..and we fans love him for that.
And that is because Mark Hamill, is the best known voice of the Joker in animation and video games.
He started voicing the Clown Prince of Crime in BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES (BTAS) in 1992 after the original voice actor for the role, Tim Curry, was deemed too scary for the role. Once Hamill took the helm of the role he made him his and came to be portrayed on subsequent animated series like SUPERMAN ADVENTURES, STATIC SHOCK, and the JUSTICE LEAGUE. His haunting, maniacal, and crazed laugh is likely forever stuck in the heads and became the trademark of the character.
He even voiced the Joker in several animated movies like BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM, BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER and the BATMAN SUPERMAN MOVIE.
Not satisfied with the animated media, Hamill made the jump to the video game industry when he was cast as the voice of the Joker first for the game BATMAN: VENGEANCE based on his BTAS character and lately for the ARKHAM ASYLUM/ ARKHAM CITY/ARKHAM KNIGHT video games series. He also went on to voice the Clown for other animated games like DC Universe Online.
Hamill then retired but was open to return for voicing Joker in an animated adaptation of THE KILLING JOKE…
…that has finally been completed and ready to hit the stores in August 2, 2016. But that has not stopped Hamill who is supposed to return to his character once more for the Cartoon Network TV show, JUSTICE LEAGUE ACTION, which will likely premiere sometime in the next year.
As Hamill has played the Joker longer than any other actor, it’s no surprise that he’s spent more than a bit of time trying to get inside the Clown Prince of Crime’s warped head. In the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, he had this to offer about arguably the most intriguing super villain of all time:
Joker is always frustrated because he doesn’t think of himself as a villain…He thinks of himself as an under-appreciated genius. The citizens of Gotham City don’t accord him the reverence and the acclaim he feels he deserves. I give him that theatrical impresario voice, like the Jose Ferrer character in Enter Laughing. The Joker has a flamboyance that appeals to me. He enjoys what he does so much. I just can’t quit him.
Of course, the most exciting bit out of this is that it would seem Hamill has no intentions of giving up the role anytime soon, which will no doubt make a lot of fans very, very happy. However, the glimpse into the Joker’s mind that he also offered fans with this quote is also quite intriguing as well.
Anyone who’s watched Hamill’s version of the Joker knows that this description fits him perfectly. He does have more of a classic criminal attitude about him than some other iterations (such as Ledger’s anarchist), but the reason he ultimately does all of the crazy things that he does is to show off his comedic, criminal genius.
