#1 - Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill is The Joker.
Oh sure, he may have played Luke Skywalker or Firelord Ozai in the past. But make no mistake, he IS The Joker.
He is synonymous with the roll and has been for over twenty-years. When somebody picks up a batman comic today, they don’t hear the voice of Heath Ledger, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jack Nicholsan, or Cesar Romero. They hear him.
I have seen interviews with Mark Hamill and how big a fan he was of the character before auditioning. The man had several laughs prepared for the character for ever possible scenario. He had a creepy one, a psychotic one, a corny joke one, and a triumphant one. He molded his performance on the comics. In turn, the comics have in turn altered the Joker to fit his performance. Comic creators have captured so many elements of how he plays the character in print today. Mark Hamill consistently did a top notch performance based on the comic books and in turn the character in the comic books reflects Mark Hamill’s performance.
But what do you expect when he’s been playing it consistently ever since he started? I’m serious, I don’t think this guy will ever stop playing the character. I mean, he started in 19992 with Batman: The Animated Series (3 years), returned to the roll in 1997 for The New Batman Adventures (2 years), which was immediately followed by The New Batman/Superman Adventures (3 years), and finished of the animated run with some damn good appearances in the Justice League cartoon (3 years). His last chronological appearance was supposed to have occurred in the 2000 movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, which remains to this day my favorite DC animated movie of all time. Then, with the release of The Batman and The Dark Knight, which casted other people, you’d think he’d be done right?
Only last year he played the Joker again as the main villain in Batman: Arkham Asylumn, which one game of the year. Go figure.
But what about the voice makes it so memorable? Well, Mark Hamill is able to hit a voice that’s just THERE. A voice that’s threatening, funny, wacky, and embodies everything we love about the character. It’s a voice that would not fit any other comic book character but the Joker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghu25uWIZJ8
It’s a voice that only he can do. Sure, there are people who try to imitate it and some have come damn close:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa0R_2K9iec
But in the end he’s the only one that can carry it so naturally. I have not heard of one person who didn’t like it. Well, other than Gene Siskel.
I’ll admit this is the version of the Joker I grew up on and that makes me a little biased. But really, this isn’t me praising a roll in a Saturday morning cartoon show I saw as a kid. Mark Hamill has played this roll over the entire course of my Batman experience, from when I first saw his garbage truck scheme when I was 2 and when I beat Arkham Asylum last year while I should have been completing an Organic Chemistry Lab. He is a master actor who is the best suited for the character and has played him for 20 years. It wasn’t just one stellar performance or a cool take on the character I haven’t seen before. It was an authentic transition of The Joker to another medium that’s earned a reputation for being timeless.
Arkham Asylum’s sequel is set to come out next year. The trailer has already come out and Joker is in it. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with the game.
And I’m going to pick up that that Atom / Joker Brave and the Bold Story I saw in the store the other day.
And I think I’ll watch the surfing episode of the 1970’s show or maybe the Batman vs Dracula movie next week.
But first I need to get back to my homework.