Joker in other media

Adaptations of the Joker in other media
Created by	Jerry Robinson (concept) Bill Finger Bob Kane
Original source	Comics published by DC Comics
First appearance	Batman #1 (Spring 1940)
Films and television
Film(s)	Batman (1966) Batman (1989) The Dark Knight (2008)
Television show(s)	Batman (1966) Batman: The Animated Series (1992) The Batman (2004)

Batman's archenime The Joker has appeared in several other media. The Joker has been portrayed by Cesar Romero in the Batman television series, Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton's Batman, and Heath Ledger in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, which posthumously earned Ledger the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Larry Storch, Frank Welker, Mark Hamill, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton and John DiMaggio have provided the voice for the character in animated form.

Live-action

Batman (TV series) and Batman (1966 film)

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Romero in his role as The Joker in Batman.

Cesar Romero portrays the character in 19 episodes of the 1960s Batman television series. The Joker of this series is characterized by a cackling laugh and comedy-themed crimes, such as turning the city's water supply into jelly and pulling off a stand-up comedy-themed bank heist. In one episode he competed with Batman in a surfing contest. Romero refused to shave his distinctive mustache for the role, and it was partially visible beneath his white face makeup. Romero reprises his role in the 1966 film Batman. A parody of Batman, Joker has his own "utility belt" and "Jokermobile". Stories sometimes saw Joker teamed up with the Penguin and Catwoman. In the movie he is teamed up with both of them and the Riddler as well. The only information on his past life is a remark by Batman that the Joker had been a hypnotist in his youth.

Batman (1989 film)

The Joker/Jack Napier played by Jack Nicholson with Batman (Michael Keaton) in Batman.

The Joker is portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1989 film Batman. In the film, the character is a psychopathic gangster named Jack Napier, the right-hand man of crime boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance). Napier is disfigured during a confrontation with Batman (Michael Keaton) in a chemical factory; he is shot in the face by a ricochet from his own pistol, which severs the nerves in his face muscles, before falling into a vat of chemicals. Although there are many versions of the Joker's origins, the filmmakers decided to use one loosely resembling the origin established in the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke. The chemicals bleach his skin and turn his hair green and lips red. His trademark grin is the result of botched plastic surgery in the immediate aftermath of the accident.

Driven insane by his reflection, he kills Grissom and takes over his gang, launching a crime wave designed to "outdo" Batman, who he feels is getting too much press. He describes himself as a "homicidal artist" who makes avant-garde "art" by killing people with Smilex gas, which leaves its victims with a grotesque grin. Bruce Wayne confronts the Joker, and later recognizes him as the mugger who murdered his parents. The Joker kidnaps reporter Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) and attempts to massacre Gotham City, but Batman foils his plan. During the ensuing battle, Batman and the Joker realize that they "made each other". As the Joker is about to escape in a helicopter, Batman ties a grappling hook onto the Joker's leg and attaches it to a stone gargoyle; the Joker falls to his death when the gargoyle breaks loose of its moorings.

There is a flashback scene showing Napier's murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, in an alley. The young Napier is played by Hugo E. Blick.

Nicholson's performance was well-received; Newsweek's review of the film stated that the best scenes in the movie are due to the surreal black comedy portrayed in this character. In 2003, American Film Institute named Nicholson's performance #45 out of 50 greatest film villains. Tim Burton says he wanted to kill the Joker at the end of the film, because he thought having the villain come back would be too unrealistic.

OnStar commercials and Birds of Prey

During the OnStar "Batman" ad campaign, the Joker appears in one commercial, played by Curtis Armstrong. Roger Stoneburner makes a cameo appearance as the character in an episode of Birds of Prey. Mark Hamill, who voiced the Joker in various animated shows throughout the 1990s, provides the Joker's voice in the scene, and he is the only one of the two actors to be credited.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Heath Ledger as the Joker.

In the 2008 film The Dark Knight, the Joker is portrayed by Heath Ledger, who told Sarah Lyall of The New York Times that he viewed that film's version of the character as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy." In this film, he is a bank robber targeting Mafia-owned banks, whom Gotham's crime families reluctantly hire to kill Batman (Christian Bale) after he brazenly offers them his services. It is gradually revealed that he desires to upset social order through crime, and that he defines himself by his battle with Batman.

Costume designer Lindy Hemming described the Joker's look as being based around his personality, in that "he doesn't care about himself at all." She avoided his design being vagrant, but nonetheless it is "scruffier, grungier and therefore when you see him move, he's slightly twitchier or edgy." Unlike most incarnations, where his appearance is a result of chemical bleaching, this Joker sports a Glasgow smile, and accentuates it through unevenly applied make-up and dyed green hair. During the course of the film, he tells conflicting stories about how he acquired the scars, which involve child abuse and self-mutilation. He gives Glasgow smiles to his victims as well, instead of the post-mortem smiles seen in previous incarnations.

Unlike the previous film and comic-book depictions of the Joker, this one eschews gag-based weapons common to the character, in favor of knives, firearms, and an array of explosive devices. In the film, the Joker is responsible for the death of Batman's childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and District Attorney Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart). During the film's climax, the Joker threatens to blow up the city to manipulate people into escaping on two boats that he has rigged to explode, one filled with civilians and the other with prisoners; he threatens to blow them both up at midnight unless one of them destroys the other first. When neither boat destroys the other, Batman tells him that his plan has failed, and throws him off the edge of a building. However, the Dark Knight saves his life by catching him with a grappling hook. As Batman leaves him for the authorities to arrest, the Joker says that he'll have won the "battle for Gotham's soul" once they learn of Harvey's "heroics". Batman ultimately defeats him by assuming responsibility for Dent's crimes.

Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was widely praised by critics. On February 22, 2009, Ledger posthumously won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. He was the fourth actor to be nominated for the portrayal of a comic book character, and the first to win. His portrayal of the joker in this film is also the most impersonated by fans on Youtube and among other websites around the world.

Animation

Earlier appearances

• The Joker appeared as a recurring villain in the 1968-1969 Filmation series The Adventures of Batman voiced by Larry Storch.
• Storch reprises his role for two crossover episodes of the 1972 series The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In both episodes, he teams up with The Penguin and runs afoul of Batman, Robin, and the Mystery Inc. gang.
• He also appears in five episodes of Filmation's 1977 series The New Adventures of Batman voiced by Lennie Weinrib.
• The Joker makes an appearance in The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians episode "The Wild Cards" voiced by Frank Welker. This episode features a version of the Royal Flush Gang. The leader of the group Ace turns out to be a disguised Joker assisting in Darkseid's latest plot.

DC animated universe

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Joker, as he appears throughout every incarnation of the DC Animated Universe spin-offs.

• In Batman: The Animated Series, which debuted in 1992, the Joker is voiced by Mark Hamill. In the feature film spin-off Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, it is revealed that he was once a hitman for mobster Salvatore Valestra. A later episode reveals that he went on to start his own gang with the first target being the Ace chemical plant, where Batman foils the robbery and knocks him into a vat of acid. Several episodes mention that his real name is Jack Napier. It most notably appears on his police file in the episode "Joker's Wild". However, later episodes suggest that this may only be an alias. The series is notable for introducing Harley Quinn, the Joker's sidekick, who became one of the few original characters from the show to successfully cross over to the comics.
• The Joker also appears in the series' follow-up, The New Batman Adventures, and features prominently as the main villain in the one-hour Batman/Superman crossover episode, "World's Finest", in which he travels to Metropolis and makes a deal with Lex Luthor to kill Superman in exchange for one billion dollars. With Superman no match for the Joker's cunning and Batman outclassed by Luthor's superior technology, Batman and Superman join forces to take the Joker and Luthor down.
• Hamill reprises his role in several animated shows in the DC Animated Universe. He appears in the Justice League episodes, "Injustice for All" and "A Better World", the latter of which features an alternate world in which the Joker has been lobotomized by Superman and is now the superintendent of Arkham Asylum. His most prominent episode is "Wild Cards", where he plants a multitude of bombs across Las Vegas and televises the Justice League's attempts to find and disarm them in a mockery of reality television. To add drama to the broadcast, he pits the League against the Royal Flush Gang, which in this version consists of five superpowered teens. The bombs turn out to be a ruse to attract viewership so Ace, a psychic, can render everyone watching the broadcast insane. The plan backfires when, during a fight with Batman, Ace turns her powers on the Joker, rendering him temporarily catatonic.
• The Joker also appeared in the Static Shock episode "The Big Leagues" also voiced by Mark Hamill. He comes to Dakota and recruits Hot-Streak, Kangor, Shiv, and Talon into starting a crime spree.
• The Joker, again voiced by Hamill, is featured in the DCAU film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, mysteriously returning to Gotham after having been presumed dead for decades. It is revealed in a flashback that the Joker and Harley Quinn kidnapped Robin (Tim Drake) and tortured him, turning him into "Joker Junior" — an insane, miniature version of the Joker — and ordering him to kill Batman. Drake ultimately kills the Joker himself by shooting him with the deadly "Bang" flag gun (in the edited version, Drake accidentally electrocutes him offscreen by pushing him into a puddle near an electric cable). In a twist, the future Joker is actually Drake, the Joker having implanted a microchip in Drake which contained his DNA, memories, and personality, transforms the former Boy Wonder into a genetic duplicate of himself with his own mind in control. The new Batman (Terry McGinnis) ultimately destroys the chip, saving Drake and (in the DCAU continuity) destroying the Joker once and for all. This plan is mentioned in the Justice League Unlimited second season finale "Epilogue", where Terry questions Bruce on whether he used Cadmus genetic tech to rewrite his DNA in the same fashion in order to carry on his legacy.

The Batman

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The Joker as he appears in The Batman.

A different interpretation of the Joker appears in the animated series The Batman, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson in English and Naoki Tatsuta in Japanese. This incarnation sports a purple and yellow straitjacket, fingerless gloves, bare feet, wild green hair, and red eyes. The Joker also moves and fights with a Monkey Kung Fu-like style, using his feet as dexterously as his hands, and often hangs from the walls and ceilings (as the series progresses, these abilities do not appear as much). His appearance becomes somewhat refined later in the series, where he adopts the more traditional garb of a purple suit and spats, but he still has wild hair and wears no shoes, save one episode. In "Strange Mind", Dr. Strange and Batman travel into the mind of the Joker to find the Joker before his accident as a low-level office worker who once dreamed of "making people laugh". His lip color also changed with his outfit, from a bright red to a dark, almost blackish, red.

In the animated feature The Batman vs. Dracula, he is temporarily transformed into a vampire with paler clothes, claws, fangs and supernatural powers.

Krypto the Superdog

In the TV show Krypto the Superdog, the Joker's trained pet hyenas are villains. The Joker himself does not appear in the show, but is mentioned on various occasions.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, a heroic counter-part of the Joker known as Red Hood appears in the episode "Deep Cover for Batman!". He appears in the beginning of the story taking off his mask though we never see his face clearly. The Joker made his debut on the show in the episode "Game Over for Owlman!" (a continuation of "Deep Cover for Batman!") voiced by Jeff Bennett. His appearance and personality is very similar to the Silver Age version, as drawn by Dick Sprang. With the police and some of his superhero friends after him, Batman has no option but to team up with Joker to stop Owlman's crime spree especially when Owlman was upstaging Joker. During that time, the Joker briefly becomes a hero, but ultimately goes back to his evil roots because being a good guy was "just not him". Joker makes an appearance in "Legends of the Dark Mite!" along with the Penguin and other Batman villains. Joker appears in the teaser to "Hail the Tornado Tyrant!" when he is being tailed by Batman and Green Arrow during a series of robberies. He is captured after his car's many means of propulsion are destroyed by the combined efforts of the heroes. Joker also appears in the episode "Death Race to Oblivion!" as one of Mongul's racers. He creates tough obstacles for Batman and the others until after he is out of the race. He occasionally provides a play-by-play of the race while doing so. He is transported to a cell with the other losing villains and later put in a green cell created by Guy Gardner's power ring. Joker appears again among other villains in a bidding for a supersonic weapon held by arms dealer Joe Chill in the episode "Chill of the Night!" He later appears in "Emperor Joker!" as the primary antagonist along with his love, Harley Quinn. In the Scooby-Doo crossover created by Bat-Mite, Joker was voiced by Corey Burton.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

A parallel earth, heroic version of the Joker called "the Jester" appears in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths voiced by James Patrick Stuart. He is a longtime ally of that Earth's Lex Luthor and a former member of their world's Justice League. He sacrifices his life taking out two supervillains in the process at the beginning of the film so that Luthor can escape and get help for their Earth which has been besieged by the villainous Crime Syndicate of America. Back at his lair, he is shown to have a monkey called Harley, whom Lex sadly informs that "the Jester is never coming back".

Batman: Under the Red Hood

The Joker appears in the animated original movie which is based on the same book, Batman: Under the Red Hood, voiced by John DiMaggio. The Joker is hired by Ra's al Ghul to distract Batman and Jason Todd, the second Robin, from the terrorist's plan to destroy the world economy. The Joker lures the Dynamic Duo to Sarajevo, Bosnia, where he beats Jason to death with a crowbar. Feeling guilty for his death, Ra's al Ghul revives Jason with the Lazarus Pit. Years later, Jason returns to Gotham as a crime lord calling himself the Red Hood, purposely taking his murderer's former criminal identity to attract his attention. After the Red Hood tries to kill him, Black Mask hires the Joker as a hitman to take down the Red Hood. The Joker kidnaps Jason's eight under-bosses, including the Black Mask, and holds them hostage inside an oil tanker. Jason arrives and reveals that his previous actions were designed to lure the Joker away from the safety of Arkham so that he could kill him. Jason beats and kidnaps the Joker and brings him to Crime Alley. He forces Batman to either kill him or the Joker, or Jason will detonate a bomb killing all three of them. Refusing either offer, Batman allows Jason to detonate the bomb but saves himself, Jason and the Joker. While Jason escapes, Batman takes the Joker back to Arkham.

Young Justice

It has been confirmed by writers Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani that the Joker will appear as a major villain in Young Justice.

Video games

The Joker appears in numerous Batman-related video games, often being the main antagonist:

• In Batman Vengeance (based on The New Batman Adventures) and starring its voice cast, including Hamill as the Joker, he and Harley Quinn mastermind a plan to destroy Gotham City once and for all using an explosive, flammable compound consisting of Joker Toxin and a new substance called Promethium.
• The Joker is a playable character in LEGO Batman: The Video Game with his vocal effects provided by Steven Blum. where he leads a group of villains in a mission to spread Joker toxin to all of Gotham City. He has dual Uzis, and can kill enemies using a lethal joybuzzer, which can also be used to power generators. He has a helicopter with a grappling hook. He leads a group of villains consisting of himself, Harley Quinn, the Mad Hatter, the Scarecrow and Killer Moth. His plan is to fill Gotham cathedral with his laughing gas and then blow the cathedral up to spread the gas all over Gotham. An unlockable alternate version of the character has the tropical costume worn by the Joker in Batman: The Killing Joke.
• He is also a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe voiced by Richard Epcar. Joker sports an array of magically endowed trick (but often lethal) weapons and fatalities and (storywise) he is also reasonably stronger due to the rage caused by the merging universes. Once he realizes that, he breaks from the mission Lex Luthor gave him and goes after Batman. He also easily defeats Sonya Blade and interrupts a fight between Deathstroke and Kano so he can finish Kano himself. Later in the story, the Joker turns on Deathstroke just for the fun of it and defeats him as well. In Joker's ending as the worlds separated, Joker discovered that he had retained his new powers and managed to take over Gotham, crowning himself "Mayor Joker", under his rule the city quickly fell into chaos. Joker now holds tournaments where contests fight to the death for his amusement with the winner fighting Joker.
• Mark Hamill reprised his role of the Joker for the 2009 video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, in which Joker is the main antagonist. In the game, he takes over Arkham in an elaborate trap set for Batman and spends most of the game watching Batman with the use of the Asylum security cameras, taunting him as he makes his way through the island. His ultimate goal, however, is to combine a more potent plant-venom hybrid called Titan with his army of thugs, which he manipulated the higher-ups into transferring to Arkham in order to create "an army of a thousand Banes". He then sends the recently released Bane, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and Harley to run interference alongside his thugs against Batman to slow him down. After foiling the other villains' agendas, Batman confronts the Titan-enhanced Joker atop Arkham which is televised across Arkham by Jack Ryder. In the PlayStation 3 version of the game, players are able to actually play the Challenge Maps as the Joker, with thugs replaced by Arkham guards.
• Mark Hamill once again reprised his role for DC Universe Online. In the game's trailer, he is shown as one of the last surviving villains of the battle, and the only combatant besides Lex Luthor to survive the battle. In Gotham City, he takes over a decrepit amusement park with Harley Quinn.
• The Joker will appear in Batman: Arkham City, the sequel to Arkham Asylum. In the teaser trailer he appears to be ill, suffering from both the side effects of the Titan powered Venom (used to power up Bane to give him his size and strength) and his defeat at the hands of Batman, with Harley Quinn taking care of him while watching the riot of the carnage around Gotham City streets laughing and coughing. Mark Hamill will reprise his role as The Joker.