The Joker

Character history & cinematic adaptations

Created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson for Batman #1 in April 1940, the Joker has anchored more than 85 years of Batman storytelling without ever receiving a definitive comic-book origin story. The character's lack of a fixed backstory — sometimes a failed comedian, sometimes a chemical-vat-disfigured criminal, sometimes "multiple choice" per Alan Moore's The Killing Joke — has allowed each adapter to construct their own interpretation. This narrative flexibility is the source of his enduring cinematic relevance.

Seven actors have played the Joker in major live-action productions: Cesar Romero (1966 series/film), Jack Nicholson (Batman 1989), Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight 2008) — posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, Jared Leto (Suicide Squad 2016, Snyder Cut 2021), Cameron Monaghan (Gotham TV 2014-2019), Joaquin Phoenix (Joker 2019) — Oscar for Best Actor, plus the sequel Folie à Deux (2024), and Barry Keoghan (The Batman 2022 cameo).

Two of the seven Joker actors have won Academy Awards for the role — Ledger posthumously in 2009, Phoenix in 2020. This makes the Joker the only comic-book character with two Oscar-winning live-action performances. The Ledger and Phoenix interpretations represent fundamentally different aesthetic approaches: Ledger's anarchist-terrorist played within Nolan's grounded continuity vs. Phoenix's character-study realism in an Elseworlds setting that explicitly rejected the broader DC mythology. Both reshaped the broader genre's possibilities — Ledger by proving comic-book villainy could win prestige awards, Phoenix by proving comic-book films could function as serious adult drama.

For complete ranked analysis of all seven Joker performances, see our Every Joker Actor Ranked pillar. For DCU casting speculation on the next Joker, see Who Could Play the Next Joker?

Films featuring The Joker

Notable actor portrayals

• Heath Ledger
• Joaquin Phoenix
• Jack Nicholson
• Jared Leto
• Barry Keoghan