With Suicide Squad now in theatres, we’re about to get yet another version of, come on let’s just come out and say it, the most popular villain in all of pop culture (Darth Vader doesn’t count, he eventually went good). Jared Leto joins a long line of esteemed actors to have played Batman’s eternal nemesis the Joker on both the small and silver screens – Jack Nicholson, Cesar Romero, Heath Ledger, Mark Hamill, etc.
But when all those iterations of the character were cast, it meant that numerous other hopefuls missed out on donning the white make up and green wig. For instance, Ryan Gosling apparently turned down the part in Suicide Squad before Leto signed on the dotted line.
Here, then, are 10 actors that were up for the role of the Joker at one point or another. Would any of them have been better than the several versions of the Clown Prince of Crime that we eventually got? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.