Joker (DC)

""This town deserves a better class of criminal...and I'm gonna give it to them.""

- ~The Joker in The Dark Knight

""I'm the Joker", I'm scary""

- -The Joker

""If you are good at something, never do it for free.""

- ~The Joker in The Dark Knight

""Why so serious??""

- ~The Joker in The Dark Knight

""I believe what doesn't kill you, simply makes you...stranger.""

- ~The Joker in The Dark Knight

The Joker is the main villain in the Batman comic books, T.V. shows, movies and other media. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life. In the comics, 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 twisted, sadistic sense of humor.

His most prominent origin story was that he fell into a tank of chemical, which bleached his skin white, turned his hair green, and turned his lips bright red, giving him the appearance of a clown.

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. He is one of the most iconic and recognized villains in popular media, ranked #1 on Wizard'''s list of the 100 Greatest Villains of All Time.

His manipulative mind allows him to control the city with the press of a button. He is shown to have a high level of intelligence and is able to comprehend various scientific tasks. The Joker will often claim he never has a plan, but this menace often has a plot drawn out long before he meets the protagonists. His crazed grin, evil, clown-like appearance, and sadistic practical jokes all make the Joker one of the most diabolical villains of the Batman franchise and of all time.

Origin
About three months after Bob Kane, writer and creator of Batman first introduced the caped crusader to comics, a suggestion from Co-writer Bill Finger who approached Kane about the idea. The idea originated from the 1928 film “The Man Who Laughs” when actor Konrad Veldt played the part of a mute clown. The original plan was to have The Joker killed off after a couple of episodes but Bob Kane felt that The Joker as a major reoccurring villain in the DC universe would be much more interesting. After five episodes The Joker was killed off, accidentally stabbing himself as he rushed at Batman. However, his early showings inspired later writers to re-include him in the Batman Universe.

The Joker in the 1940’s was shown merely as a no-name spree killer/mass murderer. It was not until the 1980’s that an origin story for the Joker was first developed by Alan Moore which showed a de-jokerised version of an engineer. The engineer, destined to become The Joker quit his job to become a stand up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperate for money and with a wife Jeannie heavily pregnant the engineer turned to two criminals to help him out. Helping the criminals to break in involved the engineer to dress up as the Red Hood. This was made as an excuse by the criminals to say that they wished to protect his identity. However, they failed to mention the history of the Red Hood.

“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(ed) him and inform(ed) him that his wife and unborn child have (had) died in a household accident.”

The engineer, distraught at the loss of his wife and unborn child tried to back out of the plan but he was strong-armed into continuing. The plan was doomed from start to finish.

When they entered the plant their cover was immediately blown and a shoot out with security guards ensued. In the resulting melee the two criminals were killed and the engineer escaped, only to run into Batman who happened to be investigating the disturbance.

The engineer, so frightened by the appearance of a “black demon” jumped over the railings into a vat of chemicals in order to escape from Batman. His attempted escape was successful, but the chemicals bleached his skin and turned his hair green. The unfortunate events of the day coupled with the hideous reformation resulted in The Joker becoming completely insane.

This is just one of three origin stories suggested by writers in The Batman Universe, the true story is unclear due to the fact that the only man who knows what really happened (that being, The Joker) is an unreliable source. The Joker even says to Batman after a battle between the two:

“Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another. If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple-choice!”

Another origin is suggested by Alex Dini says that The Joker was in fact a mob enforcer who worked his way up the Gotham criminal food chain until he led a powerful criminal faction. Dini then suggests that The Joker created the Red Hood personality to commit small-time crimes, since he reveled in “dirty work”. This resulted in an inevitable “path crossing” with Batman.

1960's Joker
The Joker was an arch-nemesis of Batman and one of his most dangerous foes. The Joker is the Dynamic Duo's most frequent and most exuberant enemy. His abilities as a master conjuror allow him to effortlessly escape from prison, making him even more of a threat. Luckily, his crime waves often follow some pattern or theme that sometimes allows Batman and Robin to predict his next move. Joker is well-known for his skill with electronics, and was a hypnotist when he was younger. This Joker was portrayed by Cesar Romero.

Biography
The Joker was the Clown Prince of Crime and one of his first goals was to unmask Batman. Some of his crimes were for little more than goofy amusement, while others were far more dangerous.

Some time later, Joker teamed up with Penguin, Catwoman, and Riddler to form The United Underworld, to disband the United Nations. His role in the Combination Trap (that was devised by the Riddler) was the Jack-in-the-Box to send Batman flying toward the Penguin's exploding octopus, however one of the unnamed thugs fell onto the jack in the box and was killed by the exploding octopus. The four super criminals managed to dehydrate the nine members of the United World Security Council and take them to the submarine, however Batman and Robin draw it to the surface, where the Dynamic Duo fight the United Underworld. Near the end, Robin fights the Joker and defeats him by punching him over the edge, into the water. He is captured along with the other criminals when Batman and Robin chain them to the side of the submarine and Batman calls the coast guard where the police can take them to prison.

His many schemes after this included committing crimes based on the signs of Zodiac, stealing the famous Renison's art collection for ransom and trying to take over Gotham City with a flying saucer. He can also easily persuade women to help him in his crimes with his charm and wits.

Even though Batman defeated him many times, the felonious funnyman never rested untill the last laugh was his.

Batman (1989)
The Joker is the main antagonist in the 1989 Batman movie. He was portrayed by Jack Nicholson and had an alias known as Jack Napier.

Napier was born in Brooklyn and came to live in Gotham. In his school years, Jack proved himself to be emotionally unstable, but highly intelligent, showing aptitude in art, science, and chemistry. He also turned to a life of violent crime. When he was fifteen, Jack was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon.

Years later, as a young man, he and his partner in crime mugged Bruce Wayne's parents, Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife, Martha.

When Thomas interceded to protect his family, Napier stepped from the shadows and shot both him and Martha in cold-blooded murder. Napier pulled the hammer back on his gun and next pointed it at Bruce. Napier inquired "Tell me kid, you ever danced with The Devil by the pale moon light?". Before Napier could fire, his panicked partner urged him to leave. Napier decided to spare the boy and left, saying, "See you around, kid." Little did he know that his prediction would come true -- that he and Bruce would meet again.

Years later, Napier became the right-hand man of the crime boss Carl Grissom, but when Carl found out that Napier was fooling with his girl, he called Lt. Eckhardt to kill his right-hand man whom and his men were trying to erase the evidence in the Axis Chemical Factory. Eventually, Napier meets Batman for the first time. Before was going to escape, he kills Eckhardt after he told him to think about the future. Napier then turned the gun on Batman and caught a ricocheted bullet through his cheeks; in a panic Napier stepped off a catwalk over a vat of a toxic chemical. Though Batman caught Napier's arm and attempted to pull him back up to to safety, Napier's leather glove slipped through Batman's and he plummeted into the chemical vat below him.

Napier somehow survived and tried to do reconstructive surgery severed critical facial nerves, leaving him with a wide, ridiculous, and famous smile. He returned to Grissom's office to kill him, which he did and became the new crime lord known as the Joker. When he learned about Vicki Vale, the Joker fell in love with her and tries to steal her from Bruce Wayne.

The Joker begins his "parade" at the start of the Gotham City Festival that celebrating the city's 200th anniversery brings an very hafty sums of cash to all Gotham's citizens. Along with his parade were his precious and cartoonish balloons filled with the deadly Smylex gas made from the ingredients used to create his cosmectic Smylex products. But after Batman stopped his maniacal festivities and saved everyone from the Joker's Smylex via his Batwing, he shot and killed his right-hand man Bob the goon, and eventually went on to face the Batman while his men ordered everyone to leave money-littered, panick-stricken streets. The Joker used his peashooter and shot the Batwing down before took hostage Vick Vale who was there alongside her fellow photojournalist Knots. Batman followed them into the old Gotham City Cathedral. While Batman battled his thugs, Joker dances with Vicky before the Drak Knight finally face him. During his would-be escape, the Joker fell off the Gotham Cathedral, because Batman wrapped the Joker's leg with a gargoyle. The Joker died with a smile on his face. This cold smile indicated that the Joker had his last laugh.

The Dark Knight
The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, is the main antagonist in the movie The Dark Knight. The Joker is a psychotic villain who claims to be an "agent of chaos," seemingly doing it for the sake of destroying the plans of others and causing maximum psychological and physical damage. In the film, the Joker rescinds his comic weapons in favour of explosives, knives and firearms. He is responsible for the death of Rachael Dawes and for the wounding and psychological manipulation of District Attorney Harvey Dent into Two-Face among others.

The Joker states that he won't kill Batman because he is simply to much “fun” and Batman won't kill him because of his “moral obligation.” In the movie, instead of trying to kill Batman, the Joker attempts to show Gotham and subsequently Batman that anyone can be as bad as the Joker under the right circumstances.

Reasons for Attacking Batman
The Joker is Batman’s greatest foe. His history is so intricately defined by his opposition to Batman that the two are perversely inseparable. The Joker's obsession with Batman is unique compared to other villains. On numerous occasions, The Joker shows a perverse sense of identity with the Caped Crusader, enjoying their battles and constantly mocking him, hinting he may want to make Batman as insane as he is.

The Joker is Batman's greatest enemy, he has caused more physical and psychological damage to the Dark Knight than any other villain. Behind all of his gags and jokes, the Joker houses a vehement dislike for the Caped Crusader because of his interference with the Joker's plans to take over the Gotham crime syndicates and execute his plans. He has loathed Batman ever since the vigilante chased him into a chemical plant and he fell into a vat, disfiguring him and driving him insane. The Joker is very competitive with other rogues and has reserved the right to kill Batman himself, because of their fierce rivalry. This being said, The Joker defines himself by his opposition to the Batman, and even has shown a reluctant admiration of who Batman is. This is typified during one particular comic when The Joker knocks out Batman and could have easily finished his vendetta right then and there but he chooses not to.

“No, I cannot kill him. It cannot end like this. I use my insanity, he uses his detective work, Batman must live”.

Strangely The Joker and Batman have a mutual respect for each other that goes beyond that of all other Batman villains. During the 1980’s a series of comics with a strong identity crisis of the Batman came out. A crime boss named Rupert Thorne paid a psychologist called Hugo Strange (one of Batman’s earliest foes) to find out the true identity of the Batman. Thorne’s idea was to learn the identity of the Batman and on-sell it to the highest bidder. Fortunately Dr Strange had a change of heart when he found out that Batman was Bruce Wayne and refused to part with the information.

This is where The Joker comes in again. Aware that Rupert Thorne was close to finding out the true identity of Batman, The Joker threatened Thorne saying as follows:

“Only one person may kill the Batman, and that is me, when I decide”.

Again, The Joker never shows a desire to kill Batman. Superman even points out that The Joker’s psychosis places him clearly in Batman’s world. To the Joker, his opposition of the Dark Knight defines who he is, he is nothing without Batman and Batman is nothing without The Joker.

Strategy
There are many strategies employed by The Joker that there can often be no disernable pattern to his attacks. For instance, The Joker often uses his lapel either to shoot his "Joker gas", or to shoot nothing at all. Other times The Joker has pointed guns at others with a label saying "bang", yet as "Infinate Crisis" has proven, The Joker can also be extremely sadistic. As such this makes The Joker a very dangerous opponent indeed due to his unpredictable behaviour.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
The Joker was also the main villain in the videogame Batman: Arkham Asylum. He got himself locked up in the asylum, along with other so-called "super-villains" to pull off a daring scheme. He planned to build an army of super henchman by mutating his normal henchman with Titan, a venom created by a scientist of Arkham Asylum. To do this, he had to take over the entire asylum, and he was quite successful, since he managed to take control of the security system, the warden, and even over Batman. At the end of the the game he injects himself with the Titan Formula and became the Titan Joker.

The Joker's profile states:

An insanely homicidal super-villain, the Joker’s white skin, green hair, and blood-red lips belie the chaotic nature underlying his cartoonish appearance. The self-styled Clown Prince of crime has no superpowers beyond a capacity for incredible violence and a skill at creating deadly mayhem. He frequently concocts elaborate schemes to entrap is arch nemesis, Batman.

He is set to appear in Batman: Arkham City, the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Main Article: Emperor Joker
In a special mini-series that ran through several issues of Superman the Joker tricked the reality-warping imp known as Mister Mxyzptlk into giving him his powers: this resulted in Joker becoming a god and transforming the entire world into a sick amusement-park style nightmare dedicated to his own madness. Despite all of Joker's vast power in this special storyline he had a weakness in the fact that his relationship to Batman had reached a point where he could not exist with him, a kind of psychological "vicious cycle" deal in which for all his hatred of the Dark Knight the Joker couldn't kill him as the two had become interlinked as characters: in short without Batman there was no Joker.. Superman used this knowledge to his advantage and ultimately defeated the omnipotent Emperor Joker as a result - Joker has never obtained such godlike power again.

The Batman
A very different interpretation of the Joker appeared in the animated series The Batman, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.

In this series he is only referred to as simply "Joker" and never as "the Joker" - he had wild green hair, red eyes, dark red lips and a milky blue tongue. He was born by falling into a vat of chemicals, which bleached his skin, dyed his hair and drove him to insanity. In his first few appearances his costume consists of a purple sleeved straitjacket, blue pants, fingerless gloves and bare feet. Later in the series, he regressed back the more traditional garb of a purple suit and spats, but still had wild hair and wore no shoes, save one episode (which had mechanical stilts concealed in them). Joker also moves and fights with a monkey-like style, using his feet as dexterously as his hands, and often hangs from the walls and ceilings.

Whilst it can be argued that this version of the Clown Prince of Crime more resembles the colorful, comic relief character featured in the comics of the 1950s and '60s, he is still a highly dangerous, intelligent and cruel character - whilst most of his crimes are silly and prank-like in nature, they can still be legitimately destructive. He treats each of his crimes like an elaborate joke designed to make his victims literally die laughing. Due to his unpredictable nature, bizarre appearance and unnerving instinct for the absurd he has earned a reputation as one of the most dangerous criminals in Gotham.

He believes himself to be inextricably linked to the Batman, and considers him to be his favorite sparring partner and opponent - he says their relationship is "like comedy and tragedy - two sides, same coin". His weapons include his signature Joker venom (called "Joker Gas" in the series), razor sharp playing cards, grenades with Joker smiles on them and a bomb shaped like a Jack-in-the-Box. One of his most famous crimes was creating the supervillain Clayface. Joker captured and tortured detective Ethan Bennet, in order to drive him mad, he exposed Bennet to "Joker putty" a deadly chemical he created which mutated Bennet transforming him into the shapeshifting monster Clayface. As Clayface Bennet would attempt to get revenge on Joker many times. It is possible that this incarnation of the Joker has an origin similar to the Killing Joke, as he mentions having always wanted to make people laugh, in a flashback to his origins he is shown wearing red clothes after emerging from the chemicals suggesting at the very least a red hood origin. It is also hinted that Joker will one day cripple Batgirl like in "the killing joke" as Barbra Gordon is shown to be confined to a wheelchair in the future. He also maintains a rivalry with the Penguin for the title of Gotham's greatest criminal.

Joker the Vampire
At one point Joker got bitten by Dracula and became a vampire. His hair turned white, his eyes turned blue-white, and his clothes were affected as well. Unlike all the other vampires however, he retained his individuality and his speech as well as gaining vampretic superhuman strength and speed. Nevertheless he is still incapable of betraying Dracula's resting place. He stays this way until Batman managed to find a cure and revert Joker back to normal. As a side effect, Joker didn't remember anything after his meeting with Penguin outside of Dracula's mausoleum.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Joker even made an appearance as a playable character in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. he team up with Deathstroke, fought Sonya Blade and Kano, and then betrayed Deathstroke. After he beat Deathstroke he fought Batman and nearly won. Like most of the Mortal Kombat characters Joker has a couple fatalities. His first fatality is called; The Killing Joke, Joker takes out a gun and shoots it, but it was fake and shows the words "Bang" on it. He drops it and starts to laugh. Then he pulls out a real gun and shoots the opponent in the head, killing them. In the North American version, this fatality is edited so that the camera zooms in on Joker as he shoots, cutting the victim out of shot. The second one is called; Card Trick, Joker takes out 4 cards and throws 3 at the opponent body. Than he throws one more at the opponent's head.

In the Joker's ending, he gain new supernatural powers since afterthe parrell universes-merger crisis. He now uses them to ultimately enslave all of Gotham City forever, proclaiming himself "Mayor Joker". Within his chaotic city, the Joker held a new tournament in which contestants fight for his amusement, and the winner of all these challenges would have to face the final opponent, the Joker himself.

Personality
In the mini-series Underworld Unleashed, The Trickster remarks, "When super-villains want to scare each other, they tell Joker stories". As far as truth about Joker’s personality, one word sums him up… unpredictable. One day The Joker may be a harmless clown, on others he can become a crazed super-killer.

In 1984, with the conclusion of Infinite Crisis, The Joker cruelly murdered the once-hero now villain of the comic, Alexander Luthor, who was a mirror opposite from Earth-Two of Lex Luthor. Alexander Luthor set up a society for supervillains aimed at taking down Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, however he made the deadly mistake of not inviting The Joker. One night Alexander Luthor was trapped by Lex Luthor and The Joker in an alley. The Joker attacked Alexander with an over-powered joy buzzer, which horribly burnt one side of his face. Lex Luthor watched on as The Joker shot Alexander from point blank range with a shotgun, killing him instantly.

In addition to this The Joker is one of the few villains attributed with killing one of Batman's sidekicks (the other being Black Mask). The Joker beat Robin/Jason Todd to death in the comic "A Death in the Family". For any Batman villain, killing a Robin is almost the peak of villainy. Only two Robin’s and one Batgirl have ever been maimed or killed at the hands of supervillains.

Facts
Real Name: Unknown

Known Alias: Jack Napier, Jack White, Joe Kerr, the Clown Prince of Crime, the Harlequin of Hate and the Ace of Knaves among others.

Occupation: Professional Criminal

Base of Operations: Gotham City

Eyes: Green

Hair: Green

Height: 6' 0" ft

Weight: 160 lb

First Appearance: Batman #1 (Spring, 1940)

Attributes

 * Unrepentant homicidal maniac, albeit without a precise psychological diagnosis
 * Depending on portrayal, has varying levels of strength, however he has always been portrayed as extremely agile
 * His past is unknown; conflicting, unconfirmed reports state that he was a failed comedian, a petty thief, and a broken family man
 * Employs various deadly weapons, often based on party-gag items
 * Frequently uses a toxin that stretches victim's face into a Joker-like grin and causes death

Harley Quinn
Previously known as Dr. Harleen Quinzel, a perky, ambitious young psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, Harley is now employed as the Joker's hench-wench/ girlfriend. The relationship began when Harleen took on the Joker's case at the asylum, becoming his doctor. During the short time she was his psychiatrist, the Joker wooed and subsequently manipulated her into breaking him out of Arkham. Her obsessive love is what keeps her with him; the Joker is often abusive (physically and emotionally) towards her, taking out his anger on her and taking advantage of her. It is speculated that over the years the Joker developed some kind of fondness for her; however, most believe he keeps her around for the sadistic pleasure he gets from abusing her. She is elemental in many of his schemes, and he occasionally demonstrates a jealous possessiveness of her.

Another story is that when she took on the case of The Joker in the Asylum, he told her that her name reminded him of the French acrobat Harley Quinn, thus where she got the name. The next day, when she went into her office, she found a rose on her desk from The Joker. she grew fond of him over the next few weeks. He later broke of Arkham and she was worried sick. When The Joker was dragged back to Arkham by The Batman covered in cuts and bruises, Harley Quinn left Arkham, went and bought her suit, broke The Joker back out of Arkham and swore a vengeance against The Batman for hurting her 'Puddin.'

DC Universe Online
The Joker appears as a major antagonist in DC Universe Online where he acts as the mentor for villains who choose to specialise in technology.

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