The Joker has been around for nearly eighty years now and during that length of time, he's managed to maintain a consistent presence in pop culture as one of the most iconic comic book foes out there. Part of that achievement comes from how he's not just ubiquitous in comic books, you can't throw a rock without hitting a pop-culture incarnation of the clown prince of crime. The Joker is a regular presence in all kinds of Batman media ranging from the Arkham video games to the assorted animated TV shows and, of course, to the silver screen. Numerous Batman movies have featured The Joker, starting with 1966's Batman in which Caesar Romero reprised his role as the character from the Batman TV show.
From there, the gloves were off and The Joker was never going to be taken away from the world of cinema. Actors who have portrayed The Joker in various cinematic forms over the last three decades have included Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix and some guy Viola Davis' husband could have taken care of. At this point, it's doubtful that you could make a new version of Batman without also creating a new take on The Joker. Keeping that in mind, once Will Arnett's take on Batman in The LEGO Movie became beloved enough to score a solo spin-off movie, it was inevitable that we'd have to get a LEGO take on The Joker. LEGO Batman may be different in many ways from past versions of Batman but not having his primary arch-nemesis is not one of those variations.
Among a number of distinct traits found in the various LEGO movies is that they tend to make LEGO versions of recognizable people that put little twists on their recognizable personalities. Will Forte's Abraham Lincoln runs away at the first sight of mayhem rather than adhering to Lincoln's legendary personality of being a courageous leader while Green Lantern is a socially abrasive individual who can't take any kind of hint rather than a heroic figure. This means that The LEGO Movie take on The Joker, voiced by Zach Galifianakis, is a more insecure and vulnerable figure compared to, say, the anarchic Heath Ledger Joker in The Dark Knight who reveled in not needing a plan or other people's approval.
Upon learning early on that Batman does not consider The Joker to be his greatest adversary, The Joker is thrown into internal chaos, he can't stand not being properly hated/appreciated by Batman considering all the dastardly plans he's done over the years. This leads to Joker concocting an elaborate scheme concerning a LEGO take on the Phantom Zone but what's really important here about The Joker is he's really not the primary obstacle for Batman to overcome over the course of this story. Traditional Batman movies give the titular superhero a famous comic book baddie to fight and defeat over the course of a feature-length narrative, typically in service of a broader character arc. In these cases, the villain is where the conflict emerges from.
Here in The LEGO Batman Movie, though, Batman's greatest enemy is himself, specifically his inability to open himself up emotionally to other people and allow himself the chance to connect with others like his new adopted son Dick Grayson (Michael Cera). That's the central source of conflict in The LEGO Batman Movie rather than exclusively generating conflict from a supervillain. This means this version of Joker works in service of Batman's character arc and the LEGO take on The Joker is perfect for the role. As a demonstration of how bad Batman's habit of shutting people out of his life has become, what better representation could there be than seeing Batman hurt the feelings of The Joker?
Such a delightfully unexpected revamp of the character doesn't just work on a thematic level, it's also hysterical in terms of the kind of comedy it delivers. Much of the yuks stem from the vocal performance of Zach Galifianakis, an actor whose proven to have some noteworthy chops as a voice actor throughout his career. Maybe the best example of those chops is his turn as The Joker, which establishes itself as something unique in the Joker movie performances canon right from the start in how Galifianakis doesn't try to disguise his voice. Instead of evoking a conventional zany clown voice, Galifianakis decides to reinforce the fact that this is a more human take on The Joker by making the character's voice more down-to-Earth.
Galifianakis also goes down the unexpected route of lending some truly aching heartbroken vibes to the characters Batman-centric angst. The Joker is truly shaken up by the fact that Batman doesn't respect The Joker as an arch-nemesis anywhere near as much as The Joker does towards Batman. The fact that Galifianakis delivers voice work that frequently realizes Jokers' emotional turmoil without even a hint of comedy makes the fact that such voicework is coming out of a LEGO mini-figure of The Joker all the more hysterical. Each new cinematic version of The Joker has brought something new to the table, whether it be something iconic or something terrible. What makes the LEGO Batman Movie version of The Joker really stick out in my mind, though, is the humorous presence of humanity Zach Galifianakis brought to the role. It's a wonderful voice turn that may stand out as the best feature film performance Galifianakis has ever given.
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