Best Joker in Comics, Games and Cinema

Joker is not only one of the most famous comic villains, but in principle one of the most popular antagonists in pop culture, along with Dracula and Darth Vader. And, of course, for almost eighty years of his existence, he managed to get countless incarnations in all possible formats.

On the occasion of the release of the first solo film about the Joker, we decided to recall the best versions of the villain.

In comics

The first story about the Joker was also called the work of Victor Hugo: "The person who Magic Reels Casino laughs"

Let's start, of course, with comics, where the clown made his debut back in 1940. The character was created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, taking as a basis the image of Konrad Faidt from the adaptation of Roman Hugo "The person who laughs". True, he had nothing to do with the unfortunate Guinpleno except appearance – the Joker immediately appeared to be a criminal genius and a brutal killer with a perverted sense of humor. In his first plot, he transmitted on the radio when this or that representative of the Gotham elite dies, and then performed the prophecy with his own hand.

In the fifty -fourth year, under the pressure of conservative citizens, the commander of America adopted a set of rules, actually obliged them to self -censorship. From the adventures of Batman and other superheroes, violence, frankness and any adult topics completely disappeared. Well, the Joker for a company with other supervillains has turned into a harmless dirty trick, which is engaged in bloodless robberies. To return to the original ominous image, he was allowed only twenty years later.

Since then, almost every eminent screenwriter changed the Joker for himself. In Frank Miller, this is a long -haired psychopath in an expensive suit, in Brian Azzarello is an eccentric gangster who loves to cry from Harley Quinn to cry on the luxurious chest of everyone, and Scott Snider depicts a completely raging maniac who cuts his face or sews back. Choose one of these images from all these images – the task is not. They are too different.

Probably the most replicated frame from a "murderous joke"

But there is one comic that has been wearing the title of unconditional masterpiece and the main work about the Joker for many years – "Murderous joke" Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. And not in vain. Graphic novel from the author "Guardians" turns Batman's archivist into an ambiguous and multi -layer character. On its pages, the cruelty of the villain, and the depth of his madness, and the complexity of relationships with the dark knight are revealed. And the charm of a “murderous joke” is that it is open for interpretations. Some will see in her the tragic background of the Joker, others – the plot about his final confrontation between Batman, and the third – the subtle game in “Believe – I do not believe” with the reader. And each of these points of view has the right to exist.

In games

Everything is easier with games. Yes, a lot of them came out about the Gotham hero, and in most of them his sworn enemy appears, but basically he only plays the role of the boss. You can play for the psychopath itself in the creations of Ed Bun and his team – dilogy Injustice (pro Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe It is hardly worth remembering). Here the Joker appears in an unexpected role of a fighter, capable of defeating at least Scorpio, even Superman himself. Alas, in the plot the villain is deprived of attention: he dies at the very beginning of the first part and then appears only in parallel dimensions and hallucinations. Everything is clear with Lego games-here the clown is as harmless as in the 1960s.

Perhaps the most original interpretation of the character was presented by the studio Telltale In your interactive series. Initially, the Joker, known as John Dow, is an obsessive, but generally harmless mentally ill, which simply needs to communicate. And, depending on the player’s solutions, it can either go along the usual path, or become an Avenger following the example of Batman.

And yet, when it comes to games about Batman and Joker, we must admit that a series Batman: Arkham Until no one surpassed. Studios Rocksteady incredibly managed to fit in three projects (four, if we count Origins from WB Games Montreal ) all key characters, all the main topics and events of almost all significant comic arches about the Dark Knight. And this is not to mention the gameplay that gave the industry a revolutionary combat system and a working template of many subsequent superhero games ( Marvel’s Spider-Man this proof). Well, the Joker himself in the Arkham series is experiencing the most dramatic death and no less dramatic afterlife life. In the last of the released games of the franchise, it is perfectly shown how deeply the hero’s consciousness penetrated the sinister jester: even from the grave he continues to torment his opponent.

In animation

In the cartoon "Batman: under the cap" of Joker, John Di Majio – Bender's voice and dog Jake voiced

In the cartoons of the clown prinn of the criminal world, it regularly appears since the early 1970s and, as you might guess, mainly appears either a foolish and harmless bully, or a rather impressive villain, but still without excesses. And what to do: the target audience must be sold toys, not nightmares.

At least this applies to television – in the animation on DVD, the creators are much more freedom. As soon as Warner Bros. I decided to release cartoons not only for children, the painted Joker became much tougher. In full range "Batman: under the cap" He clogs Robin with a mount and cuts a man with a broken glass, and in the film adaptation "Returning the Dark Knight" Half a gas a whole auditorium. A couple of years ago, even a provocative “murderous joke” became a cartoon – however, it didn’t work out very much, even though the character once again voiced the uniform Mark Hamill. It is his voice and laughter that are considered to be the reference when it comes to a joker, and all thanks to the cult animated series of the nineties beyond the authorship of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini. There, the former Jedi opened up with an unexpected side even for himself and since then for twenty -seven years has been playing a beloved character in different projects.

But, perhaps, Cartoon became a real benefit Hamilla "Batman of the future: the return of the Joker" 2000. It was he who was the first step of DC in the direction of adult animation, and the creators finally showed the best version of the villain without amendments to the young audience. In the familiar universe of the animated series, a real thriller turned around with a famously twisted intrigue and a couple of really shocking episodes. If you want to evaluate the film yourself, look for an expanded version – it is even more spectacular.

In TV shows and films

Before moving on to the big screen, we will briefly go through the small, since there is no particular competition. In the legendary sitcom of the 1960s, Joker was played by Cuban Cuban Cezar Romero, and performed perfectly. True, the 59-year-old actor refused to shave his elegant mustache for the sake of the image, and they are easy to see under the makeup. This, however, did not prevent Romero from realizing the image of the indefatigable clown from the comics of the “Silver Age”, which perfectly fed into the booth that is going on on the screen.

In the series "Gotham" Two Joker at once – Valeska Gemini. Jerome is a kind of proto-jacket, a violent anarchist who does not feed bread, let me blow up something. But his brother Jeremaia is a criminal genius and psychopath, who loves to arrange young Bruce Wayne psychological torture. Cameron Moneyn played both roles perfectly, but it hardly pulls out a bad show.

Well, now it's time for the hottest confrontation. We will not touch Joaquin Phoenix – his character’s interpretation is certainly worthy of the Pantheon of the best, but the film Todd Phillips itself has not yet managed to evaluate the wide audience. Therefore, we consider those versions around which many copies are already broken.

Joker from the picture of Tim Burton, most spectators remember since childhood. Moreover, because of this tape, many are seriously convinced that the real name of the character Jack Napier or Nepier and that he killed Bruce Wayne's parents. Yeah, the scriptwriters mocked the canon from the heart, but their main crime is that they deprived the villain of mystery ..

Burton Joker turned out to be a rather pragmatic gangster, for whom Batman is just a hindrance. And it does not feel much insanity in it, which is largely due to the game of Jack Nicholson. At the time of filming, the actor was already a Hollywood star with two Oscars. He agreed to participate in the film only after long persuasion and for the fabulous fee, and on the site appeared only in strictly prescribed hours. And if in parallel with "Batman" Turn on, for example, "Shine" , You can see that in the tape of Burton, Nicholson is used hardly half of his talent.

It is difficult to say how much invested in the role of Jared Summer, but the fact that the PR team "Suicide detachment" worked in the sweat of the face – that's for sure. What stories did not fed the press. Soloist 30 Seconds to Mars , Say, he studied the behavior of serial killers, pester his colleagues with all sorts of pranks and generally got used to the image that a psychiatrist was on duty on the set. In general, the audience was promised a performance, which will become a real pearl of the picture. Yes, what is there – all the promoterials of the "detachment" were made in green and purple. And as a result ..

Well, ahem … of those ten minutes that the Joker is on the screen, it is quite difficult to draw conclusions. It seems that all forces went to study his new image, not dialogues and motivation. Of course, the film was pretty cut and redrawn, but even the little that got to the cinemas left the character fans more unpleasant impressions. Paradoxically, the clown-prisoner came out too eccentric, too unnatural. And here it can be assumed that there is some kind of author's idea in this-after all, the Joker always behaves with a playful. However, they did not give Jared the summer really and, apparently, will not be given to Jared.

We will not swim against the current and quite predictably call the favorite of the only Oscar -winning supervision in the history of the cinema – Joker Hit Ledger. It is difficult to say about this outstanding work something that has not yet been said in ten years. In many ways, it is thanks to Ledger "Dark Knight" gained such incredible popularity, and Batman and Joker finally turned into the category of pop cultural icons. It is known that the actor approached the role with all seriously and painstakingly created the image of the character, locked in the hotel room. In a diary written on behalf of the villain, he glued the photographs of hyenas, as well as shots from the "Clothing Orange" Stanley Kubrick.

However, another possible prototype of this version of the Joker can be found not in the cinema, but in the criminal chronicle. The manner of speech, posture, gaze – all this seemed to be borrowed from Charles Manson, the founder of the bloody sect "Family". It is noteworthy that the young maximalists also often romance. But even if this is all the coincidence and Ledger did not watch an interview with the criminal, he turned out to be an extremely charismatic and plausible maniac. Yes, there is little left from the comic canon, but such a reading not only has the right to exist, but also the worthy of the title of one of the best.

That's all the most noticeable incarnations of the Joker that we managed to remember. However, the jacket of the killer is so popular that there is no doubt-after a couple of years this list will lengthen. And what is the version of the villain to your liking? Write in the comments!

Review of the movie "Joker". From a smile will become darker