Jack the Ripper (Batman: Gotham By Gaslight)

"I fooled all London. And I could fool them anywhere, even in Gotham City, if that's where I chose to appear."

- Jack the Ripper, in a letter "from hell"

Jack the Ripper is the main antagonist of the DC Elseworlds comic book story Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, and it's animated movie adaptation. He is a fictionalized version of the infamous real life serial killer of the same name, though his true identity differs whether it's the comic or movie versions. In both however, he comes to Gotham City to continue his murders of prostitutes.

in the comic
Jack first appears in Gotham hunting women, apparently to stop "her" from laughing at him, as he finds this unidentified woman's laughter unbearable, and something that he can only silence by killing various prostitutes. Soon, Batman happens upon him and begins trying to stop him. Later, evidence is planted in Bruce Wayne's home that pins the Jack the Ripper murders on him.

Desperate to discover the killer's identity, Bruce Wayne pores over all of the evidence in his cell, but finds nothing that the police who Jack has already fooled did not already find. Just when it looks like Bruce is about to give up, he realizes that the symbol on a knife used by Jack is identical to a symbol used by his late father and his old Civil War buddies. From this, Bruce realizes who the killer is. After escaping from prison and becoming Batman once more, he confronts and unmasks the killer as his life-long friend Jacob Parker. It comes to light that the man who had been an old friend of Bruce Wayne's family had in fact had his parents killed in vengeance for Martha rebuffing his romantic feelings for and even cruelly laughing in his face. However, the killing of Martha Wayne and her husband brought Jacob Parker no peace, as he continued to hear her "laughing" at him whenever he looked at a woman, and so resolved to kill as many as he could both in England and in Gotham to "silence" it. Once Bruce Wayne came back into his life, Jacob knew he had to frame him to both complete his revenge against Martha Wayne by eliminating her son, and also get his costumed alter-ego off his trail.

His tale complete, Jacob Parker is at Batman's mercy. The Dark Knight strongly considers killing him, but decides not to, and Jacob Parker is then shot dead by James Gordon and the police when they arrive in the graveyard he and Batman were, ending the threat of Jack the Ripper for good.

in the movie
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