I had high expectations for the first trailer for Joker. There’s a lot of talent behind that lens and few actors working today can bring it as hard as Joaquin Phoenix. But I didn’t expect it to be that good. Appropriately considering Martin Scorsese is on board as executive producer, the film looks like a weird splice of Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy combined with elements from across the Batman franchise. But if you’re doing a new Joker, the gold standard everyone will be compared to is Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning turn in The Dark Knight.
More than a decade after that film hit cinemas, Ledger’s take on the role remains in the public consciousness. His Joker constantly pops up as a meme online, is a hugely popular Halloween costume and still features on T-shirts to this day. But Phoenix’s take on the role looks mind-blowingly amazing, so who’s going to come out on top?
Well, as usual, Twitter has some passionate debates going on, and here’s a selection of what the community is discussing:
Because no one should ever do anything after it's been done well.
— ◦ Blank Wildest ◦ (@theskybandit) April 3, 2019
All this talk about Heath Ledger and how nobody is capable of surpassing his performance as the Joker will be silenced once #JokerMovie releases. Joaquin Phoenix is more than capable of outperforming Heath & I suggest you watch You Were Never Really Here if you doubt that.
— Marshall (@LDR_Violence) April 3, 2019
Coringa do Coringa do
Heath Ledger Joaquin Phoenix
e o e o
Batman do Batman do
Christian Bale Ben Affleck pic.twitter.com/QuruYYmH6o— мe cнaмa de нarry poнa (@_wesleyalvs) April 3, 2019
Hear me out, and do not crucify me for this, but Joaquin Phoenix has the potential to be the best Joker ever. He is a better actor than Heath Ledger was there’s no denying that. https://t.co/8Rk4hihR4w
— KALEB HUGHES (@KalebHughes4) April 3, 2019
Didn’t think I would ever be hyped for a new Joker following Heath Ledger, but Joaquin Phoenix looks phenomenal in this one! #JokerMovie
— حسن بن عبدالله آل الشيخ (@HasanAlShaikh) April 3, 2019
People, people. Maybe we can just accept that Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix can both be excellent Jokers and there’s no need to compete like this. That said, it’s a little intriguing that so few fans are comparing Phoenix’s Joker to Jared Leto’s. After a whirl of publicity in Suicide Squad, Leto feels like he’s already becoming something of a footnote in the character’s cinematic history. There are rumors that he’ll be returning to the role for an appearance in Birds of Prey, but with the actor busy with Morbius, it might be a while before he’s back as the clown.
In the meantime, I’m hugely excited for Joker. If the film can live up to this trailer, it stands a chance of being one of the best superhero (supervillain?) movies ever. Let’s just hope that we’ll see Phoenix’s take on the character somehow facing off with Batman a couple of years into the future.
