The Joker

Article Archive

Classic Films and Shows

  • Batman (1966)
    • What is the Batman without the Joker? We look at Batman's earliest appearances, including the 1966 series (and film), the first appearances of the Joker.
  • Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders
    • Adam West and Burt Ward return to their most famous roles for an aimated continuation that picks up as if the classic series never ended.
  • Batman vs. Two-Face
    • Adam West and Burt Ward come back again to take on a new dastardly demon, the rampaging ruler of ruckus, Two-Face.

Butron, Timm, and Nolan Films

  • Batman (1989)
    • Twenty years after the 1966 TV show went off the air, Batman was back and on the big screen with an adventure directed by Tim Burton. We take a look at the film, and it's weird version of the Joker.
  • Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
    • THe best animated Batman is back, on the Silver Screen, as he battles a new foe, the Phantasm, who just may be someone all to familiar to him after all...
  • Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
    • Now, decades after Joker was last seen, it seems like the Clown Prince of Crime has returned, and he's coming after Bruce, Terry, and everyone else in the Bat-family.
  • The Dark Knight
    • After Batman Begins rebooted the Bat and washed the taste of the Schumacher films away, fans clamored for further adventures in the Nolan universe. The follow up took a decidedly darker turn as Batman faced off against his greatest foe: the Joker. We look at this film to see how it measures up.

DC Extended Universe

  • Suicide Squad (DCEU 03)
    • When Batman v Superman came out, people seemed to really hate the movie (which is understandable as it's terrible). This sent DC scrambling in an attempt to fix their universe. This lead to extensive reshoots for their next DCEU film, Suicide Squad which, reportedly, went through three different cuts before being released. Trust us, it didn't help.
  • Justice League: The Snyder Cut (DCEU 05)
    • Zack Snyder eventually got to make his ideal version of this film and it included extended flash-forwards to a dark future with more Joker. We're not sure that's really a good thing, but the reshot film is decent.

Joker-verse

  • Joker
    • In a first, we have a Joker movie without any direct glimpse of Batman (although a young Bruce Wayne does make a cameo). It's also a dark and unrepentant slog.
  • Joker: Folie à Deux
    • We return to Arthur Fleck, now in prison and on trial, in a sequel that seems to hate everything about itself and the first movie.

DC Animated Films

  • Batman vs. Dracula
    • Batman is forced to take on not only the scum of Gotham, including Penguin and Joker, but his worst foe yet: the immortal vampire Dracula.
  • Batman: Under the Red Hood
    • Batman is forced to confront someone he thought was long dead as a new crime boss move into town, rattling the tenative stability of Gotham.
  • Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2
    • Many decades later, Bruce has retired as the Bat and James Gordon is primes to enter his own retirement from the force. But the rise of a new gang, the Mutants, has cast a dark edge across Gotham, and only one man, one bat man, can save the city one last time.
  • Batman: Assault on Arkham
    • When Batman viciously takes a prisoner way from Amanda Waller, she calls in her favorite team of supervillains (forced to work with her due to bombs in their necks): the Suicide Squad.
  • The Lego Batman Movie
    • Batman saves Gotham and goes home to party alone, but both Alfred and Joker have other plans for the plastic caped crusader...
  • Batman Ninja
    • A look at the direct-to-DVD DC animated film featuring Batman going back to feudal Japan. This film gets really anime.
  • Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
    • Adapted from the similarly named comics, this animated movie features a team up two unlikely teams, the Batman family and the TMNT, as they're forced to take on the combined forced of Ras Al Ghul and the Shredder. It is also an absolute, goofy delight.

Additional Films and Shows

Video Games

  • Batman: The Caped Crusader
    • Ocean's follow-up title feels more like a traditional superhero video game while still, at the same time, not quite nailing the formula.
  • Batman (1989 PC Game)
    • The third game in a row from Ocean, this one is at least based on the 1989 movie... but it's still not that great in comparison to the NES title.
  • Batman (1989 NES Game)
    • Sunsoft gets the rights to make a Batman game, and they absolutely knock it out of the park with this NES adventure.
  • Batman (1990 Game Boy Game)
    • The Game Boy title inspired by the 1989 movie goes in a different, and far less interesting, direction from the NES title.
  • Batman (1990 Genesis Game)
    • Sunsoft hits the well again for another game inspired by Batman '89, but this time for a much more generic brawler.
  • Batman (1990 PC Engine Game)
    • The final game from Sunsoft to tie in to the 1989 film takes Batman and plunks him down into, of all things, a warmed-over Pac-Man clone.
  • Batman (1990 Arcade Game)
    • The last game to come out based on Tim Burton's 1989 film ends up being a tired (and tiring) beat-em-up without any fresh ideas.
  • Batman: Return of the Joker (1991 NES Game)
    • Batman returns in this decent little NES platformer shooter that, fair or not, doesn't live up to the potential of the origial NES game.
  • Batman: Return of the Joker (1992 Game Boy Game)
    • Batman and the Joker take their feud to the Game Boy for a title that really wants to be the NES original, but fails on two many basic game design fronts.
  • Batman: The Animated Series (1993 Game Boy Game)
    • Konami turns its attention to the Game Boy with an adaptation of the Bruce Timm created animated series with this decent little title.
  • The Adventures of Batman & Robin (1994 SNES Game)
    • Konami delivers the goods again with anither fantastic platforming action adventure for the Dark Knight.
  • The Adventures of Batman & Robin (GEN 1994)
    • Sega takes control of the animated series adaptations with a visually stunning, but boring the play, run-and-gun shooter.
  • The Adventures of Batman & Robin (1994 Sega CD Game)
    • Sega takes the Batman Animated Series license and applies it to the driving game play from the Sega CD Batman Returns for a very odd, unofficial sequel.
  • The Adventures of Batman & Robin (1994 Game Gear Game)
    • The final adaptation for the animated series barely feels like it plays with the cartoon's license at all... and also isn't fun to play.
  • Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000 Console Game)
    • This movie tie-in game fails to find the fun in the setting of Batman Beyond, or much fun at all for that matter.
  • Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000 Game Boy Color Game)
    • The portable version of the game fares better than the console edition, even if it's still not a massive gameplay success.
  • Batman: Chaos in Gotham (2001 Game Boy Color Game)
    • Ubisoft attempts another platform brawler for Team Batman and it's... moderately okay.

See Also:

  • Top 10 Movies (2018): An updated look at our favorite films, this time from 2018. Batman, again, gets high honors.
  • What Is Going On With the DCEU?: From multiple Batmen to a Musical Joker, the DCEU is in a really weird place.
  • Canceled DCEU Projects: With the death and rebirth of the DCEU actively going on, we take a look back at all the projects that could have been (and likely never will).

Podcasts: