Prior to Heath Ledger's iconic portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime, Jack Nicholson's turn in Tim Burton's Batman was held up high as arguably the go-to villain performance in a comic book movie. While Ledger's Joker is introduced ready-made, Nicholson's is transformed from mobster Jack Napier into the grotesque villain by a chemical waste accident in the early stages of the movie. Nicholson's depiction is completely different to Ledger's: he is bigger, louder, campier, weirder, sillier and basically more suiting of Tim Burton's eccentric style, even including a ridiculous dance scene set to Prince's Partyman as The Joker wrecks the Gotham Museum of Art. It's frequently said that Nicholson "plays himself" when taking on roles of deranged psychopaths as he so often does, and whether that's true or not, this part is very much comfortably within his wheelhouse. His larger-than-life mannerisms and vocal register are tremendously entertaining to watch, and with the help of some great dialogue (You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?), he manages to persist as a fantastic Joker, even as Ledger's version has scooped up the lion's share of the acclaim.