I went jack he was the first dark joker and for the time the movie was released, in that makes him the better joker
Cesar because he's the only one I've seen, and also because he looks the most mad and maniacal of all of them. The others just look creepy.
I like Cesar Romero as Joker but he was more the Clown Prince of crime, joking fun times you know Adam West Batman. the bat2see the bat shark spary and all the weird joker gadgets that Cesar Romero had. It wasn't dark and gritty, as much as its a joy to watch cesar as Joker. It's Jack Nicholson that reminds me of Mark Hamill Joker in the Batman animated series that's why I like Jack Nicholson more than Heath Leisure and Heath Ledger was trying to imitate Jack Nicholson as Joker he did his own twist to it but it worked. And crapleto was crap as the joker... Also hell yah Mark Hamill is the best joker voice that there will ever be and a really nice guy. I ran into him at a restaurant in LA years back and we talked for a while. Just about random stuff where to go buy stuff what did he like about la, stuff like that but after a bit even though I know it hurts him to do the voice I asked him if he could do a quick recording he was nice enough to do it. For just some random fan who has been having a nerdgasuim as I'm talking to him for an hour.
I never saw any Batmans after the originals so I'm quite a dinosaur (see what I did there?). I never saw Mark Hamill as the animated Joker but I did find him as Alvin the Treacherous in Dragons: Riders of Berk (see below), and he was very good.
I have not cast a vote, as they all played very different styles of Joker. Which is the great thing about the character. He can fill whatever role you need him to. Need a comic foil? Gangster? Mass murderer? Serial killer? Need to raise the stakes add the Joker. The only problem with Leto's Joker was the script. They didn't know what yo do with him. He did the part fine, had a good look, and filled the Gangster/Kingpin role fine.
Then you my friend have missed out on some really great stuff. Go watch the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy. Definitely worth your time! That's awesome! I liked Hamill's voicing of Fire Lord Ozai from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Heath Ledger is my favourite from the live action movies. Jack is a close second but he really just seemed to be playing within his comfort zone, as he had played characters from The Shining and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest in a similar fashion. Heath was unrecognizable when he portrayed Joker in The Dark Knight, and the performance he gave was equally scary and funny at points.
Had to go with Ledger out of the options. Nicholson is second. I hated Leto as the Joker, the look and design was too...well as my friend put it, "He looked like he fell into a vat of Hot Topic."
The others were good, but with Heath ledger you could almost taste the madness. The others were kinda ok, apart from Jared Leyton who was a bit too normal for me.
Obviously Jared Leto! Oh hell no!! Sorry for giving you heart attacks.. He. Hee hee =D Hard choice for me between Ledger and Nicholson. Jacks Performance was superb but Imho Heath Ledger is/was the best contemporary Joker (aside from Hamill voice acting).