Spider-Man movies to accomplish this. Batman and Spider-Man occupy similar places in pop culture. Both are instantly recognizable, with a variety of TV and movie adaptations, and both are elevated by an iconic cast of eccentric villains. A major difference in their movies, though, is that while Spider-Man movies tend to try and use different villains, every version of Batman has faced his own reimagined version of the Joker.
Joker and Batman have such a strong connection that most people, on hearing about one, will immediately think of the other—and with good reason, seeing as the two were defined as bitter rivals from the very start. Joker’s design was influenced by a character named Gwynplaine in the 1928 movie, The Man Who Laughs, and featured in the very first Batman comic in 1940, the year after Batman’s own introduction in Detective Comics #27. The original plan had been to kill off the Joker at the end of his first appearance, but this was changed last-minute, with a hastily drawn final . Of the first 12 issues of Batman, the Joker went on to appear in nine of them, cementing his image as Batman’s archnemesis.
Joker occupies a unique niche, not afforded to most comic book villains. He has a huge fanbase of his own, even though his character stands for little more than chaos. Other villainous characters with similar followings are usually appreciated for the cause they champion, like Magneto’s goal to fight back against oppression or Poison Ivy’s desire to protect the environment. Conversely, a lot of people who like the Joker seem to do so purely because he’s the Joker. He carries greater meaning as a symbol than as an actual character. But with such a spotlight on him that he even received his own movie, the Joker’s overexposure feels like it's begun to harm the impact his character should carry.
Why Batman Movies Keep Using The Joker (& Why That's A Problem)
The reason behind the Joker’s repeated appearance, besides his popularity, is the fact that he’s Batman’s polar opposite. Where Batman is all about order and self-discipline, the Joker brings unrestrained chaos. As such perfect antitheses to each other, it’s understandable that writers would take advantage of this to write a compelling story. As such good character foils, one will always emphasize the traits of the other, and Batman is often a symbol of order fighting back against chaos.
The trouble is that there’s only so much that can be done with a character whose main driving force is unbridled mayhem. This is probably part of the reason why comic writers so often team the Joker up with other villains. Standing on his own, it’s difficult to give the Joker much of a personality beyond unhinged laughter, a penchant for violence, and a desire to cause chaos. Part of this is arguably by design. In many ways, the Joker works best when he isn’t really a character at all, but a representation of chaos itself.
The difficulty is that it can easily feel unsatisfying to watch a character who has no particular goal of their own. The most well-received The Dark Knight and, while his portrayal was seemingly not based on any particular comic version, he fit perfectly into the story being told. But, looking back on that story, there’s very little actual substance to his character. As Alfred’s famous line from the movie says, “some people just want to watch the world burn,” but the result is that this is essentially all there is to Nolan’s version of the Joker.
How Spider-Man Movie Villains Keep Their Impact
Generally, Spider-Man movies tend to try and feature a different villain each time. In the case of MCU movies, this may be partially because of licensing issues between Disney and Sony, but it was true long before. Of the five pre-MCU Spider-Man movies, each one features a different main villain. The only one to be repeated is The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with a reimagined version of the Green Goblin, the main villain is Electro, with the Goblin taking a secondary role.
The result is that returning Spider-Man villains are much more impactful. The entire audience hook for Spider-Man 2 back in 2004. While part of the impact was down to this being the same version of Doctor Octopus from that earlier movie, it’s likely that he would not have had the same audience reaction if another version of his character had been the star of a solo movie relatively recently.
Another way in which Spider-Man villains keep their impact is by appearing as radically different versions between movies. While the Green Goblin who appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 may not have been the strongest characterization, he was very much not the same as the Green Goblin from Spider-Man in 2002. Even more notable was Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, appearing in a surprise reveal as a different version of the character in nearly every way.
Batman Has A Lot Of Underused Villains Who Deserve Movie Appearances
One problem with the Joker appearing so often is that other Batman villains get pushed aside as a result. Batman has an expansive cast of antagonists, each with distinctive goals, motivations, and personalities, as well as striking appearances. The unfortunate result is that many of these villains have not been given the spotlight they could have. Like with Spider-Man villains, they can test Batman in different ways, pushing him to try different approaches, causing him to fail and grow. Where the Joker is pure chaos and destruction, many of Batman’s other villains are far more sympathetic, giving Batman more opportunities to show empathy and humanity – things that mean nothing to a character like the Joker.
Birds Of Prey featured another Batman villain, Black Mask, as an antagonist for antihero Harley rather than the Dark Knight. While this isn’t a bad thing in itself, especially with such a well-developed cast of villainous characters, it can easily begin to feel as if Batman is no longer the main character in his own universe.
Many of Batman’s villains deserve to be the main villain in a Batman movie, and they can offer a level of complexity that the Joker simply doesn’t have. and The Riddler, each of whom had specific objectives and motivations. Even without being sympathetic at all, a well-written villain can become an extremely compelling character to watch, particularly when confrontations with the hero end with something other than just punching each other into submission.
Batman Movies Still Avoid One Spider-Man Villain Problem
One way Batman movies far outshine Spider-Man movies, however, is how they handle multiple villains. Historically, Spider-Man movies with more than one antagonist have used them rather poorly, with all the characters jostling for attention. The weakest of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies is easily The villains, Sandman, Venom, and Green Goblin, could each be a compelling opponent for the story, and each has a reason to fight against Spider-Man but, without the right amount of development, their stories all feel unsatisfying.
This isn’t to say that Batman movies have always handled this well. The Batman movies from the 1990s had a similar problem, throwing in too many villains and making them all feel rather two-dimensional as a result. Poison Ivy was reduced to a bland femme fatale, Mr. Freeze wasn’t compelling at all despite his sympathetic backstory, and Bane became little more than a glorified henchman.
21st century Batman movies, however, have handled multiple villains extremely well, through a combination of good pacing and well-planned stories. Batman Begins perfectly balances three primary villains, Carmine Falcone, Scarecrow, and Ra's al Ghul, contrasting with each other while posing distinct threats of their own. The Batman does a similar job, balancing Riddler, Falcone, and the Penguin as distinct characters at odds with each other as well as with Batman himself. With No Way Home, it seems that Spider-Man movies have finally learned this lesson, but there were plenty of missteps before reaching this point.
It seems inevitable that as long as there are new versions of Batman appearing in movies, there will also be new versions of Joker to battle against him. But perhaps it doesn’t have to be that way. Strangely, while every movie incarnation of Batman has faced a Joker, there’s now one movie Joker who seemingly exists independently of a Batman. If Joker can be granted the freedom to explore an entirely different story, perhaps a Batman movie should be able to do the same.
