Mark Hamill Is Done With His Greatest Character

According to Comicbook.com, the actor was attending the Fan Expo San Francisco recently when he made the somber announcement. “Without Batman, crime has no punchline.” said Mark Hamill, essentially ruling out ever playing the Joker again.

It’s no secret that Hamill and Conroy grew close over the course of their decades working together.

“Kevin was perfection,” Hamill said of his late co-star. “He was one of my favorite people on the planet, and I loved him like a brother.”

The two actors first met while working on Batman the Animated Series in the ’90s, and before the series wrapped became, many people’s favorite iteration of Batman and his archnemesis.

Mark Hamill went on to voice the Joker in the beloved video game Arkham Asylum as well as the game’s sequel Arkham City and many further animated projects—always as a foil to Kevin Conroy’s Dark Knight.

This isn’t the first time Mark Hamill has attempted to quit the Joker. In 2011, shortly after the release of Batman: Arkham City, Mark Hamill announced his retirement from the role via his Twitter account. He posted the message “Hello/Goodbye Joker!”

Hamill came out of retirement a few years later for 2015’s Batman: Arkham Knight and went on to voice the Joker in the animated film Batman: The Killing Joke the following year, as well as the animated series Justice League Action.

But while Mark Hamill’s former retirement from the Joker role was short-lived, this time is different.

As the man himself put it back in January,  “Without Kevin there, there doesn’t seem to be a Batman for me.”

It’s hard to imagine a scenario where voicing the Joker opposite someone who isn’t Kevin Conroy wouldn’t completely destroy Hamill emotionally.

Mark Hamill’s abandonment of the Joker came only a few months after a different interview where the actor announced that he was also fine letting go of Luke Skywalker.

“I had my time, and that’s good, but that’s enough.” said Hamill before immediately adding, “Well, you never say never.” Despite that little teaser of hope, Hamill doesn’t see any practical reason that he would ever don the Jedi robes again.

While Mark Hamill’s decision to stop voicing the Joker came after the tragic loss of a friend, his reason for hanging up his lightsaber is much less heavy. “They have so many stories to tell, they don’t need Luke anymore.” Hamill stated bluntly.

Despite those two characters being the main reason most people even know who Mark Hamill is, Luke Skywalker and the Joker are far from the only characters the versatile thespian can play.

Hamill took a rare comedic turn earlier this year as comedian Burt Kreischer’s father, Albert, in the semi-autobiographical The Machine. More recently, Mark portrayed Arthur Pym in the Netflix mini-series The Fall of the House of Usher.

For many fans, Mark Hamill will always be the Joker, much like Kevin Conroy was the Batman. With one part of the duo gone, it only makes sense for the other to retire the act.