Heath Ledger.

Heath Ledger the best ultimate Joker.
Jack Nicholson was too fat and old and just acted like himself. Jared Leto was a pussy whipped idiot in jewelry and tattoos.

Jack Nicholson is the clear winner, Heath Ledger was not the Joker.

Heath Ledger. By a considerable margin.

Heath Ledger

jack Nicholson is the joker

Watching the original Batman again as I type, I'm blown away at how masterful Jack Nicholson is as an actor. His delivery, expressions, nuances and ticks as the Joker are greatJack all way way.

I almost go back that far, and I don't mind him. I just don't find him intimidating at all.
It is also hard to rank anything from that series as the best because it was all so silly. Yes, it was supposed to be silly, but that still hurts how it gets ranked.

Nicholson seemed clearly partly inspired by Romero too. I actually found 60s Batman scary, with all those psychedelic camera angles. And it was always in the 'lair' of the villain so, if you were killed, there'd be no other witnesses.

since I go back that far!
Ditto! Yes, Romero's Joker is the one by which I tend to judge others.
All for a box of chocolates

Call me a wimp; prefer Cesar Romero since I go back that far! The camp wasn't as disturbing as the future incarnations came to be being quite dark! I can do without a complete sociopath as the villain with nary a conscience in him! ;-/

http://scifiblogs3.blogspot.com/2012/12/batman-forever.html

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• Batman Homage

I agree. Nicholson's Joker was intimidating. You could see the "crazy" in his eyes.
Ledger's Joker was annoying. I wondered how he'd lived that long - I couldn't believe someone hadn't put a bullet in his brains years before.

Nicholson. Fear of God when he smashes the mirror in the plastic surgeon's, when you see his makeup and without any time to take in the manic horror circus clown of it, he kills Grissom, dominating the viewer with his presence. "That you, sugarbumps?" When he smashes Alicia's death mask. So seductive too. His Joker's a lover, not some fairly sexless Ledger creation. And with Nicholson's literary witticisms in the film, it's like watching a psychotic Willy Wonka gangster. Such personality and creepy sense of style. In a way, Jared Leto's better than Ledger because he 'gets' the romance of the Joker like Nicholson did. Leto looks like that young Jack Napier style in Batman (1989). Maybe Ledger and Hamill are closest to the comics for all I know so I understand people voting for them but film's a different canvas unless you're making Sin City (and the sequel to that was lacklustre).

Mark Hamill hands down! Animated voice Joker or not he is still the best there is.

Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger
"Metallica loves Ponyville!"

Heath Ledger

Jack Nicholson