The new movie The Batman opens this weekend, and only time will tell whether Robert Pattinson can fill the shoes of the Dark Knight. In this one, Batman battles Paul Dano as the Riddler. Catwoman is in the mix, although she's not exactly portrayed as a classic villain.
There is nothing inherently bad about playing a villain in Gotham City. However, as the movies became darker and more serious, they became less like comic book characters and more malevolent. In the 1960s, the Joker, the Riddler, and the Penguin were played for laughs. It was a little less so in the movie series that began with Jack Nicholson playing the Joker, but still played for laughs. The real break was when Heath Ledger took on the role of the Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight. Movie audiences were hesitant to accept that pretty boy Ledger could pull it off, but his Joker was so psychotically evil and so convincing that it set a whole new standard for the villains to come.
Afterward, every actor put his heart and soul into playing the villain in subsequent Batman films, and paid for it, particularly those playing the Joker. Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix, Jared Leto, Tommy Lee Jones, and Paul Dano all suffered psychological trauma while filming their roles. Mel magazine explains each, and also dips back in time for a story about Danny DeVito's traumatic experience playing the Penguin.