10 Scariest Movie & TV Clowns
4. The Joker - Joker (2019)
The modern popularisation of the evil clown came from DC Comics when The Joker was introduced in 1940 in the first Batman comic. He was portrayed as a criminal mastermind and a psychopath with a warped sense of humour, with various origin stories suggested over the years, never definitively confirming which one was the actual truth.
His appearance was said to be based on the character Gwynplaine in the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs, a disfigured man with a permanent grin.
Despite a campy portrayal by Cesar Romero in the 1960s television series Batman, The Joker gradually started to return to his darker roots. Found guilty of many murders, he was always declared legally insane, and sent to Arkham Asylum instead of prison. His evil crimes include beating Jason Todd to death with a crowbar and throwing a baby at Jim Gordon's wife Sarah, before gunning her down when she chose to catch it rather than protecting herself.
He first came to the big screen in 1989's Batman, portrayed by Jack Nicholson, and has appeared on screen numerous times since, including an iconic performance by Heath Ledger.
However, he didn't get his own film until 2019 in Joker, where Joaquin Phoenix won an Academy Award for the dark, disturbing film of The Joker's mental torment and gradual descent into bloody violence and insanity.