Yesterday, September 15th, was Batman Day - DC Comics' annual celebration of one of their most iconic creations. The Caped Crusader has been around for nearly 80 years now, and as one of the oldest superheroes we've seen thousands of iterations created in basically every medium. One of the most popular of those adaptations is Batman: The Animated Series, which many hold as the quintessential depiction of Batman and his arch-nemesis, the Joker. Mark Hamill famously provided the voice of the villain on the show and many projects since, and he took the time to share his Dark Knight appreciation on social media yesterday:
A lot of actors have given great performances as the Joker, but for a lot of fans the most iconic was brought to life by Mark Hamill. The actor provided the voice for the Clown Prince of Crime throughout the entire run of Batman: The Animated Series, plus appearances on other connected shows like Justice League. Hamill nails the insane and twisted aspect of the character, while also balancing the humor. He's gone on to voice the character in dozens of other animated movies, TV shows, and video games, so it's fair to say he has played a big part in the actor's career.
While taking a break from trolling Star Wars fans, Mark Hamill celebrated Batman Day with a post to Twitter. The actor wrote that he had been looking for a role that was as far away from Luke Skywalker as possible when he landed the Joker in 1992, and hasn't looked back since. Hamill thanked Batman: The Animated Series for giving him the opportunity, and also provided a shoutout to Kevin Conroy, who voiced the show's version of Gotham's protector. Conroy is similarly praised by many as being the best representation of Batman anywhere outside of the comics, and Hamill calls him the "one and only Dark Knight" in his post.
It's easy to see how Mark Hamill has so much praise for the Joker role. After spending three movies as one of the most iconic do-gooders in fiction, I can imagine that he was looking for a change of pace. He ended up finding one of the most iconic villains in fiction to change things up. Luke Skywalker and the Joker are night and day, and they will always wonderfully showcase Hamill's range as a performer.
Mark Hamill has announced his retirement from voicing Joker a few times, but he always ends up getting pulled back in. He currently voices the character on the show Justice League Action, where he once did a super fun scene where the actor himself met the Joker. If you prefer his good guy character work, you can next see Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode IX on December 20, 2019.
