Joaquin Phoenix is putting on the white makeup and a smile on his face to bring the clown prince of crime back to the cinema. Much like the Joker’s origins, Joaquin Pheonix is going to bring his own take on the Joker. A down on his luck man that sees the world as a scary place that needs to change. This will be the fifth big-screen actor to portray the Joker, but the 22nd actor to play the role in any medium. So in honor of the new Joker, I will be raking The best Joker performances. For this list, I will be looking at movies, TV shows, and video games, however, if the actor played Joker more than once I will count it all as one performance. I am not looking at the depiction of the character, I am looking at the voice and the man behind the makeup that brought the Joker to live. I am also excluding Jered Leto’s Joker because he really doesn’t do enough to justify his character.
5. Zach Galifianakis/ Lego Batman (2017)
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Here is one of the Joker performance that might never get the credit it deserves. When it comes to delivering a wacky Joker the go-to example has always been the legendary Cesar Romero’s Joker. However, when looking back at that performance it is one of those so bad is good. Romero’s Joker is wacky, yes, but Galifianakis’ Joker is great because it digs deeper into the character. The biggest plot point of the Lego Batman movie is Bruce Wayne’s relationship with everyone including his relationship with Joker. One of the best scenes of the movie is when Batman treats Joker like a girlfriend that he has to break up with, and Zach delivery is amazing.
Zach Galifianakis brings his own unique charisma into a role that has a history of gritty violence and turns it into one of the scariest family-friendly Joker ever. In the long run, people will always look at Cesar Romero, but I believe that Zach did it better. Also, he did not have to shave his facial hair.
