Should the Joker be retired from the Batman franchise?

Magehart

Magehart

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CNN Linky

A group of Heath Ledger fans have taken their reverence for the late "The Dark Knight" star to a whole new level.

Followers of the actor, who electrified audiences with his chilling reinvention of The Joker in the second Batman blockbuster, are calling for the character to be retired from the movies permanently.

Ledger supporters at new Web site, The Ultimate Joker, launched a petition last week calling for studios to remove The Joker from any future Batman movies. The petition currently has 2431 supporters.

"We think Heath deserves this honor," the site's team leader, Fer Barbella told CNN over the phone from Buenos Aires. "He is the ultimate Joker."

"We are Batman fans from the comics and from the movies," he said, "After we saw "The Dark Knight" we thought this Joker was really the best. It deserves to be withdrawn from any Batman sequels.

"When Michael Jordan retired they withdrew the number 23 jersey as an honor. It's the same thing with Heath."

Barbella told CNN he believes any new performance just won't be able to top Ledger's.

"He upgraded the character in a thrilling way," he said. "Although a lot of actors would love the chance to play the Joker, as Batman fans and now Heath Ledger fans, we think no-one could ever perform it as well as he did."

The Web site is the brainchild of Barbella, 34, Nico Pimentel, 33 and Natalia Rodoni, 33, all advertising creatives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The trio say that if they collect enough names they may go to the studio direct to present their petition.

"As soon as we start seeing that we have more than 50,000 names on our Web site, perhaps we will go to the Warner Brothers gate and do a bit of activism," Pimentel said.

The huge buzz around Ledger's performance as The Joker last year stemmed from his update of the iconic character previously played by camp comedian Cesar Romero, and as a hateful clown by Jack Nicholson.

Ledger's Joker was a very different proposition from those that had come before: in a ripped, stained suit; clown makeup smeared across a scarred, twisted mouth; his Joker was a nihilistic, sociopathic prankster. "Why so serious?" he sneered in a performance that received rave reviews from critics globally.


The actor was found dead, after overdosing on prescription drugs, at his apartment in New York on 22 January 2008, shortly after concluding work on "The Dark Knight."

Ledger has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of The Joker, having already been awarded a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor.

Barbella says that the Web site and petition is their award: "The Academy gives an Oscar," he said. "This is a new award from the people. A user-generated award."
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I think it would be tragic to retire the Joker from the movie franchise because initially Ledger was ridiculed for not being able to live up to Nicholson's role. Ledger easily trounced Nicholson. We need to let other have a chance as well.
 
Ledger took his own life by OD'ing. The guy was an amazing actor as the Joker, but he doesn't deserve any future honors beyond his performance in The Dark Knight.

~HotShotX
 
[quote name='HotShotX']Ledger took his own life by OD'ing. The guy was an amazing actor as the Joker, but he doesn't deserve any future honors beyond his performance in The Dark Knight.[/QUOTE]

This.
 
No. In fact I hope they replace Heath in the next film.

The Joker part was well written, and Heath did a good job with it. Heath is very replaceable with a character with face paint on. Batman 3 just wont be much fun with out a new Joker in it.
 
Though it is sad that Heath Ledger OD'd, he set the bar that other actors now can strive for as the Joker. Removing the Joker from future Batman's takes this challenge away from other actors.

If this happens are we going to start removing other great roles from movies because the person that played it best has passed on, I hope not.
 
No the Joker shouldn't be retired but I would also be very surprised to see the Joker re-appear for anything more than a very brief cameo, maybe in a cell at Arkam or something, during the next flick.
 
That's just ridiculous. I couldn't believe how everyone reacted to his death as it was, but now they want a character to not appear anymore? It's asking a little much.
 
He was also at least the 3-4th Joker to play the Joker on a TV show or movie, a few of the older ones, who were also great, are dead too.

He should be retired from this series of movies, because I want new bad guys, but not in general.
 
While I don't think the Joker needs to be in the next movie, I think saying that the character needs to be retired because Ledger's performance was "the best" is really a disservice to every other actor in Hollywood.

I thought Ledger was terrific. In another 6 years I would like to see some other actor have the chance to be terrific as well.
 
Ledger did an amazing job, but it doesn't honor him in any way to make this restriction on the franchise. You can't creatively limit the people involved in the project, and you sure as heck can't deny a studio their pay day.

That being said, what comes of a performance is largely tied to what the vision of the character is. Heath and Nicholson both did amazing jobs and were tasked to play the same role in different ways.
 
I really hope the Joker is in the next movie. He is supposed to die in the next one (that's what the studio has said at least).

I can easily see another actor replacing him (ledger) since Batman finally caught him he could have changed his persona to reflect that of defeat.
 
Why didn't we see this when Romero (best actor to play Joker) passed away? Because its retarded to write off Batman's greatest foe just because an actor who played him passed away
 
I wish they'd retire the whole Batman thing together, but I doubt that will happen. They killed the Joker once a long time ago when Batman should've ended, but they proceeded to continue downhill so no doubtful Joker will go away.
 
They should just stop making movies altogether since no one can act better than Ledger did in The Dark Knight. Really why even bother trying?
 
I'm okay with the Joker having a secondary or background role in the third film--I mean, who knows what the original gameplan was anyway, or if there even was one--but given that the next film probably won't premiere until Summer 2011, at the earliest, I'm not okay with completely removing him because of Ledger's untimely passing. I suspect by then, much of the emotional element that fans feel will have subsided, and a more reasonable viewpoint will emerge.

Characters have been recast before. We're talking about one film here, albeit an incredible film. If Nolan and company had a particular story arc in mind that required the presence of the Joker, then he should at least be in the film enough to fulfill that arc. I'm just not a big fan of compromising great creative visions in dramatic ways unless it's absolutely the only option. Also, I just don't see Catwoman carrying a film, and the Riddler would probably be an anti-climatic main 'heavy'. (And wasn't the implication that "Mister Reese" was the subtle, fan-service set-up to a Riddler that we'd probably never see? Okay, maybe not, but they'd certainly have to get an infinitely bigger name than the actor who played the disgruntled Wayne Enterprises employee.)

P.S. I'd also hate to see Batman just be up against general Gotham corruption and crime, but I suppose that's always an option, considering the imperative they have on keeping it real.
 
He was great, but I don't think he did nearly enough to warrant "retiring the shirt".

If he'd done three movies as The Joker and they were all awesome then maybe, but he really hasn't been The Joker for long enough for it to be seen as "his" role.
 
no, honoring the actor would be giving him an emmy/oscar, whatever the award is.

not honoring by making sure no one else can do it better/poorer...
 
[quote name='Magehart']I really hope the Joker is in the next movie. He is supposed to die in the next one (that's what the studio has said at least).[/quote]

That's not true at all, they didn't have any major plans for a third movie. Plus the studio doesn't know shit, they aren't producing and writing the movie.
 
Enough with the fucking Batman polls.

If Christopher Reeve had the retired Superman stolen from him postmortem, the Joker will never stay retired.
 
i must have seen a diff movie because i didnt see anything special about his joker. the movie itself was avg ill be friendly and say a strong avg but avg is what it is. as an actor ledger has done alot better in past roles but not using the joker anymore. fuck that. if hed died after making any of his other movies would people be making this big of a deal? he wasnt the best joker and that wasnt his best role. its bad enough hes going to get an oscar for it but i want to see someone else do the joker and hell im all for a new batman. as far as im concerned the best characters in these past batman films have been lucious fox and alfred. everyone else is very avg.
 
[quote name='JolietJake']Id love to see Mark Hamill say something in his Joker voice. That would be so freaky.[/quote]


there was a making of done years ago when they did that first batman animated movie mask of the phantasm and they inerviewed him he did some stuff as the joker including his laugh.
 
if they got Johnny Depp to do it, I think it would be pretty good and probably close to the same lookwise and acted wise


I think the plan was to have Joker in all of the following movies in some small role... if you remember he says to Batman he has a feeling they will do this back and fourth for a very long time.
 
[quote name='lokizz']as far as im concerned the best characters in these past batman films have been lucious fox and alfred. everyone else is very avg.[/quote]

Frankly, I think Morgan Freeman's acting is stuck in one gear. A good actor, but the guy has no fucking range anymore. Every character he plays is the same guy with different clothes on. Heath, on the other hand, DOES change it up. Acting is pretending you are someone different, which Heath very much did and Freeman (a supposed "legend") very much did not.
 
His death aside, I think The Joker bar has been set so high that further attempts should not be made. So, yes, I agree.
 
[quote name='HotShotX']Ledger took his own life by OD'ing. The guy was an amazing actor as the Joker, but he doesn't deserve any future honors beyond his performance in The Dark Knight.

~HotShotX[/quote]


I agree.

Also, while his performance as the Joker was good, it wasn't so good that no one else should play the Joker. It still wasn't as good as Mark Hamill in the animated shows.
 
Joaqin Phoenix is starting to look like a good successor to the Joker role. Look up his Letterman appearance on Youtube. Seems like he's doing a Jokerlike experiment on the media and his whole new "persona" is a hoax.
 
What's more likely than retiring The Joker is they will hire someone to replace Heath Ledger playing The Joker, if you know what I mean, which would be tragic in a whole 'nother way.
 
[quote name='crunchb3rry']Joaqin Phoenix is starting to look like a good successor to the Joker role. Look up his Letterman appearance on Youtube. Seems like he's doing a Jokerlike experiment on the media and his whole new "persona" is a hoax.[/quote]


he would make for an interesting joker. that i would like to see.
 
No. That would be dumb. Just as Ledger performed brilliantly & surpassing Nicholson so will another actor do the same to him.

/obvious
 
ledger was great as the joker and honestly as the joker character himself is completely crazy and also utterly aware of his environment. I feel as though they could get away with casting a new joker by simply having the new joker make a reference to the last time we saw him.

though many might not get the on screen reference(or joke) and call it a disservice. pure joker lovers should appreciate the tongue in check appearance of a different joker.
 
If the story for the next Batman film requires the Joker they should recast him, if not then it doesn't really matter. Ledger did a great job as the Joker, but I would imagine they could find someone else if they really needed to.

And besides, everyone who's a real Batman fan knows that Mark Hamill is the best Joker. :D
 
It'd be one thing if it was a television series that loses a character, like Cheers had happen with Coach and the Simpsons had with Phil Hartman's characters, but as time proved, they weren't vital to either show's continued success. The Joker is a necessary evil to Batman - you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
 
[quote name='mitch079']It'd be one thing if it was a television series that loses a character, like Cheers had happen with Coach and the Simpsons had with Phil Hartman's
characters, but as time proved, they weren't vital to either show's continued success.

[/quote]

yes but the joker was around before heath. its not like the joker is his character and is going to be replaced by someone else after 10 years of playing him.


you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
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lol what?
 
[quote name='crystalklear64']luke skywalker was the best joker[/quote]
I gotta vote for the young jedi as well. Dood is crazy insane. Although, I'd think he exactly looks the part...
sdcc_hamill_1.jpg

[quote name='DestroVega']if they got Johnny Depp to do it, I think it would be pretty good and probably close to the same lookwise and acted wise.[/quote]

I just came.

[quote name='Access_Denied']Take him out. Nobody can ever fill Heath's shoes.[/quote]
That's only because he was cremated with them.
 
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