Who gave the best performance as the titular jester may not be much of a contest at this point in time, but there’s no denying that the lineage of men to have portrayed the Clown Prince of Crime on the big screen is an impressive list in and of itself.
Whether Jack Nicholson (Batman, 1989), Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight, 2008) or Jared Leto (Suicide Squad, 2016) enacted your preferred take on the Joker, each, irrefutably, instilled a sense of stylishness and originality into the role, which is not only a testament to the complexity of the talent behind the war paint, but the character on the whole.
Created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, the Joker has, and forever will be, an impenetrable, yet oddly intricate villain and the intangibility of this character is precisely what Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok aim to explore and expound in the comic book series, Batman: Three Jokers.
According to Johns, the story isn’t rooted in “other dimensions or alternate earths or whatever.” Rather, it’ll focus on the “origins of the Joker and Bruce’s realization that there’s more than one operating.” With the debut issue scheduled for release sometime this fall, we got our first look at the cover art for The Three Jokers at San Diego Comic-Con last month, but if motion picture fan art is more your speed, Twitter user @Atlant099 has put a new spin on Fabok’s image by inserting Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Jared Leto onto the cover.
As for the next time you can see the Joker in action on the big screen, take your pick, really. The Clown Prince of Crime presently has a pair of solo movies in the works and is expected to make an appearance in both Birds of Prey, and Suicide Squad 2. I mean, we’re truly living in the golden age of villainy, and fans of Mr. J have a lot to look forward to over the next few years.
