Game for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy; Batman for the Genesis; and an arcade game, Batman.

Two games were released based on Batman: The Animated Series. The first was the Konami-developed game Batman: The Animated Series (1993) for Game Boy. The second, The Adventures of Batman & Robin, was released for the Super NES as an action adventure platform and for Genesis as a side-scrolling shooter. The only game based on the Batman Beyond franchise, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, was released as a companion to the eponymous film for Game Boy Color, PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Batman: Vengeance (2001) was released for several platforms, based on The New Batman Adventures and starring its voice cast, including Mark Hamill as the Joker.

The Joker is featured in the platforming shoot-em-up game Batman: Return of the Joker, released for the NES in 1991 and the Genesis in 1992. Other games include Batman: Chaos in Gotham (2001) for Game Boy Color, Justice League: Injustice for All (2002) for Game Boy Advance, and Batman: Dark Tomorrow (2003) for GameCube and Xbox. The Joker also makes a cameo in Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu (2003), released for several platforms.

Lego Batman

Batman: Arkham

Mark Hamill reprises his role as the Joker in the main trilogy of the Batman: Arkham franchise, while Troy Baker voices a younger version of the character in the prequel Arkham Origins. This depiction of the Joker has been widely praised, as critics have lauded the voice acting and the exploration of the Joker and Batman's rivalry. He won the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards "Character of the Year" award for his appearance in Arkham City.

Other games