Monday night’s episode of “Gotham” — “The Blind Fortune Teller” — introduced Jerome, played by Cameron Monaghan (“Shameless”). Though this is yet another chapter in the show’s game of peekaboo — with showrunner Bruno Heller going so far as to say, “He may or may not be the Joker” — we’re not buying it. From his maniacal laughter to his circus connection to the fact that he’s just plain looney-tunes, Monaghan embodies everything we know about the Joker from his nearly 75 years in comics, movies and TV.
Introduced in April 1940 in Batman No. 1, the Clown Prince of Crime was designed by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, with each of the late collaborators taking credit. The Joker has always had a cinematic background: Finger claimed his inspiration was Conrad Veidt as a disfigured freak in the 1928 silent film “The Man Who Laughs,” and the resemblance is uncanny.
The Joker (who has never been given an “official” origin or real name in the comics) was immediately established as a white-faced psychopath with green hair and a sinister grin: the manic yin to Batman’s yang. Eleven years later, in Detective Comics No. 168, the Joker finally got a back story, of sorts, when it was revealed he’d been the Red Hood, a criminal who was disfigured (and driven insane) by an accidental fall into a vat of chemicals. Not coincidentally, Monday’s episode of “Gotham” will be called . . . “Red Hood.” Sure, Bruno Heller, Jerome’s not the Joker. Whatever you say.
Evolving standards have forced writers to change the Joker from a mass-murdering maniac to a harmless buffoon — and back — several times. This inconsistency and lack of a definitive past for the Joker (in 1988’s “Batman: The Killing Joke,” by Alan Moore, the Joker says, “If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!”) has provided fertile ground for multiple interpretations by a diverse group of actors. Here’s a rundown of the most famous Jokers — and what they may end up contributing to “Gotham’s” version.
Cesar Romero (1966-68)
It seemed strange to cast Romero, known for playing Latin lovers, as the cackling villain in the campy ’60s “Batman” TV show and 1966 film. However, Romero (who notoriously refused to shave his mustache, opting instead to cover it with makeup) made an impression that wouldn’t be supplanted for decades. He displayed previously untapped comic ability and went for broke playing the Joker as an effete prankster, practically flirting with Adam West’s Batman (as much as was possible in ’60s TV). Though the Joker is now much darker, the love-hate relationship between him and Batman has remained. They truly complete each other.
Jack Nicholson (1989)
Much more “on-the-nose,” Jack Nicholson, a k a “King Leer,” already had the Joker’s grin and intensity when he was cast in Tim Burton’s “Batman.” In fact, producer Michael Uslan used a painted-over picture of Nicholson in “The Shining” to get Warner Bros. to take the idea of a “dark” Batman movie seriously. Nicholson’s Joker, a thug who murdered Bruce Wayne’s parents when Wayne was a boy, had Romero’s mania but also 10 times the sadism, re-establishing the character as someone to be feared.
Mark Hamill (1992-2010)
Remarkably, the man who played the Joker longest (and whom many ’90s kids consider the greatest) was never actually seen in the role. Hamill, the once and future Luke Skywalker, went to the Dark Side as a voice actor on “Batman: The Animated Series” from 1992 to 1994. Switching back and forth effortlessly between Romero’s wackiness and Nicholson’s menace and with a new, unique laugh, Hamill was so beloved that he was asked to voice him for 18 years, in several other cartoons, a cameo on the 2002 TV show “Birds of Prey,” and video games, amusement-park-ride voice-overs and toy commercials. Hamill announced his retirement from the character in 2010 — but may still do the laugh at fan conventions if asked nicely.
Heath Ledger (2008)
Australian Ledger was a Method Joker in 2008’s “The Dark Knight”: He dialed down the mania but amped up the creepiness of a murderer in clown makeup. The troubled actor, who died of a drug overdose before the film was released, was the most “realistic” of the Jokers — and the scariest. His chilling performance earned him something no other performance as a comic book villain has ever received — an Oscar. Anyone following him has very big shoes to fill.
Jared Leto (2016-?)
And the next person to try (if Monaghan doesn’t get there first) will be Leto, who’s been cast in the role for 2016’s movie, “Suicide Squad.” Set in the same universe as the upcoming “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and other planned releases from DC Comics and Warner Bros., “Squad” will give audiences their first look at the sure-to-recur new Joker. It’s not known how Leto will tackle the role, but he’s proven he can completely transform himself: He played a transgender woman in 2013’s “Dallas Buyers Club” (which won him an Oscar) and John Lennon’s murderer, Mark David Chapman, in 2007’s “Chapter 27,” for which he gained both weight and critical acclaim. Both Leto and his Joker will almost certainly be unrecognizable and compelling — “Gotham” and Monaghan had better stay on their toes.