Every Batman Movie Villain Ever Ranked From Worst To Best

The mere fact that Jack Nicholson agreed to portray The Joker in the '89 Batman did a lot of good in legitimising superhero films as "real" works of cinema.

But rather than deliver a more groundedly menacing performance as you might expect from a multi-Oscar winner, Nicholson went the other way entirely, making his Joker a walking cartoon character in the best way possible.

Nicholson's wildly over-the-top, murderous gangster interpretation of the Joker is a perfect mirror image of Michael Keaton's more subdued - yet arguably no-less nuts - Batman.

Few actors could make audiences take a villain seriously who says, "Never rub another man's rhubarb," and yet, Nicholson finds just the right tonal through-line, delving deeper into the character's manic, maximalist brand of psychopathy than any other big-screen portrayal.

Though Nicholson's turn has arguably been eclipsed by not one but two of his cinematic successors, we most certainly wouldn't have Heath Ledger or Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar-winning takes without it.