12 Actors Who Should Play The Joker In Scorsese's Origin Movie

3. James Franco

James Franco is exactly the kind of acquired taste that would work wonderfully for The Joker. He absolutely has it in his wheelhouse to mesh disarming charm with real emotional gravitas (watch a double bill of Spring Breakers and 127 Hours and you'll see).

He's a lot more of a gifted actor than he's probably given credit for, and he's also capable of humorous performances, which might be key if we're going to get an image of the Joker as the comedian gone bad in The Killing Joke.

He might not be quite as young as some of the other contenders, but he's a natural successor to Jared Leto (which might actually stand in his way), who could add a lot to the material in a similar way to what Heath Ledger achieved.