Favorite villain from the old franchise

[akfj]

i totally agree. what i dont understand is why ledger gets all these great reviews while devito, back in the day, got a razzie i think. at least thats what i heard. perhaps this was back in a time when overacting in bad guy roles was considered bad? i dont know, but to me ledger and devito were acting the same, but it was a different time (back when parents complained about batman films being "too dark" which is weird and you look at comic book films made today).

Ledger's Joker is a lot more subtle than Devito's Penguin. Some fans complained that he wasn't outlandish enough.

 

[El Payaso]

i totally agree. what i dont understand is why ledger gets all these great reviews while devito, back in the day, got a razzie i think.

Kubrick gets snubbed, Ron Howard gets Oscars. It's Hollywood man.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Michelle. Meow!

 

[DX]

Seeing as it's multiple choice, I voted Catwoman and Joker.

 

[Sharkboy]

as much as i loved devito as penguin, despite his hammyness, and michelle as catwoman was a revelation. I hafto go with Jack, the guy has so much fun playing that role, i've even heard in an interview that the guy just sits down sometimes and watches his own joker performance, he loves it, hes proud of it. If you see him on the dvd extras talking about his role, you'll see how excited he is to talk about it, his excitement defo shows on screen.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

as much as i loved devito as penguin, despite his hammyness, and michelle as catwoman was a revelation. I hafto go with Jack, the guy has so much fun playing that role, i've even heard in an interview that the guy just sits down sometimes and watches his own joker performance, he loves it, hes proud of it. If you see him on the dvd extras talking about his role, you'll see how excited he is to talk about it, his excitement defo shows on screen.

As much as I love Jack and his performance... I'm sure his excitement developed from his salary/ royalties.

He knew they wanted him... The role was dangling over his head for years, with everyone wanting him in the role. Was it love of the character or love of the wallet?

But hey... if a large percentage of the merchandise money is going to anybody, it may as well be Jack!

 

[OVivian]

Personally i thought Burton's Penguin was the most compelling of the Bat-Villains.

His whole backstory, image and behaviour we're so removed from the comic depiction of the character.

I think BR gave us a more interesting, tragic and threatening Penguin that had been depicted in Comics and Film up until then. He was no longer a gimic or a comic relief, more a vile, bitter, twisted animal that in your heart of hearts you know had no real chance at life from birth, the criminal fraternity being a desirable outlet.

 

[Spider-Bat]

Joker. I still like his origin better than TDK Joker, just the part about him falling in the vat of chemicals like the Comics, but I prefer the new Joker better, just being younger and thinner was closer to The Joker, but yeah for the old franchise The Joker was the best.

I like The Riddler even though he was over the top, but what can ya' do, it was Batman Forever.

The villian that got it the worst was Bane, I mean to go from a great villian in the books to a mindless henchman was an insult to the great character he is.

 

[Comics N' Toons]

The Joker because he reminds me so much of the O'neil/Adams/Englehart/Rogers Joker!

 

[The Joker]

*Bump*

Some new faces around these parts lately, so I'm bumpity bumping this thread.

 

[ALP]

I'm hoping that bump was for me

This thread brings warm feelings to my heart(don't think i'm getting sappy, just quoting Yoda) because it's great to see so many votes for the Penguin and Catwoman. Everywhere I turn there seems to be a large number of people that didn't like them. The characterization was beautiful and the acting phenomenal. They felt so real to me, not as in they exist in real life but in how believable they were. How could you not feel Selina Kyle's pain as she completely wrecks her entire flat in tears. Some people say the cats magically brought her back to life and made her Catwoman but that's not how I took it at all- more on that later.

At first glance my mouse immediately clicked on Jack's Joker. How could it not? It's Jack Nicholson playing the most iconic comic villain in history. But I had to search a little deeper, Penguin and Catwoman were the most sympathetic, torturous, and grandiose. Fortunately I took the low road and voted all 3 of them

I want to comment more on them and actually all of the villains, but I shall save that for later.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

I'm of two minds on the subject - and neither of them would say Two-Face. It's close between Jack's Joker and Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, but I give Pfeiffer the edge.

 

[ALP]

I actually quite enjoyed Carrey's Riddler. It wasn't the ideal, psychological driven Riddler. He was 100% camp and spandex but it was fun and that is something that can work for Nygma, the problem is that Two Face was also 100% camp. Had Two Face been a serious foil to the Riddler, I think I would have enjoyed BF just as much as B'89.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

that is something that can work for Nygma, the problem is that Two Face was also 100% camp. Had Two Face been a serious foil to the Riddler, I think I would have enjoyed BF just as much as B'89.

Nail on the head. The Riddler being so hyper and over-the-top works well, I get a huge kick out of Jim Carrey's performance, but Two-Face should have been more restrained and threatening. Batman Forever needs the balance of one big, manic villain and one more subdued villain, but it doesn't have that balance.

 

[Batman Beyond]

Nicholson's Joker, easily. He's the quintessential comics Joker.

That said, I also think Penguin, Catwoman and Riddler were great, too. Especially Penguin - the most evil bad guy in this bunch, the most terrifying but also the most sympathizing monster. DeVito did a really good job with the character. And Pfeiffer's Catwoman is so good, its criminally an underrated performance. She has the attitude of the Catwoman down with a T, despite the altered origin. And Jim Carrey as Riddler is delightfully insane, bitter but energetic, a great parallel to Batman's genius.

The rest... Well... Oddly, the rest are more faithful to the comics than Penguin, Catwoman and Riddler were, but they suck at it, except for occasional moments of glory - like Two-Face's first scene, Mr. Freeze carving-the-snowball moment in prison, Ivy as she rises from the Earth the first time...

Hm... Thinking about it, Bane has to be the absolute worst. At least the others, as I said, had their moments.

 

[The Joker]

I'm hoping that bump was for me

Well you were definitely one of the main people I had in mind

 

[the_joker]

My favourite villains from the original Batman films are the Joker, obviously, and Catwoman. I kind of like Doctor Freeze for his one-liners, but B&R itself was atrocious. I didn't like the Penguin - ridiculous, Riddler - too campy, Two-Face - bad make-up and Bane - drastically different to the comics.

I would have also added Max Shreck to the list, he was a pretty cool villain. His line at the end of BR when he asked why Bruce Wayne was dressed as Batman still makes me chuckle.

 

[ALP]

Well you were definitely one of the main people I had in mind

Ah ta ta ta, let's not blow things out of proportion

Only joking.

As for Bane guys, he is the single worst Batman villain ever portrayed on screen. Freeze and Ivy still had the right motivations and looked like their comic counterpart even though they were far too cheesy. I could have forgiven Bane's bull headed dumbness to a certain degree if he were a good muscle...but he wasn't. He didn't even have a single good fight with Batman It was purely pathetic, although I did not mind his origin with John Glover. I kinda liked him going from a wimp to being pumped with the venom. If he were intelligent or had some decent fight scene it would have been much better. I'd love to see a Russian/Punisher type fight with Batman/Bane.

 

[The Joker]

It's actually amazing Bane was even in Batman and Robin considering he had only just made his debut in the comics 4 years earlier. The fact he broke Batman's back made such an impact.

 

[BigSams50]

Definitely Jack's Joker. His representation of the Joker was great. Had me laughing alot lol

 

[Rebel]

I chose The Joker, The Penguin and Catwoman. The villians from Burton's Batman films were far more interesting, tragic and better acted than Shumacher's campy crap (although I must confess that I really did enjoy Jim Carrey's Riddler, just not as much as the first 3). Also, I would've added Max Shreck to this poll.

 

[The Joker]

Max was a made up for the movie character. Hence why I didn't include him.

 

[Rebel]

Max was a made up for the movie character. Hence why I didn't include him.

Right. But he was still part of the old franchise, though. And an evil one at that.

 

[The Joker]

So was Grissom. But I don't class him or Schreck as villains. Not like Batman's costumed villains.

 

[Rebel]

So was Grissom. But I don't class him or Schreck as villains. Not like Batman's costumed villains.

Max much more of a character than Grissom. Grissom had two scenes the whole movie, Max was credited in a strong supporting role and was there from beginning to end right next to Penguin and Catwoman.

But I see what you mean by "costumed villian".