In fact, Batman: The Animated Series even directly acknowledged Joker’s real name as “Jack Napier,” the actual name of Jack Nicholson’s Joker.
That said, Mark Hamill’s admission to THR about the direction of his Joker is surprising when we consider just how much Batman: The Animated Series borrowed from the game-changing Tim Burton era of Batman films.
And if you don’t think Harley Quinn is a character tailor-made for Burton’s production designers, then I don’t know what to say.
From Shirley Walker’s score (which echoes Danny Elfman’s score) to the gothic noir tone of the stories, the cartoon never directly adapted anything from the movies, yet still feels like an homage to Burton.