The 4 best Jokers before Jared Leto
Serious dramatic actor Jared Leto will be asking "Why so serious?" pretty soon.
The Oscar winner has officially signed on to play The Joker in Warner Bros. movie Suicide Squad, thereby joining a giant list of actors who have played Batman's archenemy.
Before Leto is forced to dye his beautiful man bun green, let's look back the most iconic Jokers from film and TV.
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
We'll let Kevin Kline, who presented Ledger's family with the postmortem Best Supporting Actor Oscar at the 2009 Academy Awards,
In a year of striking film images, perhaps the most unforgettable was that of a man with his face smeared in clown makeup, gleefully sticking his head out of a speeding car, relishing the night wind and reveling in the chaos he has unleashed on the streets of Gotham City. Menacing, mercurial, droll and diabolical, Heath Ledger, as The Joker in The Dark Knight, kept us all on edge, anxious to see what act of appalling mischief he might commit next. With this bravura performance, as well as with a wide range of other roles to which he put his unique signature, Heath Ledger has left us an original and enduring legacy.
RIP.
Jack Nicholson in Batman
Nicholson's performance in the first Tim Burton Batman movie is nothing short of iconic, so much so that the news that Ledger was playing the role caused more than its fair share of nerd rage. Nicholson's manic, perpetually-smiling Joker wasn't as dark as Ledger's ended up being, but it was plenty terrifying in its own right.
Mark Hamill in Batman: The Animated Series
Yup that's right, Luke Skywalker also played one of the most iconic villains of all time. And he was pretty amazing at it. Hamill has had a successful career as a voice actor since Star Wars, and his talents are nowhere better displayed than as the Batman villain.
Cesar Romero in Batman (the TV series)
Romero was the first to put on the Joker's white facepaint on screen, on both the original TV show and the first Batman: The Movie. His performance was as campy as the show he was on, but for this iteration of the character it definitely worked.