Joker. This really isn't close in my mind. Joker was an epic mastermind, crazy and cunning and creepy. Bane was a sometimes unintelligible henchman (albeit a much more effective one than most). And while both actors did a great job, Ledger as Joker is one of my all-time favorite cinematic performances.

 

I would have said Bane if the final twist didn't... I wouldn't say ruined him but made him a lot less interesting and called into question who thought up what. So I have to go with the Joker. All his plots were great even if not on as large a scale as Bane's. And he was a lot more entertaining and quite freaky.

RIP Heath Ledger. You did a great job as one of the best villains in film history.

 

Is the poll which character was a better villain, or which actor had the better performance?

If we're going by acting performance, then the answer is Ledger. Without question.

 

Since he was able to break necks with a single head holding...

 

Joker was mentally smarter and it made him more dangerous

Joker and Bane have some things in common though

Spoiler

they are both manipulative and both made us turn against each other

 

I will not vote for two reasons:

1. I have not seen either movie.

2. to me it is not really possible to compare the work of two actors playing such different roles. The Joker is vastly different from Bane in every incarnation of the two characters ( even when pumped up on venom in Arkham Asylum) which makes it nigh impossible to objectively compare the two performances.

 

Joker because he was such an agent of chaos, the dude was even willing to risk his life at the hospital when he was with Harvey. Crazy bugger...

But I can understand the appeal of Bane, especially in the comics - he was a match with Bats in terms of brain and brawn.

 

The Joker, by a country mile.

Bane's great and all, but the Joker is the perfect foil for Batman. Always has been, always will be. And in terms of the two films: 20 years from now, Ledger's performance will still sit alongside other memorable and iconic villains (Hannibal Lector, Hans Gruber, Anton Chigurh, Darth Vader, Christopher Waltz's Hans Landa). Hardy's will simply be remembered as a "very good" performance.

 

If not for the

Spoiler

Bane getting killed by Bat Pod..WTF?

it'd be a close call, but as many has already said, Heath Ledgers' Joker is on par with some of the cinema's greatest villains. Tough to top that.

 

Sorry, but "The Two Hans" you list are nowhere near anything close to iconic characters. They are simply, as you put it, "very good" performances.

 

Agree to disagree.
Hans Gruber: named in AFI's 50 Greatest Villains (#46)
Christoph Waltz won best supporting actor Oscar that year for his portayal of Landa.

I highly doubt Hardy's Bane will be considered for either, or anything else of that nature.

 

The Joker.

It was the performance of the decade.

 

Joker was easily the best thing out of the entire trilogy.

 

I'll go with Bane. He had a great movie design. I loved his voice which was very charismatic. Bane really is the strongest foe Batman has faced. That why he appeals to me more than Joker who is a diseased maniac. Joker tries to bring everyone else down to his level. Bane is on a higher level than everyone else.

 

SPOILERS of course, for those who haven't watched Rises or even Knight.

First off, I'll preface by saying how surprised I was at the excellent portrayal of Bane. He was a frightening brute, and when he fought Batman you knew that he was unstoppable and you quickly learned to be afraid of him. His near complete destruction of Gotham was chilling and he is one of the most memorable terrorists in recent memory (aside from the Joker, of course). His life parallels Bruce's and shows what a complete monster Batman could have become had he chosen wrong.

That said, however, Bane was more distant a villain to Batman compared to the Joker. The revelation that Bane's backstory that paralleled Batman's was

Spoiler

actually Talia's

also weakened him as a personal villain. In this way, he is more of a tall wall that Batman has to tear down rather than a personal enemy he has to deal with.

Joker on the other hand, was completely incomprehensible as a villain. The only thing constant about him was that he was an agent of chaos, we knew absolutely nothing about him. He was maddeningly unpredictable and ruthless at every turn. It mattered not that his crimes were of a lesser scale than Bane, his madness made him scarier. While Bane's motivations were clearly shown, making him somewhat sympathetic, Joker was just there, as a chaotic force that would cease at nothing to break Batman.

Speaking of breaking Batman, Joker was also possibly the ultimate personal villain in the saga. Every major villain thus far (except maybe Scarecrow) has been very personal to Batman, but Joker is the only one whose sole purpose is to corrupt Batman. Even Bane, who went so far as to break Batman bodily, mentally and spiritually, did not force Batman to the side of darkness as the Joker did. For this, he was truly the most evil, most scary villain of the bunch.

It also helped that Ledger's performance was legendary and a truly superb piece of work. Years from now, people will remember the excellence of the Dark Knight saga, with Joker being the most memorable.

 

Joker

Gambol: "You think you can steal from us and just walk away?"
Joker: "Yeah"  

Bane was great too, brutal, full of strenght and clever in it's own way but i think he is not as good as Ledgers Joker.

 

The joker is the best of the 2, its nothing to do with ledger's performance etc, or those little sick moments the joker gives us. Its just that joker is one of the best written villains in movie history, he was this presence throughout the film. He was just a criminal mastermind, how he went from a small robbery of stealing the mob's cash at the bank, to planting the seed when the mob all met up, that the joker took out the one's who were against him, to slowly but surely taking over the entire Gotham mob. The Joker's plan for batman to unmask or he will murder PPL everyday, look at how he manages to kill the commissioner the judge and take over Bruce's party. Gordon has to go to extreme lengths to capture the joker, like fake his death so they would capture the joker, which was the joker's plan, to get arrested so he could get out and capture lau and get to the rest of the mob's money, but the joker wanted the money to burn, because he was not interested in money. The cops who sold out, who helped capture Dent and Rachel, distract Batman and Gordon, which gives Batman and Gordon no time to save both Dent and Rachel, even the joker lied to batman about Rachel's location. I could go on, from the boat scene which was classic joker. The Joker tricks twoface by saying he has no plan when he had a huge plan. But the Joker's psychology, which was? to take the best of the 3 of Dent/Gordon/Batman, which was? Dent, and tear him down, and the joker says to Batman when joker is caught by Batman, and I quote (I took Gotham's white knight, and I brought him down to our level). This is why he was a criminal mastermind

TDK's Joker is also one of the most mysterious villains is well, we know nothing about his origins, how he got his scars, his upbringing, he kept changing his story. There is a saying, there is a method behind the madness, the Joker abuses this privilege. So for me, Bane had the power, even sometimes the brains, but the joker had it all. And for me, the joker could have easily killed batman on a few occasions, but like the joker says in the end, you are just to much fun

bane was awesome, but his whole plan never really did make much sense. Bane was brutal, and how he caused total anarchy of Gotham, and making Gotham a place where anything goes

 

as much as i didn't like the joker, at least he did more in his movie, at least he seemed more of a threat, and his plan was much more then just "blow up gotham city" like the first film. it was more of, creating chaos in the city.

however, bane was still pretty cool himself.

or the, "slicing open cheeks?"

"do you want to know how i got these scars?"

Spoiler

yea he hanged their corpses

because you know, hanging is totally more brutal then slicing open cheeks.  

 

I do like the Joker's character better than Bane's. But Bane's plan made the Joker's look like a mere mugging.

 

As much as I think DKR's Bane was probably my favorite use of the character, and how the Joker has a wide and iconic history in the comics and other media, I think Ledger brought more to the character than Hardy did to Bane. That Joker was something truly special.