The Villains - Your Verdict

[Catwoman]

The strength of Batman Returns is in the villains. No doubt about it.

I'll just expand upon this.

The less Batman there is in a Batman story, the better it is. Yes, you read correctly.

In Burton's films, Batman is treated as shadowy figure that lives in the backdrop. The story is shown from the perspective of the villain. By doing this, we get two things.

1. We learn and possibly empathise with the antagonist, who often is a new character for the audience. And 2, it aids Batman's characterisation.

All the while Batman is observing, and will sooner or later intervene at a moment of his choosing. Batman has a presence throughout the whole film. We imagine what he is up to.

i agree. i like to have a bit of bruce but having batman only pop out when necessary, i mean we don't need to see every waking minute of his life in that suit like when he's on a stakeout and has to fart or something.

[GothamAlleys]

Joker:

Incredibly faithful visually to the comic books. Completely insane and unpredictable. He loved decaying bodies and considered it an art. Alicia's face was all messed up and scarred from who knows what he did to her.  He killed his most trusted henchmen and a partner he knew since youth just because he felt like it. We even see more of his creepy psychosis when he talks to the photographs and to the corpses of people he just killed. Money weren?t the goal for him. He didn't have one. He just did what he did because he was crazy, for no particular reason he tried to wipe out the entire city. Merging him with Joe Chill gives the character more significance and makes his confrontation with Batman more personal. Overall, terrific, classic and dangerously insane villain portrayed by the accomplished and legendary Jack Nicholson

[The Dark Knight]

I like both of the Jokers, but there is one big thing that pulls Nicholson across the line. He feels like a clown and behaves as one. For me, the clown aspect is the biggest charm of the character, and basically the whole point of him. A walking contradiction that conflicts with everything. A cheerful exterior and a violent interior. Batman is dark, and the Joker makes light of everything.

Ledger?s characterization is weighted more in the serial killer area. And that's fine. But he doesn?t feel clownish to me. All doom and gloom with occasional dark humour here and there. I prefer a more balanced approach. For what it's worth, Nicholson has more spark, more of a glint in the eye. 

[Grissom]

Agreed Dark Knight, I enjoyed Ledger's take but Nicholson ust had that clown aspect down pat as well as that glint in his eye. For me The Joker and Nicholson's portrayal still takes the cake.

[GothamAlleys]

Absolutely. This is the O'Neil Joker I grew up with and became a fan of - an energetic white skinned clown who had great time killing people and doing crimes.



As someone said, a great contrast - Batman is a scary, dark bat yet hes a good guy and Joker is a joking clown whose a murderer