One of the most celebrated actors to portray The Joker across all media is actor Mark Hamill. First taking on the role in 1992's Batman: The Animated Series, he quickly became a fan-favorite for his raucous yet still chilling take on the character, serving as a great foil to late Batman actor Kevin Conroy in the classic show and the subsequent animated movies and video games in the decades that followed.
Recently, with the 12th anniversary of Batman: Arkham City, Mark Hamill took to Twitter to share his insights on playing the Joker over the years, and how the celebrated Batman Arkham series allowed him to be a "whole new Joker."
12 years & a day ago today.Freed from the constraints of television's Standards & Practices Dept. (TV censors) & aimed at a more mature audience, the Arkham trilogy was dark, gritty & extremely violent. This was a whole new Joker for me.🦇vs 🃏 https://t.co/bn2GXuDxQ3October 19, 2023
On his Twitter page, Hamill expressed how the Batman Arkham games from developer Rocksteady Studios allowed him to explore a more gritty and violent side of the Batman mythos for a more mature audience. Famously, Batman: The Animated Series and Tim Burton's Batman helped reintroduce Batman as a dark hero, moving away from the popular, still greatly entertaining Adam West era of Batman.
The Animated Series was a surprisingly dark show for children's audiences, but despite the darker storylines, it became a popular show for kids and older viewers alike. However, the series came into conflict with TV studios over its subject matter and violence, and key creatives such as writer Paul Dini had to tone down some stories to fit the television standards of the time.
With the Batman Arkham games, many of the original creatives came back to work on the game - such as Conroy as Batman, Hamill as Joker, and TAS writer Paul Dini. The resulting games were not only fantastic superhero games that shook the stigma attached to them, but they also were great Batman stories that allowed fan-favorite actors to explore a different interpretation that focused on more mature stories.
While the "Arkhamverse" Joker saw something of origin story in the underrated and excellent Arkham Origins - played by Troy Baker - most fans view Rocksteady's core games as the main plot. Arkham City, in particular, is a high point of the series for many, which closed out with the surprising death of The Joker, leading to an even more shocking "revival" in Arkham Knight, which then closed out his story within the series. The Arkham games did a particularly good job of showcasing a unique dynamic between Batman and The Joker that was only shown a glimpse in The Animated Series, detailing an almost certainty to their conflict.
Mark Hamill's work on the Batman Arkham series is arguably his best as the character. Following the passing of Kevin Conroy, Hamill said that he felt his time as the Joker is done, stating in interviews that returning to the character without Conroy wouldn't feel right. Still, the Batman Arkham games are a testament to the two actors' unique dynamic for their roles, which sits comfortably alongside their work on The Animated Series.
With Marvel's Spider-Man 2 finally here, there's a whole lot of competition among the best superhero games.
