10 Actors You Probably Didn’t Know Almost Played The Joker

2) David Bowie

The Thin White Duke himself David Bowie could have been the Thin White Joker if plans to cast him as Batman’s nemesis had come to pass in the late 80s. Batman writer Sam Hamm thought Bowie would have been the perfect choice for the character: “Bowie would be kind of neat because he’s very funny when he does sinister roles,” he has said.

We would be inclined to agree as the late, great musical genius proved his natural talent at portraying a villain in 1986’s Labyrinth. In that film, he plays a baby-snatching goblin king who lusts over a teenage girl – and yet you still love him. Entertaining the audience while committing unsavoury deeds is necessity for the Joker and Bowie would have had that down pat.