Resolved: Lord Voldemort is a better villain than The Joker

"1. You state that Voldemort has been thwarted multiple times by a child and defeated by one in the end. In the other times that Voldemort has been thwarted, was he always at his strongest, and when he was defeated in the end, was it through the efforts of Harry alone or more than one person? " Voldemort was only alone because he had nobody else to hide behind. The Joker, by comparison, hid his face only once, and that was to fool some bank robbers. While Harry does defeat Voldemort, he's only able to because he's backed up by Nerd-girl-3000 and a ginger. Harry would have fallen flat on his face in the first film if they hadn't been there, and that's ignoring the, you know, years of tuition, learning spells, facing Voldemort's minions as a warm-up, at any time in all this Voldemort could have struck one way or another, but simply "chose" not to. "2. You make references to the Joker from the 2008 film The Dark Knight, correct?" You bet your arse. "3. This will seem like a silly question, but, how do you prove that the Joker actually used that potato peeler?" I will answer that question with a question. What other tool does the Joker carry that he doesn't use or attempt to use? "4. You state that Joker prepares all of his materials for destruction. Why does that make him a better villain?" Ignoring for a second the fact that heroes place themselves in direct danger in order to triumph over evil, and thus a truly great villain will have no qualms about doing the same to stop the hero. (Many great villains, even in historical writing, have done this, from Moriarty to Dick Dastardly) A great villain is powerful not because of his henchmen, but despite them. Darth Vader, Shao Khan, Moriarty, even Satan in the bible, these men are not made powerful because they have henchmen, they are powerful in a way seperate to the henchmen entirely. No Clone trooper could stand up to Darth Vader, and the likes of Quan Chi and Shinnok, despite having godly powers, have to trick Shao Khan into inadvertently sacrificing himself by invoking the wrath of actual, hones-to-god deities because they are simply too cowardly and weak to face Shao Khan themselves. Moriarty never expects more than paltry efforts from his lackeys, and Satan acts against something so immensely powerful that, in theory, that thing could simply make it vanish without batting an eyelid or breaking a sweat. Rewriting history as we know it, without a care in the world. Great villains put themselves at risk just as much as they employ henchmen or lackeys, hell, the Joker risks his own life in order to recruit Harvey Dent, AKA, Two Face, to the side of "Chaos" Not only does he risk his life, but he literally gives Dent a gun, and then has Dent hold it against his head. That is not just crazy, THAT is a great villain. Voldemort avoids all opportunities to attack Harry until it is far too late, and only when having exhausted every other possibility, expended every other minion, and sacrificed every other option. "5. It takes Batman alone to stop the Joker, right? " Oh clever, you're referring to Lucius Fox's assistance, hmm? Except Lucius Fox doesn't actively aid Batman in the Joker's downfall, he just gives Batman a location, and even then, he protests against that so strongly that he resigns from a high paying job that carries with it the insurance that his actions will help fight crime, such is his morality. Lucius Fox's half-hearted resignation was no small feat given the immense loss to Gotham it would pose, and even if it was, it's still Batman that does all the grunt work. The Joker and Voldemort aren't cut from the same cloth, but the Joker has been one of Batman's most popular villains for so long for a reason. Voldemort lived and died in the shadow of a child he was too cowardly to kill, too cowardly to face, until he absolutely had to. The Joker, if he could, would have brought dinosaurs to bear against Batman, because he's just that insane, and just that awesome.