LETO vs. LEDGER. Why Heath's Joker was so special. - Storybrain 

You do know that The Joker won in the Dark Knight, right? He even said it. His Ace in the Hole was Harvey Dent becoming evil. He was the best of them and the joker took him down. That and he also proved that batman wasn't pure in his justice. He went to save Rachel and the joker punished him for it. Showing that Batman would choose what he wants over what's needed for the better good of his city.

Here's the difference: Heath Ledger WAS the joker. Jared Leto PLAYED the joker.

i find it offensive that Heath's joker its being compared to leto's joker

ledger was perfect for the role, no one will ever do it better

I've said it before, I'll say it again: You absolutely CANNOT compare Jared Leto to Heath Ledger. You can't do it.

Heath was literally the joker! He got into that character, Jared Leto was playing the joker.

they should turn heath's joker into an official joker's character

HEATH LEDGEND's Joker is truly a masterpiece. He will be known for this Ledgendary performance.

Jared letos joker looks like a typical young dude out on holloween night drunk and partying while heath ledgers look like and incarnation of the joker, someone who came back from death like the undertaker.

Actually, the point about a good villain is someone who forces the hero to bring out their good traits then using those traits to win, Ledgers Joker does that. In the end, Batman has to make the sacrifice to save the hope of Gotham, so he takes the blame for the deaths, he makes the ultimate self-sacrifice to make sure people still saw Harvey Dent for the white knight he was. Harvey was suppose to be the ultimate savior of Gotham, a superior hero to Batman, and Joker corrupted him. Even when the citizens on the boats proved Joker wrong, he ended up still being right because of Harvey. And he also kinda broke Batman, turning him into a villain and forced him into retirement for eight years. So even when Joker wins, Batman also wins even though he lost. Batmans trait that saved Gotham was his self-sacrifice. I use to think Ledgers Joker was overrated, but now i believe he truly is the greatest villain of all time. He won and lost at the same time, its brilliant.

I love Jared Leto, he's an awesome actor. But his version of the Joker looks more trans gender than maniacal. Enough said.

No one will ever fill ledgers shoes... NO ONE. People need to start accepting that.

In Nolan's movie the Joker plays against the Batman by using Batman's high moral standards against the Batman. In a way he broke Batman by making Batman compromise. Just an aside "You have nothing on me." is just one one the more chilling lines on film.

To me, the problem with Leto's joker was how he was written. He was just another generic mafia guy who happened to look and laugh like the joker.

Heath ledger was the best joker of all time!! Nobody will be better !

And goddamn did Suicide Squad suck. I mean it hurt me...really...really...bad.

Ledger's Joker was more believable and grounded. He says of himself "I'm just like a dog chasing cars, I don't know what I would do if I caught one" he follows with "I just do things". That is all the logic and motive he needs to function. Alfred put it best as a man that "cannot be bullied, bought, or reason with. Some men just want to watch the world burn." That is scary, that is a force of nature, that is a man on a mission. Such a man is menacing by definition. Leto's joker comes across as someone trying too hard to be menacing with all the tattoos, costumes, and those stupid grill things on his teeth. He seems like someone that could be bought or bullied. Leto's Joker has a weakness in Harley and any weakness can be exploited or leveraged. Ledger's Joker has no such thing.

The Interrogation scene was a masterpiece yet to be matched. Leto Jokes didnt came even close. And will take some time to do anything that comes even close to that scene.

I dont know if he was good or not. He wasn't in the movie.

Leto didn't have near enough screen time to compare to Heaths joker. Maybe if we gotta see a lot more of him, but Heaths performance was golden.

leto was playing the joker? I thought he was playing ronald mc donald with green hair

heath ledger is the joker, jared leto is just a clown lol🙂

Ledger's Joker is not the villain, he's the hero of The Dark Knight. Other people pointed out already how corruptible Batman is from the beginning from killing Ras Al Ghul on. Ledger's Joker tells you early on he's lying about his motives and lying about his backstory. He's not a nihilist, he has a specific mission--to drive the mob out, reveal Batman's true nature, drive Batman crazy and basically have him retire. As a result Gotham City gets peace. His plan works to perfection. His methods are deplorable but the results work--Batman is driven out, the mob is driven out, peace is restored in Gotham, Dent is a martry and Gordan is a hero.

Can you guy's imagine the joker ,THE JOKER! goin inside a tattoo shop?! Telling the tattoo artist that he wants HAHAHAA on hes chest!

letto's joker is not better you know it we know it everybody's know it ledger is better better villian better movie better script etc

Heath Joker was Ledgerndary!!!!

Ledger is the GOD of villains in any comic movie. That man just embodied the Joker. He was such a talent and it's so sad that he only got to dawn that persona once. R.I.P. Heath, your work will stand the test of time or any other takes on what you perfected.

bruh health ledgers joker was meant to undermine batman. He was never meant to make you think highly of batman. His whole role was to force batman into situations where he wouldn't be the good guy, and he succeeded so Jared will never come close to that kind of screen play and acting.

Heath = Joker and a legend playing it. Leto = Clown, Ronald Mcdonald on smack

The fucking lego batman joker was better then Leto.

yeah, it is special because ledger had all a movie to show what he is made of meanwhile Leto was just a secondary character, once he has a movie being the main villain then we can judge

"People are questioning whether or not he can fill Ledger's shoes..." He couldn't.

I just can't get into leto's version... he just reminds me too much of those wanna be edgy emo kids that you just wish would shut up. For lack of a better term, he's just to much of a cringy weirdo as opposed to a cool psychopath. It seams like leto's joker looks like a guy acting like someones he's not while ledgers joker was a joker to the core.

People keep using Leto's lack of scenes in Suicide Squad as an excuse for why we shouldn't judge his Joker... but any true fan of films in general should know that a character can be judged by just one scene in the movie. Consistency is key, and Leto's Joker was TOO inconsistent. (I realize Joker is supposed to be crazed and unpredictable and random, but there should still be some level of consistency). Even his voices were just out of whack in the few scenes that he was in. Hamill's Joker was consistent -- Batman's counterpart, just absolutely brilliant. Ledger's Joker -- all about chaos, just terrifying. Nicholson's Joker -- absolutely insane. Leto's Joker -- some weird-ass Marilyn Manson look-alike drug lord sporting grills who makes cat (?) noises and is too over the top.

Heath Ledger is Joker Jared Leto is a joke

Leto's Joker was Riff Raff mixed with a Juggalo

Ledger's Joker was deep, intense and subtle; no need to be covered by tattoos and overacting to be a good Joker, Leto just didn't get it...

Heaths Joker laugh was epic!

Plot twist joker is only in the movie for 5 minutes..oh wait..he is only in the movie for 5 mins

I'm so done with all the Leto vs Ledger arguments. It's mainly how the character is written. The acting and performance from the actors comes after that. Jared & Ledger were given a script to follow . Stop comparing. Both were great.

Please don't compare a King with a begger

No other Joker will replace Ledgers as far as bringing the character to life. Leto looks horrible as Joker and I do not see the Joker when I look at him.. After Ledger it done.. not because of his death.. but because of pure performance and creativity. Give a damn who disagrees

Mark Hamill is the best Joker

Good analysis. The Joker is an exception. He doesn't show us Batman's good quality, he shows us that Batman is also crazy. That's what makes the Joker, and the two of them together, awesome characters.

Letos Joker just wasn't the Joker and before you go on saying that it's purely the directors fault, Leto had just as much of a hand in developing Joker as did Ayer.

Ledger truly embodied his character as the joker, as if his heart pumped chaos and terror instead of blood. Leto, on the other hand, acted more like the silly girl in middle school that no one really likes - the one who claims to be "crazy," and puts on the sham of just being zany and weird and overly enthusiastic/gleeful about morbid things, solely for attention rather than actually having any moral integrity in what they portray. Leto had no intimidation factor in his portrayal of the Joker. He was simply overdone and overacted, to the point of just being silly and impossible to respect.

I like that the video isn't too one sided and that it talks about both their performances and what they did as the joker. It's a nice fresh of air for once

im not even gonna watch this video, ledger and leto played completely different jokers, like literally 2 different entities.

Leto didn't live up to the name of JOKER. he tried to hard and it was very obvious. everything seemed so forced.

"One of the key roles of the villain is to bring out the hero's good traits...in The Dark Knight the Joker doesn't do this." Bro...you are so wrong. Batman is only able to make the choice he makes at the end of The Dark Knight and become The Dark Knight that will do anything to protect Gotham (even appear to be a villain) because of the Joker. And, according to The Dark Knight Rises, it gives Gotham 8 blissful years of peace and prosperity.

Didn't like Leto's joker. Right at the start of Suicide Squad "you dont like my girl?" *BANG* shoots the guy in the head. Boring! Ledger would have killed the guy in a more creative way and would have had a good one liner to go with it.

We get it, *Ledger's perfomance was lengedary*. Moving on...

Heath ledger was legend. We loose him. 😢

Yeah, you don't understand the Joker, he's not supposed to bring the best out of Batman, he's supposed to get the worst out of him and that's exactly what he does. He outsmarts him and he takes him out of his comfort zone, that's what makes him an AWESOME villain. Also, you have this out of context notion that to be a hero you must be perfect, while in Nolan's Batman he's realistic. He isn't smarter than the Joker, he doesn't always stay calm and reacts in the most perfect way because the Joker breaks him, but even broken he doesn't give up. Which is obviously a much more realistic approach than just him never broken and winning "because he's Batman"

you can't really compare the two, the joker in the dark knight was a full character the other wasn't

Those tattoos, man. *THOSE. GODDAMN. TATTOOS.*

People who compare Heath Ledger and Leto, have never read the comics. There's 3 jokers that live in the world of Batman's universe, one is a psychotic prankster who kills and just is a general asshole, the other is a clown who thrives on chaos (that's why in the dark knight his goal is just literally to cause as much chaos to gotham as he can.) and the other is a mob-boss orientated adaptation of the joker. Heath Ledger's joker was the joker who lives for chaos, who loves to cause anarchy just because he can. Jared Leto's joker was the mob-boss psycho. Who doesn't care much for causing anarchy, he just cares about making money (Hence why he owns a damn strip club) That's why there should be NO debate between the two jokers, because they're 2 different people. Lol. [It's been stated by a few of the editors of the comics that there are indeed multiple jokers. That's why there's always one causing havoc shortly after batman deals with the first one.]

man, I miss those days when we watched a movie and we said if the experience was good or bad, only. Well, those days are gone. Nowadays it seems that there are hundreds of millions of experts with the most elaborate theories, each one with a personal clinical look about anything. I mean, look at this. There are thousands of review videos on youtube about the performance of an actor. And we are here, watching one by one, agreeing or disagreeing. The pleasure of enjoying a story, whether good or bad, is over. Now it's all about review and criticism. Think about it, it sucks.

Heath ledger we salutes you

Let me sum up this video, ledger was amazing and no one can out do him💕😂

Leto's Joker is the worst written Joker in film or animation.

The Dark knight really wasn't to show batman's resolution, it was the joker's impact on him that brought out ledgers character

Ledger, best joker, the end.

Wrong. Ledger's Joker didn't loose because he was poked in the eye. He lost because batman took Two Face's evil deeds on him self so that Gotham could have their "White knight" (as Joker called him). When Bane revealed the ruse, it was already insignificant. Batman has defeated the Joker by making him self a villain.

Why health ledger was so special: Because he's health ledger

Leto's Joker wasn't meant to be the brilliant clown villain. He was meant to be sexy to woo female audiences to a potential love story with quin

Leto was ass, he should die. Get rid of him so that we can get a recast of him. Hopefully with a different character design. Tattoos, grills, neon green hair, all is stupid and horrible. Literally want the DCEU to get cancelled so that we can hopefully get a better Joker in the future.

The problem is Heath Ledger was so good he has ruined The Joker for future actors for a long time. Also you said the fact that it is his last performance makes it stronger but I disagree. If this was his only quality performance I might agree but he was outstanding in Brokeback Mountain so I think even if he had gone on this would still have been a legendary performance. I don't really watch superhero films but one of staff said let's go my treat and I was not looking forward to it but even then before all the later hype we and everyone else in the foyet was talking about Heath Ledger's performance. He stole every scene he was in. Whenever he was on screen your eyes were just drawn to him like Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs or Orson Welles in Touch of Evil or F Murray Abraham in Amadeus.

The whole point of Ledger's joker not bringing out the good traits in batman was to show that even superhero's can become corrupted. Everybody is a prisoner to society. It deconstructs the notion of this ideological savior who can do no wrong, as illustrated in many other superhero movies.

I think that both played good roles and the fuss is caused by the fact that they play different jokers. Ledger was an anarchist and a very thoughtful criminal. He did crazy stuff but all of his actions had a purpose. Like the pencil trick- he didnt just do it to kill the guy, he also caught the peoples attention. If you look at all of his actions like this you will see the pattern. Leto is absolutely different. He is unstable, irrational and his actions have only one criteria- they must make him happy. He is a psychopath. Thats why I dont think we can compare the two, no matter if the movie is out or if we have watched it.

Heath's Joker embodied a prime, real-life example of what would happen to a man who gives into pure madness, and set out to make the rest of the world as dark as he is. Jared's Joker seemed more like an uninteresting drugged-up gang boss.

For me there is only one The Clown Prince of Crime and he is Mr. Hamill.

I can't believe you tried to explain how Heath Ledgers Joker wasn't as great as it seemed and dismantle everything Heath Ledger brought to that character! Ledger emerged himself into the characters mindset and was a tremendous influence on the creation of the joker, not the writers or director or anything else. Jared Leto is absolutely a good actor, but his joker was a poser. Everything from the embarrassing tattoos to leto's attempt to get into the dark mindset by messing with cast members was pathetic. Yes, the writers producers and director did nothing to help Leto, but to say it is as good and potentially better than Heath ledgers joker is honestly just stupid.

You guys do realize they are different versions of the joker right? Though Heath's is my favorite.

But Jack Nicholson warned Heath Ledger about being The Joker because it was actually mentally challenging and can alter the psyche.

Does anyone else think Jack Nicholson is the closest, most accurate live action Joker we've gotten? I mean I love Ledger but still.

When we see The Dark Knight Joker Its Like ''WOW'' and when we see Suicide Squad Joker its like ''WTF""

Like if Letos joker was bad.

They play two different jokers and they both did good. Most of you didn't even know who health ledger was or who the joker was till the dark knight came out. So hop out the bandwagon and stop comparing them.

Ledger doesn’t even come close to Lego’s performance... Ledger was on a whole other level.

you're saying he's defeated when Batman Pokes him in the eye !! I don't Think you get TDK movie.

LOL letos joker was shit don't even compare to Heath

3 years late letos joker isn’t even close

Thanks for crediting the writers for Dark Knight's Jokers success, they played a huge part people underrated.

The problems with Jared Leto's Joker is two fold a) He is not anywhere near being the main villain of the film , he is just a distraction , just a contributing factor and he only once goes against batman and only briefly b) He is more a typical joker than the chris nolan chaotic joker. The brilliant thing about chaotic Joker is that he is not really chaotic , he says he does not have a plan but he is a mastermind at making plans , everything he is doing is from start to finish a highly calculated plan . He claims he wants to give a message but has no interest on that either, he just want to compete with Batman and humiliate him. He is basically a huge fat liar and mastermind, but he does all that with style. The problem of Heather Ledger's Joker is two fold as well a) he is vastly superior to Batman, because chistopher nolan's batman is more a superman than a comic batman, hence stupid. Hence why he is been fooled by Joker , every single time and he makes some really idiotic mistakes (let her go ?- seriously ? ) and like a superman he depends more on his physique than the well known high intellect of batman. Batman, is not called "world's greatest detective" for nothing, Nolan's Batman is more a ninja than a detective. Also unlike the comics he is no scientist, just a rich guy with expensive toys. That makes the story quite predictable and boring. As a matter of fact it makes zero sense why Batman was even remotely able to capture Joker and win the day. b) While nolan strips intellect away from comic book batman, he also strips away the physique from Joker and he makes completely no match for batman, however by doing so he makes also the character highly unbelievable. A man of his intellect and experience as criminal fighting like a 3 year old child is not going to convince pretty much anyone as believable. However we are prepared to see beyond these flaws because Heath Ledger Joker is so amazing. In the end its kinda pointless to compared Leto vs Ledger Joker because not so much attention was put into developing his character. He is not the star of the film , he is just an excuse to go watch it. The real stars are Harley Quinn vs Enchantress, and the writers have done amazing job developing those characters. The good news is that Jared Leto is doing a great job as an actor from start to finish. The writers take the challenge of developing a realistic relations between Quinn and Joker and they completely nailed , it feels so fluid and natural and they make a very formidable duo. I am convinced if a film that Batman vs Joker comes out , and the writer are able to focus more on Joker , Jarred will be able to easily fill the shoes of Ledger. But that is highly unlikely, Warner Bros/DC obviously want to unveil more DC heroes , and who can blame them. DC heros have always been more popular than Marvel heroes, Marvel may be more fun and much more easily digestible even by non comic fans but DC is the one that just has the best superheroes. Batman and Superman alone had movies and tv series since the dawn of dinosaurs. Which explains also why Marvel has been ripping far more superheroes from DC than DC from Marvel. So using the success of Joker as an excuse to introduce more superheroes and supervilains is a very smart way to go forward. In the end Jared Leto's Joker is not as good as Ledger's Joker, but is still a very good depiction of Joker.

nothing can beat ledger. Jared joker was bad in suicide squad but only because the script was so bad and he didn't have that much to work with in scenery. he didn't interact with Batman or anything.

the dcu has had a problem for a long time which is everything is raised to 11. every movie if the hero fails the world ends. man of steel, bvs and suicide squad all have this problem. it's incredibly refined to be the worst possible outcome. but saving the world is literally a cliche and I personally don't care about that. what made the Nolan trilogy so good was it was personal to batman and the three villains. this relates to why I don't like Leto's joker. heath ledgers style portrayed a realistic side, mental trauma could lead to someone like his portrayal. he's makeup is sloppily applied, he's got yellow teeth, his hair is long and messy and ungroomed. Leto's character is far too clean and chiseled, it creates a gap between the character and suspension of disbelief, because no one is that perfect and that evil.

leto is the joke.

Comparing heath ledger to jared Leto is like comparing a Lamborghini to a minivan

And here I thought his was going to be another video talking about how bad Leto was and why ledger will be awesome forever and nothing can beat him. I was pleasantly surprised by your video. It was insightful, surprisingly positive, and constructive rather than simply talking down on something for the sake of it. Good video

I can act Jared Leto's , just wake me up from sleep.

Heath was high as a sky and he felt The Jokers character. Just like how Jimi Hendrix could feel music.

ledgers joker was better. Leto make joker into some lesbian like creature.

Death or not, i have seen The Dark knight over a 100x. i torrented Suicide Squirts and i wanted my money back. Ledger...winning. Leto...nooooo

This is so wrong for me and you fail to see why the movie is titled "The Dark Knight" - "One of the key roles of a villain is to bring out the hero's key traits." - The story is not a story about a hero, and in the end the Joker wins anyways (furthering my point) While this may be true for traditional films, the Dark Knight is an exception. Rather than exposing the hero's positive attributes such as strength or intelligence, Ledger's Joker succeeds so well because the does the exact opposite. He sets up moral scenarios that render any such trait meaningless. He exposes the weakness of the Batman and shows Gotham that even the brightest and bravest man can be corrupted (Harvey Dent). Leto's Joker can not and will never compare to that of Ledger's Joker, due to his portrayal in Suicide Squad. His portrayal is seen rather as a thrill seeking maniac who's trying to get his girl back in the process. (Harley Quinn)

Ledger is my love❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Why was Heath Ledger the best Joker? BECAUSE HE WAS BLOODY AUSTRALIAN!!! *see also Hugh Jackman

Ledger's Joker was by far the best and will never be topped

saw SS (suicide squad) Leto's joker SUCKED

Come on, even Leto himself knows he can't touch ledger, there's no comparison fam