Similar to his archenemy, the Joker has remained one of the most iconic figures in popular culture for over 80 years because the character can constantly be reinvented, reinvigorated, updated and tweaked to suit modern audiences just like Batman. Every generation tends to get their own version of the Clown Prince of Crime, although not all of them are guaranteed to ascend to legendary status.
Cesar Romero’s camp prankster, Jack Nicholson’s scenery-chewing mobster, Mark Hamill’s cackling antagonist, Heath Ledger’s psychotic anarchist, Gotham‘s unhinged Valeska twins, Jared Leto’s wannabe Juggalo and Joaquin Phoenix’s disturbed loner couldn’t be more different from each other performance-wise, but they’re all very much representative of the Joker’s core values and belief system.
After Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck saw him become the second actor to scoop an Academy Award for playing the Joker in what turned out to be the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all-time, the conversation almost immediately turned to sequels, although the leading man and director Todd Phillips have so far remained non-committal despite rumors that they’ve been offered a huge amount of money to sign on the dotted line.
Insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming, though, that Warner Bros. are reportedly on the lookout for another new Joker, one that would be an older version of the character. At the moment, however, it’s unclear if he’d appear in the planned Jokerverse or show up to terrorize Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader in one of the sequels to The Batman. Richtman says the studio could be eyeing Jim Carrey for the role as well, but either way, it seems that Joaquin Phoenix and Jared Leto won’t be the only big screen Clown Princes of Crime for long.
