Favorite Superhero Movie Villain

For me, it's gotta be Heath Ledger's Joker. It's arguably the best acting performance in any superhero movie (villain or hero) and possibly the greatest acting performance of all time. The improv is amazing. For those who don't know, the scene where the Joker tells the story of his scars to Rachel at the party was all improv by Heath. It was actually the first time she saw him and her turning away when he grabs her was her trying to look at the director for help. It's amazing.

I haven't even seen that movie yet, but I'll still probably say you're right lol.

Joker.  While Heath's is the penultimate,  Joaquin's also chills me to the core. Jared Leto and Cesar Romero were weak sauce. Jack Nicholson's was scary.

As a huge Batman fan, I'll say Nicholson's Joker. His was the perfect portrayal of that character. Especially in that late 80s time period. Batman comics were bloody, violent and sometimes pretty scary in that era. DC Comics had gone back to the original 1930s "dark detective" version of Batman starting in the early 70s, and the '89 movie was the culmination of that effort. It's one of my all time favorite movies.

Ledger was intense and I loved his performance as well. That whole trilogy was awesome.

Romero's version was based on the silly comics of the 50s and 60s, so he did a good job of bringing that to the screen.

I haven't seen Joaquin's version yet, as I've been staying away from Hollywood lunacy for about 10 years now.

I'll probably break down and watch it at some point though.

Don't know if I even want to see Leto's version.

Not really an on-screen role (he was Joker's voice actor for the DC Animated Universe), but Mark Hamill was also a choice Joker, switching from goofy to sadistic and being effective at both.

A bit of a tangential diversion: I finally watched The King of Comedy recently, made back in '82.  Robert De Niro played this psychopathic, delusional guy named Rupert Pupkin.  It is said that Joaquin Phoenix's iteration of Mr. J was heavily borrowed from this flick, and it shows.  More of an homage, really.  But JP's Joker kicks things up a notch by acting out his homicidal fantasies, whereby Rupert P. merely kidnaps Jerry Lewis.

Furthermore, the JD character from Heathers could have been an influence for Heath Ledger's Joker .