Joker (character)

"The Joker" redirects here. For other uses, see The Joker (disambiguation).

The Joker
The Joker. Art by Doug Mahnke
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Batman #1 (Spring 1940)
Created by	Bill Finger Bob Kane Jerry Robinson
In-story information
Alter ego	Jack
Team affiliations	Injustice Gang Injustice League
Notable aliases	Red Hood, Jack, Joseph "Joe" Kerr, Clem Rusty. Mr. Rekoj
Abilities	High intelligence Skilled chemist Access to a variety of gadgets Experience in hand to hand combat Joker venom

The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain in the DC Comics universe. He is widely considered to be Batman's archenemy. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, with contributions by artist Jerry Robinson, the Joker first appeared in Batman #1 (Spring 1940).

The Joker is a master criminal with a clown-like appearance, including bleached white skin, red lips, and green hair. Initially portrayed as a violent sociopath who murders people for his own amusement, the Joker, later in the 1940s, began to be written as a goofy trickster-thief. That characterization continued through the late 1950s and 1960s before the character became again depicted as a vicious killer. The Joker has been responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle) and the murders of Jason Todd (the second Robin) and Jim Gordon's second wife Sarah Essen.

In other media, the Joker has been portrayed by Cesar Romero in the 1960s Batman television series; Jack Nicholson in the 1989 film Batman; voice actor Mark Hamill in TV's Batman: The Animated Series; and voice actor Kevin Michael Richardson in the subsequent animated series The Batman. Nicholson's version of the Joker ranks #45 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 50 film villains. The movie studio Warner Bros. announced in 2007 that Heath Ledger will portray the Joker for director Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight.

Publication history

Main article: Bibliography of the Joker

The Joker's first appearance: Batman #1 (Spring 1940)

Bill Finger, the ghost writer co-creator of Batman, brought credited Batman creator Bob Kane a photograph of actor Conrad Veidt wearing make-up for the silent film The Man Who Laughs (1928), and from this photograph that the Joker was modeled. This influence was referenced in the graphic novel Batman: The Man Who Laughs, a retelling of the first Joker story from 1940.

The credit for creation of the Joker is disputed. Kane responded in a 1994 interview to claims that Jerry Robinson created the concept of the character:

Bill Finger and I created the Joker. Bill was the writer. Jerry Robinson came to me with a playing card of the Joker. That's the way I sum it up. [The Joker] looks like Conrad Veidt — you know, the actor in The Man Who Laughs, [the 1928 movie based on the novel] by Victor Hugo. [...] Bill Finger had a book with a photograph of Conrad Veidt and showed it to me and said, 'Here's the Joker'. Jerry Robinson had absolutely nothing to do with it, but he'll always say he created it till he dies. He brought in a playing card, which we used for a couple of issues for him [the Joker] to use as his playing card".

Robinson, whose original Joker playing card was on public display in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, New York, from Sept. 16, 2006 to Jan. 28, 2007, and the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Georgia from Oct. 24, 2004 to Aug. 28, 2005, has countered that:

Bill Finger knew of Conrad Veidt because Bill had been to a lot of the foreign films. Veidt ... had this clown makeup with the frozen smile on his face. When Bill saw the first drawing of the Joker, he said, 'That reminds me of Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs.' He said he would bring in some shots of that movie to show me. That's how that came about. I think in Bill's mind, he fleshed out the concept of the character.

In his initial dozen or so appearances, starting with Batman #1 (1940), the Joker was a straightforward murderer, with a bizarre appearance modeled after the symbol of the Joker known from playing cards. He was slated to be killed in his second appearance,, but editor Whitney Ellsworth suggested that the character be spared. A hastily drawn panel, demonstrating that the Joker was still alive, was subsequently added to the comic.

For the next several appearances, the Joker often escaped capture but suffered an apparent death (falling off a cliff, being caught in a burning building, etc.), from which his body was not recovered. In these first dozen adventures, the Joker killed close to three dozen people.

In the 1950s and 1960s, following the imposition of the Comics Code Authority censorship board, the Joker shifted toward becoming a harmless, cackling nuisance. He disappeared from Batman stories almost entirely when Julius Schwartz took over editorship of the Batman comics in 1964.

Batman #251 (Sept. 1973). Art by Neal Adams.

In 1973, the character was revived and profoundly revised in Batman stories by writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams. Beginning in Batman #251, with "The Joker's Five Way Revenge", the Joker returns to his roots as a homicidal maniac who casually murders people on a whim, while enjoying battles of wits with Batman. O'Neil said his idea was "simply to take it back to where it started. I went to the DC library and read some of the early stories. I tried to get a sense of what Kane and Finger were after." Writer Steve Englehart and penciler Marshall Rogers, in an acclaimed run in Detective Comics #471-476 (Aug. 1977 - April 1978), which went on to influence the 1989 movie Batman and be adapted for the 1990s animated series, added elements deepening the severity of the Joker's insanity. In the story "The Laughing Fish", the Joker is brazen enough to disfigure fish with a ritcus grin, then expect to be granted a federal trademark on them, only to start threatening and murdering bureaucrats who try to explain that obtaining such a claim on a natural resource is a legal impossibility.

The Joker had his own nine-issue series during the 1970s in which he faces off against a variety of both superheroes and supervillains. Although he was the protagonist of the series, certain issues feature just as much murder as those in which he was the antagonist; of the nine issues, he commits murder in seven. The development of the Joker as a sociopath continues with the issues "A Death in the Family" (in which readers voted for the character to kill off Jason Todd) and The Killing Joke in 1988, redefining the character for DC's Modern Age after the company wide reboot following Crisis on Infinite Earths.

A major addition to the character was the introduction of Harley Quinn. Originally introduced in Batman: The Animated Series, Quinn is a clinical psychiatrist who falls hopelessly in love with the Joker in Arkham Asylum and now serves as his loyal, if daffy, sidekick, costumed in a skintight harlequin suit. Their partnership often resembles an abusive domestic relationship, with the Joker insulting, hurting, or even attempting to kill Quinn, who remains undaunted in her devotion. She was popular enough to be integrated into the comics in 1999 and a modified version of the character (less goofy, but still criminally insane and utterly committed to the Joker) was also featured on the short-lived live-action TV series Birds of Prey.

Fictional character biography

Origin

Though many have been related, a definitive history of the Joker before the chemical bath has never been established in the comics, and his real name has never been confirmed. He has been portrayed as lying so often about his former life that he himself is confused as to what actually happened. As he says in The Killing Joke: "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" In Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth written by Grant Morrison, it is said that the Joker's insanity runs so deeply, that he recreates himself every day. He could have a different personality with different quirks and mannerisms whenever he sees fit.

The first origin account, Detective Comics #168 (February 1951), revealed that the Joker had once been a criminal known as the Red Hood. In the story, a scientist looking to steal from the company that employs him adopts the persona of Red Hood. After committing the theft, Red Hood is dropped into a vat of chemical waste by Batman. He emerges with white skin, green hair, and a bizarre grin.

The most widely cited backstory can be seen in The Killing Joke. It depicts him as originally being an engineer at a chemical plant who quits his job to become a stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperate to support his pregnant wife, the man agrees to help two criminals break into the plant where he was formerly employed. In this version of the story, the Red Hood persona is given to the inside man of every job (thus it is never the same man twice); this makes the man appear to be the ringleader, allowing the two criminals to escape. During the planning, police contact him and inform him that his wife has died in a household accident.

The Joker, before the accident, with his wife. Art by Brian Bolland from The Killing Joke

Stricken with grief, he attempts to back out of the plan, but the criminals strong-arm him into keeping his promise. As soon as they enter the plant, however, they are immediately caught by security and a shoot-out ensues, in which the two criminals are killed. As the engineer tries to escape, he is confronted by Batman, who is investigating the disturbance. Terrified, the engineer leaps over a rail and plummets into a vat of chemicals. When he surfaces in the nearby reservoir, he removes the hood and sees his reflection: bleached chalk-white skin, ruby-red lips, and green hair. These events, coupled with his other misfortunes that day, drive the engineer completely insane, resulting in the birth of the Joker.

The story "Pushback" (Batman: Gotham Knights # 50-55), supports part of this version of the Joker's origin story. In it, a witness (who coincidentally turns out to be Edward Nigma, a.k.a. The Riddler) recounts that the Joker's wife was kidnapped and murdered by the criminals in order to force the engineer into performing the crime. In this version, the pre-accident Joker is called Jack.

The Paul Dini/Alex Ross story "Case Study" makes a far different case. This story suggests that the Joker was a sadistic criminal who worked his way up the mobster chain until he was the leader. Still seeking the thrills that dirty work allowed, he created the Red Hood identity for himself so that he could commit small-time crimes. But eventually an accident involving Batman caused him to fall into a vat of chemicals, giving him his Joker appearance. However, the story suggests that the Joker never became insane. He is simply a sadistic, calculating human seeking revenge on Batman, hiding beneath the veneer of a psychopath.

The 2007 story arc "Lovers & Madmen" in Batman Confidential, written by Michael Green, offers a very different take on the Joker's origins. We meet the Joker, pre-transformation, and he gives his name as "Jack." He is a depressed, suicidal career criminal, who so excels at theft and murder that they no longer provide any thrill for him. In the course of a particular theft, he encounters Batman. The encounter jolts him out of his depression; he is inspired and amused by Batman's ludicrousness. Revitalized, Jack launches into a crime spree to toy with Batman. The conflict between Jack and Batman becomes so heated that Batman chooses to hand him over to the mob, who wants him dead. Grateful, the mob abducts Jack and takes him to a chemical plant to torture and murder him. Despite Batman's efforts to rescue him (having regretted his decision), an accident occurs and Jack is swept away with chemicals, producing the Joker.

Criminal career

The Joker emerges from chemical-ridden water and goes insane in The Killing Joke. Art by Brian Bolland.

From the Joker's first appearance in Batman #1, he has committed crimes both whimsical and inhumanly brutal, all with a logic and reasoning that, in Batman's words, "make sense to him alone."

In The Killing Joke, the Joker shoots Barbara Gordon (a.k.a. Batgirl), paralyzing her. He kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and taunts him with photographs of what he has done to Barbara, in an attempt to prove that any man can have "one really bad day" and become just like him, but fails to drive Gordon insane. Batman rescues Gordon and tries one final time to reach the Joker, offering to rehabilitate him. The Joker refuses, but shows his appreciation by sharing a joke with Batman and allowing himself to be taken back to Arkham.

The Joker murders Jason Todd, the second Robin, in the story "A Death in the Family." Jason Todd discovers that a woman who may be his birth mother is being blackmailed by the Joker. She betrays her son to keep from having her medical supply thefts exposed, leading to Jason's brutal beating by the Joker with a crowbar. The Joker locks Jason and his mother in the warehouse where the assault took place and blows it up just as Batman arrives. Readers could vote on whether they wanted Jason Todd to survive the blast. They voted for him to die, hence Batman finds Jason's lifeless body. Jason's death has haunted Batman ever since and has intensified his obsession with his archenemy.

In the one-shot comic Mad Love, Arkham psychiatrist Harleen Quinzel ponders whether the Joker may in fact be faking insanity so as to avoid the death penalty. As she tries to treat the Joker, he recounts a tale of an abusive father and runaway mother to gain her sympathy. She falls hopelessly in love with him and allows him to escape Arkham several times before she is eventually exposed. Driven over the edge with obsession, she becomes Harley Quinn, Joker's accomplice and on-and-off girlfriend.

File:HarleyqLG.jpg

The Joker and Harley Quinn.
Art by Alex Ross.

In a company-wide crossover, "The Last Laugh," the Joker believes himself to be dying and plans one last historic crime spree, infecting the inmates of 'The Slab,' a prison for super criminals, with Joker venom to escape. With plans to infect the entire world, he sets the super-powered inmates loose to cause mass chaos in their 'jokerized' forms. Meanwhile, he tries to ensure his "legacy" by defacing statues in his image. The entire United States declares war on the Joker under the orders of President Lex Luthor; in response, Joker sends his minions to kill the President.

The heroes of the world try to fight off the rampaging villains, while Black Canary discovers that Joker's doctor modified his CAT scan to make it appear that he had a fatal tumor in an attempt to subdue him with the threat of death. Harley Quinn, angry at the Joker's attempt to get her pregnant without marrying her, helps the heroes create an antidote to the Joker poison and return the super villains to their normal state. Believing Robin had been eaten by Killer Croc in the ensuing madness, Nightwing eventually catches up with the Joker and beats him to death. To keep Nightwing from having blood on his hands, Batman resuscitates the Joker.

During the events of the No Man's Land storyline, the Joker murders Sarah Essen Gordon, Commissioner Gordon's second wife, by shooting her in the head as she tries to protect the infants that he has kidnapped. He surrenders to Batman, but continues to taunt Gordon, provoking the Commissioner to shoot him in the kneecap. The Joker laments that he may be paralyzed, and then collapses with laughter as he "gets the joke" that Gordon has just avenged his daughter's paralysis.

In "Emperor Joker", a multipart story throughout the Superman titles, the Joker steals Mister Mxyzptlk's reality altering power, remaking the entire world into a twisted caricature, with everyone in it stuck in a loop, repeating the same patterns over and over. The conflict focuses on the fate of Batman in this world, with the Joker torturing and killing his adversary every day, only to bring him back to life and do it over and over again. Superman's powerful will allows him to fight off the Joker's influence enough to make contact with the weakened Mxyzptlk, who along with a less-powerful Spectre, encourages Superman to work out the Joker's weakness before reality is destroyed by the Joker's misuse of Mxyzptlk's power. As time runs out, Superman realizes that the Joker still cannot erase Batman from existence, as the Joker totally defines himself by his opposition to the Dark Knight; if the Joker can't even erase one man, how can he destroy the universe? The Joker's control shattered, Mxyzptlk and the Spectre manage to reconstruct reality from the moment the Joker disrupted everything, but Batman is left broken from experiencing multiple deaths. Superman has to steal Batman's memories so that he can go on, apparently transferring them to the Joker.

In Gotham Knights #50-51, the Riddler hires the Joker to save him from the masked serial killer Hush, offering the Joker the name of the crooked cop who killed his wife all those years ago. However, the Joker's attempted revenge is cut short when Hush attacks with Prometheus, forcing the Joker to retreat. After Jason Todd returns to life and takes over his killer's old Red Hood identity during the lead-up to Infinite Crisis, Jason asserts that the Joker was not quite as crazy as he leads people to believe. Jason attempts to force Batman to shoot the Joker, angered at Batman's refusal to kill the Joker despite what he'd done. Batman refuses, however, driving Jason away with a well-aimed batarang instead. At the conclusion of Infinite Crisis the Joker kills Alexander Luthor, hero of the original Crisis on Infinite Earths and villain of Infinite Crisis.

In Detective Comics 826, Robin is running from some gun crazy thugs when a stranger pulls over to help him. The stranger turns out to be none other than the Joker, who knocks Robin out with gas and ties him up. He then goes on a "joyride" with Robin, running over any pedestrian unlucky enough to cross the street in front of him. Robin gets free and distracts Joker by quoting the Marx Brothers and then starting an argument over which movie it's from. While Joker is explaining the scene, Robin punches him. After a short battle, Robin takes Joker's knockout gas and sprays him with it. Joker tumbles out of the car and into oncoming traffic, gets hit by a truck, and falls off the bridge that they had been on. His body isn't found.

Detective Comics 833-834 reveals that Joker lands safely on a passing truck. Badly injured, Joker sought help from Ivar Loxias, a magician who was introduced in an earlier issue. Loxias had been seeking an audience with Gotham's greatest criminal for a long time and so agrees to nurse Joker back to health in return for everything Joker knows about explosives and poisons. After Joker is himself again, he kills Loxias, assumes his identity and takes over his show. When one of Loxias' assistants dies, Batman investigates along with the magician Zatanna. They confront Loxias at his theatre and Joker reveals himself, he shoots Zatanna in the throat, drops her in a tank of water, and tortures Batman in an electric chair. Batman breaks free and saves Zatanna (which enables the Joker to retreat). The two heroes track the Joker down and deliver him back to Arkham.

In Batman #655, a disturbed police officer impersonating Batman shoots the Joker in the face. The Joker returns in Batman #663 after having undergone extensive plastic surgery that has left him with a permanent smile and unable to speak coherently. While in intensive care at Arkham, he sends Harley Quinn to kill his former henchmen, having her use a more lethal version of Joker venom, in order to signal his "rebirth". It is learned that the Joker has developed an immunity to several types of poison, including the more potent form of his Joker venom.

In Countdown #50, Jimmy Olsen interviews an incarcerated Joker about the murder of Duela Dent, who had called herself the Joker's Daughter. The Joker states that he never had any daughter, and expresses awareness of the Multiverse's existence and of shifts in reality.

Partnering with Lex Luthor and The Cheetah, The Joker has formed a new Super-Villain union called The Injustice League Unlimited.

Powers and abilities

The Joker commits crimes with countless "comedic" weapons (such as razor-sharp playing cards, acid-spewing flowers, cyanide pies, and lethally electric joy buzzers) and Joker venom, a deadly poison that infects his victims with a ghoulish rictus grin as they die while laughing uncontrollably. This venom comes in many forms, from gas to darts to liquid poison, and has been his primary calling card from his first appearance. The Joker is immune to his venom. The Joker is also very skilled in the fields of chemistry, genetics, and nuclear engineering. In a miniseries featuring Tim Drake, the third Robin, he kidnaps a computer genius, admitting that he doesn't know much about computers. In future issues, he is shown as very computer literate.

Joker's skills in hand-to-hand combat vary considerably depending on the writer. Some writers have shown Joker to be quite the skilled fighter, capable even of holding his own against Batman in a fight. Other writers prefer portraying Joker as being physically frail to the point that he can be defeated with a single punch. He is, however, consistently described as agile.

The Joker has cheated death numerous times, even in seemingly inescapable and lethal situations. Though he has been seen caught in explosions, been shot repeatedly, dropped from heights, electrocuted, etc, the Joker always returns to once again wreak havoc.

Over several decades there have been a variety of depictions and possibilities regarding the Joker's apparent insanity, of which the following are a sampling:

Grant Morrison's graphic novel Arkham Asylum suggests that the Joker's mental state is in fact a previously unprecedented form of "super-sanity," a form of ultra-sensory perception. It also suggests that he has no true personality of his own, that on any given day he can be a harmless clown or a vicious killer, depending on which would benefit him the most. Later, during the Knightfall saga, after Scarecrow and the Joker team up and kidnap the mayor of Gotham City, Scarecrow turns on the Joker and uses his fear gas to see what Joker is afraid of. To Scarecrow's surprise, the gas has no effect on Joker, who in turn beats him with a chair. In Morrison's JLA title, the Martian Manhunter rewires his own brain in order to think like the Joker, and later briefly rewires the Joker's brain to create momentary sanity. In those few moments, the Joker realizes that he had to reevaluate his life and seemed to regret his various murders. He is returned to his usual self soon afterward.

Various DC Comics Who's Who publications state that due to his level of insanity, at times the Joker manifests a degree of superhuman strength. In an alternate depiction of the Joker called Elseworlds: Distant Fires, the Joker is rendered sane by a nuclear war that deprives all super beings of their powers. In Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #145, the Joker became sane when Batman put him in one of Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus Pits after being shot, a reversal of the insanity which may come after experiencing such rejuvenation. However, the sanity, like the more commonplace insanity, was only temporary, and soon the Joker was back to his "normal" self.

The character is sometimes portrayed as having a heightened sense of self-awareness that other characters do not, such as being aware of being in a comic book. This fourth wall awareness also seems to carry over to Batman: The Animated Series. The Joker is the only character to talk directly into the "camera", and can be heard whistling his own theme music in the episode adaptation of the comic Mad Love. In the Marvel vs DC crossover, he also demonstrates knowledge of the first Batman/Spider-Man crossover even though that story's events did not occur in the canonical history of either the Marvel or DC universe. On page five of "Sign of The Joker", the second half of the "Laughing Fish" storyline, The Joker turns the page for the reader, bowing and tipping his hat in mock politeness.

Joker's blood itself is poisonous, as is stated in Batman #663 when Morrison writes that "being an avid consumer of his products, Joker's immunity to poisons has been built up over years of dedicated abuse" and then when the mosquito sucks Joker's blood it "writhes and whines, choking on tainted blood".

Character

The Joker has been referred to as the Clown Prince of Crime, the Harlequin of Hate, and the Ace of Knaves. Throughout the evolution of the DC universe, interpretations and incarnations of the Joker have taken two forms. The original and currently dominant image is of a fiendishly intelligent lunatic with a warped, sadistic sense of humor. The other interpretation of the character, popular in the late 1940s through 1960s comic books as well as the 1960s television series, is that of an eccentric but harmless prankster and thief. The 1990s cartoon Batman: The Animated Series blended these two aspects to great acclaim, although most interpretations tend to embrace one characterization or the other.

The Joker's victims have included men, women, children, and even his own henchmen. A 1996 issue of Hitman stated that the Joker once gassed an entire kindergarten class. In the graphic novel The Joker: Devil's Advocate, the Joker is reported to have killed well over 2,000 people. Despite having murdered enough people to get the death penalty thousands of times over, he is always found not guilty by reason of insanity. In the Batman story line "War Crimes", this continued ruling of insanity is in fact made possible by The Joker's own dream team of lawyers. He is then placed in Arkham Asylum, from which he appears able to escape at will, going so far as to claim that it's just a resting ground in between his "performances". Indeed, during the "Justice" Miniseries by Jim Kreeger and Alex Ross, Joker says to The Riddler he can break out at any time, he only stays in Arkham for as long as he thinks its funny. A couple issues later, he is then seen roaming free. In the last issue, however, he is back in Arkham, apparently by his own will though.

There have been times when Batman has been tempted to put the Joker down once and for all, but has relented at the last minute. After capturing the Joker in one story, he threatens to kill his old foe, but then says, "But that would give you the final victory, making me into a killer like yourself!" Conversely, the Joker has given up many chances to kill Batman. Their mutual obsession is unique compared to other superheroes and villains:

File:Joker-1.jpg

The Joker #1 (May 1975). Cover art by Dick Giordano.

• In "The Clown at Midnight" (featured in Batman #663), the Joker states to Batman, "You can't kill me without becoming like me. I can't kill you without losing the only human being who can keep up with me. Isn't it ironic?!" The Joker says later, "I could never kill you. Where would the act be without my straight man?"
• In "Going Sane" (featured in Legends of the Dark Knight # 65-68), the Joker lures Batman into a trap that he believes kills his arch nemesis. Batman's apparent death snaps the Joker back to sanity and prompts him to undergo plastic surgery in order to look like a normal human being. The Joker attempts to lead a normal, honest life, donning the name Joseph Kerr (a pun on his criminal moniker) and engaging in a small romance with a neighbor. Normality does not last for the Joker, however, as he later discovers Batman to be alive, which drives him to insanity. The Joker then mutilates himself in order to restore his trademark white skin, green hair, and crimson lips, and resumes his quest to destroy Batman.
• In "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge" (collected in The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told), The Joker gets the drop on an already wounded Batman and knocks him unconscious. Looking at his fallen enemy, he thinks, "His life is mine...I can crush the breath out of him...effortlessly! I can, at last, triumph! But such a hollow victory! It was mere luck that caused my attack on him to succeed! I'd always envisioned my winning as a result of cunning...at the end of a bitter struggle between The Batman and myself - him using his detective skills and me employing the divine gift men call madness! NO! Without the game that the Batman and I have played for so many years, winning is nothing! He shall live...until I can destroy him properly!" He then leaves the room, leaving his nemesis be for the time being.
• In another issue, the Joker threatens to kill crime boss Rupert Thorne if he uncovered Batman's secret identity. Thorne had Hugo Strange discover Batman's identity, but, when Strange refuses to tell him who Batman is, has him killed. The Joker, who was also bidding for Batman's identity alongside the Penguin, tells Thorne he was lucky Strange took whatever secrets he held with him to the grave; he explains that he is destined to defeat Batman in a manner worthy of his criminal reputation, and that no one else has the right.
• In Emperor Joker, although the Joker uses his new god-like powers to torture Batman to death night after night, he still cannot erase his foe from existence. Superman states that this is because the Joker totally defines himself by his opposition to the Dark Knight, and how the Joker lives in Batman's world rather than Batman living in the Joker's.
• In the movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Terry McGinnis, the successor to the mantle of Dark Knight, tells the Joker that the real reason he keeps coming back is because he never got a laugh out of the original Batman.
• In an Episode of "Batman: The Animated Series" titled "The Man Who Killed Batman", a small time thug named Sid is believed by the entire city to have killed Batman. The Joker captures this man and shows contempt towards him. In fact, when he meets him, he has tremendous difficulty admitting it was Sid who killed him. Joker initially doesn't believe he's dead and robs a jewelry store in an attempt to draw Batman out of hiding. When he doesn't show though after an hour, Joker realizes he must be truly dead and order Harley and his goons to put everything away as "there's no point in crime anymore." He then takes Sid to a chemical plant and nails him in a coffins and drops it into a vat of chemicals, all the while eulogizing Batman, stating it was sad for him to have died at the hands of some pathetic, small-time loser. It is assumed the chemical plant is the same one in which Batman knocked Joker into the vat of chemicals which created him.
• In the one-shot graphic novel and later The New Batman Adventures episode "Mad Love", Harley Quinn suggests just shooting Batman instead of making some complex plan like always, to which Joker goes into a fit of rage, saying his defeat of Batman has to be magnificent. Once Harley captures and nearly kills Batman on her own, Joker stops and beats her, saying he's the only one who can kill Batman, Ironically, however, when he gets the chance to kill Batman in this venture, he pulls out his gun and aims it at Batman, until he kicks the gun out of Joker's hand and then makes fun of how Harley came closer to killing him in one try than Joker has in dozens of tries, which sends him into another rage.
• In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, a catatonic Joker becomes animated only after seeing a police report that Batman has returned to action, setting in motion a final confrontation where the Joker breaks his own neck to frame Batman for murder.

The Joker is renowned as Batman's most unpredictable foe. While other villains rely on tried-and-true methods to commit crimes (such as Mr. Freeze's freeze gun or Poison Ivy's toxic plants), Joker has a variety of weapons at his disposal. For example, the flower he wears in his lapel sprays (at any given time) acid, poisonous laughing gas, or nothing at all. In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and much earlier in "Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker!" (Batman #321), the Joker has a gun which at first shoots a flag saying "BANG!", but then, with another pull of the trigger, the flag fires and impales its target. His most recurring gadget is a high-voltage hand-buzzer, which he uses to electrocute his victims with a handshake. Sometimes he commits crimes just for the fun of it, while on other occasions, it is part of a grand scheme; Batman has been noted to say that the Joker's plans make sense to him alone. His capricious nature, coupled with his violent streak, makes him the one villain that the DC Universe's other super-villains fear; in the Villains United and Infinite Crisis mini-series, the members of the villains' Secret Society refuse to induct the Joker for this reason. In the one-shot Underworld Unleashed, the Trickster remarks, "When super-villains want to scare each other, they tell Joker stories."

The March 2007 issue of Wizard magazine had a two-page article in which various comic book writers and artists were asked to give their favorite moments with The Joker. Comics writer Kurt discussed two moments that helped to demonstrate the Joker’s insanity:

Hands down, the best Joker bit ever, to my mind, is when he tries to copyright fish, in Detective Comics #474-475. It’s such a demented thing to do, but he pursues it so intently, so matter-of-factly – pausing only to wonder if it might not work because people might stop eating fish, but reasoning that vegetarians won’t go for it – that it really makes him feel like a madman, rather than like a criminal with daffy overtones. And there’s a bit in Swamp Thing [#30], where the world is overcome with horror, and the way we’re told how bad it is, is that someone notices the Joker’s stopped laughing. Not a Joker moment, per se, but it works so well simply because the Joker’s so solidly established as the high-water mark for insanity in the DCU.

Intercompany crossovers

• In the DC Comics/Marvel Comics crossover Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk (DC Special Series #27, 1981), the Joker is recruited to help the Shaper of Worlds who is going mad and will twist all of reality if he isn't healed. Having used the Hulk's gamma energy to calm the Shaper's mind, the Joker winds up with near-cosmic level powers as the Shaper makes the Joker's wishes come true. Despite his new power, the Joker ultimately defeats himself, when twisting reality ever tighter in an effort to defeat Hulk and Batman, he drives himself over the edge, having created too many worlds in too little time.

File:Joker-mask.jpg

Joker/Mask intercompany crossover.

• In Spider-Man/Batman #1 (1995), a surgical procedure that implants a behavior-altering computer chip into the head of serial killer Cletus Kasady (Carnage) is also used on The Joker to turn both men into timid souls. Carnage uses his symbiote to short out his chip, but waits until Joker is nearby to leap into action, so that he can short out the latter's chip as well. The two agree to an alliance, which is quickly dissolved when they disagree on killing methods; Joker favors theatrical methods of murder, while Carnage prefers numbers and immediacy in planning his murder sprees. Joker uses various tricks to escape Carnage and blows up his hideout. The attempt on his rival's life fails, however, and a corpse wrapped in symbiote material lures Batman into Carnage's reach. Carnage announces he will kill Batman in front of an audience, until Joker shows up and says that he would rather unleash a deadly virus upon Gotham, killing himself in the process if need be, to rob Carnage of the victory. Carnage becomes distracted and Batman knocks him out, while Spider-Man uses a webline to steal the viral container from Joker, chasing him into an alley and knocking him out cold.

• In Punisher/Batman, the Punisher travels to Gotham City in search of Jigsaw, who has enlisted the Joker's aid. The Punisher's vigilante killings bring Batman into the storyline.

• In the DC Comics/Dark Horse Comics crossover Joker-Mask #1-4 (2000), while vandalizing a museum exhibit, the Joker finds and wears The Mask, an item that grants the wearer a wide range of super powers and unleashes their hidden desires. Having no desires or personality traits that are hidden, the Joker essentially is himself but with near invulnerability, super speed, strength and other abilities. Using the Mask, Joker is able to defeat Batman and become unstoppable; the Joker quickly becomes bored with his power, but still refuses to remove the Mask. He takes over the Gotham television waves and broadcasts 24/7 destruction, threatening to destroy the world with bombs planted in every toy store. He tires of the scheme, however, and instead commandeers a nuclear bomb to destroy Gotham City. Batman confronts Joker/Mask, and his insistence that the Mask isn't funny forces the Joker to emerge and remove the mask. The Mask had been in control for some time after Joker put it on. This story is considered non-canon.

• In the DC Comics/2000AD crossover, Batman/Judge Dredd: Die Laughing #1-2, a dimensional mishap transports the Joker's disembodied spirit to Mega City One, where he meets Judge Death and the other Dark Judges and joins them as the fifth Dark Judge. While in this form (with his catatonic body back in Gotham), he can possess bodies like the other Dark Judges. His signature maniacal laughter becomes so powerful it explodes several skulls. His reign of terror ends when Batman and Dredd arrive to capture the spirits of Death, Fear, Fire and Mortis and force the Joker's spirit to return to Gotham.

• In the 1996 DC Comics/Marvel Comics one-shot Batman & Captain America, the two heroes, shown co-existing in 1945, unite to prevent the Joker and Red Skull from stealing "the Gotham Project". While the Joker is shown as cunning and murderous, he also shows a surprising moral side when he meets the Skull and is shocked to realize he's been working for a Nazi. "I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an American criminal lunatic!"

Other versions

DC Universe

• In pre-Crisis continuity, there was a considerably older version of the Joker living on Earth-Two. His silver age appearances involved his alliance with King Kull of Earth-S while battling the golden age Batman and Robin, and his later battle versus Batman's daughter the Huntress.
• A female version of the Joker, modeled on Duela Dent, appeared as part of DC's Tangent Comics line in her own one-shot (Tangent Comics: The Joker) in 1997. A superhero, she also appeared as a member of Tangent's Secret Six. The character was popular enough to merit a second one-shot, The Joker's Wild, in the second wave of Tangent Comics one year later. Recently, in Infinite Crisis, the Tangent Comics universe was revealed to have previously been Earth-97, making her the Joker of Earth-97. In the new multiverse, the Tangent Universe's new numerical designation is, as yet, unknown.
• In Countdown, The Joker's Earth-3 counterpart is a hero who began his career by making jokes about Owlman. When Owlman murdered Harleen Quinzel and mutilated the comedian's face, he became The Jokester. He fought Owlman and his sidekick, Talon, many a time until one night he was saved from death at Owlman's hands by The Riddler, Three-Face, and their daughter, Duela Dent. The four formed an alliance that was cut short by Ultraman, Superwoman, and Owlman. He escaped and hid until the right moment to strike back at the Crime Society of America. That chance came when the Society engaged the Challengers from Beyond (Kyle Rayner, Donna Troy and Jason Todd), The Jokester followed them to Earth-15 and then to Earth-8, where he was killed by one of the Monitors.

Elseworlds

• In Batman: Nosferatu, the Joker is the "Laughing Man", a white-faced, murderous creature, a prototype cyborg built by Luthor from one of Dr. Arkham's patients.
• In Batman: Bloodstorm, the sequel to Batman's fight with Dracula that resulted in him being transformed into a vampire, the Joker took charge of the remaining vampires, convincing them that he was a better leader to them alive and thinking long-term than transformed into a vampire and more concerned with his next meal. Under the Joker's leadership, the vampires killed all of Gotham's major crime families, but this made them easy prey for Batman's daylight allies. In a last stand, the Joker's remaining vampire allies were killed, but the Joker managed to kill Catwoman in the process. Driven mad with grief, Batman broke the Joker's neck and drained his blood, committing his first murder as a vampire. Horrified by what he had done, Batman fled after staking the Joker, but knew that, in his last breath, the Joker had won by turning Batman into a monster.
• In JLA: The Nail, the Joker was given access to Kryptonian weaponry by the altered Jimmy Olsen, using it to kill Batgirl and Robin right in front of Batman. However, Joker loses his concentration when Catwoman intervenes, allowing Batman to escape. Batman, driven to the brink of madness with grief and rage, killed the Joker on the roof of Arkham Asylum. In the sequel, JLA: Another Nail, they have a rematch in Hell.
• In Batman: Leatherwing, the Joker is a sadistic 18th century pirate known as "The Laughing man", although he is called Joker several times in the dialogue.
• In Batman: In Darkest Knight, where Bruce Wayne is chosen as Green Lantern instead of Hal Jordan, he easily averts the accident that initially transformed the criminal who was once the Red Hood into the Joker. Later, Sinestro uses his power ring to absorb Joe Chill's mind, the strain apparently causing him to become somewhat deranged, effectively filling the role of the Joker in the story.
• In the future setting of Kingdom Come, the now middle-aged Joker, having killed several staff members at the Daily Planet (Perry White, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen among them), is arrested by the police. Before he can be prosecuted, he is killed by Magog, an act which eventually leads to the main storyline of Kingdom Come. The series also includes a character called Joker's Daughter II. The graphic novel version lists each of the characters that appear in each chapter, and states that she is "one of many to follow the Joker's chaotic style".
• Another female Joker appeared in Batgirl and Robin: Thrillkiller, written and drawn by Howard Chaykin and Dan Brereton and published in 1997-98. Set in 1962-64, it has Batgirl, her lovers Robin, and Batman, taking on corrupt establishment figures rather than all-out criminals. Their main enemy is the Joker-like Bianca Steeplechase who is assisted by a team of corrupt cops led by the Two-Face-like Detective Duell. As part of her bid to rule the Gotham criminal underworld, she also beds the local mayors. Harley Quinn appears in this Elseworld adventure as a late adolescent schoolgirl. Her relationship with Bianca is short-lived, but there is indication of a lesbian attraction between them. Their relationship is also more egalitarian than its heterosexual counterpart within mainstream DC continuity. Arkham is implied to be a drug rehabilitation centre.
• In the Elseworlds novel Batman: Two Faces, the Joker takes the role of both Jack the Ripper and Mr. Hyde, becoming the exact opposite of Batman.
• In Gotham by Gaslight, Joker makes a cameo appearance. He is a thief who attempted suicide with strychnine when he was about to be apprehended by the police. His failed attempt left him disfigured and insane.
• In Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, set after the death of the original Joker, a second Joker arises and kills several superheroes before fighting an elderly Batman and his new sidekick Catgirl. The second Joker is revealed to be Dick Grayson, the original Robin, driven mad with anger over Batman having fired him years earlier.
• In the graphic novel Batman: Detective No. 27, two alternate versions of the Joker appear: Professor Josiah Carr, an insane member of the Confederacy responsible for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, who plots the destruction of America; and Jack Napier, one of the two thugs responsible for the death of Wayne's parents, and pawn of the late Carr's scheme. Both speak the line "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?", taking inspiration from the earlier film interpretation of the character.
• In JSA: The Liberty Files The Joker is "Jack the Grin", an albino arms dealer who is on the run after intercepting a Nazi radio message regarding Hitler's secret weapon. Jack, knowing he's a marked man, tries to dye his hair brown but it turns green. He goes into hiding, only to be caught by allied forces. While being transported back to the states by plane, the aircraft is shot down over Egypt. Suffering from slight amnesia, Jack shambles his way to a safe house. The US government sends The Bat, The Clock and The Owl to apprehend him before he falls into Nazi hands.
• In Planetary/Batman: Night On Earth, the Joker of the Wildstorm universe is actually a sane - if slightly giggly - Planetary operative called Jasper, who works with that universe's Dick Grayson.
• In Batman: I, Joker, the Gotham City of the future is ruled by a cult who worships Batman and his descendant, the Bruce. Once every year, there are challengers who try to usurp the rule of Batman, but even worse, this Bruce has people taken off the street and has them turned into Batman's old enemies complete with their memories. The newest Joker, 'Joe Collins, was able to maintain his original memories, and dons a Batman outfit alongside a new Robin to try and destroy the cult.
• In Superman: Speeding Bullets, in which baby Kal-El of Krypton is adopted as Bruce Wayne and grows up to be a super-powered Batman, Lex Luthor suffers an industrial accident and becomes The Joker.

Other Media

Main article: Joker's appearances in other media

The Joker has appeared in almost every medium in which Batman has appeared, including live-action and animated productions, and video games.

See also

• Bibliography of the Joker

External links

• The Origin of Joker at DCComics.com

• Heath Ledger as the Joker Revealed