Über Takes Have a take
Film · Which Joker · Take No. 033

Ledger or Phoenix?

Two actors played the same villain a decade apart and both won the Oscar for it. One stole a Batman film; the other carried a whole film alone. Pick your clown.

The case for each side, then the verdict. Then the floor is yours.
The case for

Heath Ledger (2008)

The Dark Knight · Nolan

  • 1Posthumous Oscar for a comic-book role, the first ever. The Academy didn't give it out of sentiment.
  • 0Origin stories. A different scar story every time, which is the whole point.
  • $1BThe Dark Knight passed a billion dollars, and his performance is the reason people saw it twice.
vs
The case for

Joaquin Phoenix (2019)

Joker · Phillips

  • OscarBest Actor, not Supporting. He's in nearly every frame of the film.
  • 52 lbLost for the role. The body is part of the performance in a way Ledger's wasn't asked to be.
  • $1BA character study, rated R, with no Batman, became the first R-rated film to pass a billion dollars.

Cast your take

——
The verdict

It's Ledger. Phoenix gave the bigger performance; Ledger gave the better one.

Phoenix's work is enormous: he's in every scene, physically transformed, and he made a billion-dollar hit out of a film about loneliness. It's a lead performance with no net, and the Oscar was earned.

But Ledger did the harder thing: he made a character with no origin, no explanation and a fraction of the screen time into the most memorable villain of the century. Nobody has played the Joker since without being compared to him. Ledger.

Disagree? That's what the buttons are for.

Next on the docket

Film · No. 005

Godfather or Part II?

Part IPart II
Film · No. 006

Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

YesNo
Film · No. 007

Empire or A New Hope?

EmpireA New Hope