We recently brought you enthusiastic reactions to Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker from Batman legends like Paul Dini, Adam West and Jeph Loeb.
Stand aside, boys: the Clown Prince himself wishes to make a statement.
“For all those fans that dreamed of an adult approach to the material, ‘Batman Begins’ got nearly everything right,” Mark Hamill wrote to MTV News upon first seeing the trailer for Chris Nolan’s “The Dark Knight.” “I have no doubt this one will be just as good or better.”
Hamill, of course, is often credited with helping to craft the most definitive take on the character yet, in Dini’s “Batman: The Animated Series.” As voice of the Joker, Hamill brought to the Gotham knave a delicate mix of psychosis and manic glee, just as ready with a gun as he was with a gag.
Hamill, like Dini, sees very little of that approach in Nolan’s take on the character — but what he does see has him smiling from ear to ear.
“The balls-out debauched psycho approach seems like a great way of reinventing everyone’s favorite scary (and scar-y) clown,” he enthused. “Can’t wait to see it!”
How about you? Be sure to check out all our coverage of the recent “Dark Knight” trailer, then sound off below on everything Batman: Should Hamill have been given a shot to portray the character in live-action? What made his Joker unique? Is there anyone out there who doesn’t trust what Ledger is doing?
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Heath has the voice, personality, and mannerisms down and the suit is dead-on perfect but it’s his face that bugs me. The Joker is not someone who wears makeup and lipstick. He is perma-clowned, a bleached white, green-haired, red-lipped, serial killer. A unapologetic, unempathetic, sadistic, yet funny psychopath. Heath gets that but I believe Nolan is ruining and almost perverting their character with his course for being ‘too realistic.’
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I disagree with “Cole,” first of all he is assuming that the ledger Joker is in fact not permawhite, and also Nolan is not ruining anything because The Joker is exactly how he is in the comics.
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Mark Hammil was an AWESOME Joker!!! He is THE best Joker of all time,IMHO,in both live action AND animation!! Heath’s Joker is gonna be AWESOME,I had my doubts at first but now I am TOTALLY convinced that he’ll be great. I see a bit of resemblance,personally,between Heath’s Joker’s smile/mouth and Ceaser Romero’s smile/mouth. I liked Nicholson as Joker as well,FYI,just so he doesn’t think we’ve forgotten about him.;-) Hammil played the Trickster on the AWESOME Flash TV series to a “T” and he even voiced him in an episode of JLU!! He’s an AWESOME guy,and not just cuz he played Luke either.
My ONLY complaints about TDK is that I think the batsuit should be black and dark gray on the areas it is in the comix and slightly more flexible, that’s my only “complaint” or “criticism”.
I can’t wait to see this film!! Iron Man and TDK will be AWESOME!!!
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Yup,Cole’s got a point. I have to agree with him there.
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 am
Cole,
You couldn’t be more wrong. As Eric pointed out how do you know the ledger Joker is in fact not permawhite? You don’t.
And I’ll bet you the Joker of the comics does wear red lipstick. Do you really think the cemical bath turned his lips bright red?
www.gothamcitycentral.com
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:42 am
in frank millers the dark knight returns (one of the most celebrated comics ever!) the joker wears lip stick to both kill a woman on tv and on an old catwoman, so there, he useses lip stick. and heath ledgers version of the joker, is the true joker. as he was always meant to be
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:06 am
To all those who don’t “like” what Nolan is doing with The Dark Knight: When you become a film director, you can do it your way…until then STFU and let the rest of us enjoy what a visionary can do with excellent material! The Dark Knight will replace Batman Begins as the greatest film using comic book characters as its source material EVER!!!
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 am
I always thought the Joker was perma-white… Someone who dyed his hair green and wore lipstick to enhance the craziness of his look- and to suit the name…
Chris Nolan looks like he’s decided to make the white part of his make up too- instead of perma-white…
Does this bother me? Should it bother anyone?
F*** NO!!!!
Heath looks the part, sounds the part and acts the part in every way a lot of people imagined the Joker to be… To quote a fellow Batman fan:
“He has green hair, red lips, wears purple and kills people!”
A psycho killer that paints his face would fit well in the real world setting of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
If someone fell into a vat of toxic chemicals in the real world, they wouldn’t have white skin…
They’d have NO skin…
Chris Nolan has my full support as does Heath Ledger…
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:44 am
There will never be a definitive Batman that pleases everyone! With that said, lets look at what we have been given to date on film regarding our favorite comic book character. Tim Burton was on the right path with Batman 89, and then the franchise slid into oblivion ever since. Lets not forget that Batman in the movies was very close to death. Christopher Nolan not only resurrected the Batman franchise he has in my opinion done the best job with it so far. He has given the franchise an incredibly wide international scope. Lets just enjoy what will one day be described as possibly the most masterful Batman series of films ever. I was one of the many skeptical critics when I first learned of Heath Ledger being cast as the clown prince of crime, but after seeing the snippets of him in the trailer he appears to be dead on. Christian Bale will continue to take the Batman to places that we have yet to see on film, TDK will be the best Batman film to date. My biggest concern is whether or not Christopher Nolan and crew will return to finish out the trilogy. If he does his Batman franchise will be one to treasure for generations!
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I am more concerned about Batman’s look becoming a suit of armor… while he is the Dark Knight, he is also the World’s Greatest Dectective. The movies have yet to play that angle up suffeciently for my tastes. I have been reading Batman all my life. I look forward to this original take on a character that is not easily translatable to the big screen. The old silent film should be used as a source …http://binkythedoormat.files.wordpress.com/2006/11/themanwholaughs.png?w=455
Hollywood should get around to asking an actor to hold a frozen grin for the duration of the movie and scenes should work around the actor’s endurance. And build the movie around Bat’s detective skills. Fellow old school fan boys, you feel me?
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
For the definitive Joker, read “The Killing Joke”. Cole is right. The Joker isn’t just some psycho in makeup. He IS the Joker: Perma-clowned, a bleached white, green-haired, red-lipped, serial killer. How do we know the Ledger Joker is in fact not permawhite? Because in the trailer, his hands are not white and the make-up on his face is smeared and running. Also, his hair is only barely green at the tips and is mostly blond. From what I’ve seen it looks like they are going to go with a Joker who had some kind of facial scarring around his mouth. He then applies the white makeup and a crummy green die job. It looks like Ledger will be great, but the do-it-yourself make up and hair is a BIG mistake. One thing it does look like they might have gotten right, is that nobody knows who the Joker really is - not even the Joker. The Nicholson Joker who was a Crime Boss that decided to dress up after he had an accident was another poor idea. It made the character less frightening. The unknown is always more frightening.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I can’t wait either. And for all of you thinking that being perma-white is what define The Joker, you are wrong. Here’s the following features that define the Joker: He has white skin. He has red lips. He has green hair. He crack jokes that aren’t funny. He wears purple. And he kills people. Ledger’s Joker has all the ‘looks’ so far. We don’t know if he’s perma-white or in makeup or maybe even both? The fact is, the Joker being permawhite isn’t explain until 1951 in DC#168 which is a little over a decade since his first appearance. The Joker in his earlier appearance simply “is” and that is what Nolan is going for with no orgin story or explanation. Like Nolan put it, The Joker is an ‘absolute’. Heath Ledger in this movie is the @~*##%* Joker. Period.
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Mark Hammil is one of the best Jokers there is! His voice acting is great & the funny thing is if nobody told you it was his voice you would never know, ha ha! The Dark Knight will be the BEST Batman Movie…ever!
BATMAN FAN? Check This Out!
http://www.bat-blog.com
Thanx, Tommy
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Timothy,
Insiders have suggested that there is more to the Joker’s look than what we’ve seen thus far. There’s ALWAYS a twist in Chris Nolan’s film. It’s been suggested that the Joker’s look is the twist. Perhaps he puts on double makeup: flesh colored makeup on his body and face, and white makeup on top of the flesh colored makeup on his face.
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 pm
I was skeptical about TDK Joker at first, but since I have seen the trailer and read more interviews with Nolan and the cast, I feel much better about this version of the Joker.
When the Joker was first created he wasn’t permawhite and he didn’t wear makeup. He just “was”. As long as the Joker’s character is more or less accurate, it doesn’t matter to me so much why the Joker looks like he does. He doesn’t have a definitive origin (I don’t consider ‘Batman Confidential’ canon.)
I have a feeling that this Joker will end up with some form of permanent skin deformity besides the facial scarring whether he starts out wearing makeup or not.
Mark Hamill & BTAS rules btw!
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I really agree, we(i) never seen Heath do a comic character be4, and Jack Nic was very good and funny,
I don’t think I should say that Jack is the best of all Joker(s), even though I do have the new Batman:
BATMAN BEYOND and the “Joker, who was playing him”?
I like both Joker(s):J.N. and the tv series 1 and well Mark’s well, I don’t know, I haven’t seen it…
was he in BATMAN BEYOND? Be4? Or not?
I would like 2 c Mark’s Joker character 1 of these days, like Jack said:”DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME,” WHAT?, WHAT?,
January 4th, 2008 at 9:13 am
i have been a Batman fan all my life, and the Joker was my fav character. to me Jack was a brillient Joker, Hammil also did a really great job with the voise, Ledger look pretty good, but yeah i dont really agree with the whole make-up thing. the joker fell into a pool of chemicals and his skin turned white, hair turned green, thats what made him the joker. but i will like to see The Dark Night and how Ledger creats the Joker. it will be good
January 4th, 2008 at 10:00 am
I have seen the trailer for TDK and it looks darker and scarier than Batman Begins. I think that Heath Ledger makes a very convincing psychopath. And Christian Bale has brought the Batman franchise back from the dead! By far he is the BEST Batman of the lot!
January 4th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I’ve been reading Batman comics since I was around 6 or 7 years old…I don’t recall the Joker being “permawhite” in the early comics. He has a white face, but that’s all we get to see. In the original Batman universe, we didn’t know where the Joker came from, how he came to be, or why he had a white face. No one cared! All we knew was that he was crazy and didn’t seem to have a rhyme or reason for many of the htings he did. Bat-fans who think Nicholson’s version of the Joker is the original “true” version should do some homework. He was one very good incrnation of the character, but he’s not the original version and not the best.
January 4th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
“… sometimes I remember things one way, sometimes.. another. Either way, If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be, multipule choice!” Truth is as follows my faithful freaks, no one (besides those involved) knows anything about this new “Dark Knight” film other than what any of you have already witnessed. The best thing you all can do is hold on to your seats, sit there for 7 months, and wait for the main event. All this talk and debate over something none of you have a clue about yet… HAHAHAHA… it puts a smile on my face. So will it be good, great, or even greater? Well… thats a matter of opinion. The real question is… what do YOU believe in?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
January 4th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
On another topic, while some may consider this heresy, Tim Burton’s Batman was awful, especially the decision to cast Michael Keaton. The Batman is a man who pushed himself to the limits of physical and intellectual perfection. Michael Keaton was just a wimpy rich guy with gadgets. He couldn’t even move in that foolish Batsuit. Also, they pretty much made it look just about anyone who put on that Batsuit could have been Batman. I.e., it was all about the gadgets and the suit and not about the man. Jack Nicholson summed it up perfectly when he asked “Where does he get all those wonderful toys?” Don’t get me wrong; I love that the Batman has a wide arsenal of weapons and tools, but they are just tools. Without them he would still be the Batman. Keaton’s Batman was just the gadgets and nothing else. Thank God Nolan changed all that and put the legend back on track.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I have to agree with LewMoxin. There’s not enough of Batman the Detective. Even in Batman: The Animated Series we got to see Batman/Bruce Wayne use their analytical skills to solve crimes. A lot of those episodes (including the Animated movie, Mask of The Phantasm) came across as better fare than the live action films. I can buy Bale as a detective, and we know Nolan can pull off a pretty good mystery. That’s what we need; more mystery, more crime-solving with some butt kicking thrown in for good measure. Much less reliance on gadgetry and gimmicks. We can get those from a good James Bond flick. Batman is beyond all that.
January 5th, 2008 at 11:35 am
I agree with Timothy about the awfulness of Burton’s Batman. Many say that it was a ‘great Joker’ movie, I say otherwise.Blasphemy? Not to a TRUE Batman Fan. The Gotham city police were a bunch of incompetents, the first scene of Batman has him knocked on his butt by some purse snatcher,(He should’ve been renamed Buttman for as many times as he fell on his Butt) and Grandpa Nicholson should’ve been easily replaced by a much better Tim Curry. My only problem with Ledger is to question whether he’s going to look like a zombie-prostitute or second rate ‘Crow’ all the time or will he go through the chemical bath that bleaches his skin white> I know he can act, but without the white skin branding him as the ‘only’ Joker, any shlub can make that claim…(I know, I’m showing my Geekyness)…
January 6th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Nolan’s Batman Begins was the best of all the Batman movies by far. It’s not even close. It’s more realistic and based on “theatrics” which is a great approach. The Dark Knight looks like it’s going to be just as good as Batman Begins or even better. Christian Bale is a perfect Bruce Wayne/Batman and the rest of the cast is great also. The Heath Ledger Joker will be much better than the Nicholson Joker when it’s all said and done. A more psychotic Joker is the way to go rather than a comedian. I’m a little disappointed that Katie Holmes will not reprise her role as Rachel Dawes because I hate recasts in movies. I certainly hope Warner Brothers does everything possible not to @?@$* up this Batman franchise under Nolan because it’s certainly the best. I hope that Chris Nolan will come back to a direct a third Batman movie as well as Christian Bale. Recasts are what ruin a trilogy/franchise in my opinion.
January 7th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
You know, of all the Batmans until Bale, I liked Keaton the best. He wasn’t as buff as some actors and yet he had something–the intrinsic psycho-ness of Batman–right to the bone. Keaton’s point was that Batman was as crazy as his arch-nemesis the Joker… and if you consider it in the light of real life, he (Batman) really IS jsut as nutty as the people he sends to Arkham.
And while the movies were good, the animated series ROCKED.
January 13th, 2008 at 5:27 am
As said many times above, I agree that Batman: The animated series is the most loyal incarnation of bats & co. I too agree that the detective elements are missing from most other versions (apart from the 60’s in a strange kinda way).
Burtons batman is not as bad as people say, it was just very 80’s & told as such. I think that if burton had made a thied we would have seen more detective work & to dispute the above - no where in batman 1989 does he get knocked on his butt. We dont see keaton fight minus the batsuit so we cant truly judge his physicality. I love Bales bruce but think is batman looks wrong somehow. The batsuit is unoriginal in begins, I much prefer cape & cowl.
January 20th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Sorry guy’s but i Kinda liked Burtons movies. He made Gotham look dark and gothic and really influenced the continuation of the 30’s period.That other director, Joel{can never remember his last name, my bad} S-something made Gotham look like friggin’ Las Vagas! Gotham is not supposed to look like a disco ball! Nolan got the look right thou,dark but beleivable. Just the place that needs an attiude ajustment with a bit of maniacal humour. My bet’s Heath will make a great Joker and be the one to “put a smile”s on everyones faces.
January 25th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Mark Hamill is the god of the joker! I really wished he was the one.
Love you Mark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 12th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Mark Hamill is the definitive Joker, and if for some reason you think differently, you obviously haven’t seen his full performance on the Bruce Timm animated series!!! Although I do have conflicting opinions on who should have been Joker for the new Dark Knight, I do trust Chris Nolan, the Dude’s brilliant, and I am eager to see Heath’s performance. Really, WOW, the Man was TOTALLY dedicated to his performance, even to the point of going a LITTLE over the edge: living in a hotel by himself and practicing with every spare moment?! I do think that this is what ultimately got our man killed, too much dedication might have proved to be a bad think, but nonetheless I am psyched to see his performance! And I am SO glad that they did not cast Nicholson! Man he SUCKED as the Joker, I mean COME ON!! Seriously, haha he’s like “I’m mad that I wasn’t even considered for the role; I’m furious!!” If I was Nolan I wouldn’t even go near him.
…tootles
March 7th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I cannot believe how blind you fanboys are. The Nolan franchise has exposed the realism of Batman that makes it the best comic. What’s more, Burton’s Batman was @@$# hot and Keaton owned. the animated series is so overrated it hurts and Mark Hamill’s joker is just insulting. He can’t act, watch Star Wars if you don’t believe me.
Ultimately, fan boys have no taste and should never expouse opinions about anything ever
regards, Robert