Who is the better "Joker," Joaquin Phoenix or Heath Ledger?

Rating: 10/10 (24 April 2020)

That's a simple question to answer: both Phoenix and Ledger are, in their own respective iterations of the character. Genius can take many forms.
Both actors infused the character with his own complexity, and yes, even a perverse humor. Both grabbed you by the lapels and breathed Jokers lust for violence right into your face, that seductive, even intoxicating, flirtation with evil.
The major distinction between the two, as I see it, is that Phoenix's Joker's violence is almost as surprising to him and it is to his victims', whereas Ledger's Joker luxuriates and revels in the execution of his obviously carefully planned sneak attacks on his opponents.
Both actors masterfully donned the skin of Joker, and the character created by each evokes two divergent reactions: sympathy for Joaquin's pathetic ghost of a man, and a begrudging fascination for Ledger's unvarnished pleasure in gratuitous killing.