"Jack Nicholson played a better Joker than Heath Ledger"- Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith once dissed The Dark Knight and called it 'overrated'

Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith's great chemistry on TV made every debate worth watching, even when they drifted away from sports. When the two worked together as the leads on ESPN's First Take, they debated over the 2008 blockbuster "The Dark Knight" starring Batman and The Joker.

Bayless happened to have some bold opinions, as always. He seemed severely critical of the Christian Bale flick, saying:

"The Dark Night is a good movie but not a great movie. No 1. I didn't like it [because] Batman only had the third largest role in this movie. No. 2, I didn't like it that The Joker was the superhero. He was indestructible. He never even bled once in this movie. I thought Jack Nicholson played a better Joker than Heath Ledger..."

I thought Aaron Eckhart deserves the Academy Award nomination because he delivered a better performance as the hero and the villain than Heath Ledger did just as the villain."

Stephen A. Smith disagreed on many fronts, but agreed to two of Skip Bayless' takes that suggested Batman wasn't bigger than The Joker and that Maggie Gyllenhaal didn't create as much impact as Batman's love interest. Here's what Smith disagreed on:

"This movie was an A movie... It was one of those rare movies... It made you think, it touched on your soul, in other words, how bad would you become. The Joker was trying to say he's like the rest of us, y'all are just like me."

Smith added:

"I never ever thought that I'll see anybody that will outperform Jack Nicholson but Heath Ledger just did. He's the real Joker now."

The late Heath Ledger, who passed six months before the movie was released was indeed the showstopper. Smith makes a valid argument for his case. Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role, which was received by his family.

As for the other opinions, Bayless and Smith made valid claims that Batman had a lesser role and that casting for Rachel Dawes' role could've been better.

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Stephen A. Smith hilariously compared Skip Bayless to The Joker

Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless engaged in some friendly banter after their debate on "The Dark Knight." Smith comically pointed out how similar Bayless looks to The Joker.

"Ahh, he looks just like Skip," said Smith.

Stephen A. Smith points out that Skip Bayless looks like The Joker.

Bayless refused to accept those comparisons, sarcastically claiming he's the Batman. By the looks of it, Bayless does seem like a huge Batman fan. Him being upset with the superhero having a lesser role in the movie and wanting to be Batman only fuels that speculation.