Like any comic book character there's been countless reinventions of the Joker and thus there were a lot of avenues Burton and the rest of the team could have gone down. In fact, they almost did go in a completely different direction, having the character be much younger (according the original script he'd have been thirty-two). This would have obviously drawn up more distinct parallels with Batman, putting the film's hero and villain at a similar age and thus mirroring each other more. This idea went out the window when the production began to eye up Jack Nicholson for the role (likely due to his previously mentioned form in the crazy arena) and thus a more experienced Napier was introduced. As well as changing the characterisation completely, this had a major impact on the film - it allowed the screenwriters to make the Joker the killer of Thomas and Martha Wayne. This was a late-in-the-day plot alteration and was only possible because Nicholson's Joker was old enough to have been an active criminal when Bruce Wayne was a young boy. Which actor does the best Joker? And what other tics in Jack Nicholson's performance in particular do you know? Discuss all things Batman in the comments below.
