10 Comic Book Supervillains Who Created Their Own Worst Enemy

2. Joker And Batman (1989)

Batman 1989 Joker
Warner Bros.

Batman 1989 is just class, isn't it?

Boasting gorgeous set design, an exemplary score from composer Danny Elfman and two iconic performances from Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson as Batman and the Joker respectively, Tim Burton's gothic rendition of the Caped Crusader is as brilliant as it is influential, inspiring arguably the definitive incarnation of the Dark Knight in Batman: The Animated Series, which premiered the same year as 89's follow up, Batman Returns.

For all that the film captured the darker tone of the Bronze and Modern Age Batman comics though, it did diverge from the source material in several areas, the most notable of course being Batman's origin.

Rather than having Bruce Wayne's parents be gunned down by Joe Chill or a random Gotham crook, Burton and screenwriter Sam Hamm made it so that the Joker - then going by the name of Jack Napier as a smalltime Gotham gangster - was responsible for their murder.

Your mileage may vary when it comes to whether or not you think it adds or detracts from the story, but there's no denying just how electric Keaton and Nicholson were when they were on the screen together.

Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.