Mark Hamill Reflects On Playing The Joker in BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES
It’s crazy to think that its been 26 years since Mark Hamill first voiced The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, which is considered by many to be the greatest animated series of all time.
With the upcoming Blu-ray and HD release of the series, Hamill took to Twitter to reflect on the opportunity he was given to play this classic villain:
It was truly an honor to be entrusted to play the character in the original Batman:TAS back in '92. I had no idea at the time the impact it would have on my career or how it would be received by Bat-fans worldwide- but it's the gift that keeps on giving! 🃏 https://t.co/9SizIQb10T
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) July 14, 2018
Hamill is my favorite version of the character. He brought this character to life in a way no one else could and he set the standard that all other Jokers would be judged by.
It’s crazy to think that he wasn’t originally supposed to play The Joker. Tim Curry was originally cast and the end up replacing him with Hamill later down the line. Bruce Timm preciously said:
“Most of you guys probably know Mark first did the voice for us in the first Mr. Freeze episode — he played the guy who caused Mr. Freeze’s wife to end up in a coma. Hamill was so excited and full of enthusiasm for Batman.
“He’s a huge comic book fan and he really wanted to play one of the big villains at that time and he specifically mentioned the Joker, and at that time we were using Tim Curry as the Joker. And he was really disappointed and he said, ‘Well, if anybody else shows up like Hugo Strange or somebody, give me a call.’ So many months later we made the difficult decision to replace Tim and we brought Mark in to audition for the Joker and he nailed it.”
I think they made the right decision. Hamill was perfect as The Joker.
Batman: The Animated Series will be available for streaming in HD through the DC Universe streaming service and will make its Blu-ray debut sometime this year.