Colin Farrell has officially signed on to play the Penguin in the new HBO Max Batman series.
We like the pick because Farrell is a very versatile actor. He can do drama well – as we’ve all seen many times – and he could even do comedy seamlessly as well as we saw in Horrible Bosses. Seeing how we’re so optimistic and feeling good on a Wednesday, let’s rank the best Batman villains.
#5 – Liam Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghul
Is there anything Liam Neeson can’t do? He hid his character and was an epic ninja master in the mountains. He parlayed his career resurgence from Taken beautifully to be portray this epic Batman Begins villain.
#4 – Jack Nicholson’s Joker
Jack Nicolson as the Joker "Batman" 1989 pic.twitter.com/q77l76SIv2
— Star Wolf ⭐🐺🍄🌲♒👽 (@GreenWolf71) December 7, 2021
People refer to Jack Nicholson as the OG – even though that’s not exactly true. Nonetheless, though, he put up an epic performance. From a guy who was used to playing chilling characters in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the Shining, you knew he’d knock it out of the park and that’s exactly what he did.
#3 – Tom Hardy’s Bane
Bane’s voice is almost as distinctive as Darth Vader’s. Tom Hardy explains how it came about #Batman #TheDarkKnightRises https://t.co/dVhdn7EY9q pic.twitter.com/H98qN8t5dw
— Marsh Myers (@marshmyers) November 29, 2021
For the record, Bane is one of the best. Absolutely loved him and this author is one of the few that actually truly enjoyed the voice. More so for the comedy of it mind you, but still. It’s still a great voice. Tom Hardy was also a true badass and nobody would ever want to fight this guy. That’s the mark of a good villain.
#2 – Aaron Eckhart’s Two-Face
I still believe killing off Eckhart’s Two-Face was a big mistake https://t.co/v521i23Ylo
— Jimmy Folino #WhoDey 🐅- BLM, StopAsianHate 🏳️🌈 (@MrNiceGuy513) October 31, 2020
Eckhart was awesome and gave a truly chilling performance, but he wasn’t utilized that well. We saw him for all of a few minutes after his transformation and then he was killed by Batman. Another five or 10 minutes of Two-Face (at least) would’ve been hugely appreciated!
#1 – Heath Ledger’s Joker
No other comic book villain has ever won an Academy Award for their performance. We all know the sad end to the Heath Ledger story, but thankfully he left with the best art of his career that will live on forever as the best Batman villain (or really any villain) we’ve ever seen.
Honourable Mention
Phoenix's Joker is by far the best looking we've seen in live action yet imo pic.twitter.com/mqm3B6qy1V
— matt🎬 (@mattlikesfilm) November 28, 2021
We, of course, now have to give a few honourable mention nods as well to Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker and Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow. For the record, if you’re wondering why Joaquin on actual the list, it’s merely because we don’t know just yet if that was a one-off performance or not and he didn’t take on Batman (just yet…hopefully). We also liked Cillian Murphy, but his return for no reason at all in the next two Christopher Nolan Batman installments irritated us greatly.
