‘Batman: Three Jokers’ Cover Art Reimagined With Nicholson, Ledger and Leto

DC Comics fans are both intrigued and excited about the upcoming miniseries event The Three Jokers, which will try to reconcile the discovery that there are three separate versions of The Joker that currently exist in the DC Universe. While we still know very little about what Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok have planned for Three Jokers, the premise of the book has been enough to inspire this great piece of DC movie fan art:

As you can see, this fan art takes the three movie versions of Joker (Jack Nicholson from Batman ’89, Heath Ledger from The Dark Knight, and Jared Leto from Suicide Squad) and puts them together in the same pose of the Three Jokers cover art, which was unveiled during San Diego Comic-Con 2018.

The debate over who has been the best movie Joker has raged for the last few years, since Suicide Squad hit theaters. Generally speaking, Ledger’s anarchist terrorist from The Dark Knight has edged out the competition, though Nicholson’s maniacal psychopath gangster version is still considered a classic. Jared Leto’s sociopath modern gangster is definitely the most controversial — though it should be noted his version is not without its fair share of passionate supporters.

As for The Three Jokers? Here’s how Johns described the milestone project, during his SDCC panel:

“This story is focused on — and I don’t want to spoil it too much — but it’s not focused on other dimensions or alternate earths or whatever. It focuses on the origins of the Joker and Bruce’s realization that there’s more than one operating,” Johns said.

“It’s all about scars and healing wrong and healing right and pain. If I could tell one Joker story, this is the one I would tell… There’s this really fun scene where Joker drives this truck. He goes to the woods and there’s a cabin with a light on, and he knocks on the door and there’s a Joker standing there wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and The Joker says, ‘That’s my shirt,’” Johns added.

There’s little doubt that, no matter its quality, The Three Jokers will go down as one of the more controversial stories in DC Comics. While it’s impossible for the DC movies to ever replicate the image posted above, it’s still a nice ode to wishful thinking.

The Joker origin movie is set to hit theaters on Oct. 4, 2019; The Three Jokers is aiming to release its first issue this fall.