20 DCEU villains ranked by sort of scary to absolutely sinister

16. The Joker

There were so many ways that the Suicide Squad could have done right by the Joker. He is perhaps one of the most iconic of all of the Batman villains, and maybe one of the most well-known of all the DC villains, and yet it felt like the movie did not know what to do with him.

Throughout the movie, there was plenty of teases as to what might have been if the filmmaker and studio had decided to commit to their story. But sadly, it seems as if they just didn’t know what they wanted to do with the Joker.

The character literally did not have enough screen time to prove himself either way. In the end, he could have been the worst villain ever seen on-screen or perhaps he could have been the best. He could have truly given Heath Ledger’s take on the character some competition for well-crafted character development and delivery. Instead, we saw a choppy take on one of the greatest DC villains in the comics.

What has always made the Joker so impressive is his ability to do things that only benefited himself. And if he didn’t get anything out of whatever he was doing, then it wasn’t happening. But in Suicide Squad we see him attempting a rescue of Harley Quinn, which is so not something he would do unless it was part of an end game. But, since we don’t have a clue what he wants or why he would be rescuing Harley, it makes the character seem misrepresented.

Suicide Squad showed us that there was potential with the character and then did not deliver. And for that reason, the Joker sits in a no-mans-land of villainy where he is neither a good villain or a bad villain, but rather one who is just there.