Joker (Arkhamverse)

"Welcome to the madhouse, Batman! I set a trap, and you sprang it gloriously! Now let's get this party started!"

- The Joker in Arkham Asylum.

The Joker is the overall main antagonist of the Batman: Arkham Series, specifically appearing as the main antagonist of both Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham Origins, and as one of the three main antagonists (alongside Ra's al Ghul and Hugo Strange) of Batman: Arkham City, as well as a posthumous antagonist in Batman: Arkham Knight. He is also the secondary antagonist of the 2014 animated film Batman: Assault on Arkham, and the main antagonist of Batman: Arkham Knight 's prequel DLC episode Batgirl: A Matter of Family.

He is a nefariously insane and homicidal supervillain who is one of the most powerful criminal masterminds in all of Gotham City. He is also the arch-nemesis of Batman due to his crimes and high numbers of people killed by his hands, and also due to attempting to break his mind even after his death.

He was voiced by in the three Rocksteady games, who has also voiced multiple incarnations of the Joker over the years, while  voiced him for Arkham Origins and Assault on Arkham. Baker also voiced Two-Face and Arkham Knight in the same franchise.

Classic
The Joker has the look of a twisted clown. In all of his apparitions (including those of Arkham Knight), he wears an elegant, eccentric harlequin outfit, consisting of a yellow shirt under a purple buttoned jacket. After falling in a vat of chemicals, Joker's skin turned white. His lips became reds, as well as being permanently stuck with a vicious and untrustworthy grin.

Titan
Titan Joker is a giant monstrous version of the Joker and the final boss in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Titan Joker is about as tall as Killer Croc. He's an incredibly muscular monster, a lot of his bones such as a large amount of his ribs on both sides as well as his fingernails are sharpen and revealed, and his hair is now a mohawk.

Psychological description and analysis
Joker possessed countless mental illnesses; however, if traits of psychopaths prove correctly he did not realize his madness and even if he did he took no avail in trying to help himself, indicating that he was perfectly comfortable with the way he was and his egomania would certainly prevent him from making even the slightest change to his own personality. He suffered from multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, hysteria, narcissism, pandemonium, opprobrium, and borderline personality disorder and while listing this his psychiatrist states his list of psychoses was endless and incurable.

Wherever he went, the Joker left a trail of madness, chaos, and death in his wake. He had no interest in money or power, he was neither greedy nor did he have any concern over companionship or want of a friend. His goals were simple and downright evil: chaos for the sake of chaos. Joker's sense of humor was twisted, malevolent, and vituperative, uncountable deaths were just a distraction to sadistically feed his appetite.

He was also a monomaniac as well. He underwent extremely deranged fixations upon different obsessions. The most obvious one was harlequins which actually became the motif of his crime empire, this also carried out in his appearance and manner of killing his victims (making them laugh to death after revealing them to his Joker Toxin). But perhaps the most startling was his fixation on Batman, the first vigilante ever to set foot in Gotham. His obsessions was so bad he focused most of his energy into killing the Dark Knight and should he interfere in his plans, he instantly became the top priority. Also despite being archenemies, Joker actually considered their relationship best friends, he would not kill him even if it was beneficial to his plans but would if he was bored with him. He also had no care about the man underneath the cowl as he knew the second his identity would be revealed it would mean the end of their little game and even stopped Harley Quinn from unmasking a kidnapped Batman, stating "no-one's who you think they are, my dear, why spoil the fun?". Joker actually once insinuated their relationship to be a romantic one. This was either a joke or that he has become so obsessed that he actually may have developed a genuine attraction to Batman although the Joker has no concern over intimacy or companionship, so it is most likely a joke.

Joker hated Batman's sidekicks. He believed that they held the vigilante back and only prevented him "playing" with Bruce. It was this that prompted him to kidnap and torture Jason Todd (the second Robin) then mail him the video of Jason's brutal death which only hung over Batman's guilty conscience.

He had no concern over anyone's life except his own. If one of his own men were left behind or died, it was a mild inconvenience in Joker's eyes. He would even kill them himself, including the loyalist thugs if he was disappointed by them and sometimes just for the sadistic entertainment in simply killing them. Even Harley Quinn, his most loyal minion and girlfriend who utterly idolized the maniac was left totally oblivious to his cruel treatment and utter abuse towards her. However Harley is still useful to Joker's cause and as long as she kept this way he would keep her by his side.

Despite his obvious untrustworthy appearance, Joker is surprisingly charming and in some cases seductive. He was a pathological liar and a sadomasochist. Given his incarceration in Arkham City, he had concocted twelve unique identities with one finite detail, Batman. He was completely unafraid of any physical harm inflicted on him, not only taking twisted delight in being beaten half to death by an enraged Batman but actually persuading him to kill him. Joker's very presence was corruptive; he brought out the worst in people, turning good men into killers and was a cynical, manipulative Machiavelli. During his therapy sessions, not only was he able to get Doctor Young into thinking that he was completely intelligible and sane but actually tricking Doctor Harleen Quinzel into thinking herself in love with the Joker. He openly did not think much of humanity, believing every man, woman and child were as equally insane, sarcastic, and treacherous, as he was in the inside and that to deny this was purely madness, in this case he resented Batman for his ideas that people were basically good. He also thought that life is a joke and everyone in it thinking that no one's life is valuable.

He became increasingly obsessed with Batman as the story of Arkham Origins continued. Though originally viewing him as a "tiny little distraction", he slowly becomes more focused on the vigilante especially after he saved the clown prince from his death on top of Gotham Royal Hotel, and was completely dumbfounded that anyone would risk their life to save his until he admitted to his psychiatrist that it was fate that he and Batman met that day. He even ordered the freed prisoners of Blackgate to leave Batman alive, which was odd as he showed no concern over the Caped Crusader living or dying beforehand. Even when he was defeated and imprisoned, he was seen laughing insanely all the while saying, "this is going to be fun" prolonging the inevitable life-long duel between Batman and him.

However, Joker was not totally deluded, he was aware that he was a bad person who deserved death and was completely dumbfounded when another person risked their own life to save his as he was aware that he wasn't worth saving. He was also a revolutionary, nihilistic, and suicidal individual, just after Bane rocketed an RPG toward the Gotham Royal Hotel, instead of panicking he casually accepted his fate without a hesitation. He presented numerous opportunities for Batman to take his life, although because of his arrogance there is always a chance that he was simply mocking him as knew the Dark Knight had never killed beforehand. His lack of self-preservation was further reinforced when he shot himself with a dangerous chemical after Batman unraveled his plans to take over Arkham Asylum. Despite his nihilism, Joker completely overvalued his life above anything else. After feeling the affects of the TITAN poisoning from Arkham Asylum, he frantically searched for a cure so he would not die, he even had his girlfriend kidnap doctors all across Gotham then brutally tortured and killed anyone who could not cure his disease.

The Joker's emotions were impossible to read, one of his own henchman even commented on how the Joker's mindset could change so easily from being maniacal and humorous to being a serious, calculated mastermind. He was capable of being calm and rational yet this broke in an instant and he reverted to his hysteric state, literally laughing until he was near the brink of tears. Joker rarely got angry and whenever he did it was almost impossible to realize however he did come close to having a breakdown when Batman had set his plans in array during the siege of Arkham.

He seems to have developed a symbolic connection towards Arkham Asylum. Despite it being the place of his incarceration Joker considers it a "home away from home" which he used as a way to add insult to injury to the politicians who locked him away there. It was also the same place he chose to put Jason Todd under brutal torture however this was probably a pathological to emotionally attack Batman as he was the man who incarcerated him in Arkham.

Joker was also a total genius to make matters worse. He was a master tactician, manipulator, and actor, not only he was able to fool The World's Greatest Detective into thinking he was Black Mask but his entire gang as well. Single-handedly he was able to mastermind the attack on Arkham Asylum by setting a fire at Blackgate Prison so all of his goons would be there to help him take over the Asylum. He was also familiar with Batman's weak points knew that if he brought innocents into the equation then Batman would have no choice but to help him. Because of this he sent his poisoned blood to hospitals all over Gotham as to force the Dark Knight to locate his cure as well as poisoning The Dark Knight himself so symbolically the two would either be united in death.

In his final moments Joker gloated over Batman, showing arrogance, overconfidence, and remorseless to his very core. He boasts that in the end he would always save him, ignoring however Joker ends up destroying his own cure. Despite dying he was able to find humor in his own death and ultimately got the last laugh on Batman.

Despite his death, nine months later Joker returned. He was able to send his contaminated blood to numerous hospitals which was overlooked and infected five people (Henry Adams, Christina Bell, Albert King, Johnny Charisma and Batman) over time his personality manifested in these five people, and they began to resemble him in appearance and personality. As the Joker-virus spread throughout Batman, many traits of Joker himself spurred when he was alive inside the Dark Knight, mainly his manipulative and sadistic nature. He was able to manipulate Batman into imprisoning Robin by antagonizing his mind with Jason Todd's death and forces him to relive his worst memories throughout the night; such as the paralysis of Barbara Gordon, the torture of the Second Robin and even forced him to break his no-killing rule (in a hallucination only). Joker himself comes to the conclusion that though in life the two were divided, death became a symbolic unite for both of them as well he even makes allusions that in contrast of their differences they were "made for each other", should he have fully taken control of Batman he would have returned to "the full package" and plunged Gotham into his reign of chaos.

Underneath his terrifying demeanor and bravado, Joker was actually capable of fear. He was terrified of death, and looked for any means to cure himself going as far as when the chance for immortality came across him, he instantly grabbed it. His own self-obsession was so great that when he discovered the Joker-Virus manifested within five people, turning them into imitations of his own personality he was outraged and he deems them 'Joker-fakes'. Above all he was not only afraid of dying but being forgotten by the people of Gotham. This is exploited by Batman, when after the Joker-Virus takes control of Bruce's mind which ultimately results in his final defeat before he is laid to rest by both the city and by Batman.

Weapons/Gadgets

 * Ace of Spades: A powerful revolver.
 * Handgun: A regular handgun.
 * Knife: A regular knife.
 * Explosive Teeth: Chatter teeth that can explode when triggered.
 * Smilex: A deadly gas which attacks the victim's nervous system, making them laugh uncontrollably until they die a slow, painful death with a smile on their face.
 * Goggles: Goggles which have a thermal vision, allowing Joker to see skeletons through objects like Detective Mode.
 * Joy Buzzer: A deadly electrical buzzer which can shock victims to death.

Clayface Joker
"Get up, Bats! Hey, you ain't looking so good!"

- Clayface-Joker

"Oh, Bats! If you only knew what I have planned! You'd just die!"

- Clayface Joker

"Aren't you supposed to be up on your feet and trying to stop me?"

- Clayface Joker

To Deathstroke
"Deathstroke? Hehehe...More like Death...Joke Hahahahah!"

- Joker

"You may be the world's greatest assassin kiddo, but Joker always gets the last laugh... HAHAHAHA!"

- Joker

A Matter of Family
"Everything is in a smile."

"It's a little known fact that there's a bit of Joker inside us all. Come on, kiddo! Let your Joker out!"

"Hey sad clown...turn that frown around."

Trivia

 * The Joker is voiced by Mark Hamill in Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, and Batman: Arkham Knight who also did the voice of Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Joker in the DC Animated Universe. He also voiced the incarnation of the Joker in the Batman: The Killing Joke film adaptation.
 * The Joker is voiced by Troy Baker in Batman: Arkham Origins, Arkham Origins Blackgate, and Assault on Arkham, as Mark said that Arkham City was the last time he would be the Joker. Baker when voicing him in these instances did so in a similar style to Hamill.
 * Despite this, Mark Hamill reprised the role again for Batman: Arkham Knight, the conclusion to Rocksteady's Arkham series.
 * The Joker is one of the two villains of the saga to appear in all four titles and play an antagonistic role against Batman, the other being the Riddler.
 * The Arkham version of the Joker seems to be a bit of a music buff:
 * When Batman confronted Joker in the penthouse of the Gotham Royal Hotel, TV sets behind him were playing the Looney Toons short: with  also playing in the background.
 * In one of the game over scenes for Arkham Origins, Joker sung his own version of "" from The Wizard of Oz.
 * During his therapy session with Harley Quinn, the background music of the Comedy Club brawl was from The Thieving Magpie, which alluded to . The theme played during a similar scene with several escaped inmates fighting people in an abandoned theater.
 * During the credits for Arkham City, Batman received one last pre-recorded message from Joker's cellphone: a recording of the Clown Prince of Crime singing Only You (And You Alone) by The Platters. This was referred to in Arkham Knight, as the song was playing in the background in the room where Joker 'killed' Two-Face.
 * The credits for Arkham Origins homage this: as Joker was locked back in his cell at Blackgate Prison, he sung Cold, Cold Heart by Hank Williams.
 * Interestingly, in both instances, the Joker was singing love songs, apparently to his adversary.
 * Although not sung by Joker himself, the scene in which Joker was cremated in the opening to Batman: Arkham Knight had the Frank Sinatra song: I've Got You Under My Skin playing in the background.
 * In Batman's nightmare of Joker possessing his mind and murdering all of Gotham's villains, Only You can be heard playing through an old record player. However if you shot at it, the music stopped playing.
 * In both The Road to Arkham and the comic prequel to Arkham City, Joker was shown yelling "Are we there yet?" repeatedly, and both times led to him being harmed afterwards (in the former, Batman punched him in the face hard enough to leave him groaning without taking his eyes off the wheel, and in the latter, the Arkham Asylum personnel proceeded to inflict torture on Joker in revenge for his killing 103 personnel during the events of Arkham Asylum).
 * Of all the minor tweaks to his appearance, the Joker had been given a make-up based smile to make it look like he's always smiling. This was most likely inspired by Caesar Romero's portrayal of the character, who sported the same artificial smile. Unlike most incarnations, the Arkham Joker's red lips seem to be painted on in order to give himself his trademark smile, as shown by the thicker and messier smile of Origins compared to the cleaner and thinner smile of Asylum. Arkham City showed Joker applying lipstick on himself in order to get his lips red, though at the time he was suffering heavily from the Titan infection that had ravaged his face. Assault on Arkham showed Joker without his red lips for most of the film while in his prison uniform in his cell in Extreme Incarceration at the Penitentiary.
 * The Arkham Origins flashback showed him with red lips immediately after his transformation, albeit it's unclear whether they actually were red, given the unrealistic style of the flashback.
 * Joker was the only playable character in the series who took fall damage if he fell from too great a height.
 * At one point while ranting about Harley Quinn supposedly abandoning him in favor of Deadshot, Joker mentioned that he'll "make five more just like [Harley Quinn]", which alluded to his revelation that he had prior Harley Quinns' before the current one and managed to murder them in Harley Quinn's arc in the crossover storyline: Death of the Family.
 * Joker's recognition of Deadshot and having worked with him in the past was most likely a reference to his hiring of the assassin in Batman: Arkham Origins.
 * Two references to some of Joker's plots in different mediums were made when Harley Quinn was searching the Evidence Locker for her mallet: A clown mask and a fish with a grin, which referred to his robbery of Gotham National Bank in The Dark Knight and the events of the episode, The Laughing Fish from Batman: The Animated Series.
 * In the storyboards for the scene where Harley was trying to shoot at the Joker included in the behind-the-scenes featurette, Joker said a slightly different line from the final version. In the storyboards, Joker said: "Women! Can't live with them, can't kick them out of a moving car without them getting steamed!" In the final release, Joker said: "Women! Am I right, officer? Can't live with them, can't kick them out of a moving car!"
 * After Joker set off a cache of one of the Arkham guards' grenades and while approaching to steal his gun to kill him before "changing into something more comfortable," as well as when encountering the Suicide Squad near the laundry chute, he briefly whistled the version of "Jingle Bells" from the BTAS episode: "Christmas with the Joker."
 * The Joker's death in Arkham City was considered, by many Batman fans, to be one of the most shocking moments in videogame history.
 * However, some fans speculate that the Joker is still alive, that he just faked his death. Though this seems unlikely since his body was cremated, unless it wasn't really his body that was burned. Some went as far as to theorize that he may be Arkham Knight in disguise in the next game. The reveal that the Arkham Knight was actually Jason Todd ended that part of the discussion.
 * Regardless, Joker remains dead and only appears in hallucinations. Though it's revealed that his blood is still within the people he gave them to alongside Batman and is trying to overtake him like with the other Jokerized victims.
 * There is also some speculation that the Joker hallucination Batman is experiencing is actually his ghost.
 * The Joker is the first villain that's playable in the Batman: Arkham series, the second being Catwoman, the third being Deathstroke, the fourth being Red Hood and the fifth being Harley Quinn.
 * Though in chronological order, the Joker is second playable villain, the first being Deathstroke.
 * The Joker is one of the only playable characters (other than Red Hood, Bane and Elite Henchmen) to grant the player the ability to certainly kill their opponents, such as gouging out their eyes, shooting them point blank in the chest with a lethal revolver, blowing them sky high with deadly explosives, and, unlike the rest of the playable characters who simply smothers their opponent until their low air supply knocks them into unconsciousness, the Joker seems to lethally choke them and strangle them till death, which is fitting due to his sociopathic and murderous personality.
 * It is revealed in Arkham Origins that most of the Joker's henchman and hired thugs were originally mobsters in Black Mask's gang, before the Joker took over his operations. From listening to conversations between the gangsters, it can be learned that many of them are disgruntled with the way Black Mask under pays them and dispatches them for their perceived failures, preferring to work under Joker's chaotic way of doing things.
 * Joker's backstory is a reference to The Killing Joke:
 * In Asylum, when the player go to visiting centre, Joker would said a joke that about how two inmates in an asylum escape (which were the last joke that he told Batman in the ending), however, he will say: 'Oh hell, you've heard that before, haven't you?', which a reference of the ending.
 * Also Joker'goal in Asylum were most likey a reference to The Killing Joke version Joker'goal.(Both version of him want to bring Batman to his side of insanely)
 * In Origins and City, Joker had told his (possible) origin backstory to Harleen Quinzel and Hugo Strange, the player can even play him in his Origins backstory.
 * In Knight, a flashback of Barbara'back being broke by The Joker were in the Joker hallucinations, which was a reference in the story, also a presumably explain of Oracle.
 * However it have a little bit different of the event of The Killing Joke:
 * In Batgirl: A Matter of Family, it was shown that Joker were first kidnapping Gordon, and later broke Batgirl's back, which cause her to become Oracle. It was unknown that how Joker try to drive Gordon mad if Barbara didn't broke her back and got taking naked photos by Joker. (It can presumably that Joker use Sarah Gordon's photos, Gordon ex-wife who killed by the Joker, to torturing Gordon's mind)
 * Interestingly, both versions of Joker were voiced by Mark Hamill.
 * In Arkham Origins, he is listed to be 6 ft 1 in while in City and Asylum he is 6 ft, His weight is also 165 lbs in Origins not 160 lbs in previous games
 * When visiting the Visitor Center, after the Joker's head in the TV finished talking to you, turn the camera around and after a few seconds turn it back and notice how the Joker "mannequin"'s arms change positions.
 * In Dr. Young's notes, Joker may have looked at it, but he only put his signature around himself only, not even Harley. Yet, there is a Joker smile on the Tweedledee and Tweedledum page, where regularly the Tweeds hire themselves out to Joker, most of the time.
 * Of all the minor tweaks to his appearance, the Joker has been given a make-up based smile to make it look like he's always smiling. This was most likely inspired by Cesar Romero's portrayal of the character, sporting the same artificial smile.
 * Unlike the other inmates, Joker doesn't appear to have an identifiable or decorated cell in Arkham Asylum. The only cell that could possibly be his is one found in the penitentiary, because on the wall someone has written "Welcome to my humble abode". Alternatively, he could be kept in the "Extreme Isolation" area of the Asylum, which is the one place that the player can not explore.
 * In the Joker's Carnival Challenge Map, the Joker can be seen watching the fight and joins in when the player reaches a x100 hit combo.
 * In Arkham Asylum, Joker would usually make a joke on how his henchmen get taken out. But in Arkham City, he is much more serious when he tells them someone is taken out. This only happens when Joker is being impersonated by Clayface, another clue to the trick.
 * In Arkham Asylum, Joker appeared in the "Game Over" lines in Zsasz's levels.
 * When Joker won the VGA 2011 Rewards he was holding a file with the name Batman: Arkham World and on the back Rocksteady. when he dropped it he says, "Whoops, Spoilers". 
 * In Arkham Asylum, in Scarecrow`s third encounter with Batman, Joker is playable.
 * In Arkham Knight, in New Game+, the opening sequence where the Joker is cremated ends with the Joker suddenly waking up and screaming in pain before proceeding to lie back down and laugh all the way to oblivion, with him then mockingly narrating the first line of Gordon's speech.
 * Troy Baker, who voiced the Arkham Knight and Two-Face, voiced the Joker in Arkham Origins.
 * In Arkham Knight, every time the hallucination of the Joker talks, faint Joker laughter is heard.
 * The idea that the Joker reappeared in Batman: Arkham Knight as an hallucination is probably extracted from the canceled movie Batman Triumphant.
 * He's the only main villain of the Arkham games whose plans didn't threaten the world.
 * Although only the secondary antagonist, the Joker has many more scenes than Scarecrow in Arkham Knight.
 * The Joker is the final enemy in each Arkham game, except in Arkham City.

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