Top 25 performances from a comic book movie or TV show
3. Heath Ledger as The Joker
Appears in: The Dark Knight
While it finishes in the number three spot, this is probably the greatest single movie performance of a comic book character that has ever been seen onscreen. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight doesn’t bother with a backstory or motivation for the Clown Prince of Crime, and skips right to portraying him as a crazed anarchist who delights in exposing corruption, and when he can’t find it, corrupting the innocent. It’s the right move, and gives Ledger the opportunity to play the character as a pure monster unburdened by history or feeling.
And he runs with it. Ledger’s performance is full of tiny idiosyncrasies that earned him a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar. He completely disappears into the role, becoming nigh-unrecognizable as the handsome heartthrob he was known as beforehand. Ledger’s choices here — the high-pitched voice, the fidgety movements — have become iconic, and an unavoidable reference point for anyone who even thinks about playing the Joker from here on out. Everyone who attempts it will be compared to Ledger, and I don’t think anyone can ever measure up to him.
2. Robert Downey Jr.- Tony Stark/Iron Man
Appears in: Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame
Does life imitate art or does art imitate life? Tony Stark is Robert Downey Jr…or is it the other way around? The actor did such a good job of playing this character that they’ve basically merged.
Robert Downey Jr. took a late-career role in a superhero movie and turned himself into the highest paid actor in Hollywood. He finds the perfect balance of snarky, noble, selfish, genius, and heroic, ending his arc by sacrificing himself to save the universe in Avengers: Endgame. Without this performance to build on, the MCU wouldn’t be half the success it is.
And the numbers back that up: Marvel movies did better when Robert Downey Jr. was in them than when he wasn’t He’s the beating heart of the MCU, a man trying to do what’s right In a world full of aliens and sorcerers. The movies won’t be the same now that he’s gone.