The green hair, purple suit, painted white face, mind insane as much as Batman's is sound. Personally I can't wait to see the infamous character with these features once again on the big screen, do you feel the same? Here I discuss my take on The Joker's cinema future and I also raise questions on how it could be done.
To get a better understanding of the future let's first look to the past of this characters cinema history. You have Batman (1989), and The Dark Knight (2008). In Batman (1989) we got Jack Nicholson's take on the character, one I believe to be good. He had faithful similarities to the comics apart from some changes which are to some very large. Changes such as his identity being revealed and him being the murderer of Bruce Wayne's parents. I think for the time the portrayal was fitting, it wasn't revolutionary per se but it could've been done a lot worse. Jack Nicholson really has a bigger than life persona and I think it makes sense that such an actor portray the clown prince of crime. My personal gripes are varied, I do mind the aforementioned changes to his character such as his identity being revealed and him being the murderer of Bruce Wayne's parents. On a bigger scale I have a bigger gripe about the portrayal, I do like The Joker being off the rocker to the tenth level, something I don't think was portrayed. Although I believe we did end up getting that in the portrayal I will discuss next.
The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008). Heck I could leave it at that. There's so much to get into with this portrayal, I'll start with where I left off in the last paragraph. The Joker being off the rocker to the tenth level. I believe here we get that in fantastic fashion. Changes include a change in look, probably the biggest being the scars. Man those scars, I couldn't tell you how he got them. As far as I know it's a deliberate multiple choice dilemma. Get it? Alright, I love this portrayal, changes aside I think it gets the essence of the character perfectly while expanding what it can be. I can go on talking about this portrayal for hours but for the sake of this article I'll cut it here and hopefully I said enough to express my admiration for this portrayal. Now on to the future.
The future of The Joker in cinema. I wonder. Are those folks over at Warner Bros. thinking about revisiting this character in the next round of Batman movies? Are they thinking about giving other rogues who haven't had a shot as recently a go around to battle the caped crusader on the big screen? Or are they not thinking about the next movies at all? I wonder. Batman's rogue gallery is rich, a different choice wouldn't be unusual. But when it comes to reaching for the very top shelf I think the choice is very clear. I also wonder about which Joker we could get. A classic take? A re-imagining? What about something akin to the Arkham Asylum version? I know people love the Arkham Asylum version, and from what I can tell it's very good. I now leave the discussion unto you, I want to hear people's opinions. What do you think? Do you think we'll see another portrayal in the next batch of movies? What are some characteristics you would like to see? Please comment below, spread your opinion and have fun with it. Thanks for reading, farewell.