Joker movie: Heath Ledger's Joker the DEADLIEST on screen

The Joker is an iconic baddie – a super villain who has been plaguing Gotham’s streets for years. Batman has always prevailed, but not without carnage, destruction and violence from his adversary. With Joaquin Phoenix about to show off his Joker, who has been the most deadly so far? Express.co.uk exclusively spoke to Vanquis to find out.

With over 30 counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted murder, armed robbery, and an additional 16 other serious crimes committed, it is Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight that racks up the longest prison sentence.

In data from Vanquis, his crimes totalled over 2,445 years in the US, and 574 years in the UK, making Ledger’s turn officially the worst criminal incarnation of the Joker in the film franchise’s history.

Surprisingly, Jack Nicholson’s Joker from Tim Burton’s 1989 film Batman, is the least frightening of the Jokers, earning himself 146 years in prison with his misdeeds.

Despite this, he did commit 31 murders, two attempts at murder, along with blackmail, bribery, kidnap, false imprisonment and various violent and gun-related crimes.

Next up is Jared Leto’s Joker from 2016’s Suicide Squad, who was altogether a more gangster, modern adaptation, covered in tattoos and gold fronts.

He has racked up 166 years in prison with his crimes, including 12 murders, torture, kidnap, GBH and false imprisonment, to name a few.

The biggest surprise comes in the form of 1966’s Cesar Romero, whose Joker is the second most dangerous to date, racking up sufficient crimes to get him 220 years in the slammer.

A lot of these years come from kidnap and false imprisonment charges, which alone would have him serving 150 years, before any of his other crimes come into play.

But Romero’s Joker never actually killed anyone, only attempt two murders, while he prepared terrorist acts and blackmailed a great many others.

Of course, while Jokers are generally considered to be the baddest villains of them all, most of the Batman saviours they have encountered have not been perfect either.

Adam West, who took on Cesar Romero’s Joker as Batman in the 1966 film, is speculated to have killed two people, while Michael Keaton’s Batman is suggested to have killed 13 people, and punched out 22 bad guys.

He was far better behaved in Batman Returns, only killing three people, despite punching 24 bad guys.

Val Kilmer and George Clooney’s Batman incarnations were incredibly well behaved, with neither of them killing a single person.

However, this all changes when we get to Christian Bale’s Batman who, like Heath Ledger’s Joker, is the most dangerous of them all, having killed 26 bad guys across the three movies he appears in, and punching out 100 bad guys.

Ben Affleck’s Batman did his best to try and match Bale’s record, but he came incredibly short with 39 dead, while defeating very few bad guys in the process.

This begs the question, however: what about Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker?

The trailer suggests he may wreak havoc on the city, and some of that may even involve Joker copycats and even a talk show host, played by Robert De Niro.

His story is more of an origin tale, so it may be he does not go full Joker at this stage, meaning his crimes will be kept to a minimum.

Fans do not have long to wait until they can find out for themselves.

Joker is in cinemas on October 4