Mark Hamill is going to retire as the voice of the Joker

[sakabatou]

Batman fans said hello to the highly-anticipated Batman: Arkham City today, but they also said goodbye to actor Mark Hamill as the voice of the Joker.

After nearly twenty years of voicing the Joker in various Batman animated shows, movies, games and more, Mark Hamill has confirmed that he’s retiring from the role.

Hamill announced last year that Arkham City would be his last turn as the iconic villain, and he told Twitter today that “I’m going to miss him more than I can say!!”

After two decades of great work, Hamill is certainly leaving behind some big clown shoes to fill.

In case you missed it, the Joker character trailer for Arkham City is a great showcase of Hamill’s chops. Check it out after the jump.

This guy could pick up the slack: http://youtu.be/x8mH4DPBXvc

[Salviati]

1. And they've been using a few other guys other than Kevin Conroy for Batman lately...

I suppose that in time everyone moves on, but these two were great. Christian Bale has been great in the latest movies, but Kevin Conroy will always be _the_ Batman, and Mark Hamill will always be _the_ Joker.

[TlalocW]

2. I wonder why he would retire from it

He gets plenty of other voice work so it's not like he's stereotyped as the Joker, and hey, it's a paycheck. If anything, the Joker is just his signature voice like Bugs Bunny was Mel Blanc's.

Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill really brought back the Bat franchise.

TlalocW

[sakabatou]

7. I don't know Maybe he wants to move on to other voice work

[TlalocW]

3. I just watched the first part of the trailer

And I have to say, if Batman doesn't know that there's some huge, old factory in Gotham that has various clown/toy motifs as part of its structure, he's not doing his job. Bruce Wayne would have bought the property and demolished it before Joker could use it as a hideout.

TlalocW

[sakabatou]

4. It's all part of the game

[TlalocW]

5. Naw

He's slipping.

TlalocW

[sakabatou]

6. Again, it's part of the game

Even if it makes Bruce unrealistic.