The Joker Adapted: A Retrospective On The Clown Prince Of Crime

Animation

The Joker has been most regularly adapted in animation, with a number of actors providing his voice. First on the list was Larry Storch in 1968, with The Adventures Of Batman, as part of The Batman/Superman Hour. He was then voiced by Lennie Weinrib in 1977’s The New Adventures Of Batman and Frank Welker in 1985’s The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. It was not until 1992, however, that the voice role was taken on by an actor who would truly make it his own.

The voice performance of Mark Hamill as The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series was so striking that it immediately became the definitive animated performance of the supervillain, and remains so to this day. While subsequent animated Jokers – such as those featured in The Batman (Kevin Michael Richardson), The Brave And The Bold (Jeff Bennett), Young Justice (Brent Spiner), Batman: Under The Hood (John DiMaggio), The Dark Knight Returns (Michael Emerson) and Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite (Christopher Corey Smith) – have rightly added their stamp to the villain, it is Hamill that is most beloved.

Having given voice to The Joker in no less than 14 animated productions – both feature length, and episodic – Mark Hamill has been praised for creating what is a genuinely creepy, scary characterization, including a chilling laugh that has become one of the most recognizable in animation.