knightni Posted December 23, 2011 Author Share Posted December 23, 2011 1. The Joker (DC Comics) (14 of 16 lists - 263 points - highest ranking #1 Nunnigan, Cali, Steve9347) The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin. Created by Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger and Bob Kane, the character first appeared in Batman #1 (Spring 1940). Throughout his comic book appearances, the Joker is portrayed as a master criminal whose characterization has varied. The original and currently dominant image is of a highly intelligent psychopath with a warped, sadistic sense of humor, while other writers have portrayed him as an eccentric prankster. Similarly, throughout the character's long history, there have been several different origin tales; they most commonly depict him as falling into a tank of chemical waste, which bleaches his skin white and turns his hair green and his lips bright red, giving him the appearance of a clown. He has been repeatedly analyzed by critics as the perfect adversary for Batman, their long, dynamic relationship often parallels the concept of 'Yin and Yang'. The Joker has been portrayed by Cesar Romero in the Batman television series, Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton's Batman, and Heath Ledger in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, which posthumously earned Ledger the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Larry Storch, Frank Welker, Mark Hamill, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton and John DiMaggio have provided the voice for the character in animated form. As one of the most iconic and recognized villains in popular media, The Joker was ranked #1 on Wizard's list of the 100 Greatest Villains of All Time. He was also named #2 on IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time List, was ranked #8 on the Greatest Comic Book Characters in History list by Empire (being the highest ranking villain on the list) and was listed as the fifth Greatest Comic Book Character Ever in Wizard Magazine's 200 Greatest Comic Book Characters of all Time list, also the highest villain on the list. On their list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters, Fandomania.com ranked the Joker at number 30. Creation 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 has countered that he created the Joker to be Batman's larger-than-life nemesis when extra stories needed to be written quickly for Batman #1, and that he even received credit for the story in a college course. Regarding the character's similarity with Conrad Veidt, Robinson said: “ In that first meeting when I showed them that sketch of the Joker, Bill said it reminded him of Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs. That was the first mention of it...He can be credited and Bob himself, we all played a role in it. The concept was mine. Bill finished that first script from my outline of the persona and what should happen in the first story. He wrote the script of that, so he really was co-creator, and Bob and I did the visuals, so Bob was also. ” Golden Age In his initial dozen or so appearances, starting with Batman #1 (1940), the Joker was a straightforward homicidal maniac, with a bizarre appearance modeled after the Joker playing card. He was slated to be killed in his second appearance right after he escaped from prison, 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. In the next issue he is in the hospital recovering, but is broken out by a criminal gang. 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. From the Joker's first appearance in Batman #1, he has committed crimes both whimsical and brutal, all with a logic and reasoning that, in Batman's words, "make sense to him alone." In his first appearance, the character leaves his victims with post-mortem smiles on their faces, a modus operandi that has been carried on throughout the decades with the concept of the character. In Batman #1, he challenges Gotham's underworld and police department by announcing over the radio that he will kill three of Gotham's most prominent citizens at certain times. Batman and Robin investigate the crimes and find the victims' bodies stricken with a perpetual grin upon their faces. The Joker traps Robin and is prepared to murder him with the same deadly Joker venom, but Batman rescues Robin and the Joker goes to prison. (This story is retold in the 2005 graphic novel Batman: The Man Who Laughs.) Silver Age The Joker was one of the few popular villains who continued making regular appearances in Batman comics from the Golden Age into the Silver Age as Batman comics continued publication through the rise of mystery and romance comics. With the rise of the Comics Code Authority, the Silver Age Joker was characterized as a goofy prankster, with none of the homicidal menace featured in earlier incarnations. The use of the character lessened somewhat by the mid-sixties, when Julius Schwartz took over editorship of the Batman comics in 1964. The Joker’s actual first appearance as an Earth-One character is a matter of interpretation, as there has never been an actual distinction between when the Golden Age Earth-Two Joker ceased making regular published appearances and when the Silver Age Joker was introduced. Due to retcon, DC continuity cites Batman #85 as the earliest documented meeting of the Earth-One character. Detective Comics #168 introduced the origin of what is now considered the Earth-One Joker. Batman #97 (Feb 1956) and World's Finest Comics #88 (May 1957) are the first comic book appearances of the Joker in what we now consider the Silver Age of Comics. In June 1985, after the intertitle Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity was put into effect, the Multiverse continuity was discontinued. Earth-One and all of its denizens, including the Joker, were merged into the restructured Post-Crisis continuity commonly known as New Earth. Bronze Age revision by O'Neil and Adams In 1973, after a four year disappearance 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 murders people on a whim, while enjoying battles of wits with Batman.[15] 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."[16] 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 Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers story "The Laughing Fish", the Joker is brazen enough to disfigure fish with a rictus grin, then expects to be granted a federal trademark on them, only to start killing bureaucrats who try to explain that obtaining such a claim on a natural resource is legally impossible. 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 wherein he was the antagonist; of the nine issues, he commits murder in seven. This interpretation of the character continues with the 1988-89 A Death in the Family storyline and The Killing Joke graphic novel in 1988, redefining the character for DC's Modern Age after the company wide reboot following Crisis on Infinite Earths. Post Crisis In Batman: The Killing Joke, the Joker shoots Barbara Gordon (who, unknown to him, was then known as Batgirl and in later comics as Oracle), rendering her a paraplegic. He then kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and taunts him with enlarged photographs of his wounded daughter being undressed, in an attempt to prove that any normal man can go insane after having "one bad day." The Joker ridicules him as an example of "the average man," a naïve weakling doomed to insanity. Batman saves Commissioner Gordon, and sees that the Joker's plan failed; although traumatized, Gordon retains his sanity and moral code, urging Batman to apprehend the Joker "by the book" in order to "show him that our way works." After a brief struggle, Batman tries one final time to reach his old foe, offering to rehabilitate him. The Joker ultimately refuses, but shows his appreciation by sharing a joke with Batman, provoking an uncharacteristic laugh. The Joker murders Jason Todd, the second Robin, in the story A Death in the Family. Jason discovers that a woman who may be his birth mother is being blackmailed by the Joker. She betrays her son to the Joker to keep from having her medical supply thefts exposed, and the Joker savagely beats Jason 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 (non-continuity) one-shot comic Mad Love, Arkham Asylum 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, the Joker's sidekick/girlfriend. During the events of the "No Man's Land" storyline, the Joker murders Sarah Essen Gordon, Commissioner Gordon's second wife, during a confrontation over kidnapped infants. The Joker is shown frowning in the aftermath of the murder. He surrenders to Batman but continues to taunt Gordon, provoking the Commissioner to shoot him in the kneecap. The Joker laments that he may never walk again, and then collapses with laughter as he "gets the joke" that Gordon has just avenged his daughter's paralysis. While in transit back to Arkham, however, he takes control of the helicopter transporting him, and flies off to Qurac, where he becomes part of the government and helps to speed the country's decline into war with its neighbors. He is subsequently sent to New York as the country's ambassador, in which position he then threatens to use a neutron bomb to kill everyone in Manhattan if the United Nations doesn't withdraw its forces. Power Girl and Black Canary of the Birds of Prey capture him, however, and Barbara Gordon tricks him into telling them how to stop the attack, after which the Joker is sent to 'the Slab' "with the rest of the supercreeps." In "Emperor Joker", a multi-part 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. The Joker entertains himself with various forms of murder, such as killing Lex Luthor over and over and devouring the entire population of China. 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; by this logic, the Joker would be incapable of destroying the entire universe, since he is incapable of doing so to Batman. This breaks the Joker's control, and 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 erase Batman's memories of these events so that he can go on. In a company-wide crossover, "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 manipulates the super-powered inmates to allow a jailbreak, and sets them loose to cause mass chaos in their "Jokerized" forms. The Joker is not cheered as, using the example of vandalized Easter Island statues, he does not believe that the altered inmates are being appropriately funny. 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. 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 make 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 nearly to death. To keep Nightwing from having blood on his hands, Batman resuscitates the Joker. In their attempt to destroy Batman, Hush and the Riddler convince and manipulate several other villains to help. Part of this includes fooling Bruce that his childhood friend Tommy Elliott is the latest victim of the Joker. This brings Batman to the brink of murdering the Joker; he is only stopped when former GCPD commissioner Jim Gordon talks him down by reminding him that by killing the Joker, Batman would become just another killer, and Jim refuses to let the Joker ruin Batman's life like that. In the "Under The Hood" arc (Batman #635-650), Jason Todd returns to life. Angry at Batman for failing to avenge his death, he takes over his killer's old Red Hood identity, abducts the Joker and attempts to force Batman to shoot him. Even though the Clown Prince of Crime is surprised that Todd is alive, the resulted antagonism between the former Dynamic Duo is even more rewarding to the villain than the Boy Wonder's death and apparently does not care whether he would die or not. At the conclusion of Infinite Crisis, the Joker kills Alexander Luthor, hero of the original Crisis on Infinite Earths and villain of Infinite Crisis for being left out of the Society. In Batman #655, a deranged police officer impersonating Batman shoots the Joker in the face, leaving him physically scarred and disabled. After having undergone extensive plastic surgery and physical therapy, the Joker reappears in Batman #663 with a drastic new appearance, now permanently fixed with a Glasgow smile. While in intensive care at Arkham, the Joker develops a new, more lethal variant of Joker Venom, instructing Harley Quinn to use it to kill his former henchmen to signal his spiritual "rebirth". He then goes on a rampage through Arkham, attempting to murder Harley (her death being the final "punchline" of his rebirth) before being stopped by Batman. These events ultimately lead to the Joker's association with the Black Glove in their attempt to destroy Batman. The 2007-2008 miniseries Salvation Run depicts the Joker as leading one of two factions of supervillains who have been exiled from Earth to a distant prison planet. In issue six of the series, Joker engages Lex Luthor in an all-out brawl for power. Just as he gains the upper hand, however, the planet is invaded by Parademons; The Joker helps fight off the invasion and later escapes along with the rest of the surviving villains via a teleportation machine. After returning to Earth, Joker is yet again a patient in Arkham Asylum. Batman visits him to ask him if he knows anything about the Black Glove, but Joker only responds by dealing a Dead man's hand. During routine therapy, Joker is met by a spy for the Club of Villains who offers him a chance to join them in their crusade against Batman. He participates in their action, considering it a farce all along (knowing Batman will survive their attempts, which he spitefully reveals to them just when they think their plan has come to fruition) and casually murdering some Black Glove members before escaping in an ambulance, only to be driven off the road by Damian, Batman´s son. During the events of the "Last Rites" story arc, the Joker is mentioned and shown several times in Batman's past experiences as his history is explored. He is also shown entering the funeral service for Batman in Neil Gaiman's "Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader?" story. The Joker remained unseen or heard from since the end of "Batman R.I.P." In his absence, Dick Grayson took up the mantle of Batman in the wake of Bruce Wayne's disappearance at the hands of Darkseid in Final Crisis. A British journalist/detective named Oberon Sexton appeared in Gotham City in the early issues of Batman and Robin, with the nickname "the Gravedigger." At the time of Sexton's appearance, a murderer known as the "Domino Killer" also appeared, killing members of the Black Glove systematically. The new Batman confronts Sexton about his connection to the killings, deciphering that the manner in which the men were killed followed a set routine of jokes. Sexton then takes off his mask to reveal himself to be the Joker, having been operating as Sexton the entire time. After the Joker is arrested once more, he appears to underestimate the current Robin (Damian Wayne) by trying to win the Boy Wonder's pity. He receives a beating with a crowbar (mirroring Jason Todd's murder) from Robin, who he realizes is a son of his old foe after noting the resemblance between the child and the original Batman. The officers at GCPD ignore the Joker's pleas for help after they conclude that Robin can handle the villain easily.[39] However, the Joker's apparent helplessness is yet another ruse. Feigning injuries from Robin's assault, he scratches Robin with a paralyzing toxin painted onto his fingernails, going on to reveal that he has once again manipulated events toward his own ends and mocking Robin for going so far as to provide his own crowbar (another reference to the murder of Jason Todd). Appropriating Robin's utility belt, the Joker escapes to execute his attack on the Black Glove, unleashing his signature venom on an audience gathered under Professor Pyg (via tainted popcorn) and guiding Batman and his allies to a climactic confrontation. The Joker is seen in an undisclosed location, with Robin bound and gagged, and possessing what appears to be a nuclear weapon. Help arrives in the form of the original Batman (who just returned after the events of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne), who aids his successor and his son in their battle against the Black Glove and the Clown Prince of Crime in Wayne Manor and the Batcave. The second Batman pursues and captures the Joker, while the original Dark Knight, Robin, and Alfred Pennyworth disarm the Clown Prince of Crime's weapon and defeat the remaining Black Glove members. In Arkham Asylum, the Joker was bound in a straightjacket and muzzle, while been taking by corrections officers with a psychologist for answers, but they were being infected with Joker venom by an accidental touch of his skin. The Joker then was freed and escaped from Arkham Asylum. Batman learns the Joker apparently attacks Commissioner Gordon's wife with Joker venom. Batman manhunts and locates the Joker's hideout to battle him. After the Joker is defeated, Batman warns him to leave Gordon's family alone, but the Joker reveals that he did not attack Commissioner Gordon's wife, the attacker was James Gordon, Jr. himself. Relaunch The Joker is reintroduced in The New 52 as a homicidal killer being hunted by Gotham's police force in Detective Comics. His appearance in the relaunched DC universe has changed relatively little. After a skirmish with Batman, the Joker is caught and taken to Arkham Asylum. Dollmaker, a new villain, visits Joker. The two speak for a short time about their arranged meeting before the Dollmaker cuts the Joker's face off. Powers, abilities and equipment The Joker commits crimes with comedic weapons such as a deck of bladed playing cards, an acid-squirting flower, cyanide-stuffed pies, exploding cigars filled with nitroglycerin, harpoon guns that utilize razor-sharp BANG!-flags, and a lethally electric joy buzzer. His most prominent weapon is his Joker venom, a deadly poison that infects his victims with a ghoulish rictus grin as they die while laughing uncontrollably. The 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 every known venom as well as to his own laughing toxin; in Batman #663, Morrison writes that "being an avid consumer of his products, the Joker's immunity to poisons has been built up over years of dedicated abuse". The Joker is portrayed as highly intelligent and skilled in the fields of chemistry and engineering, as well an expert with explosives. From his first appearance onward, he has been consistently portrayed as capable of hijacking broadcasts- usually news programs- of both the television and radio varieties. In a miniseries featuring Tim Drake, the third Robin, the Joker is shown kidnapping a computer genius, and admitting that he doesn't know much about computers, although later writers have portrayed him as very computer literate. The Joker's skills in unarmed combat vary considerably depending on the writer. Some writers have shown Joker to be a very skilled fighter, capable of holding his own against Batman in hand-to-hand combat. His versatility in combat is due in part to his own extensive array of hidden gadgets and weapons on his person that he often pulls out on a moment's whim (rolling a handful of explosive marbles on the ground, retractable knives attached to his spats, etc.); other writers, on the other hand, prefer portraying Joker as physically frail to the point that he can be defeated with a single punch. He is, however, consistently described as agile. Joker's skills in combat also differ in the film and television adaptations. The Joker has cheated death numerous times, even in seemingly inescapable and lethal situations. He has been seen caught in explosions, been shot repeatedly, dropped from lethal heights, electrocuted, and so on, but he always returns once again to wreak havoc. Over several decades there have been a variety of depictions and possibilities regarding the Joker's apparent insanity. Grant Morrison's graphic novel Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth 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, the Martian Manhunter, trapped in a surreal maze created by the Joker, used his shape-shifting abilities to reconfigure his own brain to emulate the Joker's chaotic thought patterns. Later in the same storyline, Martian Manhunter uses his telepathic powers to reorganize the Joker's mind and create momentary sanity, albeit with great effort and only temporarily. In those few moments, the Joker expresses regret for his many crimes and pleads for a chance at redemption. However, during Batman: Cacophony, the Joker is again rendered sane when he is dosed up on painkillers after being fatally wounded by Onomatopoeia, and, during a subsequent conversation with Batman, although expressing regret for the loss that motivated Batman to never allow people to die if he could help it, informs the Dark Knight that he does not hate Batman because he is crazy, but is crazy because he hates him, stating that he will only 'retire' when Batman is dead. In 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 is only temporary, and soon the Joker is reverted back to his "normal" self. The character is sometimes portrayed as having a fourth wall awareness. In 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. Also, in the episode "Joker's Wild", he says into the camera, "Don't try this at home, kids!" In the DC vs. Marvel 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. Various origins Though many have been related, a definitive back-story has never been established for the Joker in the comics, and his real name has never been confirmed. 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! Ha ha ha!" In Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, written by Grant Morrison, it is said that the Joker may not be insane, but has some sort of "super-sanity" in which he re-creates himself each day to cope with the chaotic flow of modern urban life. 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, he is a chemical engineer looking to steal from the company that employs him and adopts the persona of Red Hood. After committing the theft, which Batman thwarts, he falls into a vat of chemical waste. He emerges with bleached white skin, red lips, green hair and a persistent grin. The most widely cited backstory, which the official DC Comics publication, Who's Who in the DC Universe credits as the most widely supported account, is featured 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 Jeannie, he agrees to help two criminals break into the plant where he was formerly employed to get to the card company next door. 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 and unborn child have died in a household accident. 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 pound lock 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 bright green hair. These events, coupled with his other misfortunes that day, drive the engineer completely insane, resulting in the birth of the Joker. This origin is supported in Batman: The Man Who Laughs when Batman performs chemical tests on the Red Hood he recovered from the chemical plant during his first investigation into the Joker. Joker's Red Hood identity is further confirmed in Batman #450 when Joker finds an old Red Hood costume he kept and puts it on to help his recovery after the events of A Death in the Family. 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) recounts that the Joker's wife was kidnapped and murdered by a corrupt cop working for the criminals in order to force the engineer into performing the crime. The Joker attempts to find the corrupt cop who committed the murder, but is beaten badly by Hush and expelled from Gotham before this takes place. "Payback" also shows pictures of the pre-disfigurement Joker — identified as "Jack" — with his wife, giving further support to this version. The Paul Dini-Alex Ross story "Case Study" proposes a far different theory. This story suggests that the Joker was a sadistic gangster who worked his way up Gotham's criminal food chain until he was the leader of a powerful mob. Still seeking the thrills that dirty work allowed, he created the Red Hood identity for himself so that he could commit small-time crimes. Eventually, he had his fateful first meeting with Batman, resulting in his disfigurement. However, the story suggests that the Joker remained sane, and researched his crimes to look like the work of a sick mind in order to pursue his vendetta against Batman, able to evade permanent incarceration via insanity defense. Unfortunately, the written report found explaining this theory is discovered to have been written by Dr. Harleen Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn, the Joker's insane sidekick/lover, which invalidates any credibility it could have in court. The second arc of Batman Confidential (#7-12) re-imagines the Joker as a gifted criminal and abandons the Red Hood identity, also called Jack, who is nearly suicidal due to boredom with his "job". He talks to a waitress, Harleen Quinzel, who convinces him to find something to live for. Jack becomes obsessed with Batman after he breaks up one of his jobs, leading Jack to attract Batman's attention at a ball. Jack injures Lorna Shore (whom Bruce Wayne is dating), leading Batman to disfigure his face with a batarang. Jack escapes and Batman gives Jack's information to mobsters, who torture Jack in a chemical plant. Jack kills several of his assailants after escaping, but falls into an empty vat as wild gunfire punctures the chemical tanks above him, and the resultant flood of antidepressant chemicals alters his appearance to that of a clown, completing his transformation into the Joker. The Brave and the Bold issue #31, penned by J. Michael Straczynski, builds on this origin for the Joker. In it, Atom assists in an operation on the Joker's brain. While inside the Joker's head, he sees the flashes of his life as "Jack", before his fateful first encounter with Batman. As a child, Jack savagely beats a bully; as a teen, he locks his parents in their house and sets it on fire after they find him killing neighborhood pets. Jack eventually joins a gang and needlessly kills a shopowner, causing his allies to potentially be charged with the murder, and kills a gang member who scolds him for the murder. His career as the Joker begins soon afterward, including one panel alluding to the film The Dark Knight. Although all comic appearances of the Joker set in the mainstream DC Universe conform to the notion of Joker's skin and hair being permanently altered by the chemicals, some portrayals have suggested that his red lips however are purely the result of wearing lipstick. Additionally, some writers and artists have inconsistently depicted the Joker's iconically large smile as resulting from some form of additional disfigurement (in a similar manner as his cinematic counterparts), which in some cases is explained by conflicting versions of his origins, while in others remains unacknowledged. Most comic portrayals over the decades, however, default to depicting the Joker as unscarred and fully capable of not smiling, should the mood take him. Character The Joker has been referred to as the Clown Prince of Crime (or Chaos), the Harlequin of Hate (Havoc), 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 highly intelligent psychopath 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. Batman: The Animated Series blended these two aspects, 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 and other villains. 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 is just a resting ground in between his "performances". Batman has been given numerous opportunities to put the Joker down once and for all, but has relented at the last minute. As an example, in one story line, Batman threatens to kill the Joker, but stops himself upon realizing that such an act would make him "a killer like yourself!" Conversely, the Joker has given up many chances to kill the Batman because the Joker defines himself by his struggle with his archnemesis. However, after a man dressed as Batman shot the Joker, Joker became enraged at the fact that his old enemy tried to end his life. Additionally, in a confrontation with a resurrected Jason Todd, Batman admits that he often fantasizes about killing the Joker, but that he will not allow himself the pleasure because he knows that there would be no turning back. The Joker is renowned as Batman's greatest enemy. 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) highly corrosive acid, poisonous gas, or soda water. In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and much earlier in "Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker!" (Batman #321), or more recent in Detective Comics 866 (June 2010), 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 (in the edited version of Return of the Joker, the gun shoots Joker gas). His most recurring weapons are a high-voltage hand-buzzer, which he uses to electrocute his victims with a handshake, as well as his iconic Joker venom, which will either cause a victim to become paralyzed, comatose, or even die, depending on the strength of the particular batch. What all versions share however, is that the effects are always preceded by hysterical fits of laughter, as well as a frozen grin. His unpredictable, homicidal nature makes him one of the most feared supervillains in the DC Universe; 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 mini-series Underworld Unleashed, the Trickster remarks, "When super-villains want to scare each other, they tell Joker stories." Other versions Earth-9 Another version of the Joker appeared in the DC Comics imprint Tangent Comics, a line set in on an alternate earth. The heroes have the same names (The Flash, Batman, etc.), but their histories and powers are vastly different. This Earth is now listed as Earth-9. The Joker of this Earth is a female hero who uses her array of jokes and comical devices to mock the tyrant Superman's authority. This Joker is actually three women: a student named Mary Marvel, an entrepreneur named Christie Xanadu, and a reporter, Lori Lemaris. Mary is eventually captured by the evil Superman and tortured into giving up the names of the other two before she is killed. Lemaris is sent to prison, but Christina's fate is left unknown. Later, Lemaris is re-offered the mantle of the Joker in order to take down Superman, but refused as there was too much pain associated with the costume, and instead chooses to take up that of her fallen comrade, Manhunter. Planetary/Batman Planetary/Batman presents the Joker as a field agent for Planetary working under Richard Grayson named Jasper. He's apparently harmless and has a habit of giggling when he's nervous. Elijah Snow mentions not liking the way Jasper "kept hugging himself" when looking at pictures of homicides. Elseworlds The Joker makes a cameo appearance in the Elseworlds graphic novel Gotham by Gaslight as a serial killer who tries to kill himself with strychnine, leaving him with a permanent grin. Anti-Matter Universe The one heroic version of the Joker from an alternate Earth is called the Jokester. He appears as a hero battling Owlman, a villainous version of Batman. He is killed by the rogue Monitor Solomon, who had also killed his daughter Duela Dent, beforehand. New Earth-2 The Joker of the new Earth-2 is depicted as an old man, frail and wheelchair-bound after a lifetime of exposure to deadly chemicals, and ironically unable to laugh without hurting himself. After disfiguring Huntress' boyfriend, Harry Simms, in an attempt to create a replacement for the deceased Two-Face, he is tracked down by the vengeful heroine. The Joker attempts to kill Huntress with a lethal joy buzzer, but the attack is intercepted by the Power Girl of New Earth, and the Joker is himself electrocuted to death as a result. Batman: Digital Justice In the 1990 graphic novel Batman: Digital Justice created by Pepe Moreno, an artificial intelligence calling itself the "Joker Virus" takes over a futuristic, technology-dependent Gotham City in the late 21st century and claims to be the reincarnation of its creator, the original Joker. Batman — in this version, the grandson of Commissioner James Gordon — stops the virus with help from another A.I.: the Batcomputer, as programmed by the long-dead Bruce Wayne. Joker Graphic Novel Another graphic novel, called simply Joker focuses on the character in a more gritty, realistic version of the Batman mythos. The Dark Knight Returns In the alternate future of The Dark Knight Returns, the Joker has been comatose since Batman's retirement, and regains consciousness after seeing a news story about his archnemesis' remergence. He manipulates his psychiatrist into declaring him cured, and hires a publicist to book him on a late night talk show. He attempts to destroy the television studio, drawing Batman out into the open. Batman pursues him into the Tunnel of Love at a carnival, where he breaks Joker's neck in a fit of rage, but cannot bring himself to kill his old foe. The Joker then commits suicide by twisting his fractured neck until it breaks completely, thus framing Batman as a murderer. In The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, the Joker apparently resurfaces from the dead as an indestructible figure who begins killing off old superheroes, even wearing recognizable suits of former heroes and villains — including Cosmic Boy and Mister Mxyzptlk. His victims include Martian Manhunter, Creeper, and the Guardian. However, it is revealed that the new Joker is actually Dick Grayson, driven insane after years of radical gene therapy by Luthor and others. When he confronts Batman, the Dark Knight states that he sacked him "For incompetence. For cowardice"; in fact he shows no sympathy for Grayson whatsoever and contemptuously organizes his death there and then. Batman and Grayson fight their final battle which ends with Batman setting off the self-destruct sequence for the Batcave and Grayson falling to his death in a pool of lava. All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder A slightly altered Joker makes an appearance once again in Frank Miller's non-canon series, All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. Batman: Nosferatu In Batman: Nosferatu, The Joker appears as The Laughing Man, a monstrous cyborg created by the experiments of the depraved Dr Arkham, who uses him as an assassin. This version of the Joker ironically ends up creating this world's Batman after an assassination attempt on Bruce Wayne's counterpart. Batman: Bloodstorm In Batman: Bloodstorm- a sequel to Batman & Dracula: Red Rain-, the Joker becomes the leader of a group of vampires after the death of their original leader, Dracula, pointing out their inability to think beyond their next meal in their current condition. Although he successfully coordinates their efforts to turn and take control of all of Gotham's major crime families, the now-vampire Batman- aided by were-cat Selina Kyle- is able to destroy the Joker's minions. Unfortunately, Selina is killed in the final battle with the Joker's vampires, her death leaving Batman so enraged that he finally succumbs to his lust for blood and drinks from the Joker, staking him to prevent him from coming back as a vampire but nevertheless aware that, at the last, the Joker has won by turning him into a monster as bad as Dracula and even the Clown Prince of Crime himself. Batman: In Darkest Knight In Batman: In Darkest Knight, the Joker appears in a handful of panels as Red Hood and never suffers the disfiguring accident that turns him into the Joker (Although Sinestro turns into a Joker equivalent when he absorbs the mind of Joe Chill while trying to learn about his new enemy). When he gets arrested, he tells Green Lantern that he's "had a really bad day". Superman & Batman: Generations In Superman & Batman: Generations, the Joker collaborates with Lex Luthor during a plot in the 1940s that results in a pregnant Lois Lane being exposed to gold kryptonite, thus rendering her first-born child a normal human. In the 1960s, the now-elderly Joker is able to secretly escape Arkham Asylum and pose as 'Joker Junior', claiming to be his son or protege to stop people guessing his true identity, managing to kill Dick Grayson with his last plot before his true identity is discovered (Although Bruce Junior, Bruce Wayne's son and Grayson's Robin, manages to switch costumes with his mentor to create the impression that the Joker killed Robin rather than Batman). Grayson's spirit later attacks the Joker in Superman & Batman: Generations II in an attempt to kill the Joker, but the spirit of the deceased Alfred Pennyworth convinces Grayson to pass on as the Joker can be no threat to anyone. Learning that his old enemy is about to die of old age, the now-retired Bruce Wayne dons the cape and cowl for an allegedly final time to visit the Joker on his deathbed, but rejects the Joker's request to learn his true identity on the grounds that the Joker is the last man he would want to bring peace to. JLA: The Nail In JLA: The Nail, the Joker is provided with Kryptonian gauntlets and launches an attack on Arkham Asylum, forcing most of the inmates to fight each other before brutally murdering Batgirl and Robin while forcing Batman to watch. Catwoman distracts Joker long enough for Batman to escape, but the traumatised Batman subsequently kills the Joker in a rage. During JLA: Another Nail, Batman encounters the Joker in the afterlife when dimensional anomalies allow him to escape from Hell, briefly attempting to sacrifice himself to ensure that the Joker will remain trapped, but Robin's spirit halts Batman's attempted sacrifice and gives him the strength to move on from his guilt. Just'a Lotta Animals In Just'a Lotta Animals, a pig analogue of the Joker called the Porker appears. Flashpoint In the Flashpoint reality where Thomas Wayne becomes Batman, the Joker is revealed to be Martha Wayne, who went insane after Bruce's death. Intercompany crossovers When the Shaper of Worlds becomes mentally ill after passing through a unique field of radiation, he begins to lose control of his powers, making contact with the Joker to steal gamma ray equipment from Wayne Enterprises that could be used to treat his condition. Despite the intervention of the Hulk, the Joker manages to escape with the equipment by tricking the Hulk into fighting Batman, Batman narrowly defeating the Hulk with his knock-out gas. The stolen ray proves ineffective, but exposure to the Hulk's unique gamma radiation manages to cure the Shaper instead. As part of a deal with the Joker, the Shaper agrees to make the Joker's dreams real, but Batman and the Hulk are able to stop him, Hulk fending off the Joker's new minions while Batman tricks him into overloading his ability to dream. Carnage teams up with and later turns against the Joker during Spider-Man And Batman #1, the two's mutual psychoses leading them into a brief alliance before their differing methods of murder cause a clash, Carnage favoring numbers in his murder sprees while the Joker prefers the artistry of his usual traps and tricks. The Joker tries to kill Carnage with a bomb, but Carnage drapes a piece of symbiote over a corpse to fake his death. It's Batman and Spider-Man, however, who first notice the trick, and Batman is subsequently engulfed in Carnage's symbiote tendrils. Carnage—feeling the need to mimick the Joker's "theatrical" nature—proposes to kill Batman, but the Joker threatens to set off a bomb to destroy Gotham—himself and Carnage included—rather than see Carnage kill Batman. As Batman battles Carnage, Spider-Man follows the Joker—putting the "Spider-Signal" on him and threatening a brutal attack. The Joker defiantly dares Spider-Man to kill him, however, and Spider-Man is unable to stoop to his level, electing instead to apprehend the Joker in classic hero style. In the 1997 DC/Marvel special "Batman/Captain America", the Red Skull hires the Joker to steal an atomic bomb during World War II. Joker evades Batman, Cap, Bucky, and Robin and delivers it to the Skull, but is horrified when he learns that the Skull is a Nazi (saying "I may be a criminal lunatic but I'm an American criminal lunatic!"). When the Skull threatens to drop the bomb on Washington D.C., the Joker actually fights him in the plane's cargo bay. When Captain America and Batman take over the plane and bring it over the ocean, the two villains are dropped out with the bomb just before it explodes. Both Captain America and Batman are convinced the two are still alive somehow. Other Media Although Batman's archenemy, the Joker, originated as a comic book character, he has appeared in several other media. The Joker has been portrayed by Cesar Romero in the Batman television series, Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton's Batman, and Heath Ledger in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, which posthumously earned Ledger the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Larry Storch, Frank Welker, Mark Hamill, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jeff Bennett, Steven Blum, Richard Epcar, John DiMaggio, Corey Burton and Brent Spiner have provided the voice for the character in animated form. Live-action Batman (TV series) and Batman (1966 film) Cesar Romero portrays the character in 19 episodes of the 1960s Batman television series. The Joker of this series is characterized by a cackling laugh and comedy-themed crimes, such as turning the city's water supply into jelly and pulling off a stand-up comedy-themed bank heist. In one episode he competed with Batman in a surfing contest. Romero refused to shave his distinctive mustache for the role, and it was partially visible beneath his white face makeup. Romero reprises his role in the 1966 film Batman. A parody of Batman, Joker has his own "utility belt" and "Jokermobile". Stories sometimes saw Joker teamed up with the Penguin and Catwoman. In the movie, he is teamed up with both of them and the Riddler as well. The only information on his past life is a remark by Batman that the Joker had been a hypnotist in his youth. Batman (1989 film) The Joker is portrayed by Jack Nicholson, serving as the main antagonist in the 1989 film Batman. In the film, the character is a gangster named Jack Napier, the right-hand man of crime boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance). Napier is disfigured during a confrontation with Batman (Michael Keaton) in a chemical factory; he is shot in the face by a ricochet from his own pistol, which severs the nerves in his face muscles, before falling into a vat of chemicals. Although there are many versions of the Joker's origins, the filmmakers decided to use one loosely resembling the origin in the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke, in which he is disfigured when he falls into a vat of chemicals at the Axis Chemical plant. The filmmakers thought this origin was the most familiar to their audiences and that it fit with the themes they wanted to elaborate on. The chemicals bleach his skin and turn his hair green and lips red, while his trademark grin is the result of botched plastic surgery in the immediate aftermath of the accident. Driven insane by his reflection, he kills Grissom and takes over his gang, launching a crime wave designed to "outdo" Batman, who he feels is getting too much press. He describes himself as a "homicidal artist" who makes avant-garde "art" by killing people with Smilex gas, which leaves its victims with a grotesque grin. Bruce Wayne confronts the Joker, and later recognizes him as the mugger who murdered his parents. The Joker kidnaps reporter Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) and attempts to massacre Gotham City, but Batman foils his plan. During the ensuing battle, Batman and the Joker discover each other's identities and realize that they "made each other". As the Joker is about to escape in a helicopter, Batman ties a grappling hook onto the Joker's leg and attaches it to a stone gargoyle; the Joker falls to his death when the gargoyle breaks loose of its moorings. There is a flashback scene showing Napier's murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, in an alley. The young Napier is played by Hugo E. Blick. The young Napier reappears in the 1995 film Batman Forever, played by David U. Hodges, in a flashback by Bruce Wayne (Val Kilmer) of the night his parents were killed. Nicholson's performance was very well-received; Newsweek's review of the film stated that the best scenes in the movie are due to the surreal black comedy portrayed in this character. In 2003, American Film Institute named Nicholson's performance #45 out of 50 greatest film villains. OnStar commercials and Birds of Prey During the OnStar "Batman" ad campaign, the Joker appears in one commercial, played by Curtis Armstrong. Roger Stoneburner makes a cameo appearance as the character in an episode of Birds of Prey. Mark Hamill, who voiced the Joker in various animated shows throughout the 1990s, provides the Joker's voice in the scene, and he is the only one of the two actors to be credited. The Dark Knight (2008) The Joker's existence is hinted at the end of the 2005 film Batman Begins, where Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) reveals the existence of an armed robber/killer who leaves Joker playing cards at scenes of his crimes. He later appears as the main antagonist of the 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight, portrayed by Heath Ledger, who told Sarah Lyall of The New York Times that he viewed that film's version of the character as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy." In this film, he is a bank robber targeting Mafia-owned banks, whom Gotham's crime families reluctantly hire to kill Batman (Christian Bale) after he offers them his services. It is gradually revealed that he desires to upset social order through crime, and that he defines himself by his battle with Batman. Costume designer Lindy Hemming described the Joker's look as being based around his personality, in that "he doesn't care about himself at all." She avoided his design being vagrant, but nonetheless, it is "scruffier, grungier and therefore when you see him move, he's slightly twitchier or edgy." Unlike most incarnations, where his appearance is a result of chemical bleaching, this Joker sports a Glasgow smile, and accentuates it through unevenly applied make-up and dyed green hair. During the course of the film, he tells conflicting stories about how he acquired the scars, which involve child abuse and self-mutilation. He carves Glasgow smiles into his victims' faces as well, in lieu of the post-mortem smiles created by Joker venom. Unlike the previous film and comic-book depictions of the Joker, this one eschews gag-based weapons common to the character, in favor of knives, firearms, and an array of explosive devices. In the film, the Joker is responsible for the death of Batman's childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and District Attorney Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart). During the film's climax, the Joker threatens to blow up the city to manipulate people into escaping on two boats that he has rigged to explode, one filled with civilians and the other with prisoners; he threatens to blow them both up at midnight unless one of them destroys the other first. When neither boat destroys the other, Batman tells him that his plan has failed, and throws him off the edge of a building. However, Batman saves his life by catching him with a grappling hook. As Batman leaves him for the authorities to arrest, the Joker says that he will win the "battle for Gotham's soul" once Gothamites learn of Dent's actions as Two-Face. Batman takes responsibility for Two-Face's crimes to keep Dent's work for Gotham from being undone. Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was widely praised by critics. On February 22, 2009, Ledger posthumously won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. He was the fourth actor to be nominated for the portrayal of a comic strip/comic book/graphic novel character (the others being Al Pacino in Dick Tracy, Paul Newman in Road to Perdition, and William Hurt in A History of Violence), and the first to win. Animation Earlier appearances The Joker appeared as a recurring villain in the 1968-1969 Filmation series The Adventures of Batman voiced by Larry Storch. Storch reprises his role for two crossover episodes of the 1972 series The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In both episodes, he teams up with The Penguin and runs afoul of Batman, Robin, and the Mystery Inc. gang. He also appears in five episodes of Filmation's 1977 series The New Adventures of Batman voiced by Lennie Weinrib. The Joker makes an appearance in The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians episode "The Wild Cards" voiced by Frank Welker. This episode features a version of the Royal Flush Gang. The leader of the group Ace turns out to be a disguised Joker assisting in Darkseid's latest plot. Batman deduced the Joker's masquerade upon noticing that the Joker's house of cards fortress was short the Joker's namesake card. DC animated universe The Joker is voiced by Mark Hamill in several animated shows in the DC Animated Universe: In Batman: The Animated Series, the Joker is the series' most recurring villain. In the feature film spin-off Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, it is revealed that he was once a hitman for mobster Salvatore Valestra. A later episode reveals that he went on to start his own gang with the first target being the Ace chemical plant, where Batman foils the robbery and knocks him into a vat of acid. Several episodes mention that his real name is Jack Napier (a reference to Tim Burton's Batman film). It most notably appears on his police file in the episode "Joker's Wild". However, later episodes suggest that this may only be an alias. The series is notable for introducing Harley Quinn, the Joker's sidekick, who became one of the few original characters from the show to successfully cross over to the comics. The Joker also appears in the series' follow-up The New Batman Adventures and features prominently as the main villain in the one-hour crossover episode with Superman: The Animated Series ("World's Finest") when he travels to Metropolis and makes a deal with Lex Luthor to kill Superman in exchange for one billion dollars. With Superman no match for the Joker's cunning and Batman outclassed by Luthor's superior technology, Batman and Superman join forces to take the Joker and Luthor down. In Batman Beyond, a mugshot of the Joker was seen in an abandoned GCPD station. The Joker also appeared in Static Shock in the episode "The Big Leagues". He comes to Dakota and recruits Hot-Streak, Kangor, Shiv, and Talon into starting a crime spree but are foiled by Static, Batman and Robin. He appears in Justice League in the episodes "Injustice for All" and "A Better World" (the latter of which features an alternate world in which the Joker has been lobotomized by Superman and is now the superintendent of Arkham Asylum). His most prominent episode is "Wild Cards", where he plants a multitude of bombs across Las Vegas and televises the Justice League's attempts to find and disarm them in a mockery of reality television. To add drama to the broadcast, he pits the League against the Royal Flush Gang, which in this version consists of five superpowered teens. The bombs turn out to be a ruse to attract viewership so Ace, a psychic, can render everyone watching the broadcast insane. The plan backfires when, during a fight with Batman, Ace turns her powers on the Joker, rendering him temporarily catatonic. The Joker is featured as the main villain in the DCAU film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, where he mysteriously returns to Gotham after having been presumed dead for decades. It is revealed in a flashback that the Joker and Harley Quinn kidnapped Robin (Tim Drake) and tortured him, turning him into "Joker Junior" (an insane, miniature version of the Joker) and ordering him to kill Batman. Drake ultimately kills the Joker himself by shooting him with the deadly "Bang" flag gun (this is original version while Drake accidentally electrocutes him offscreen by pushing him into a puddle near an electric cable in the edited version). In a twist, the future Joker is actually Drake, the Joker having implanted a microchip in Drake which contained his DNA, memories, and personality, transforms the former Boy Wonder into a genetic duplicate of himself with his own mind in control. The new Batman ultimately destroys the chip, saving Drake and (in the DCAU continuity) destroying the Joker once and for all. In Justice League Unlimited, it is revealed in the second season finale "Epilogue" that the Joker used Cadmus's genetic tech to rewrite his DNA over Drake's DNA. The Batman A different interpretation of the Joker appears in the animated series The Batman, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson in English and Naoki Tatsuta in Japanese. This incarnation sports a purple and yellow straitjacket, fingerless gloves, bare feet, wild green hair, and red eyes. The Joker also moves and fights with a Monkey Kung Fu-like style using his feet as dexterously as his hands, and often hangs from the walls and ceilings (as the series progresses, these abilities do not appear as much). His appearance becomes somewhat refined later in the series, where he adopts the more traditional garb of a purple suit and spats, but he still has wild hair and wears no shoes, save one episode. In "Strange Mind", Dr. Strange and Batman travel into the mind of the Joker to find the Joker before his accident as a low-level office worker who once dreamed of "making people laugh". His lip color also changed with his outfit, from a bright red to a dark, almost blackish, red. In the animated feature The Batman vs. Dracula, he is temporarily transformed into a vampire with paler clothes, claws, fangs and supernatural powers. Krypto the Superdog In the TV show Krypto the Superdog, the Joker's trained pet hyenas, Bud and Lou, are villains and enemies of Ace the Bat-Hound and Krypto the Superdog. The Joker himself does not appear in the show, but is mentioned on various occasions. Batman: The Brave and the Bold In Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Deep Cover for Batman!" a heroic alternative reality version of the Joker called Red Hood appears and is voiced by Jeff Bennett. He is shown to be an extremely capable fighter, able to hold his own against multiple members of the Injustice Syndicate. In addition, he wields projectile weapons shaped like spades (a reference to his alternate universe counterpart's playing card motif). Like the Joker, this Red Hood was disfigured after falling into a chemical vat at the Ace Chemical Plant. In his case, he was already a superhero and was actively dropped in by Owlman. His sanity is said to have been "Bent, but not broken." Red Hood then tries to rally his world's heroes (alternate versions of the villains from the "normal" universe) against the Injustice Syndicate, but they are defeated. Red Hood escapes and tries to use a device to recruit help from an alternate Earth (Batman's universe), but he is captured by the Syndicate. After Batman is attacked by his alternate-reality doppelganger, Owlman (sent to Batman's universe on a reconnaissance mission), he journeys to Red Hood's dimension. During scenes in this episode, the Red Hood's face is shown, but in shadow, showing a bit of green hair and a wide grin that clearly resembles the Joker. After the heroes are freed and the villains defeated, Red Hood thanks Batman and hopes his counterpart can return the favor. Sure enough, in the next episode "Game Over for Owlman!", Batman is forced to team-up with the Joker in order to defeat Owlman, who has impersonated Batman and ruined his reputation in his absence. When the Joker asks Batman what made him takes his chances working with him, Batman briefly has a flashback of his last moment with Red Hood and replies "Something a friend said". The Joker himself made his debut on the show in the episode "Game Over for Owlman!" (a continuation of "Deep Cover for Batman!") also voiced by Jeff Bennett. His appearance and personality is very similar to the Silver Age version, as drawn by Dick Sprang. With the police and some of his superhero friends after him, Batman has no option but to team up with Joker to stop Owlman's crime spree especially when Owlman was upstaging Joker. During that time, the Joker briefly becomes a hero, but ultimately goes back to his evil roots because being a good guy was "just not him". Joker makes an appearance in "Legends of the Dark Mite!" along with the Penguin and other Batman villains. Joker appears in the teaser to "Hail the Tornado Tyrant!" when he is being tailed by Batman and Green Arrow during a series of robberies. He is captured after his car's many means of propulsion are destroyed by the combined efforts of the heroes. Joker also appears in the episode "Death Race to Oblivion!" as one of Mongul's racers. He creates tough obstacles for Batman and the others until after he is out of the race. He occasionally provides a play-by-play of the race while doing so. He is transported to a cell with the other losing villains and later put in a green cell created by Guy Gardner's power ring. Joker appears again among other villains in a bidding for a supersonic weapon held by arms dealer Joe Chill in the episode "Chill of the Night!" He later appears in "Emperor Joker!" as the primary antagonist along with his love, Harley Quinn and again in the episode "The Knights of Tomorrow!". In the Scooby-Doo crossover created by Bat-Mite, Joker was voiced by Corey Burton. In typical Joker style, he takes over an episode, which is called "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous!" where the roles of protagonist and antagonist are reversed. Even the theme song is a "Jokerized" version, with several of his fellow criminals shown. He reappears in "Night of the Batmen!", where he plans to make everyone on Earth insane just like him. He also captures Green Arrow, Plastic Man, Aquaman, and Captain Marvel: all were substituting for Batman, who was critically injured while fighting Kanjar Ro. Fortunately, Batman makes a special exosuit to free his partners and foil Joker. In one last attempt to kill the Dark Knight, Joker tries to electrocute him with his Joy-Buzzer, but Batman anticipated this and counterattacks by shocking Joker himself. He also appears in both the opening and the main plot of "Triumvirate of Terror". In the opening, he was seen playing baseball with the Legion of Doom against the Justice League International. In the main plot, Joker tries to kill Batman and Vicki Vale by launching a giant exploding pie onto them. But, as a predictable result, Batman escaped, freed Vicki, and dodged the pie before it hit. However, the Joker managed to make his escape. He later met up with Lex Luthor and the Cheetah, both who were having trouble dealing with their enemies Superman and Wonder Woman, respectively. They agree to switch enemies to destroy them. As such, Joker went after Wonder Woman. However, before he could kill her with a giant hammer, Luthor teleported the heroes and villains to their hideout, where they were going to kill them all on a worldwide broadcast. Fortunately, just as the villains switched heroes to fight, the heroes did the same, triple-teaming on them to defeat them. He also appears in the opening for "Powerless", where he has assembled a group called the Jokers of All Nations to fight the Batmen of All Nations. This team is made up of an Inuit, a hockey player, a Scotsman, a Cossak, and a sumo wrestler. Joker also appears in the opening for "Crisis: 22,300 Miles Above Earth" where he was hosting a celebrity roast to literally roast Batman. He has also invited Clock King, Gorilla Grodd, Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Kite Man, Gentleman Ghost, Black Manta, Riddler, and Solomon Grundy to the roast. The Joker has even forced Jeff Ross to roast Batman, but it turns out that Ross was a distraction for Batman to escape the roasting stick. When Joker tried to escape, Jeff got in his way and knocked him out. His final appearance was in "Mitefall" as one of the guests at the series cancellation party set up by Ambush Bug. He was mainly seen alongside Harley Quinn. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths A parallel earth, heroic version of the Joker called "the Jester" appears in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths voiced by James Patrick Stuart. He is a longtime ally of that Earth's Lex Luthor and a former member of their world's Justice League. He sacrifices his life taking out two supervillains in the process at the beginning of the film so that Luthor can escape and get help for their Earth which has been besieged by the villainous Crime Syndicate of America. Back at his lair, he is shown to have a monkey called Harley, whom Lex sadly informs that "the Jester is never coming back". DC Super Friends "The Joker's Playhouse" (2010) was an original video animation produced for Fisher-Price Imaginext's DC Super Friends and included as a DVD insert for the toyline. The episode features Joker taking over the Hall of Justice and the Super Friends running the gamut to reclaim it. The Joker is voiced by John Kassir. Batman: Under the Red Hood The Joker appears in the animated original movie which is based on the same book, Batman: Under the Red Hood, voiced by John DiMaggio. As Red Hood, he appears in one of the flashback scenes showing some material from Batman: The Killing Joke, where it is implied that several people have used the Red Hood persona (another nod to The Killing Joke), besides Jason and the Joker. The Joker is hired by Ra's al Ghul to distract Batman and Jason Todd, the second Robin, from the terrorist's plan to destroy the world economy. The Joker lures the Dynamic Duo to Sarajevo, Bosnia, where he beats Jason with a crowbar and leaves him to be killed by a bomb. Feeling guilty for his death, Ra's al Ghul revives Jason with the Lazarus Pit. Years later, Jason returns to Gotham as a crime lord calling himself the Red Hood, purposely taking his murderer's former criminal identity to attract his attention. After his first encounter with the Red Hood, Batman goes to Joker for information in Arkham Asylum. He claims that there is no connection. When Red Hood tries to kill him, Black Mask hires the Joker as a hitman to take down the Red Hood. The Joker kidnaps Jason's eight under-bosses, including the Black Mask, and holds them hostage inside an oil tanker. Jason arrives and reveals that his previous actions were designed to lure the Joker away from the safety of Arkham so that he could kill him. Jason beats and kidnaps the Joker and brings him to Crime Alley. He forces Batman to either kill him or the Joker, or Jason will detonate a bomb killing all three of them. Refusing either offer, Batman allows Jason to detonate the bomb but saves himself, Jason and the Joker. While Jason escapes, Batman takes the Joker back to Arkham. Young Justice The Joker appears in the Young Justice episode "Revelations", voiced by Brent Spiner. He was part of the Injustice League, and seen controlling Poison Ivy's plants all over the world. As in the comics, it was him who discovered the Justice League's mountain hideout. He is apparently to be immune to telepathy, as shown in issue #2 of the tie-in comic series when Martian Manhunter tried to enter his mind, but doubled over in pain with Joker replying "Scary in there, isn't it?". He uses switchblades as weapons, similar to Heath Ledger's portrayal. He also has a fourth-wall awareness, shown when he looks into the camera and says "Admit it: you can't turn away". Video games The Joker appears in numerous Batman-related video games, often being the main antagonist: In Batman Vengeance (based on The New Batman Adventures) and starring its voice cast, including Hamill as the Joker, he and Harley Quinn mastermind a plan to destroy Gotham City once and for all using an explosive, flammable compound consisting of Joker Toxin and a new substance called Promethium. The Joker is a playable character in Lego Batman: The Videogame with his vocal effects provided by Steven Blum.[11] where he leads a group of villains in a mission to spread Joker toxin to all of Gotham City. He has dual Uzis, and can kill enemies using a lethal joybuzzer, which can also be used to power generators. He has a helicopter with a grappling hook. He leads a group of villains consisting of himself, Harley Quinn, the Mad Hatter, the Scarecrow and Killer Moth. His plan is to fill Gotham cathedral with his laughing gas and then blow the cathedral up to spread the gas all over Gotham. An unlockable alternate version of the character has the tropical costume worn by the Joker in Batman: The Killing Joke. He is also a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe voiced by Richard Epcar.[12] Joker sports an array of magically endowed trick (but often lethal) weapons and fatalities and (storywise) he is also reasonably stronger due to the rage caused by the merging universes. Once he realizes that, he breaks from the mission Lex Luthor gave him and goes after Batman. He also easily defeats Sonya Blade and interrupts a fight between Deathstroke and Kano so he can finish Kano himself. Later in the story, the Joker turns on Deathstroke just for the fun of it and defeats him as well. In Joker's ending as the worlds separated, Joker discovered that he had retained his new powers and managed to take over Gotham, crowning himself "Mayor Joker", under his rule the city quickly fell into chaos. Joker now holds tournaments where contests fight to the death for his amusement with the winner fighting Joker. Mark Hamill reprises his role of the Joker for the 2009 video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, in which Joker is the main antagonist. This version wears bandages wrapped around his shoes in place of his usual spats. In the game, he takes over Arkham in an elaborate trap set for Batman and spends most of the game watching Batman with the use of the Asylum security cameras, taunting him as he makes his way through the island. His ultimate goal, however, is to combine a more potent plant-venom hybrid called Titan with his army of thugs, which he manipulated the higher-ups into transferring to Arkham in order to create "an army of a thousand Banes". He then sends the recently released Bane, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Zsasz, and Harley to run interference alongside his thugs against Batman to slow him down. After foiling the other villains' agendas, Batman confronts the Titan-enhanced Joker atop Arkham which is televised across Arkham by Jack Ryder. The Joker also appears in Scarecrow's final hallucination, bringing Batman into Arkham Asylum and later shooting him point blank in the face. In the PlayStation 3 version of the game, players are able to actually play the Challenge Maps as the Joker, with thugs replaced by Arkham guards. Mark Hamill once again reprises his role for DC Universe Online. In the game's trailer, he is shown as one of the last surviving villains of the battle, and the only combatant besides Lex Luthor to survive the battle. In Gotham City, he takes over a decrepit amusement park with Harley Quinn. In the hero campaign, the players help Batman in fighting Joker who attacks the Special Crimes Unit’s inaugural ball in the Regal hotel. The player defeat Joker who manages to escape. Joker later collaborates with T.O. Morrow in order to develop a new type of Joker Venom and pays Deathstroke to dispose of Riddler. Besides Harley Quinn, Joker is served by Joker Anarchists, Joker Hiding Schizos, Jokandroids, Joker Dawgs, Joker Derangers, Joker Lunatics, Joker Madcaps, Joker Stooges, Joker Wags, Joker Wisecrackers, J1N1 Robots, Lefty, Righty, and Fullhouse. Hamill once again plays The Joker in Batman: Arkham City, the sequel to Arkham Asylum. This would also be his final role as The Clown Prince of Crime. In the teaser trailer he appears to be ill, suffering from both the side effects of the Titan powered Venom (used to power up Bane to give him his size and strength) and his defeat at the hands of Batman, with Harley Quinn taking care of him while watching the riot of the carnage in Arkham City, laughing and coughing.[15] However, in a second trailer he is seen standing in view of Batman who proclaims it was all a lie and there was nothing wrong with him, hinting that Joker was merely faking his illness. Joker responds that it was nice of Batman to say but he of all people knows there is plenty wrong with him. Mark Hamill announced this would be his last vocal role for the Joker, and 'bid farewell' to the character on Twitter the day after release: "I'm going to miss him more than I can say!!" In the Arkham City demo, it is stated by Catwoman that Joker may be working with Hugo Strange on a project meant to end Batman's life and the rumor of his impending death is still circulating among the other crime lords in Arkham City. Joker's men have also taken control of the medical facility, set up in the Gotham City Cathedral, and are holding all medical staff hostage in order to claim all the chemicals and drugs for themselves. Joker attempts to murder Catwoman using a remote controlled sniper rifle from the bell tower of the Cathedral in order to lure Batman there. When Batman rescues the nurses and doctors, he climbs the tower to find out that Joker is not even there, but explosive devices rigged to blow. Batman escapes in time as the tower is engulfed and destroyed in the explosions. Although Joker appears to be recovering in the latter half of the game- although still dying due to the damage caused by the Titan formula-, his health is revealed to be nothing but Clayface posing as him. Although Batman finds a cure for the disease after Joker infects him with a tainted blood sample, Joker accidentally destroys the last of the cure after Batman cures himself when he stabs Batman in the shoulder with a knife and the Joker crawls on the floor, desperately trying to suck up the cure. Shortly afterward, Joker gives in to his disease and dies, his last words being to laugh at the irony that Batman was actually still willing to save him in the end despite all the pain and suffering he has caused. Batman carries the Clown Prince of Crime from the city, with Catwoman looking on, his thugs broken and Harley Quinn crying out in anguish and lays him on the hood of a police car, with Gordon wondering what the hell happened in there. The Joker still has a smile on his face as Batman leaves silently. During the credits, he can be heard singing Only You (And You Alone). The Joker also appears in Batman: Arkham City Lockdown, the mobile version of the game. Batman: Arkham City's Joker was awarded the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards "Character of the Year" award. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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