In 1940, one year after Batman debuted in the pages of Detective Comics #27, a clownish-looking villain named The Joker came to Gotham City to wreak havoc in Batman #1. It didn’t take long for him to become the Dark Knight’s arch-nemesis in the comic book pages, to the point that all these decades later, Joker is arguably just as well known as Batman himself. With that fame, of course, has come numerous adaptations of the Clown Prince of Crime, most prominently on the big screen.
To that point, we’re here to rank all the major movie portrayals of The Joker. And to be clear, this list will only be discussing live-action and animated versions of the character who’ve appeared in DC movies that had theatrical runs. There’s a lot more to keep track of if we count the numerous direct-to-video DC movies that have been released, but keeping our scope narrowed to big screen offerings keeps things at a more manageable level.
