He may go by many names, but there’s one nemesis to Gotham’s hero that we love to hate. Whether you call him The Crown Prince of Crime, The Harlequinn of Hate, or simply The Joker, you can’t deny the exhilarating connection between him and Batman. For decades we’ve been reading and watching as he tries to outsmart Batman. This supervillain went from almost being killed off during his first run-in with The Caped Crusader to appearing in countless comic books, tv shows and movies. But the constant cat and mouse game that Batman and the Joker play wouldn’t be possible without the iconic actors who have taken up the mantle of the Clown Prince of Crime.
Over the years, The Joker has shown up in significant ways. Recently The Joker was nominated for quite a few awards and that got Costume SuperCenter thinking back on all the times the character took to the big screen. In 1989 Jack Nicholson played a man named Jack Napier who, after being disfigured in a chemical accident, became The Joker. Then, in 2008, Heath Ledger took up the mantle in The Dark Knight. Jared Leto got to step into the clown shoes in Suicide Squad with a performance that struck a nerve with audiences. And most recently, Joaquin Phoenix portrayed the man who would become the Joker to give us a better sense of the man behind the makeup.
In this walk down memory lane, Costume SuperCenter created printable posters featuring quotes from these four iconic portrayals of the Joker.
