User blog:DarkClaw3/PE Proposal: Joker (JLA: The Nail)



Proposing another Batman villain yet again. And this time, it's an incredibly dark alternate take on the Clown Prince of Crime--Joker from the Elseworlds story JLA: The Nail.

What's the Work?
JLA: The Nail is a 1998 three-issue limited series published under DC Comics' Elseworlds imprint, which tells a tale set in an alternate reality where Jonathan and Martha Kent are unable to find and adopt Kal-El of Krypton due to a nail popping the tire of their truck. As a result of this, Clark Kent/Superman never comes to exist, thus setting off a chain of events where the Justice League, led by Green Lantern, find themselves having to deal with an anti-metahuman conspiracy. A sequel series released in 2004, titled JLA: Another Nail, would later wrap up many of the loose ends left by the original story while telling a new tale of the newly reformed JLA now having to confront various disturbances affecting all of spacetime.

Who is He?
Just like in most other depictions, Joker was Batman's archenemy who fought him numerous times prior to the events of the story. However, in an effort to further the anti-metahuman sentiment, Joker is granted high-tech energy gauntlets by a mysterious benefactor, which he uses to take over Arkham and surround it with an energy field that only Batman, Batgirl and Robin are allowed to pass through. After slaying Killer Croc and Clayface for trying to challenge him, Joker decides to make the inmates fight for both his entertainment and the honor of becoming his slave, with Catwoman ultimately coming out on top and being knocked out as she tries to fight him off. Just then, Batman enters and confronts Joker, only to be defeated easily by his new technology. Joker ends up being completely unsatisfied with his easy victory until Batgirl and Robin arrive against Batman's orders to stay put.

Capturing them easily as well, Joker forces Batman to watch as he uses his gauntlets to brutally murder his partners. Catwoman regains consciousness at that moment and attacks Joker just long enough for Batman to escape and damage his gauntlets, resulting in the Caped Crusader fighting his archenemy one last time before beating him to death in rage. Unfortunately, this act of violence is caught on television, thus framing Batman for destroying Arkham and killing it's inhabitants and Joker (well...killing the latter without reason, anyway) while igniting the anti-metahuman sentiment and deteriorating the reputation of the JLA at the same time. Batman ends up returning to the Batcave with Catwoman a broken man because of these events, but fortunately is able to return to form and help rescue the JLA members captured by Lex Luthor's "Liberators" alongside Flash, Atom and Batwoman (aka Catwoman with a "B").

However, during the events of Another Nail, due to the various spacetime disturbances caused by the Limbo Cell, demons begin escaping from Hell and invading Earth, with the Demons Three and various other minor demons luring Batman and Catwoman to to the ruins of Arkham. There, Joker, having also escaped, confronts them and begins pummeling Batman with his new elastic demonic powers (because apparently demon magic turns you into Stretch Armstrong, I guess) until deciding to to try and kill the captured Batwoman too, although the demons refuse his demand. Batman recovers and fights him off until Dr. Fate arrives and creates a portal back to Hell; Joker trying to take Batman, and then Batwoman down with him. Batman drags Joker in instead and attempts to sacrifice himself in order to force him back down to Hell, although spirits of Batgirl and Robin arrive to do the job for him and return him to Earth, finally allowing Batman to forgive himself and join the JLA again.

What Has He Done?
Like always, Joker in this story is depicted as a psychotic madman who thrives on death and suffering. But even so, this one goes a little bit further than usual, being quite possibly one of his most depraved depictions yet. Not only is he twisted enough to force Batman's other rogues to fight each other just for his own entertainment (while also killing anyone who opposes him and planning to enslave the winner at the same time) but, as opposed to other versions who enjoy going back and forth with Batman while creating chaos and destruction, he simply wants nothing less than to instill complete misery upon his archenemy's life. This of course comes out in full when he gleefully murders Batgirl and Robin while forcing Batman to watch just to make him suffer even more--and even though it isn't exactly shown on-panel what he does to them, their screams and Batman's utterly horrified reaction paint a pretty clear picture that it is beyond horrible. Batman later becomes traumatized by these events to the point of going into a catatonic state for most of the story afterwards, and, in the sequel, begins to suffer from various hallucinations and nightmares of his dead partners and being forced to watch them perish.

Things ramp up in the sequel, where Joker now has demonic abilities to pummel Batman even more with, and even so, instead of simply killing him, the first thing he thinks to do upon winning their initial fight is to kill Batwoman in order to cause even more pain to him than he already has. And, unlike the other demons who at least attempt to run when Dr. Fate arrives to banish them, he accepts his fate in order to pull Batwoman into Hell with him (declaring "...I'm taking you with me, Batman. Better still...you can stay, Batman...with the knowledge your woman will be my company for eternity.") until Batman forces him through himself. And even after failing that, Joker makes clear that he will continue to make Batman suffer eternally without killing him, knowing that he would prefer to die than live with the grief surrounding his partner's deaths.

Redeeming Qualities?
Very rarely is any depiction of the Joker given legitimate redeemable qualities, and this one is no different. He took over Arkham and killed nearly everybody inside it, murdered Batman’s closest allies in cold blood (who were both children), and tried to drag his girlfriend down to Hell all with the end goal of ensuring that his archenemy will suffer endlessly. He does mention a few times about how Batman has "hurt" him and his fellow villains...but really, considering that this is Joker we're talking about, these claims can hardly be taken in a legitimately--especially considering that, both times he mentions this, it follows a moment of Batman trying to foil his schemes. Besides, even if Batman had actually hurt him before, that in no way justifies or excuses his incredible sadism and dedication to making the Dark Knight's life endlessly painful (and the fact that he, again, gleefully murdered his sidekicks right in front of him).

Heinous Standard?
JLA: The Nail has a cavalcade of DC villains within it's pages, and not all of them are necessarily as nice as their mainstream counterparts. However, given the fact that very few of them have much time to make an impression (villains like Eclipso, Shadow-Thief and all of Batman's rogues are often lucky enough to get a panel or two to appear on), Joker stands out all the more as an utterly vile piece of work. Not only are his actions brutal, but he's pretty much one of the only villains to have both more than one appearance and a major influence upon the series as a whole. His only rivals in terms of heinousness are this universe's Jimmy Olsen and Darkseid. However, even so, he has far less resources than either (Jimmy, of course, gave him and many other villains Kryptonian tech as part of his plan and on top of that possessed incredible Kryptonian powers, and Darkseid...well, is a god, obviously), making his actions appear all the more cruel.

Verdict?
Yes. I'm fairly certain this incarnation is going to fit right in with the list of "Jokers" we have on the Approved Evil template.