The Dark Knight The many faces of the Joker. Which is the "real" one?

[raybia]

With a new picture of Heath as the Joker under our belts it is time to reflect and try and solve the mystery of what exactly the Joker will naturally look like in this movie. One thing is for certain, it won't be consistent.

The first pic we got. The skin looks bleached (there are no visible cracks in the make-up) and the scar is extremely prominent. Also the lipstick is very messy, covering most oh his mouth ear to ear.

Here the scar looks significantly less grusome and the lipstick is much neater. However he is clearly wearing make-up (but is it white make-up or flesh make-up?) It should also be noted that his hair is brown with green running through it.

Seeing as we know the Joker is the Joker from the very beginning of the film, it is clear that at some point the Joker must use flesh make-up as you can see the skin around his eyes in this pic. Also, the hair is brown so he is either wearing a wig or has dyed it.

Its hard to say but the make-up in this pic looks very complete and filled-in. Could be his "natural" skin tone. The lipstick is once again neat but the hair is green to the roots this time.


Also, if you include the leaked pic of the Joker (the close-up where he is laughing which I can't post here) you will see that his make-up/green hair seems to be coming off, as if he was caught in the rain. His lipstick is also smudged.

Its really hard to know what to expect. With every new pic I get more confused. Nolan has said he is using the first 2 Joker appearances very strongly in this interpretation of the character. In those comics the medics who work on the Joker are surprised to see his skin as actually white all the way down his body, and the Joker wears skin-toned make-up as a disguise.

One thing is for sure, Nolan is great with surprises and secrets.

Obviously the man who will become the Joker will undergo a physical and psychological metamorphosis to the archenemy we will all know and love.

 

[CaptainClown]

Captain Clown's idea is very appealing, and is one of the reasons I'm for the "permawhite" Joker - not so much for tradition's sake, but because it makes a better dramatic tool. To me, it makes Joker more frightening, more mysterious, and a la Captain Clown's scene, it makes for some very good entertainment. If Nolan wanted to pull a gigantic headfake on the audience (like he seems to enjoy doing in his other films), he'd do exactly what's been described here - make the audience think Joker wears makeup, and then BAM, in one shocking scene we realize it's all a mask under a mask under a mask, etc., etc.

But that's irrelevant to this thread, as someone said earlier. This thread is here to argue why the Joker looks different in each of the pics we've seen so far, not if "permawhite" is a better option or not.

Some argue it's merely technical, others think it's more than that. Perhaps Nolan wants Joker's look to evolve throughout the film - i.e., he never looks the same way twice, with slight alterations each time. Or perhaps Nolan actually responded to fan reactions - after the first pic, many people thought it was an effective look, but perhaps too gruesome. Half of his face literally looked like ground hamburger meat. Now Ledger's scars look like they were toned down, and perhaps that was a conscious measure of fan reaction. And perhaps it's all just one big ruse - if we're to believe Miranda, then we can guess that the Joker has something else going on with his look.

In the end, who knows? We're all here to argue our opinion, and none of us are "stupid" for it.

thank you, I was afraid that socko was the only one who read it t:

 

[AgentGraves!]

I'm sorry if im late to the dance...but honestly the very idea, the very thought of the whole "Heath is not the Joker, he's a Faux Joker" is ludicrous....to have invested so much into marketing Heath as the Joker only to turn it around like that at the end is mind boggling.

I - I really have no good comments about this...I really don't...I - I only feel shame.

 

[Bat-Mite]

I'm sorry if im late to the dance...but honestly the very idea, the very thought of the whole "Heath is not the Joker, he's a Faux Joker" is ludicrous....to have invested so much into marketing Heath as the Joker only to turn it around like that at the end is mind boggling.

I - I really have no good comments about this...I really don't...I - I only feel shame.

Yeah, that's totally not going to happen. If Nolan did that, he will have pissed off thousands of Bat-fans (and critics) for pulling the exact same stunt that he pulled in Batman Begins with Ra's. I'm sure we'll have a big plot twist in there somewhere, but I don't think Nolan's going to throw his credibility away by using the same plot twist. Not only that, but I doubt that Heath would be getting so into the role of the Joker if he's just playing a decoy.

 

[jrc3735]

you're not going to quiet anybody, you're just making yourself look like an ass by stating something as a fact that nobody except the filmmakers know for sure. we don't know. none of us know. a lot of people on this board have very strong IDEAS, and fight fiercely over them. but they don't know, and neither do you, so shut up.

The thing is I DO know for a FACT he isn't perma white and just wears makeup.

 

[Bat-Mite]

The thing is I DO know for a FACT he isn't perma white and just wears makeup.

Until you cough up some proof to back up your claims, it's not a fact, but just a strongly held opinion. Pointing to a pic and saying "OMG you can see skin there!" isn't proof btw. As someone pointed out earlier, folks would be saying the same thing about Jack's Joker if they had the internet in '89 and someone posted pics from the museum scene.

 

[Paste Pot Pete]

The thing is I DO know for a FACT he isn't perma white and just wears makeup.

How do you know? I'm not being antagonistic, and I haven't read the whole thread so maybe you've already explained.

And on topic - I really think people are putting way too much thought into it. The new pic doesn't look THAT different from the previous ones. It's the lighting. The one that appears most "makeup-y" is the one that's closest to his face and under the harshest light(the knife pic). Coincidence? Of course you can't see as many flaws in the latest picture; he's sitting in the back seat of a darkened car.

 

[raybia]

The thing is I DO know for a FACT he isn't perma white and just wears makeup.

There has been information that came out about a year ago that the Joker skin would be perma white.

Obviously its makeup to begin with and something will happen to make it permanent.

 

[CaptainClown]

I just want to use this gif, and now on jrc3735

 

[jrc3735]

Cool OWNED gif captainclown you tool! I'm not explaining anything to anyone (can't wait to see what **** i get for that) but I will take names now and gladly remind you guys for doubting me in July

 

[CaptainClown]

ya, I am itching to use it in a real life situation.

 

[Jacobhiggins]

There all the real one but they are all different. It's not lighting, (give me a break, you can see the pictures for yourself lol) it's because his look changes throughout the film!

 

[cryptic name]

Cool OWNED gif captainclown you tool! I'm not explaining anything to anyone (can't wait to see what **** i get for that) but I will take names now and gladly remind you guys for doubting me in July

okay, take my name down because i say you're full of s**t, knox. and you can quote me on that.

 

[vegeta21]

Spoiler

^^^^^^^New picture of the Joker!! ^^^^^^^^

So the Joker is really Batman.....?

 

[Paste Pot Pete]

There all the real one but they are all different. It's not lighting, (give me a break, you can see the pictures for yourself lol) it's because his look changes throughout the film!

If it ISN'T the lighting/distance/color correction, I'll eat my hat. Look at the knife pic. It's close up, very clear and in great detail. And most importantly, it doesn't appear to have the sickly greenish/sepia tint that the WSS pic has. Now in the WSS pic, that tint has affected his look greatly. The proof is right in his eye makeup, which appears almost as green as his hair (a contrast from the charcoal black eyes of the knife pic). As he's further in the back of the picture and in more shadow, it's harder to make out the imperfections in his makeup. But you can clearly see they're still there. Look around the tip of his nose and right under it, and slighly under the left eye. Also, it's pretty plain to see that his wrinkles are revealing flesh tone as well.

Look, I don't want it to be simply makeup. I don't THINK it's simply makeup. I'm of the theory that it's meant to look like makeup but will be revealed to be permanent. But the idea that what we're seeing are some sort of "stages" of Joker is really grasping at straws.

*P.S. I'm honored to have finally been immortalized in a sig. You have fine taste, Cryptic Name!

 

[jmc]

Who ever it was who coined the word "permawhite" needs to have a good, long, hard look at themselves in the mirror.

 

[Paste Pot Pete]

Who ever it was who coined the word "permawhite" needs to have a good, long, hard look at themselves in the mirror.

And ask themselves "Is that just makeup on my face?" t:

 

[jmc]

I mean seriously, in what other situation would you use the word 'permawhite'?

"This is a rear species of permawhite kangaroo"

"Global Warming has caused the coral to be permawhited"

"The dentist is permawhiting my teeth"

If you're going to make up a word at least make one up that's usable in other situations, come on put some effort into it!

 

[Argyle of Sock]

I'm actually fond of "permaclown" over "permawhite," myself.

 

[Jacobhiggins]

If it ISN'T the lighting/distance/color correction, I'll eat my hat. Look at the knife pic. It's close up, very clear and in great detail. And most importantly, it doesn't appear to have the sickly greenish/sepia tint that the WSS pic has. Now in the WSS pic, that tint has affected his look greatly. The proof is right in his eye makeup, which appears almost as green as his hair (a contrast from the charcoal black eyes of the knife pic). As he's further in the back of the picture and in more shadow, it's harder to make out the imperfections in his makeup. But you can clearly see they're still there. Look around the tip of his nose and right under it, and slighly under the left eye. Also, it's pretty plain to see that his wrinkles are revealing flesh tone as well.

Look, I don't want it to be simply makeup. I don't THINK it's simply makeup. I'm of the theory that it's meant to look like makeup but will be revealed to be permanent. But the idea that what we're seeing are some sort of "stages" of Joker is really grasping at straws.

*P.S. I'm honored to have finally been immortalized in a sig. You have fine taste, Cryptic Name!

Nolan has already said that his appearence will change throughout the movie. Your description of the pictures are good but that still doesn't explain other pictures where he looks different. You even think he uses make up to hide what he really looks like and it's been reported from the people in the film as well!

 

[Nivek]

The thing is I DO know for a FACT he isn't perma white and just wears makeup.

Most of us with common sense and deductive reasoning already assumed that, we just have a good chunk of people here who need to be literally clobbered with that pic of the Joker with his make-up running taped on a baseball bat to get the point.

It's as bad as the Building 7 Conspiracy wack-jobs who dont understand how much work needs to go into a controlled demolition. It wouldn't shock me to find out they share beliefs.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

If you sharpen the second picture down (someone else done this) the scar looks much more prominent, in the newly released picture it looks like the scars are covered by his hands.

 

[MechaOrga]

If you sharpen the second picture down (someone else done this) the scar looks much more prominent, in the newly released picture it looks like the scars are covered by his hands.

i think its much simplier than we all think.

the dude is crazy. He likes to change his appearance.He is not permaclown(unfortunately), BUT thinks of himself as perma clown(YIKES!!).... maybe he doesnt EVER have his face without the make-up. in other words......

He doesnt wash off the makeup he just reapplies it over the messed up make-up.

Hence why it looks thin in the knife pick and thick in the new pick.hence why his hair is always different shades(light green in the bank, dyed again, darker green in newer picks.)

Anyone can post pics of heath dressed as cop sans make-up?

 

[TheCaptain]

I don't know if the cop pic is sans make-up. It definitely looks like two flesh-tones, a really really pale one (hint, hint), and then a darker one over his face.

 

[MechaOrga]

I don't know if the cop pic is sans make-up. It definitely looks like two flesh-tones, a really really pale one (hint, hint), and then a darker one over his face.

VERY VERY interesting.....