User blog:DragonDude83/PE Proposal: Joker (Burtonverse)

It’s time for a proposal just for the sake of formality. I noticed that Joker (DC) and Joker (Nolanverse) are under Approved Evil. Let’s verify the Joker (Batman 1989) page.

Who is Jack Napier/Joker, and What Has He Done?
Jack Napier is an insane criminal who was second in command to Carl Grissom, a powerful mob boss in Gotham. Even Grissom knows that Napier is certifiably insane, and sold him out to the cop under his pocket, Lieutenant Eckhardt, when he catches Napier having an affair with his girlfriend, Alicia Hunt. After getting set up at Axis Chemicals, Napier and his men have an encounter with Batman. Napier kills Eckhardt, and tries to kill Batman too, but the bullet ricocheted from his gauntlet, sending the bullet back at Jack’s face, causing him to stumble and fall. Despite Batman trying to save him, Jack fell into the vat of chemicals, and was seemingly declared dead. Then his hand popped up from the chemicals. Guess what happens next...

Jack shows up at Carl’s penthouse, revealing that Jack Napier is dead. "You can call me, Joker, and as you can see, I’m a lot happier." After the reveal, he kills Grissom and his higher ups to take over the crime syndicate. He also has Alicia scarred and thrown out of a window just to make room for Vicki Vale. He has tampered with many everyday products with the Smylex chemicals, causing a string of deaths of unsuspecting innocents. He filled up a museum with deadly gas to vandalize a lot of art, and to get some one on one time with Vicki. He was about to scar Vicki with the acid from his trick flower until Batman saved her.

After visiting Vicki’s apartment, Joker notices Bruce Wayne there, and says something very familiar. "You ever dance with the Devil by the pale moonlight?" He shoots Bruce, but Bruce shielded himself from the bullet with a coffee plate. Back at the Batcave, Bruce remembers the night when his parents were murdered. After his parents were murdered, it was revealed that the murderer was a young Jack Napier, who said that line, and was about to kill the young Bruce, until his accomplice (who may or may not be Joe Chill) noticed the police coming, thus they had to escape with only the young Bruce surviving.

Joker takes advantage of Gotham City’s 200th anniversary festival, and baits the crowd by throwing $20 million in cash to the masses. He tries to gas the crowd with the Smylex gas until Batman foiled his plan. Angered by this, Joker kills his second in command, Bob the Goon, with his own gun. After taking down the Batwing with an absurdly long barreled gun, Joker has Vicki Vale on gunpoint, and takes her to the top of the Gotham cathedral. A damaged Batman follows suit, and dodged the falling bell, with the strings cut off from the Joker’s acid. A trap was set for Batman with some of Joker’s men while Joker danced with Vicki. After going through his men, Batman finally encounters Joker, and gives a good beat down, seemingly knocking him down from the cathedral. But the Joker grabbed both Batman and Vicki down, leaving him hanging from the roof. Joker "lends Vicki a hand," which was actually a trick hand, nearly causing Vicki to fall to her death. Joker stomps on the weakened bricks in an attempt to kill them both until his men show up in a helicopter. Joker looks to make his escape until Batman used his grappling gun to trap Joker’s leg to a church gargoyle. Still trying to escape, the gargoyle breaks from its moorings, causing Joker to lose his grip on the rope ladder, and fall to his death.

Mitigating Factors
No. His "love" for Vicki Vale was nothing more than obsession (even referring himself as beauty while comparing himself and Vicki to "Beauty and the Beast"). While this Joker does have over the top comedic weaponry and has a dramatic for the flair, let’s not forget that before he became Joker, Jack Napier was already a horrible human being who was willing to kill a child after killing his parents, and he got worse when he became Joker.

Heinousness
In the beginning of the movie, Gotham City was riddled with crime. Joker actually made it much worse. Also, consider this, out of all the Burton/Schumacher films, no one has been able to touch Joker on how evil is truly is. Not Penguin, Max Shreck, Two-Face, Riddler, or especially Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. Joker didn’t set the bar on how a villain can go in these movies, he is the bar.

Final Verdict
Easy yes.