10 Movie Sequels That Had Exceptionally Great Villains

2. The Joker In The Dark Knight

Davy Jones Pirates Of The Caribbean
Warner Bros. Pictures

While Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy becomes bloated and top heavy as it moves along, it's hard to deny the quality of his iteration of the Joker. Played by the late Heath Ledger, this version of Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime is less of a Machiavellian prankster who kills as punchline and more of a force for anarchy and disruption.

For this Joker, the ends don't justify the means because he might not even know what the end of his plan is.

Ledger's performance earned him a posthumous Oscar nomination a year to the day after his death. While some argue that he wouldn't have received the nomination if he were still alive, you can't argue the caliber of his performance. It was truly unsettling and edgy, proving to be the perfect match to Nolan's vision of Batman. It was a hard act to follow, as the Jared Leto recently found out.

Contributor

Ian Goodwillie is a freelance writer based out of Saskatoon, SK, Canada. He has a BA in English Literature from the University of Saskatchewan and completed the Writing Program at Vancouver Film School. More importantly, Ian is also a wrestling fan, comic book reader, video game player and photographer. He loves to write and writes about what he loves. Ian's also an unrepentant, unapologetic Cougar Town fan, a show he will defend until the day he dies.