DC’s brutal new The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves, has finally been released in theaters throughout the world after several delays. New incarnations of some of the most renowned rogues in the Batman gallery have arrived with it. So there’s no better time than now to rate some of the finest Batman villains that have ever graced our screens in the caped crusader’s cinematic career.
11. Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow (Batman Begins)
Cillian Murphy, who starred in Peaky Blinders, earned his big break as Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s first Batman film. While Liam Neeson’s charm and screen presence make his Ra’as Al Ghul a fascinating menace, there’s a sense that a genuinely great League of Assassins leader has yet to be seen in live-action. Murphy, whose Scarecrow strikes a wonderful balance between the placid Ra’as Al Ghul and a version on Scarecrow that shows off the villain’s disgust for his victims and his insane glee in killing people, has no such reservations. Murphy‘s scene-stealing is all the more stunning because Scarecrow is a minor villain in the film.
10. Jim Carrey’s The Riddler (Batman Forever)
Some may criticize Jim Carrey‘s portrayal for being a little too hammy, but we believe the colorful universe of Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever calls for it. Carrey has already proven his ability to play more subdued characters, thus his cartoony portrayal of the Riddler is more akin to how the character has been presented in the comics than a terrible acting decision. Regardless of whether you like it or not, Carrey makes an impact, which is more than can be said for many of the previous Batman villains.
9. Jessie Eisenberg in the role of Lex Luthor (Batman v. Superman)
Jesse Eisenberg reprises his role as the software magnate from The Social Network, but this time with a figure plucked from the cultural zeitgeist: the instantly recognized, excessively arrogant Silicon Valley tech bro. Even among the massive physiques and men of steel that he is positioned against in the film, his Lex constantly appears on the point of a nervous breakdown, and yet he nearly always feels like the strongest person in the room. It’s a fantastic reworking of a character who could have been too boring in a film that is already dull, but it’s just the perfect amount of macabre.
8. Danny DeVito’s Penguin (Batman Returns)
Given the character of his disgusting and over-the-top crime boss, Danny DeVito‘s portrayal as Oswald Cobblepot is sadly undervalued. DeVito‘s Penguin embraces the essence of the crazy comic book character in all its magnificence, with a tragic history that influences his future destiny. Although Colin Farell‘s portrayal of the crime lord is excellent, he’s still nowhere near the cartoonish Batman villain established by DeVito in the 1992 Burton masterpiece.
7. Tom Hardy’s Bane (The Dark Knight Rises)
Heath Ledger‘s Joker is a difficult act for any actor to follow, especially with a character who spends so much of his screen time brooding and quiet. Tom Hardy, on the other hand, manages to make Nolan’s reimagining of Bane feel brilliant. In every way, Bane in The Dark Knight Rises appears to be the polar antithesis of Ledger’s Joker. Bane is a brute who manages to physically and emotionally shatter Batman. He is more concerned with order and discipline than with anarchy and assisted by his large stature. Not to add, he has the ability to bring down the whole law and order of Gotham, which makes his links to Ra’as Al Ghul feel earned and provides a brilliant reference to the previous film.
6. Aaron Eckhart, “Two-Face” (The Dark Knight)
The fact that Aaron Eckhart‘s Harvey Dent’s fall to the evil side seems as terrible as it does in the third act of The Dark Knight is a tribute to the film’s excellent writing. Dent’s turn as Two-Face is essentially the Joker’s victory celebration, a triumph proving how the Clown Prince of Crime was capable of delivering on his promise of anarchy and corruption, contorting the most honorable person in the city into something unidentifiable, much like Bane and Talia Al-Ghul came as a result of Bruce’s war with and eventual defeat of Ra’as Al-Ghul in the first film. In comparison to The Joker in the picture, Eckhart feels like a small annoyance, yet his performance as the villain signifies so much more.
5. Jack Nicholson’s Joker (Batman)
The Joker was initially played by Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton’s Batman, exposing a new generation to Gotham’s favorite villain. Many people regard this performance as a classic, and with good reason. The crazed clown played by Jack Nicholson in the 1989 film was the stuff of nightmares, a serial murderer who went around town killing people with joy. It’s no surprise that he was the center of attention in the first picture, rather than Michael Keaton. Nicholson’s performance was so outstanding that he immortalized the Joker as an actor’s ideal role and influenced future actors such as Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix.
4. Paul Dano’s The Riddler (The Batman)
Matt Reeves’ picture isn’t great, with a third act that might be cut significantly. His portrayal of The Riddler, on the other hand, is nothing short of fantastic. Reeves is responsible for reworking one of the corniest Batman villains into a bloodcurdling psychopath by making him a Zodiac-style murderer of the digital era and casting a character actor like Paul Dano. Dano’s Riddler is so outstanding that it’s improbable that the darker edge brought to him by Reeves and Dano won’t affect comics and future renditions of the character.
3. Michelle Pfieffer’s Catwoman (Batman Returns)
In the latest Batman feature, Zoe Kravitz‘s Catwoman is undeniably entertaining, but it pales in comparison to Pfieffer’s version of Gotham’s favorite thief. Her transformation from the mousy Selina Kyle to the beautiful whip-wielding Catwoman is a spectacle for the ages. Everything about her acting is cranked up to eleven, yet it all makes sense in Tim Burton‘s campy gloomy Gotham.
2. Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker (Joker)
Although not exactly a Batman franchise picture, this one-off Elseworlds-style movie was one of DC’s most lucrative and wise bets. Furthermore, the film created a monster unlike any other by introducing a terrifyingly genuine and eternally bleak Gotham. While we never saw Batman confront Joaquin Phoenix‘s Joker, we did get to witness a young Bruce Wayne and a different perspective on the early Wayne family. While he isn’t pitted against anybody in the film, he does end up reverting to the terrible super villain we’re all familiar with.
1. Heath Ledger’s Joker (The Dark Knight)
Heath Ledger‘s final performance has a lot of pathos linked to it, but even with that out of mind, it’s impossible to ignore how powerful he is as the Joker. His sequences and line delivery have become legendary in pop culture, and his performance in The Dark Knight is so outstanding that it has harmed subsequent Batman and DC efforts, with no villain coming close to matching his level for a long time. His performance pushed comic book films to the point where they could be nominated for Academy Awards, and he became the first actor to win an Oscar for a role in a superhero film. Heath Ledger‘s terrifying Joker is without a doubt one of the greatest villains of all time, and no one on this list comes close to matching his sheer charisma.
