Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Cesar Romero, they were all great Jokers. But in our opinion, the GOAT when it comes to portrayals of the Clown Prince of Crime is none other than Mark Hamill. For over thirty years, Hamill has lent his voice to the Joker, since the first season of Batman: The Animated Series. In the subsequent decades, we’ve heard his signature cackle in countless other animated films and video games.
However, it seems his days as “Mister J” are now officially over. And the reason why is simple. The Batman to his Joker is no longer with us, as Kevin Conroy passed away last year. Here’s what Mark Hamill had told Empire Magazine (via ScreenRant) about retiring his Joker for good:
They would call and say, ‘They want you to do the Joker,’ and my only question was, ‘Is Kevin [Conroy] Batman?’ If they said yes, I would say, ‘I’m in.’ We were like partners. We were like Laurel and Hardy. Without Kevin there, there doesn’t seem to be a Batman for me.”
Honestly, we fully agree with Mr. Hamill here. Whenever he played the Joker, it was always opposite the late, great Kevin Conroy. They were a duo for over three decades, and it just feels wrong to hear one without the other. Out of respect for his friend, we totally get it. And we fully support his decision.
Mark Hamill’s version of the iconic DC villain will go down in history, and we have dozens of episodes and movies of his Joker to relive. This was the classiest decision he could make regarding the character. Although other voice actors will (and have) taken on the Dark Knight and Joker animated roles, in our humble opinion, they have an uphill battle to ever match the team of Conroy and Hamill. When it came to voice acting, this was the real dynamic duo.
