Because the Academy Awards are this Sunday, and the Best Supporting Actor Oscar is going to go to someone playing a villain for the third time in three years, I've decided to feature famous villains who's performances have won Oscars. Today, it's a villain who is from both comics and film, and is the most recent villain to have an Academy Award. This should be pretty easy to figure out. Hit the jump for the Joker.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Background: The Dark Knight followed the comic books and chose to ignore the Joker's origin and instead just depict him as he is, a sociopathic force of nature that is only interested in watching the world burn around him. The Joker has long been an interesting a compelling figure solely because he is the counter-point to Bruce Wayne's Batman: While Batman is the master detective and will do anything he can to figure out the world around him, the Joker is pure and unbridled Chaos who almost solely exists in order to confound the Dark Knight. While Bruce is torn between his private life as Bruce Wayne, his public life as Bruce, and his life as Batman; the Joker is only the Joker, with no secret identity to occupy the time he is not tormenting the citizens of Gotham. All great heroes need a polar opposite, and that is what the Joker is for Batman: the Yin to his Yang.
Greatest Quotes of the Joker (Dark Knight):
-"I believe whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you... Stranger."
-"And... here… we... go!"
-"I took Gotham's white knight and I brought him down to our level. It wasn't hard. You see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push!"
-"Do you want to know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can't savor all the... little emotions. In... you see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were cowards?"
-"People will die, starting tonight. I'm a man of my word."
-"I don't want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, NO! No. You... you... complete me."
-"Don't talk like one of them. You're not! Even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak, like me! They need you right now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve."
-"You and your kind, all you care about is money. This city deserves a better class of criminal. And I'm gonna give it to them!"
-"Look what I did to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets. Hmmm? You know... You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan." But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds! Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It's fair!"
-Alfred: "Some men can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."
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