Here is every actor who has ever played the Joker

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Warner Bros.

Jared Leto has big shoes to fill this summer. Big, clown shoes. 

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Leto will play the latest incarnation of the Joker in this summer's adaptation of "Suicide Squad." Upon his casting, Leto was immediately compared to the likes of the late Heath Ledger, who was posthumously awarded an Oscar for his performance in the role in 2008's "The Dark Knight." 

Leto's performance won't only be compared to Ledger, but to every actor who has taken on the role. 

Keep reading to find out more about the dozen performances Leto has to live up to later this year.

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Cesar Romero was the first actor to play the icon onscreen when he took on the role in the original "Batman" series in 1966.

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Cesar Romero, known in his day as the "Latin from Manhattan," was a skilled actor and dancer.

Romero had a full career before his role as Joker in the original 1966 series with Adam West as Batman and Eartha Kitt as Catwoman. In the A&E documentary series "Biography," West said that Romero "brought an enormous amount of energy to the role...I don't know how he did it." In the same special, Romero said his role as Joker was easy, "When [you] get in an outfit like that...you fall right into it."

Jack Nicholson played the first theatrical iteration of the Clown Prince of Crime in 1989's "Batman."

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Jack Nicholson played Joker in Tim Burton's 1989 take on the film. Nicholson told MTV he took the role partly because of his belief in Burton's vision of Batman. "Tim Burton’s a genius. He had the right take on it. That’s why I did the movie," he said. "I did the movie based on a single conversation with him. We both come from the cartoon world originally. We had similar ideas."

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Mark Hamill became the voice of the Joker for the DC Animated Universe starting in 1992.

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Warner Bros and AP

Hamill has been playing the Joker the longest of all the actors here.

His version of the Joker first appeared in the Emmy award-winning "Batman the Animated Series." "BTAS" was the first of many shows in the DC Animated Universe, which all shared the same canon and voice actors. Hamill would go on to appear in adaptations of Superman, the Justice League, and Static Shock as well. He appeared in animated films and video games as well.

After announcing his "retirement" of the character in 2011, he's slated to reprise the role in a 2017 adaptation of Batman's iconic "The Killing Joke" story, marking 25 years as the character.

Kevin Michael Richardson voiced a radically restyled Joker for 2004's "The Batman."

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Kevin Michael Richardson is a veteran voice actor. He played Lex Luthor, Superman's nemesis, in the 1992 DC Animated Universe. Richardson also provided voices for Trigun in "Teen Titans" and Cleveland Brown Jr. in "The Cleveland Show." 

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Jeff Bennett voiced Joker in 2008's "Batman: The Brave and The Bold."

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YouTube

"Batman: The Brave and The Bold" was very different from the multiple other adaptations that make up the DC Animated Universe.  The characters' were modeled after their earlier '60s era designs. This made the show campier and less serious than most of the other Batman cartoons. 

Veteran voice actor Steve Blum voiced the Joker in 2008's "Lego Batman: The Videogame."

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Steve Blum has appeared in dozens of video games and cartoons since his start in voice acting in 1992. He's voiced iconic characters like Lex Luthor, Wolverine, Spike from "Cowboy Bebop," and Sub Zero from "Mortal Kombat." In "Lego Batman: The Videogame," players must navigate Joker's funhouse in order to stop him from releasing his toxic laughing gas. 

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Heath Ledger became the first actor in almost 20 years to play the iconic character on screen in 2008's "The Dark Knight."

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Heath Ledger's Joker is one of the most celebrated and memorable versions of the character. Ledger is the only actor to receive an Academy Award for his portrayal of the Joker, which was awarded shortly after his death at the age of 28.

Director Christopher Nolan has said that Ledger's striking performance came from his strong interest in the character.

"He just had a vision for something, and the way he termed it to me at the time was, he really didn't like to work too much," Nolan explained during a Q&A at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City. "He liked to do a character and then stop working then let enough time go by. He wanted to be hungry for it. And when he came to me, he was clearly in that state: Very hungry. He was ready to do something like that and just own it -- which is what he did. "

 

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John DiMaggio, best known as Bender from "Futurama," voiced the Joker in "Batman: Under The Red Hood."

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John DiMaggio is one of the most celebrated voice actors in animation.

He's Bender from "Futurama," Jake the Dog from "Adventure Time," Wakka from "Final Fantasy X," and he appeared as the Joker in "Batman: Under The Red Hood." The animated movie told the tragic story of Jason Todd, the former Robin. Jason fought crime as Batman's sidekick until he was captured and tortured by Joker. Batman thought Todd was killed by a bomb that Joker set off, but Todd reappeared years later, severely damaged and seeking revenge against Batman, who he thought abandoned him to die. 

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Brent Spiner became Joker for 2011's "Young Justice" series.

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Brent Spiner is best known for his role as Data in the "Star Trek: First Contact" series. He appeared as the Joker in "Young Justice," the Cartoon Network series about teenaged superheroes like Robin and Superboy. Despite many passionate fans, the show was canceled after only its second season.

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Michael Emerson played an older Joker who forced Batman out of retirement in 2012's "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns."

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Michael Emerson is best known for his role as the enigmatic Ben on "Lost." Emerson says he was excited to play someone "not exactly human."

"I just thought it was fun to consider a person whose voice and mannerisms lived up to their name in a way," he told Superhero Hype. "It seemed to me as I was reading the script that everything the Joker says could be followed with 'Oh come on, I'm just joking.' There are people that are a little bit like that in real life, but they're not as dangerous as the Joker."

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Troy Baker took the reigns from Mark Hamill when he voiced Joker in the 2013 video game "Arkham: Origins." Hamill had previously voiced Joker in the "Arkham" series of games.

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APImages/YouTube

Texas born voice actor Troy Baker is best known for providing voices in popular video games "The Last of Us," "Infamous: Second Son," "Final Fantasy XIII," and "Bioshock Infinite."

While Hamill provided the voice for Joker in the first few games of the "Arkham" series, Baker took over beginning in 2013's "Arkham Origins." Baker told Comic Book Resources the 1992 animated series influenced his decision to begin voicing. While watching the credits of the series, Baker said he thought to himself, "Somebody actually...that's their job is that they do this. And what's when I watched to do this."

And finally, Academy Award winner Jared Leto will debut as Joker, alongside Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, in this year's "Suicide Squad."

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Getty Images/YouTube

Leto is the first actor to portray the Joker onscreen since Ledger was posthumously given an Academy Award for his performance. Leto took the role very seriously, telling Empire magazine, "There was definitely a period of…detachment. I took a pretty deep dive. But this was a unique opportunity and I couldn’t imagine doing it another way. It was fun, playing those psychological games."

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