Top 20 Scariest Joker Moments

“Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker” (2000) After a couple decades away from Gotham, the clown prince of crime returned in full and put together a new and young crew of henchmen. While most of them loyally followed Joker’s orders, a goon named Bonk openly questioned his new boss. The clown prince of crime creepily sat in shadow as his subordinate complained. But the scene really got scary when Bonk tried to resign. Without hesitating, Joker pulls out a pistol and unleashed…a little flag labeled bang. That moment of relief was instantly followed by the moment where the clown shoots Bonk for real. After both the dark twist of the scene and Joker’s smile in the face of death sunk in, we knew we were in for a truly terrifying villain.

“Gotham” (2014-19) Despite never being officially called Joker, Jerome Valeska’s appetite for violence and manic actions made him worthy of the mantle. He was especially cruel to his own family members. We could only watch in horror when he threatened his father with death. After Jerome slayed his own father, he focused his rage on his brother. The proto-clown wanted to get his revenge against his sibling for spreading false stories. Once Jerome cornered his brother in a tight hallway, he slowly moved in like a predator hungry for its next meal. The villain’s badly scarred face also added an extra layer of creepiness to the scene. By the end of the scene, we were convinced that Jerome would take any measure to be an only child.

#18: Joker Jump Scares

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Top 10 Scariest Joker Moments

“Batman: Arkham Knight” (2015) Gamers thought that they saw the last of the clown in the Arkham series after he died at the end of “Arkham City”. Unfortunately, the Joker came back to haunt Bruce and us while delivering hair raising jump scares. At the start of the game, the player is tasked with cremating the Joker’s body. But those who are replaying the game may get startled by a suddenly lively clown. Hours after that heart attack inducing moment, the Joker starts appearing in front of Batman as a hallucination. While the clown usually announces his presence, he decides to shock the dark knight and the player by popping up on a rooftop. These jump scares proved that the villain could spook us from beyond the grave.

“Joker” (2019) Although Arthur Fleck had a tough life, he could at least smile about his budding relationship with his neighbor Sophie. The two go out on a date and she even supports him when his mom ends up in the hospital. However, their sweet relationship is completely turned on its head after he breaks into her apartment at night at the end of a bad day. Arthur unsettles us by remaining frighteningly still and silent as Sophie freaks out. To make matters worse, it’s revealed that Arthur imagined their entire relationship. We genuinely feared that he would lash out and harm his innocent neighbor. While no is harmed in this home invasion, we’re willing to bet that Sophie was left with emotional scars.

#16: The Last Laugh

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“Batman: Mask of Phantasm” (1993) Held in high esteem by diehard fans of the Caped Crusader, but largely forgotten by the masses, this 1993 film is a continuation of “Batman: The Animated Series”. Joker doesn’t serve as the film’s primary antagonist - that honor goes to the mysterious Phantasm - but it’s ultimately Joker who gets the last laugh in this harrowing scene. With the World of the Future Fair exploding around him, and his fate in the hands of a woman consumed by vengeance, Joker lets out a spine-chilling cackle. He’s missing a tooth, he’s bloody and for once… he’s poised to become the victim. But at the same moment, he’s revelling in having destroyed a life. It’s the sort of chaos he lives for.

“Batman: Arkham Origins” (2013) Audiences initially thought Black Mask hired a bunch of assassins to kill the dark knight. In a surprising turn, it becomes clear that Joker is the real mastermind behind this. While the clown enjoys watching the hunt, he loses patience with his assassins when they fail to kill the bat. He initially lashes out while pretending to be Black Mask. As soon as the Joker drops the act, he turns the full force of his manic rage on an assassin known as the Electrocutioner. The clown’s horrifying looks of wrath and delight are the last things his employee sees before dying. Although Joker wasn’t the crime boss the assassins thought they were dealing with, he still commanded the room with his bloodthirsty actions.

#14: Saying “Farewell” to his Mother

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“Joker” (2019) Speaking of getting personal, there are few crime scenes more intimate and disturbing than this one. After learning the messy truth about his mother and his parentage, Arthur returns to the hospital, where he quietly unloads about his misery. It’s a tense moment; his calm demeanor foreshadows something dark and terrible just around the corner. Deeming his tragic life to be a comedy, he then takes his mom’s pillow and smothers her to death with it as she struggles. He looks concentrated, but not conflicted, and the peace that this horrific act seems to bring him is absolutely haunting.

#13: John Doe Becomes the Joker

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“Batman: The Enemy Within” (2018) In the Telltale universe, Bruce is initially good friends with a guy named John Doe. But as the mystery man’s behavior becomes more erratic, their friendship gets pushed to the breaking point. Their bad blood boils over when John Doe holds Waller captive as part of a misguided attempt to get justice. He strikes fear into our hearts with every dangerous gesture and twisted expression. Although Batman tries to calm his friend down, John Doe eventually loses his cool and slaughters multiple people before embracing a new identity with a bone chilling declaration. We always had a feeling that Bruce’s friend would descend into madness. However, we weren’t prepared for how scary his final transformation would be.

#12: Dinner With the Joker

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“Batman” (1989) Vicki Vale’s dream of having a nice dinner with Bruce Wayne was shattered when a clown arrived instead. At first, he appears to be a mischievous gangster who’s restored his original skin color. But as dinner goes on, he becomes more unhinged. The Joker casually talks about his dark desires with that permanent grin on his face. Additionally, he shows Vicki a victim he’s already gotten to. But the most terrifying moment comes when the reporter throws water at the clown’s face. When the Joker turns, he shocks us but revealing his seemingly normal face was hiding an appalling sight. The horrid dinner is thankfully interrupted by Batman. If the hero had been late, Vicki would’ve been the Joker’s next twisted art project.

“Batman: Arkham Knight” (2015) During an extended hallucination, we see firsthand what the Joker did when he captured Jason Todd. The clown slowly tried to break down the sidekick’s psyche by alternating between playing a bad cop and even worse cop. When the Joker wasn’t mentally tormenting his captor, he was physically beating Jason. Robin becomes so terrified of the villain that he starts shaking as soon as the clown walks into a room. Joker’s immense cruelty made it hard for us to look at the screen as the scenes went on. And just when the story got unbearable, the clown shot Jason point blank. The Joker’s depraved actions definitely broke something inside the former Robin that the hero may never fully be able to fix.

“Joker” (2019) This scene from the 2019 “Joker” film begins with Arthur Fleck acting in self-defense, but it’s also the moment in which the Joker is born - his first act of violence serving as an awakening of sorts. Three employees of Wayne Enterprises, who’ve been harassing a woman on the subway, turn their attention to Arthur when he has a fit of uncontrollable laughter. One of them begins to sing “Send in the Clowns ”in an intimidating fashion, but it’s Arthur who gives them all a real lesson in fear. He guns down two of the three men, prompting the third to flee. Implacable, Arthur stalks the man down and finishes him off. And as his post-murder dance suggests, Fleck feels great about the encounter.

#9: A Visit to Carl Grissom

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Top 10 Darkest Joker Moments

“Batman” (1989) Before Joel Schumacher took the franchise in an overtly campy direction, Tim Burton brought Gotham city to life on the big screen in a way that was at once over-the-top and theatrical, but nonetheless dark. While Jack Nicholson’s version of the Joker strikes a similar balance, his grand unveiling as the Clown Prince of Crime decidedly tilts in favor of “scary”. Emerging from the elevator, he’s obscured in shadow - a sinister silhouette. And though crime boss Carl Grissom tries to play nice, the newly christened Joker ain’t having it. He switches between quiet malice and sudden outbursts of anger, before revealing his twisted new look and taking Carl’s life. It’s a reintroduction to Gotham fit for a prince.

“The New Batman Adventures” (1997-99) It’s well known that Joker has a bad relationship with his sidekick/love interest. But even she can be shocked by the depths of his depravity. During one infamous episode, Harley tries to make her pudding happy by putting Batman in a certainly fatal trap. When the Joker discovers that she got the bat instead of him, the clown can only see red. He attacks and berates Harley until he eventually knocks her out of a window. While we’re accustomed to seeing Joker be cruel to his enemies, we weren’t expecting him to go so far that he nearly killed someone he claims to love. If Harley isn’t safe from his unbridled wrath, then no one stands a chance.

“Gotham” (2014-19) Although fans were wary of bringing in a younger twist on the Joker, it took one scene to change everyone’s minds. After Lila Valeska is murdered, the trail of evidence leads back to her grieving son, Jerome. He seemed to be an unlikely culprit until he dropped his mask of sanity in a disturbing scene. In a split second, he goes from crying over his mother to maniacally laughing and confessing to having killed her. The notes of intense glee and cold detachment at being discovered chilled us to the bone. It’s a great performance that cemented that Cameron Monaghan’s Jerome would stand beside all the great Jokers that had come before him.

“Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker” (2000) Three weeks after Robin went missing, the Joker let the dark knight know exactly where the sidekick was. Unbeknownst to the bat, he wouldn’t like what he found. The clown reveals that he brainwashed and molded Tim into becoming a little Joker clone. As if that wasn’t depraved enough, the clown showed a haunting video montage of Robin’s torment. The scenes are so startling and shocking that it’s hard to believe that this animated movie wasn’t rated R. Beyond the sick premise, Mark Hamill’s always flawless performance carried a ton of menace and ill will. His promise that Batman would die hearing deranged laughter from his sidekick was the most unsettling part of the clown’s long torment.

“The Dark Knight” (2008) This is technically a few different moments. But while each twisted story is creepy in its own right, it’s really the cumulative effect of these conflicting narratives that leaves a lasting impression. Throughout the film, Heath Ledger’s Joker seemingly opens up to his victims about his past. First, he says his father cut him in an act of drunken violence. Later, he tells Rachel Dawes that he did it to himself to cheer up his wife. These anecdotes add a skin-crawling personal touch to his acts depravity and violence. We almost get a third version, but Batman doesn’t let him tell it. Though we’re curious as to what he would’ve said, in terms of the scare factor, Joker had already achieved the desired effect.

#4: Getting Even with Randall

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“Joker” (2019) Todd Phillips’ version of Joker isn’t the most socially well-adjusted, and he and his co-workers have a strained relationship. Once Arthur begins his transformation into the Joker however, he becomes more... assertive. And so when Randall comes around asking about the subway murders, Arthur responds by brutally attacking the man without warning. It’s a savage and bloody assault - one that leaves Arthur’s clown makeup (and walls) splattered with blood. He lets Gary go as a thanks for his past kindness, but until Gary is safely out of the apartment, the tension is agonizing. And now that he’s the Joker… Arthur has fun with it

“Batman: The Killing Joke” (2016) “Batman: The Killing Joke” is among the most influential Joker stories ever told. Thankfully for our purposes, it also got a feature length animated film adaptation in 2016. In the movie, the Joker has escaped Arkham Asylum and decides to pay a visit to the home of Commissioner Gordon as part of his most recent plot. Unfortunately, it’s Barbara (aka Batgirl), who answers the door. He promptly shoots her, resulting in her paralysis below the waist. Being the sick and twisted monster he is however, he doesn’t stop there; Joker strips Barbara down and photographs her, later using the picture as part of his strategy to torture her father until he goes mad. Both moments are hard to watch, but the assault of Barbara is especially horrifying.

“The Dark Knight” (2008) Fun fact: You know the videos that Joker sends out of people he’s kidnapped in “The Dark Knight”? Heath Ledger was given more or less free rein from Christopher Nolan to direct them himself. And armed with that knowledge, we can’t help but think that Ledger would have made for one heck of a horror film director. With its shaky camera work and macabre setting, the atmosphere and tone is incredibly uncomfortable. When the character starts manhandling his captive, it’s enough to make your stomach churn. After using a sickeningly playful voice for much of the video, Joker breaks out into a savage roar - reminding us that he can also be deadly serious. In short, the whole video is pure nightmare fuel.

#1: Live with Murray Franklin

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“Joker” (2019) Honestly… outside of explicit horror movies, this might have been one of the most disturbing scenes of any popular film released in 2019. The gunshot itself is sudden, graphic and absolutely stomach-churning. You know that something terrible is coming long before the shot is fired, and yet that foreknowledge does nothing to diminish its impact when Joker finally pulls the trigger. In fact, this lengthy build up instead helps to create an oppressive sense of dread and ever-mounting terror, so that by the time Joker is ready to deliver his punchline, the viewer is already horrified. It’s a remarkable moment of gritty and grounded horror - one that burns itself into your mind and refuses to fade away.