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Riddler8

This Article Contains Spoilers - WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all.

The story of the Joker from the Batman: Arkham series.

Past[]

Like in the comics and other versions, not much is known about the Joker's past but it was heavily implied that he was a miserably failed stand-up comedian as well as a former lab assistant and chemical engineer at Ace Chemicals, and had a pregnant wife until he was pressured by the Falcone Crime Family to be the criminal Red Hood. While he was attending a heist at Ace Chemicals, as Red Hood, he eventually came across Batman. During their confrontation, Red Hood fell into a vat of chemicals (though from his point of view, Batman tossed him into the vat). This resulted in his skin turning white, his hair turning green, his lips becoming red, as well as being permanently stuck with a smile, and his mind becoming dangerously demented. Sometime after, the man, now known as the Joker decided to use this face to become a criminal, make a name for himself, and spread chaos, anarchy, and destruction throughout Gotham. Though it is unclear if any of this is true since Joker has made a habit of telling false stories about his past, preferring it to be “multiple-choice”.

Pre-Batman: Arkham Origins[]

Joker (Arkham Origins)

Joker in Batman: Arkham Origins.

Taking over Black Mask's operations[]

During a particularly snowy winter, near the holiday of Christmas, a man who no one has ever seen or heard of emerges in Gotham with plans of destruction and chaos for the city simply for the sake of it. The Joker, a villain driven by a lust to create social disorder and desiring nothing but anarchy to feed his sadistic appetites and morbid, dark sense of humor. With a particular hatred for the Dark Knight himself, having blamed the hero for making him who he is today, and a hunger for revenge against him, the Joker begins to make his schemes to destroy Gotham and make Batman suffer in the process.

Seeking to establish himself as one of Gotham's most iconic figures and carve a name for himself in the Gotham criminal underworld, the Joker begins to target Roman Sionis, also known as Black Mask, the city's most powerful and sadistic crime lord. With Black Mask having unlimited resources, men, power, and complete control over the criminal underworld as he consolidates his power and eliminates his opposition, the Joker sees his criminal empire as the perfect means to gain control of the city and form his gang for his agenda of chaos. The Joker starts his plans by stealing chemicals from Sionis' mill to manufacture explosives, enticing the crime lord to have the villain followed to learn what he is planning.

The Joker is already one step ahead, however, and begins to stalk Roman's girlfriend, Tiffany Ambrose, as he keeps tabs on her boyfriend's criminal activities. This understandably spooks Tiffany, who is then placed within a safe house at Lacey Towers by Roman, until he could track the Joker down and neutralize him. Unfortunately for Black Mask and his lover, the Joker uses his connections to learn of Tiffany's whereabouts, breaks into the safe house, and waits for her to come home. When she does so after grocery shopping, the Joker violently smashes her head into the counter and ties her up to the chandelier in the living room.

Black Mask soon begins to suspect that something is wrong and has one of his men disguised as himself enter the safe house as a diversion while he sneaks in the back to gain the upper hand on the Joker. When the decoy arrives through the front door, Joker is gleefully waiting in a chair and immediately shoots the man through the heart, instantly killing him, knowing that he is not his true target. The real Black Mask then sneaks up behind the Joker and attacks him, but the Joker proves to be an exceptionally competent fighter and overpowers and beats Black Mask, tying up his hands in the process.

To eliminate any evidence of him being at the safe house, the Joker uses a cocktail incendiary device to set the room ablaze. As Tiffany struggles from the heat of the fire below her, the Joker then cruelly and sadistically makes Roman hold his gun and shoot Tiffany through the heart, immediately killing her, as the Joker drags the struggling Roman out with him. The Joker holds Black Mask captive at a hidden location and tortures him for several days, forcing him to reveal every detail about himself. Using these details to his advantage, the Joker takes Roman's black mask and disguises himself as the crime lord, taking complete control of his gang, resources, and power. The Joker then plots to first destroy all of Black Mask's power and standing in the city and take his place and institute his brand of anarchy and social disorder.

Knowing that Batman is the only one who can stop his plans, as well as having a hunger for revenge against the hero, the Joker places a $50 million bounty on the Dark Knight's head and hires eight of the world's most deadly assassins to take him down. The eight assassins were; Killer Croc, CopperheadFireflyElectrocutionerDeadshotShivaBane and Deathstroke. The Joker hands down the order to Black Mask's men to abduct Warden Joseph from Blackgate Prison and bring him to his hideout. When Joseph is brought to the Joker, he tortures him with a lit cigarette, burning out one of his eyes, and threatens to slaughter his entire family if he does not lower his security at the prison.

Batman: Arkham Origins[]

Warden Joseph reluctantly agrees and has the security for a portion of his prison become laxer to protect his family. As the assassins arrive in Gotham, the city's body count and crime rate skyrockets, as the Joker stages an attack on Blackgate Penitentiary disguised as Black Mask, with several dozen of his men and Killer Croc, a cannibalistic killer with a rare condition that makes him appear more and more reptilian as the years pass by. Murdering dozens of guards and leaving a path of destruction behind him, the Joker takes Loeb who was present at the prison to oversee the execution of Julian Day, also known as Calendar Man, hostage. The Joker has Calendar Man released from the execution chamber and lets him loose, believing that his love for murder and torture on holidays is the perfect setup for Christmas Eve, leading to several deaths at Day's hands.

The Joker then has Commissioner Loeb forcibly placed within the chamber under the pretense that the commissioner is no longer serving his best interests with so many of his men imprisoned and wants to start with 'a clean slate'. The reality of the situation is, however, that the Joker seeks to take complete control of Black Mask's criminal activities and eliminate anything that could be used as a benefit for the fallen crime lord. Loeb's murder would also prompt chaos throughout the criminal underworld and institute a power vacuum throughout the police department; the chaos that would feed the Joker's love for anarchy. Loeb is then gassed in the chamber and dies in mere seconds as the Joker continues through the prison with Black Mask's men and Killer Croc, killing all who stand in his way. Arriving on the roof to find a set of helicopters ready to make a quick escape, the Joker leaves Killer Croc to deal with Batman, who arrived at the prison just minutes prior. While Killer Croc is aided by some of Black Mask's men, Batman is ultimately able to defeat them all and learns from Croc about the enlistment of the seven other assassins.

Batman subdues Croc and makes a quick getaway himself in his Batwing, leaving the cannibal killer for Gordon and his forces. Gotham begins to descend into further chaos as the Joker continues to control Black Mask's operations, including drug trafficking, sending out hundreds of his men to murder, steal, and wipe out all opposition, and striking deals with corrupt Gotham police officers, particularly SWAT team leader Branden, promising them all the $50 million bounties if they succeed in subduing Batman. The Joker also hires the services of a man under the alias of Enigma, a master hacker and the head of the GCPD's Cyber Crime Division, to use his resources and access privileges to take complete control of all the radio towers throughout Gotham to block Batman's auto-navigation trackers for his Batwing. Enigma also uses the financing to create collecting incriminating information on countless political individuals in Gotham, placing them all within extortion files hidden around the city, and blackmailing the individuals but the Joker doesn't mind since it just causes more chaos.

As Batman is hunted down from all fronts and continues to fight against the assassins, he learns of the Joker's existence when he investigates what police believe to be Black Mask and Tiffany Ambrose's murder at Lacey Towers. The hero concludes however that it was not Black Mask, but simply a decoy; he breaks into the Gotham City Police Department to gain access to the criminal database to learn more about the crime scene. At the same time, the Joker sends scores of Black Mask's men to infiltrate the sewer systems and place hundreds of demolition explosives underneath the foundations of countless buildings, including the sewer's pump station, the city's fire station, train station, and the Gotham City Police Headquarters. While Batman can subdue the Joker's men and gain access to the criminal database, he is ultimately unable to deactivate the bombs.

Joker is Black Mask

Joker revealing himself to Batman.

After looking through the GCPD's files, Batman learns that Roman Sionis owns and has complete control over the Gotham Merchants Bank, which he uses as a front to launder much of his ill-gotten gains. Batman soon realizes that the Joker has taken Sionis hostage after forcing him to kill Tiffany and intends to use him to gain access to the Merchants Bank, which has security measures that only Roman can deactivate. True to Batman's detective work, the Joker explosively arrives at the bank in a stolen ambulance and murders over two dozen of the bank's employees, sadistically torturing and slaughtering many of them with the use of the bank's Christmas decorations.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Must be a bad connection. It seems you said that after I SHOT HIM, and BLEW UP A BUILDING ON HIM, THE BAT SOMEHOW SURVIVED!!
~ The Joker when his gang members revealed that Batman had survived him bombing the Gotham Merchants Bank's vault.

Revealing that most of Black Mask's men are now loyally working for him due to the benefits they reap, the Joker shoots Batman several times and throws the laughing banker at him. Detonating bombs that were rigged in the vault, the Joker drives away with both the money and Roman in the stolen ambulance, laughing insanely. Batman grabs the banker and barely manages to lunge away from the massive explosion, but the banker, unfortunately, succumbs to the Joker's toxin and dies with a smile on her face. Anticipating that Batman might still be alive, the Joker sends in a handful of his men to check the bank, which leads to confirmation that Batman is indeed still alive even if the Joker is disgusted when he initially hears that.

Amazed that Batman can survive both his gunshot wounds and the explosion, the Joker nevertheless remains in cheerful spirits as he embarks on the next phase of his plans. Batman subdues all of the Joker's men, leaving one for interrogation, who informs the Dark Knight that the Joker murdered over a quarter of Black Mask's men who would not turn and has taken complete control of all of Roman's operations at the Sionis Steel Mill, which contains a secret entrance to a massive drug manufacturing facility and torture chamber, where Black Mask receives shipments of drugs and firearms to be sold onto the streets.

Arriving at the mill, Batman learns that the Joker has been using the mill to manufacture explosive chemicals and had his men take Sionis down to his old torture chamber to brutalise and murder him, as well as continue manufacturing and sending out shipments of chemicals and drugs. Batman can subdue the Joker's crew and rescue Sionis, who has nothing but raw hatred for both Batman and the Joker, intending to kill them both. Batman begins to brutally interrogate Roman for the Joker's location until Copperhead arrives, intending to collect the Joker's bounty, and poisons Batman, allowing Roman to escape at the same time. As Batman begins to hallucinate and sees his worst fears come to life, he scans the poison and sends an analysis of it to Alfred to manufacture a cure and drop it off to him.

As Batman arrives at ground level, he is forced to fight Copperhead until Alfred sends him the cure via the Batwing, which cures Batman and allows him to finally subdue Copperhead. Locking up the assassin in the back of one of Sionis' trucks, he learns that the Joker has called a meeting with the remaining assassins. Tracking down the electronic signals from one of the assassins, the Electrocutioner, Batman learns that the Joker has taken control of the Gotham Royal Hotel, murdered over a hundred of its employees, taken the guest's hostage, and has begun to reconstruct the hotel into a hellish funhouse with stolen carnival items to torture and slaughter the guests.

The Joker also continues to send out his men to commit crimes and wipe out the last pockets of opposition, allowing them to keep all the ill-gotten gains, much to their delight, as long as they create chaos and destruction. As his men take complete control of Old Gotham, the Joker converts the Royal Hotel's penthouse into his secondary base of operations and, still disguised as Black Mask, has Howard Branden and his SWAT team forms a perimeter around the hotel to look out for Batman and keep Captain Gordon and the media away. As Gordon is kept busy with the murder of an amusement park worker, most likely the same one the Joker killed for the stolen items, Batman infiltrates the hotel after fighting past scores of the Joker's men and Branden's SWAT team. Inside, Batman navigates through a river of mutilated corpses and makeshift carnival attractions.

At the same time, the Joker reveals himself to all of the remaining assassins, including Bane, Firefly, Deadshot, Lady Shiva and Electrocutioner. Disappointed and annoyed in particular at the Electrocutioner's attitude and inability to kill Batman, he throws the assassin from the penthouse and to his death, instructing the rest of the assassins to go out and find Batman while Bane stays, knowing that Batman is coming for the Joker. Batman can take Electrocutioner's gloves from his corpse and makes his way further up the hotel. As Batman continues through the Joker's sadistic traps and Bane's mercenaries, he grows increasingly disturbed at the psychotic nature of the Joker as he sees more and more corpses, some of them being the Joker's men, attached to decorations and crude carnival games.

When Batman finally arrives at the penthouse, Bane brutally grabs him and throws him through the hallway, finally throwing him into the Joker's quarters. As Bane attempts to kill the hero, the Joker forces Bane to leave under the threat of blowing up both the hotel and themselves. As Bane reluctantly leaves, giving him one minute, the Joker reveals that he has placed a series of explosives throughout Gotham and detonates one, causing the entire top of a building directly in front of the hotel to explode.

Batman grabs the villain, infuriated, asking him how many people he just murdered but the Joker gleefully reveals that the building was merely a construction site, a demonstration of the real carnage soon to descend onto Gotham. Batman slams his enemy into the adjacent table and flings him across it as several of the detonation devices fall on the floor next to the Joker. Grabbing one of the devices, the Joker reveals that the detonation device he is holding will not be as friendly, laughing sadistically. Having been pushed to his limit, Batman grabs the device, breaks it, and smashes it into the Joker's face. As Batman punches the villain, the Joker simply laughs as Bane reappears and punches Batman off his new nemesis. Bane grabs Batman's face, intending to kill him to achieve his peace of mind through the dominance of the hero and his city, and flings him through the window.

Falling through a ceiling window, Batman prepares himself for a brutal battle with Bane as the Joker gleefully watches. While Batman can hold his own during the fight, Bane reveals his trump card; a storage tank attached to his body that pumps a deadly chemical known as Venom through his body, giving him enhanced strength and adrenaline. The brutal fight then continues on the snowy balcony overlooking the destroyed construction building with the Joker commentating from above as Alfred calls the police. However, Batman fights off Bane long enough for police helicopters to arrive on the scene. Unshaken by this, the Joker takes out a machine gun and begins to fire wildly at the choppers, ordering his men to do the same.

The police retaliate and open fire on the Joker's crew, killing them all, while Bane is merely grazed. Realizing that the tides have turned, Bane decides to escape as his men in their own stolen choppers arrive and fire at the police choppers, causing them to both collide and explode upon impact, killing all aboard. As Bane jumps into one of his choppers, Batman throws a tracking device on him to locate him later. The Joker is annoyed that Bane is attempting to escape rather than finish the job and begins firing on him as well so Bane responds with a bazooka which misses the Joker, who remains completely unshaken and continues smiling as the explosion from behind him flings him off the balcony.

As the Joker laughs insanely towards his impending death, Batman jumps to save the mass-murdering psychopath, who begins to fight Batman as he tries to rescue him. Batman attempts to grapple them both to safety, but the amount of debris falling from the explosion causes the line to break, resulting in the pair falling through the glass ceiling of the hotel lobby. Violently crashing down onto the floor, Batman is surrounded by two of the Joker's men as the villain composes himself and aims his gun at Batman. The Joker is shocked that Batman would risk his own life to save his, even after killing so many people in just one night. Instead of shooting Batman, however, the Joker simply shoots both of his henchmen dead, telling Batman that they were very bad men who performed such horrendous actions that they are unspeakable, just like his own actions. Laughing, the Joker then aims the gun at himself until Batman knocks it away and punches the villain to the ground, cuffing him afterwards.

Branden and his SWAT team then arrive, still intent on collecting the bounty on Batman's head. The hero however calls his Batwing and escapes as Gordon and Bullock arrive, taking the Joker into custody. While locking the Joker in the back of his police vehicle, Bullock assumes Batman is working with the Joker, wondering why he would bother saving him from a deadly drop if he wasn't. The Joker laughs at the notion and wonders the same thought himself, realizing that Batman is unlike anyone he has ever met before.

Joker Subduing Harleen

The Joker subduing Harleen Quinzel.

The Joker is sent to Blackgate, where he undergoes a psychological examination by Dr. Harleen Quinzel, an intern of Dr. Hugo Strange. Having sympathy for the Joker, Harleen allows the villain to tell her his view on the world and how the brutality of life made him who he is today. At the same time, Joker remembers his past as a failed stand-up comedian and a criminal known as the Red Hood, as well as his first encounter with Batman at the ACE chemicals factory, in the process revealing the reason for Joker's initial hatred of the hero. However, he now sees a new purpose in life with the emergence of the Dark Knight, who he has met through what he believes is fate after he saves his life and proves to be much more complex and interesting than initially perceived. During this speech however, he never specifies that he's talking about Batman. Harleen therefore thinks that Joker is talking about her, so she grows an affinity towards Joker.

Seeing Batman as a monster like himself, created from a very bad day, the Joker feels that Batman is finally someone he can rely on to play his sadistic games. Excited at the prospect of such a person bringing new meaning to his life, the Joker makes Harleen believe that he is talking about her while he is, in reality, referring to Batman. Harleen is taken in by the Joker's false charms and is essentially seduced by the psychopath in a matter of mere minutes, gently touching his hand. The Joker smiles as he has crafted the perfect pawn to manipulate from within his prison. Batman, in the meantime, is still incredibly disturbed by the Joker's nature, believing him to be the worst kind of criminal and evil; random, relentless, and unpredictable, the same type of criminality that took the lives of his parents.

With the Joker still destroying Gotham from inside prison with his bounty, Batman has no choice but to take out the remaining assassins before ensuring his home and Alfred's safety from Bane. After capturing Firefly at Pioneer's Bridge, Batman contacts Alfred while in route to the Batcave to ensure his safety, Batman is shocked to hear Bane, having infiltrated both Wayne Manor and the Batcave and leaving a path of destruction in his wake. Revealing that he has attacked Alfred and left him at death's door just long enough for a few final words, Bane voices his plans to have Batman become moulded into a true rival in battle through his hatred, anger, and sadness over the loss of his most trusted ally; the perfect opponent he needs to defeat to finally achieve his desires.

After Batman arrives at the destroyed Batcave and finds Alfred barely clinging to life, Batman is able to save Alfred's life, with the two finally understanding each other and how they must continue to rely on one another to survive. However, Batman loses hope of protecting his city when seeing just what his very presence has caused to happen in a single night, with his own home and last family member being targeted. Alfred tells his adoptive son that Gotham always needed a hero like Batman and that the villains and criminals he faces now would've always been out there in some shape or form even if he wasn't in Gotham. Alfred goes on to state that even with all his brawn and gadgets, Bruce must realise that he is still just a man, vulnerable and mortal, and must rely on allies from time to time to protect Gotham City.

Multiple counts have been reported. Code 10, repeat Code 10. Any available units, repeat ANY available units. Please respond. Priority one alert; The Joker has escaped from his cell and is leading the riots at Blackgate. Repeat; The Joker has taken over the entire prison. Multiple casualties, multiple hostages - civilians and prison guards. I repeat; we have lost Blackgate. Captain Gordon is calling on anyone, anyone for assistance.
~ The GCPD Radio dispatch.

Turning on the police radio, Batman and Alfred hear that the Joker has escaped Blackgate (it is heavily implied that he escaped with the use of security codes given to him from Harleen) and is leading riots that have destroyed the prison and killed hundreds. Batman realises that Alfred spoke the truth and prepares himself to finally put an end to the Joker's night of destruction once and for all. Arriving to see the prison completely engulfed in flames and destruction, Batman fights through scores of escaped convicts and Bane and the Joker's forces. Making his way to the center of the prison, Batman finds the Joker holding the warden hostage with Bane at his side. The Joker reveals that he understands Batman and his code of ethics and has made it his new mission in life to make the hero give up his one rule by forcing him to take a life.

Revealing that Bane holds a heart monitor that will charge up an electric chair, the Joker sits in the chair and tells Batman that either he kills Bane to stop his heart from charging up the monitor and the chair or the Joker will be electrified to death; either way, Batman will be responsible for someone's death. Bane puts on the monitor, telling Batman to use all his hatred and anger from the loss of his ally in battle, as the Joker's men strap him to the chair. As Batman and Bane battle, Gordon arrives and shoots the Joker's men who were holding Warden Joseph. As Joseph and Gordon attempt to get the Joker out of the chair, the Joker elbows both men, knocking out Joseph and holding Gordon at gunpoint with his gun, putting the headpiece of the electric chair on Gordon, raising the stakes even higher for Batman. Coming up with a plan to send Bane's heart into cardiac arrest, Batman uses his electric gloves to defeat Bane and stop his heart, making the Joker gleefully laugh. The The Joker then attempts to shoot Joseph dead when he awakes and stands up to the mass murderer, but Gordon jumps in front of him and takes the bullet instead. The Joker continues to laugh and leaves the room to escape from the prison and continue his reign of terror in Gotham with his forces and the escaping convicts.

Batman reveals to Gordon, who was not severely injured due to his bulletproof vest, that Bane can still be revived and tells him and the Warden to arrest the Joker before he can escape. As they do so, Batman revives Bane, who is more infuriated than ever, and resorts to drastic measures; using a sample of TN-1 on himself to become even more powerful. As Bane does so, he becomes a hulking mass of muscle with an uncontrollable urge to kill Batman. Batman sprays a string of explosive gel in a circle around Bane and detonates it, destroying the floor beneath them and into one of the prison corridors.

Punchline

Batman defeating Joker within the chapel.

Come on, baby. Beat me til' your knuckles bleed. And why stop there? You know there's only one way to stop me!
~ The Joker, before being knocked out by Batman

After one final, gruelling battle, Batman is able to finally subdue Bane after strapping him to a pair of electrified pacification devices with his remote bat claw. However, the Joker remains on the loose, having shot Warden Joseph, and is nearly out of the prison. Batman and Gordon protect Joseph from the Joker's gang, leaving Gordon to protect the warden as Batman tracks the Joker to the prison chapel where he finds the Joker laughing hysterically at all the events throughout the night. Enraged by the callousness, Batman grabs the villain, who is thirsty for Batman to take yet another life but, much to his displeasure, Batman reveals that Bane is still alive. Disgusted, the Joker then holds his gun to Batman's head, telling the hero that both he and himself are the same, born from very bad days, and exist because of a broken society and law system. Batman refuses to listen to the Joker and kicks him across the room and into several pews.

Batman throws the Joker into one of the windows, at which point the Joker takes shards of the broken glass and attempts to slit Batman's throat. Batman knocks the pieces of glass off of him and punches the Joker dozens of times before smashing him onto the ground. Batman begins to strangle the Joker, who continues shouting to kill him, but resists the urge and knocks out the villain once and for all. Gordon arrives on the scene and expresses his respect for Batman for not killing the Joker before stating that he still has to take him in. However, as Gordon informs Bullock that the Joker is neutralized, Batman disappears.

As the police retake control of the prison, Gordon tells his daughter, Barbara, how she was right to think of Batman as a hero and believes that he could indeed be a symbol of hope for the people of Gotham. The Joker is left being escorted back to his cell, laughing at Batman's deception. As Harleen smiles at him, the Joker states his belief that his future battles with Batman will indeed be "fun".

During the credits, the Joker sings the song "Cold, Cold Heart" referring to Batman. It is also revealed on a talkshow with Jack Ryder that, using the two riots and breakout attempts in one night as justification, Quincy Sharp states that he has plans to reopen Arkham Asylum, to hold the more violent and aggressive inmates.

Batman: Arkham Shadow[]

Undercover as a criminal Irving "Matches" Malone, Batman eventually gets sent to solitary confinement of Blackgate Penitentiary. In the adjacent cell, the Joker greeted him and attempted to begin conversations. While Malone used a false voice and couldn't be seen in the blocked cells, the Joker still recognised him and said he didn't need to disguise himself from his "best friend." Batman questioned the Joker about any leads regarding the mysterious Rat King, and even posited that Joker was the Rat King, however, the Joker was offended, then corrected if it was one of his schemes, he'd want Batman to know about it, rather than bother with deception. Ultimately, Batman couldn't learn everything the Joker knew, the Clown Prince still gave enough hints that aided in the investigation, showing a surprising helpfulness, although only because he wanted the honour of besting Batman.

Post-Batman: Arkham Origins[]

Due to his clear mental illness and manipulative nature, the Joker avoids the death penalty for his multiple murders and is sentenced to life in prison. Sometime after the events on Christmas Eve, Quincy Sharp re-opens Arkham Asylum where the Joker is sent but the clown manages to seduce his psychiatrist, Harleen Quinzel, into becoming his new sidekick, Harley Quinn. At some point after however, Harley Quinn breaks up with the Joker after being thrown in front of a car during an escape attempt and strikes out on her own.

Batman: Assault on Arkham[]

Joker (Assault on Arkham)

Joker in Batman: Assault on Arkham.

During his time in Arkham, the Joker has escaped committed multiple crimes and terrorist acts with one of them involving hiding a bomb somewhere in Gotham. Batman manages to capture him but is unable to learn from him the location of the bomb. With the Joker back in Arkham, Batman tears through Gotham, with no such luck. The Joker continues with his plans, when the Suicide Squad arrive which includes Deadshot, and Harley Quinn, in which the two break up with each other. While Harley Quinn is being "sent to her cell room" by the "security guard", the Joker begins to taunt her. Angered for what the Joker had done to her, she grabs a gun and attempts to shoot him. However, due to the bulletproof door, the Joker is unharmed until Harley places the gun inside one of the air holes and continues to shoot. The bullets ricochet through the Joker's room but miss the Joker, but the bullets manage to damage the wall inside the Joker's cell.

Best gun ever.
~ Joker after "killing" "Batman".

Later on, during the assault on Arkham, Joker manages to escape his room, by hot-wiring the circuits to open the door. He then comes across some security guards, and kills them so he can "put on something more comfortable, without being seen". After putting on his casual outfit, he comes across "Batman" and decides to sneak up and gun him down. Just as he is about to kill "Batman", "Batman's" head blows up in front of him and the Joker quickly realises that is is actually Black Spider of the Suicide Squad, whose nanobombs had been activated by Amanda Waller. As he examines Black Spider's head, the Joker hears several others being electrocuted by Ol' Sparky. The Joker quickly makes his way to the Medical Center, when he discovers the real Batman, along with Deadshot, Killer Frost, Riddler, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang and a dead King Shark. The Joker attacks Batman, as well as unleashing a large number of explosive marbles. All of the members of the Suicide Squad manage to escape, and Batman escapes as well but the Joker manages to shoot Batman in the shoulder and the side of the stomach.

Eventually, Joker comes across the members of the Suicide Squad who he threatens to kill, especially Deadshot for being Harley's new "boyfriend". However, Harley manages to convince him that she was using the Squad all along to break the Joker out and surprisingly the Joker forgives her and chooses to let her live. However, the Joker is still mad at Deadshot for touching his "stuff" and decides to kill him. Just as he is about to kill Deadshot though, Deadshot plays head games with the Joker as he says that there are no bullets in the gun. Joker tries to prove that there is at least one bullet left but wastes it by shooting at the ceiling. Deadshot attacks the Joker, but the Joker, along with Harley manages to escape via the laundry chute. After successfully escaping the remaining members of the Suicide Squad, the Joker demands Harley give him her hammer and it is revealed that the bomb was always inside Harley's hammer. Once he activates it, the Joker makes contact with Batman, announcing that the bomb has been activated and, to make sure that Batman doesn't come after him, the Joker sets free all the inmates in Arkham including ScarecrowTwo-Face, Bane and Poison Ivy.

The Joker and Harley make their escape on a helicopter that Deadshot uses to escape Arkham as well. The Joker appears behind Deadshot, pointing a gun behind him. Before he shoots down Deadshot, the Joker mentions that Deadshot has a cute kid and that she won't be dismayed when she becomes an orphan at a young age. Enraged, Deadshot confronts the Joker, while Harley is trying to control the helicopter and, whilst Batman chases the helicopter. A helicopter crashes into a nearby building, resulting in Harley fighting Batman and the Joker fighting Deadshot. The Joker proves to be a deadly opponent, as he easily gains the upper hand. However, a wounded Deadshot manages to throw into the damaged helicopter and then processes to toss two knives onto the Joker's shoulders. The Helicopter then loses balance and falls out of the building but, despite falling to his "demise", the Joker begind to laugh out loud. The helicopter crashed to the streets of Gotham and explodes with Joker laughing down but, despite the helicopter crashing and exploding, the Joker's body is nowhere to be found later on, confirming that he somehow managed to escape the helicopter before it exploded. While this is going on, Batman manages to knock out Harley and eventually disarm the bomb.

Before Matter of Family[]

The Joker resurfaces sometime later and is soon incarcerated at Arkham again. In an interview overseen by Warden Sharp, he is introduced to the up and coming Dr. Penelope Young, who sees right through his various origin stories. Joker feigns forming a rapport with her, but becomes genuinely interested in Young's 'Project Titan' research, a medical process that was based on Young's theory that improving a patient's physical condition would also improve their mental recovery. At some point, the Joker (using his alias as Jack White) is introduced by Harley (under her real identity as Dr. Harleen Quinzel) to one of her old friends, Edward Burke. Having influenced Burke to think about building an amusement park for his daughter Katie, the Joker also gives him several ideas on how to build one. Eventually, Burke becomes the owner of Seagate Amusement Park. However, Katie is diagnosed with an incurable disease, which left Burke devastated.

Months later, Dr. Young is pleasantly surprised to find that an anonymous benefactor, 'Mr. White', had donated a generous grant for her research. Katie Burke is used as the first test subject for Project Titan, though the project is a failure, as Katie's condition got worse, and she suffers a painful death. Feeling distraught over losing Katie, Edward Burke decided to sign the amusement park over to Jack White, and commits suicide by using pills given to him by White (not knowing that it contained Joker Toxin). Soon after, Bane is captured and quietly brought to Arkham Asylum so that Young can study him and the effects of Venom on the human body to design a more powerful variant of the formula. When discussing the Titan Project in public, Bane's involvement is kept secret, and he is referred to only as "Patient X." Officially, Bane is listed as an escapee from Blackgate Penitentiary.

Unfortunately, Young's initial Titan results are simply a more powerful form of Venom, which would temporarily increase the subject's muscle mass, but actually impair their mental processes to the point of savagery. Young remains optimistic about her work until her next session with the Joker. During his time in Arkham, the Joker encounters the corrupt and foul tempered Arkham Guard Frank Boles and "helps him out" with some unspecified trouble. As such, Boles becomes indebted to the Joker and begins working for him as a sleeper agent; passing the maniac codes and information when they were requested.

The Joker immediately dispenses with any civility, demands to know Titan's status, and gives away his knowledge of the project. A horrified Young realises that the Joker was her benefactor the entire time and is more than satisfied with the Titan Formula as it was. He's seen the manpower potential of her work instantly and has spent months making sure that she can provide him with the means to create an army of monsters. Young refuses, but doesn't go public with the revelation to save face. She tries everything from returning the donations to actually putting a block on her account. The Joker simply responds with multiple threatening e-mails, then escapes the Asylum; if Dr. Young won't give him his army, he'll make it himself.

Batgirl: Matter of Family[]

Sometime later, the Joker and Harley Quinn kidnap Commissioner Gordon and several other police officers so Batgirl and Robin go to rescue him after the Joker threatens to kill Gordon if Batman arrives. He also takes hostages and plants bombs around the oil rig which Batgirl and Robin have to save and disarm respectively. Eventually, Batgirl and Robin confront the Joker and Harley near the top of the oil rig. After a battle, both are defeated, but the Joker holds a gun to Harley's head and threatens to kill her. He then jumps off the oil rig and opens a parachute as he descends so Gordon calls in the coastguard but Robin states they will track him down later as Harley is captured by the G.C.P.D.

Pre-Batman: Arkham Asylum[]

Sometime after escaping from Seagate, the Joker attempts to attack Gordon again, by going after Barbara (without knowing of her crime-fighting life) and shoots Barbara in her spine, which causes her to be paralysed from the waist down, and unknowingly ends her career as Batgirl. The joke is on him though, as Barbara refuses to let this tragedy define her and became Oracle, an invaluable hacking and information source for Batman's detective work. Sometime after, he contacts Frank Boles and has him burn Blackgate Penitentiary to the ground which forces the government to temporarily move all of the prisoners to Arkham Asylum. With his preparations complete, the Joker attacks City Hall and takes the mayor hostage until Batman arrives where he allows himself to be easily recaptured without a fight.

Batman: Arkham Asylum[]

Joker With Gun

The Joker in Arkham Asylum.

Gotta say, it's good to be back!
~ Joker just before his attack on his escorters

Batman arrives at Arkham in the Batmobile, taking the Joker to the Intensive Care Facility but the Joker remains in high spirits, pleased that he is back in Arkham. He is strapped to a prisoner movement trolley and wheeled through Intensive Care by a variety of guards, including Frank Boles, with Batman following close by (Batman sensed that something was amiss, so he intends to follow the Joker in case the Joker intends to do something within Arkham Asylum). The Joker comments on all the brand new security at Arkham and how it is rather funny that a fire at Blackgate sent over a hundred of his goons to Arkham, with Boles angrily remarking that he thought the Joker was to keep quiet. During the escort, the Joker makes shrewd remarks to many of the Arkham Staff including Warden Sharp, Officer Cash and Dr. Penelope Young before being taken down the elevator.

During the elevator journey, a blackout occurs so the Joker laughs hysterically before having his neck clutched by Batman as the lights turn back on. As the Joker is moved into the lobby area, one of the guards remarks that he'll pay for killing three of his friends during his previous escape, to which the Joker, in foreshadowing of what's to come, expresses disappointment that he only killed three and promises to kill more, namely aim for a hundred deaths of personnel. Upon arrival to the lobby area, he was unstrapped and escorts by a guard and medical assistant while Batman and Gordon look on. Unknown to all but Joker, Harley Quinn is already in the security control room, waiting as the Joker takes the opportunity to break free at Harley's signal as he is escorted in handcuffs to his cell.

Pretending to stumble and trip, the Joker bashes his guard in the face with the back of his head when the guard demands him to get up and uses his handcuffs to strangle the guard, forcing the doctor to unhook the Joker to save the guard. The Joker strangles the guard to death before the doctor can save him and, when his cuffs are finally off, kicks the doctor down, breaking the doctor's rib-cage and killing him as well. The Joker then coldly says to the dead guard "the choke's on you!", imitates a playful laugh, and points at the security door with a "Ta-da!" He looks up at the security camera and tells Harley he is home so she lets him in by opening up the adjacent electrical doorway, allowing the Joker to access the cell controls. He runs behind the energy screen just as Batman manages to break through the viewing window and into the room where he taunts the Dark Knight for springing his trap and releases his followers out of their cells, saying "Now let's get this party started!". As Batman battles the thugs, the Joker says over the monitor system that he was originally going to kill everyone in the room and watch cartoons, but decided to take a captive audience instead. After Batman defeats another round of thugs, the Joker leaves the room and makes his way to the patient transfer unit whilst killing every unsuspecting guard along the way.

Batman tells Gordon he would find them a way out, but the Joker tells Batman not to make promises he couldn't keep, as he is in control of the asylum and therefore where Batman is able to go. As Batman tells the Joker he won't let him run, Joker cuts off his "hero speak" and goads him to just pursue him. Batman follows the Joker's trail of smiles and arrows drawn by spray paint and dead bodies and finds the Joker who opens up a large patient transfer cell, releasing a monster. The monster attacks Batman before dying from a heart attack caused by interrupted blood flow to the heart, much to the Joker's annoyance, who murmurs "Note to self: Need stronger test subjects!"

As a result, the Joker allows Batman one free shot at him, which would cause him to fall to his death and end the madness. Batman draws a Batarang but hesitates and is unable to willingly kill his enemy, causing the Joker to laugh at him and say that he is becoming "too predictable" before he escapes via the patient transfer system and tells Batman that he is organising a "party" with the villains all over Arkham. Whilst Batman tries to get the transfer unit working again, the Joker appears on a monitor; showing Batman an image of a treacherous Frank Boles knocking out Gordon and taking him hostage, ready to kill him. Batman attempts to track down Gordon anyway, by detecting the alcohol Boles left in the air whilst the Joker lays traps with poison gas as well as many gag chattering teeth. The Joker soon catches onto the Batman's attempt and as a result has Boles killed, no longer needing him. The Joker takes control of Arkham's intercom system, telling his goons to kill the Batmobile as he takes over the West side of Arkham Island.

His next target is the Medical Facility where he orders his goons to round up all the doctors in the area, most importantly Penelope Young, who he needs the Titan formula from. To the Joker's annoyance, Batman defeats his goons and rescues the captive doctors. The Joker draws up a 'party list' which contains the individuals who would help take care of Batman and enlists the help of the Scarecrow, who proceeds to attack Batman in the Morgue. After escaping Scarecrow's Fear Toxin hallucination, Batman makes his way to Gordon, who is conveniently placed near Bane's holding cell. After Batman rescues Gordon from Harley, the Joker pumps a large amount of Titan into Bane, causing a fight with him and Batman. The Joker is disappointed with Bane's inability to kill Batman, so he orders his goons to assist him but Batman defeats them all. The Joker's next order of business is to search Arkham Mansion for Dr. Young's formula, and Dr. Young herself, who has gone looking for said formula.

After finding Victor Zsasz in the Botanical Gardens, the Joker enlists his help to deal with Dr. Young. Zsasz holds Young by a knife in Warden Sharp's office and threatens to kill her if he sees Batman approaching and the Joker tells Zsasz to just kill her, as she is useless to him since he had already gotten both Venom and Titan. Batman incapacitates Zsasz and rescues the doctor but an explosion set by the Joker in the Warden's safe kills Young anyway. Harley then enters and has her thugs prepare Batman for the 'party' but he defeats them and follows Harley, rescuing Sharp by tracking his DNA. Harley is shown releasing Poison Ivy from her cell, despite Ivy not being on the 'party list', much to the Joker's apparent pleasure. He then unleashes the more violent, insane inmates known as the Lunatic Inmates all over the island.

Batman goes after Harley, who sends her thugs after Batman again, though he manages to defeat them all. Harley's failure prompts the Joker to remove her from the 'party list', abandoning her to be captured as Batman defeats and locks her up, using her fingerprints from around the island to track Joker to the gardens, where the villain unsuccessfully tries to slow Batman down with an electrified pond after killing an Arkham guard. After experimenting in his secret TITAN laboratory outside the Aviary demonstrates the successful Titan strain he had managed to create by injecting two of his thugs and having them attack Batman before escaping in an elevator.

Batman defeats the monsters and pursues the Joker, who reveals over the intercom that he has teamed up with Poison Ivy and injected her with Titan, causing her to become far more powerful and take control of the island surface with her evolved plants. Batman defeats Scarecrow and Killer Croc down in the sewers and successfully harvests the spores needed to make an antidote for the Titan injection in Croc's lair. Batman then goes down further into the sewers and finds that the Joker is trying to pump Titan pollutants into Gotham, the clown telling his men to stop Batman. After Batman shuts off the pumps, the Joker sends a Titan monster as a token of his displeasure.

Batman defeats the monster and escapes the sewers but, driven by more power hunger, Ivy betrays the Joker and swears to go after him once Batman is dead. The Joker assures her that he would be prepared for her with an army of Titan monsters, saying the she can "bring the wine" and he will "make the salad" although Batman manages to defeat Ivy in the gardens. With all of the enemies on the Joker's 'party list' defeated, Joker has his men set off several fireworks to direct Batman, the 'guest of honour', to the 'party' at the Visitor Center by the Cell Block. Rather than fight Batman, upon his arrival and confirmation of being on the 'guest list', the goons act friendly, cheer him and allow him safe passage (although an achievement is available for attacking and defeating these goons).

Batman finds a bomb planted by the Joker in the visitor center and upon its explosion, discovers the Joker's lair, a throne room atop various plastic toys from which he has been broadcasting to the island. The Joker is holding Scarface the puppet and taking out his frustration on him by having a fictional argument before throwing him away. He then berates Batman, "You had to spoil everything. Beating up Bane, feeding Scarecrow to Croc, slapping around Harley, my hobby by the way! And ruining all my precious venom plants." The villain then dispatches two Titan fuelled security guards at Batman, who defeats them.

The Joker reveals that he has recaptured Gordon before he could escape back to Gotham. Firing a Titan-tipped dart at Gordon, the Joker is overjoyed when Batman takes the shot himself but then angered when Batman resists and fights off Joker's attempts to make him give in. Enraged that Batman will never allow him this final triumph, the Joker shoots himself with one of his Titan darts, claiming he has little more to live for but he quickly awakens and mutates into the most horrific Titan monster of all (possibly being his back-up plan the whole time), while still retaining his intellectual faculties. With his newfound power, the Joker then directs the circling Gotham News helicopters and Jack Ryder to the rooftops of Arkham so that they can watch his final fight with Batman. Strapping Gordon to an electric chair above a makeshift fighting arena (making him the "special guest referee"), the mutated Joker goads Batman to give into his injection, as it is the only way they could be on even fighting terms. "You know you want to."

Batman refuses and uses the only antidote injection on himself, which the Joker finds hysterical. "But you still ruined my night, and for that, I'll paint Gotham with your blood!" The two, with assistance from the Joker's henchmen, then fight a brutal battle, with Batman knocking the Joker into the electrical generator used to torture Gordon. The Joker gets up from the attack and says he can take anything Batman threw at him, and asks if the Dark Knight is ready for the next round. Spraying Explosive Gel onto his glove, Batman declares that he will never let the Joker win and will always be prepared for his tactics. Enraged, the Joker prepares to kill his relentless nemesis as Batman charged him. The gel on Batman's fist then detonates as he strikes his opponent, finally incapacitating the most dangerous Titan subject of them all.

Following the Joker's defeat, the GCPD easily reclaim control of Arkham Island, recapturing the escaped inmates and watching over the Titan-powered henchmen as they returned to normal. The Joker's transformation back to his "normal" self is quite painful compared to others, culminating with the severe injuries he received in his battle with Batman. He is taken to his cell by several police officers and surviving Arkham security personnel, his plans having ultimately failed. While locked up and recovering from Titan's effects, Joker is left humiliated, angry, and thirsty for revenge. Whilst he plans his next move, the Joker begins to notice his body is not healing well after being injected with Titan and begins to fear that his defeat at Batman's hands may have cost him more than just being locked up again.

Titan Joker[]

Titan Joker

Titan Joker

Showtime, Batman!
~ Titan Joker
Hysterical! But you still spoiled my fun, and for that, I'll paint Arkham with your blood! Let's get ready to tango!
~ Titan Joker as he is about to fight Batman

Titan Joker is a giant monster 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. 

Batman vs

Batman fighting Titan Joker.

During the boss fight, Titan Joker will try to hit Batman with his claws. If Batman gets to close, Titan Joker will grab Batman and toss him which deals damage toward Batman. After some time he retreats and calls some of his minions. While Batman's fighting the Joker's minion, in the background, the Joker electrocutes the Commissioner just for fun. The Joker also throws some bombs, some that are chattering teeth that move toward batman, and other that are thrown throughout the arena. As time goes on, Titan Joker gets distracted by Jack Ryder's Helicopter. With this distraction, Batman uses his Ultra-Batclaw, which forces the Joker to fall to the ground and get stuck. The Joker then gets hit by Batman dealing some. Batman does this about three times and Titan Joker is defeated.

When Titan Joker falls through the floor, he gets electrocuted by the electro-boxes underneath the arena. When the Joker tries to get back up, Batman sprays his glove with some explosive gel. When Titan Joker tries to attack Batman, Batman manages to punch Joker in the face, which caused the gel to explode, knocking out the Joker. After he was defeated by Batman, he was reverted back to his normal form and was arrested.

Joker defeated (Arkham Asylum)

Joker's defeat.

Because of the Titan Formula, Titan Joker possesses superhuman strength, durability, endurance and is large in size. He has razor sharp claws, but unlike the Titan induced victims, the Joker can maintains his verbal ability, it's probably because the Joker was insane in the first place, since the Titan formula turn everyone into psychopathic monsters. He also distributes bombs throughout the battle arena, some that stay in one spot and some that walk toward Batman.

The Joker's Profile Stats[]

Joker img

Joker's image in Arkham Asylum.

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 his arch nemesis, Batman.

Pre-Batman: Arkham City[]

Within the next six months, the injuries the Joker received from the fight coupled with the Titan side effects are revealed to be indeed slowly killing him, giving him an estimated six more months to live and confining him to a wheel chair. Several surviving Arkham guards vowed on the graves of those that the Joker has killed that he shall never take a life again after the night of hell he put them through. While imprisoned and prior to his illness forcing him into a wheelchair, the Joker apparently escapes from his cell and wanders around the patient belongings room and starts becoming attached to the dummy Scarface, who he found in a locker along with Edwards's and Two Faces' suits.

During the Joker's takeover of Arkham Asylum, the Asylum was destroyed so it is shut down and abandoned six months later in favour of a new prison named Arkham City. As a result, all of the criminals in Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Prison are transferred there which includes the Joker. Instead of being brought to the transfer buses to take him there however, his escort guard has other plans in mind, plans of vengeance. The Joker is brought to a medical lab so that the guards can exact their torturous revenge slowly in retaliation for the deaths of all their friends caused by the Joker's plans in the Arkham riots. Unfortunately for them, the ever loyal Harley Quinn overhears their conspiracy, escapes confinement, knocks out a female guard, takes her place, brutally murders the rest of the guards, and finally rescues the Joker and brings him to her prepared escape boat.

The Joker and Harley escape the island, leaving Scarface behind, and proceed to sneak into Arkham City after a deadly encounter with Batman, who destroys their boat but fails to capture them. Being the first inmate in the city undetected, the Joker plots to become the "Mayor" of Arkham City and establishes his main base of operations in Sionis Industries, one of Black Mask's former company properties.

Over the next several months, the Joker begins renovating the factory into his classic "Joker-ized" style, complete with a roller-coaster death trap meant as a sadistic recruiting test to weed out the inmates with the best reflexes (those that jump from the coaster before the death plunge). With Harley at his side, the Joker begins to brutally recruit inmates once again for his new army, both old and new associates alike, and soon becomes one of the leading powers of Arkham City, rivalling that of Penguin and his gang. Eventually, a new Arkham inmate, Batman arrives looking for a job and easily escapes the Joker's death traps and dispatches his goons. The Joker, impressed, takes a liking to Lester and welcomes him into his gang, but also instructs his men to keep a close eye on him. Realizing that the Joker is a poor choice of employer Lester bails out on the gang and goes looking for a job with Penguin. The Joker is unsurprisingly furious to the point that he puts a bounty on Lester's head unaware of the fact that he's actually the latest alias of his hated enemy Batman.

Batman: Arkham City[]

Joker (Arkham City)

The Joker in Arkham City.

The Joker and his gang soon become embroiled in violent turf wars for control over Arkham City with other fractions and gangs. The Joker also uses Harley to lead some of his men into making frequent raids on other inmate's supply of drugs in order to aid in his condition. In addition to this, it seems that the Joker has also been taking every precaution to try and prolong his fate, including abducting his doctor and forcing him to give him a diagnosis and isolate some of the Titan compound from his blood stream. The doctor, after informing the Joker of his deteriorating condition and giving him the isolated Titan formula, is sent into the factory's old incinerator on the Joker's roller-coaster. Upon realising his days are numbered, the Joker proceeds with a series of contingency plans, ensuring his legacy will remain intact in the wake of his death. He meticulously revolves them around his long-time nemesis Batman, the future of Gotham, and Arkham City itself after he learns the nature of Protocol 10. He even begins keeping Harley more closer to him than usual, both as an operator for his commands and his personal carer (there were hints that he was also attempting to impregnate her).

The Joker uses the isolated Titan to upgrade some of his gang again and sends them out to kill anyone he sees as an obstacle in his plans for control over Arkham City. Among them was Bane, who has been running a makeshift fighting ring in Arkham City, and is soon attacked by one of the Joker's men, who is pumped up on Titan. Bane is defeated and nearly killed until the Joker's thug's heart goes into cardiac arrest from the overuse of Titan and is mercy killed by Bane, who decides to eradicate the source of Titan once and for all, knowing just how dangerous it is.

While the Joker continues to be embroiled in the turf wars for control of Arkham City, Mugsy, an old time associate of the Ventriloquist, brings Scarface back to the Joker, who is delighted to get his buddy back. The Joker starts spending more time with Scarface than anyone else making Harley jealous. Harley tosses Scarface into a boiler and consoles the Joker saying she slipped but he tells her not to worry and brings out a new Scarface. While the Joker hugs the dummy, it motions to Harley, so it can show that it's watching her, hinting that the Joker may be intentionally using Scarface to mess with Harley's emotions and love for him seemingly just for his own amusement, as he has done so many times before in their abusive relationship history.

The Joker makes his first appearance after attempting to kill Catwoman with a remote control sniper, before blowing up the Church tower the weapon was stashed in. Using the Joker's radio frequency, Batman tracked him to the Sionis steel mill, once the there Joker knocked out and kidnapped Batman. The Joker reveals to Batman that he is stricken with a poison in his blood system, because of the Titan Formula, he also reveals that he had injected Batman with his poisoned blood and has donated numerous amounts to several hospitals throughout Gotham. This revelation effectively motivates Batman to temporarily help the Joker track down the cure.

It is revealed that Mr. Freeze was working on the cure after the Joker kidnapped and threatened his wife Nora but he has since gone dark. Batman later tracks freeze down, who has been kidnapped by Penguin. After rescuing Freeze and attaining a blood sample from Ra's al Ghul a cure is created but Harley Quinn steals it from Freeze's lab. Before the Joker can get his hands on the cure, Harley is intercepted by Talia al Ghul who relieves her of the cure. Batman eventually makes his way back to the steel mill where he witnesses a seemingly cured Joker addressing his men, preparing them to launch a full scale attack on the other mob bosses of Arkham city and breaking out of the super prison.

Batman finds and confronts the rejuvenated the Joker where he fights and beats him and all of his men in single combat. Before Batman can subdue the Joker, Hugo Strange launches Protocol 10 which results in a missile being detonated on the mill, dropping debris on the Bat. As the Joker moves in on Batman, Talia appears and offers him the power of her father's Lazarus pit in exchange for Batman's life, the Joker agrees but does not notice Talia activating a tracker on herself for Batman to follow. Much later after Batman defeats Strange and Ra's Al Ghul, he tracks the Joker and Talia to the Monarch Theatre, where the Joker has taken Talia hostage. Once inside, the Joker begins to taunt Batman before Talia breaks free and uses her sword to impale and seemingly kill Joker. As Batman investigates the corpse he realizes it's not the true Joker, before the real Clown prince of crime appears and kills Talia. The still sick and dying Joker, reveals he used Clayface to mimic him and stand in for him while he was sick from Titan, he then demands that Clayface hand over the cure from the now deceased Talia, a battle then ensues between Batman and Clayface.

Whilst the two fight, the Joker detonates the floor of the Theatre sending them both plummeting to the boiler room below which contains the Lazarus pit. After Clayface is defeated, the Joker attempts to jump into the Lazarus pit to become immortal, but Batman knocks a large generator loose which falls into the pit and destroys it, plunging the room into darkness. The Joker then taunts Batman, who has already drank his share of the cure, telling him that no matter what horrible acts the Joker commits, Batman will still refuse to let him die.

640px-Arkham-city-joker-dead-with-a-smile-on-his-face

The Joker's last laugh.

When Batman hesitates and reflects on the choice to save the Joker, the Joker surprises him and stabs him from behind, which results in the cure being dropped and destroyed. The Joker desperately tries to slurp up what is left, but to no avail states that he hopes that Batman was happy that his most hated enemy would be gone from his life for good. Feeling somewhat sorry for the Clown Prince even though he deserves no pity, Batman proceeds to share a final moment of irony with his nemesis as an act to comfort him: despite all the suffering and destruction the Joker has caused, Batman still would have saved him. As expected, the Joker does find the situation humorous, having one final laugh before finally succumbing to the Titan poison.

Dead Joker

A dead Joker in Batman's Arms

A broken and solemn Batman carries the Joker's body out into the Gotham streets and places it on the hood of a GCPD patrol car before leaving the scene speechless.

Legacy[]

Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC[]

The city is tearing itself apart over him. He planned it that way.
~ Batman to Commissioner Gordon over how Joker continues to destroy Gotham even in death.
JokerArhkamCity

A promotional image of the Joker for Arkham City.

After the events of Arkham City, Commissioner Gordon personally has the Joker's body transported away from the massive prison, knowing that if any of his men got their hands on him, they would tear his body apart. Gordon is forced to move the Joker's body to various locations over the following weeks to ensure that none of his followers break in to retrieve it, telling no one of its location except for, eventually, Batman. As Gotham descends into chaos over the Joker's death, Batman's mind sinks lower as his depression over the loss of Talia and guilt over the Joker's death begins tearing him apart on the inside.

Batman soon realises that the Joker had made a set of contingency plans in the event of his death to ensure that Gotham is destroyed and the Dark Knight broken. As Batman investigates the late villain's final schemes, Harley breaks out of her imprisonment and takes control of the Joker's gang in her own plans for revenge against Batman. Taking over the Steel Mill, the last location the GCPD need to evacuate to shut down Arkham City for good, Quinn takes various police officers hostage to lure Batman to a trap. Quinn's tactics prove to be successful as Batman is captured and locked in an air tight prison.

With the aid of Robin, Batman is able to escape and stop Quinn's plans, leading to her being arrested again and allowing Arkham City to officially be shut down and Batman to refocus his attention on the Joker's back up plan. Investigating what is left of the Steel Mill, Batman finds a message from the Joker that was made before he died and meant to be communicated to Batman in the event of his death. As Batman analyzes it at the Batcave, he locates a video message from his eternal enemy, who begins to taunt the hero and reveals one last, twisted and sick joke against Batman and all of Gotham.

Post-Batman: Arkham City[]

After the incident with Harley Batman and Gordon meet at the morgue where James reveals that after the autopsy it was confirmed that the Joker really was dead and that they need to decide on what to do with the body. The next day Batman investigates a message recorded by the Joker in the event of his death and with it revealing that the Joker has put bombs on the walls of Arkham City planning on releasing the criminals onto the streets of Gotham. To make sure others don't interfere, the Joker sends a message to Gotham saying that whoever finds and returns his body to Harley will be rewarded with 1 million dollars causing destruction and chaos in the streets. With the GCPD occupied, the Joker claims that Batman is the only one that can stop it and says he'll find the deactivation code at a place of independence on his way to Arkham Asylum Batman remembers a brutal plot by the Joker on the 4th of July in which the villain caused a blackout in Gotham causing people to go outside and investigate only for the Joker to have rigged firecrackers and lacing them with Joker Toxin killing many men, women, and children.

After the incident, Batman remembers he took the Joker to a cell of extreme isolation and surmises that this is where the deactivation code is. Entering the cell Batman finds a book containing the name of all his victims suddenly the door closes revealing bombs inside the room placed by Clayface. The Joker on a loudspeakers announces that he never planned on freeing the inmates in Arkham City and reveals that everything was set up to lead him into this trap and with his last words to the Dark Knight the bombs explode drawing the officers, Detective Bullock and Vicki Vale to the scene while the officers search the only thing they find is Batman's bloody cloak. Gordon finds out and orders Harvey to keep the news from reaching the public. As Gordon loses faith in protecting his city, he is contacted by Batman who does not reveal how he survived such a chaotic explosion and the two decide to cremate the Joker's body. Finally, after years of death and destruction, Batman claims that finally there will be no more laughs as the Clown Prince of Crime's body is cremated.

Batman: Arkham Knight[]

Joker Batman Arkham Knight

Joker in Arkham Knight.

The Joker appears in the introduction which depicts his body being cremated. Nine months after Arkham City's shutdown, the Joker's death and the ultimate failure of his plans has lead Gotham City to a time of peace with crime dramatically decreasing to nearly zero for the first time in years. Without the Joker's chaotic and murderous presence plaguing the streets of Gotham, citizens have never felt safer and other criminals have become much more quiet and relatively neutral. Fearing that something was developing behind the scenes, Batman continues to keep a dedicated vigil over the city and develops new technology as he continues to struggle with his feelings over his nemesis' death. However, without the Joker's hold over the criminal underworld, a power vacuum is left in place as other villains begin to seize the opportunity to gain control over the criminal element for their own designs.

Ultimately, Scarecrow returns after years of hiding and plotting after Killer Croc's attack on him underneath Arkham Asylum, which left the villain horribly scarred and deformed. He manages to take over the criminal underworld and unites all of Batman's enemies by telling them that Gotham City will never truly be theirs to conquer and twist to their desires with Batman still alive, the villains agree to temporarily collaborate in order to finally achieve their common goal; the death of Batman. With the Joker's presence gone, the remaining members of Batman's rouges gallery have a much easier time working together without the Clown Prince of Crime upsetting the balance and have been silently working together for the past year to unleash an elaborate plot to destroy Batman and conquer the city he vowed to protect.

Having consolidated all of the city's worst criminals and villains, Scarecrow instigates an evacuation of Gotham City on Halloween night under the threat of his new strain of fear gas, developed over the last couple of years, being unleashed from within chemical weapons and bombs hidden throughout the city. With the city evacuated, only police officers are left as the villains and their respective gangs, now all working together, begin to take over the streets and create chaos and destruction all over Gotham. With the aid of an incredible, militarised force under the control of a new figure in Gotham, known only as the Arkham Knight, whose goal is similarly to destroy Batman for unknown reasons and purposes, Scarecrow and his allies manage to conquer all of Gotham and use its resources to manufacture more of his toxin, among other weapons, to cover the entire east coast in chaos. Harley Quinn herself joins the alliance with her own plans to avenge the Joker's death and ensure that the villain's legacy lives on throughout Gotham City and the world beyond.

As Gotham descends into chaos, Batman attempts to neutralize the threat by infiltrating ACE Chemicals, the factory having been converted into Scarecrow and Arkham Knight's base of operation. Scarecrow manufactures massive quantities of his fear toxin within the chemical mixing plant and rigs the entire factory to blow, which would cause all of Gotham and the entire East Coast to be engulfed in a paralysing wave of fear toxin. Though Batman manages to reach Scarecrow, the villain quickly turns the table of the Dark Knight by revealing that his forces are currently attacking Oracle's clock tower, having deduced that Barbara Gordon has been aiding Batman's war on crimes for countless years.As Batman attempts to communicate to Oracle, Scarecrow locks him in the room as his new strain of fear toxin is pumped throughout. Accepting that there is little chance of survival, Batman willing stays behind to reduce the amount of fear toxin in the facility before it explodes, leaving the city safe. However, before he can finish, he is shocked to come face to face with a TITAN infected Joker, who proceeds to knock him out with a gunshot to the head.

When he comes to, Batman realises the horrifying truth that the Joker's previously infected blood, injected into his veins by the villain nine months prior, is allowing the Joker's consciousness to take control of his mind. Scarecrow's fear toxin has now accelerated the process and enabled Batman to see the Joker, the man who represents many of his greatest fears, though he alone is able to hear and see him. The Joker reveals that he previously accepted the possibility of death within Arkham City and took precautions to ensure that he lives on through his poisoned blood, which was delivered to Gotham's hospitals. Most of the victims who were administered the blood were cured by Batman and his allies, but some fell under the radar due to hospital records never making note of their transfusions. By the time Batman cured them, the Joker's blood already became assimilated into their bloodstream and with it, the Joker's consciousness, with each one taking on different aspects of the Joker's personality.

Now nothing but mere pawns to the late Clown Prince of Crime, these individuals performed violent mass murders and acts of extreme sadism and megalomania until Batman was able to quarantine them underground in an abandoned cinema he has since converted into a safety facility. The only victim that does not seem to show any symptoms of becoming another Joker is Henry Adams, a school principal, but it kept under surveillance by Batman and Robin as he may be the key to curing the others. However, the Joker's ultimate trump-card came in the massive transfusion he performed on Batman within Arkham City, as the Joker truly lusted to take control of Batman's mind and body and become one with the hero, and the combination of Scarecrow's Fear Toxin and the Joker's contaminated blood has now allowed the infection and Bruce's darker side to take on the form of a Joker who not only taunts Batman as usual but also knows his identity, and taunts him on a personal level from time to time. With the Joker in his mind, the psychopath now has access to all his secrets and plans to use Bruce's company, equipment, funds and resources to murder all his enemies, consolidate all the gangs under his criminal empire, kill all of Batman's allies and ultimately lead a campaign of violence on Gotham and the world itself.

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Joker on top of the clock tower.

Throughout the long and brutal night, the Joker's control over Batman progresses which causes the hero's sanity to dwindle to the ultimate level and see and hear the Joker everywhere as the villain recounts the countless, inhuman crimes he performed throughout his life, including the mutilation and murder of an entire kindergarten class and replacing baptism water at a church with acid. Batman himself begins reliving particularly brutal events in his life orchestrated by the Joker, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon, and the abduction and horrendous torture of Jason Todd, the second Robin, which lasted for over a year in an abandoned wing of Arkham Asylum and ended with the Joker brutally murdering him and videotaping the entire event for Batman's eyes.

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Batman Arkham Knight The Joker Sings I Can't Stop Laughing

It is later revealed that Jason is in fact the Arkham Knight, having survived the Joker's attack as the villain's true goal was to turn Batman's sidekick against him. Having named himself after the facility in which he was tortured for over a year, Jason lusts to kill Batman for not only failing to find him, but replacing him. Stating that nothing could be further from the truth, Batman tells Jason that he never forgave himself for what happened and pleads to not let the Joker win as this is what he wanted to happen with his torture. While Jason escapes as Bruce reaches out to his son, he finally begins to realise just how much Bruce still loves him and did in fact desperately try to find him during his abduction.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that Henry Adams, previously believe to be immune to the effects of the Joker's blood, is actually the victim that is the most affected and was simply pretending to still be sane. With Joker's influence taking hold of him, Henry makes contact with Harley Quinn and reveals the existence of the other Jokers to her and the pair make their plans to fool Batman in order to gain entry to the quarantine zone. When the time was right, Henry switched the security measures to allow Harley and her gang in and release the other Joker victims and attempted to kill Robin. Upon losing contact with Robin, Batman heads to the amusement park and is able to neutralize all the Jokers and apprehend Harley. However, Henry reveals his hand and, after cruelly taking Harley hostage, murders the rest of the Jokers with a gun, believing them to be shames of the original Joker.

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The Joker on the Stagg Airship.

Henry then draws his gun on Batman, as the Joker's influence becomes stronger on the Dark Knight, with the Joker commenting throughout the entire course of events. The Joker then deduces that, though Henry is an impressive host for him, he still can not compare to Batman and uses his consciousness to influence Henry into committing suicide, resulting in all four innocent host having their lives ruined and taken by the same influence. Batman contains Harley to one of the quarantine cells as the Joker continues to taunt him with his impending loss of free will and sanity.

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Joker in control of Batman.

The Joker's moment for victory seems assured when he and Batman engage in a brutal, mental battle within Crime Alley and ends with the Dark Knight breaking his nemesis's neck, albeit only in his mind. With this, the Joker knows he is pushing Batman towards his ultimate limit. The Joker fully takes control over the hero when Scarecrow traps the hero at the Arkham Mansion and exposes Batman's identity to the world as Bruce Wayne in front of live television, finally injecting him with a lethal dose of fear toxin. With the Joker now controlling his mind, the villain imagines all the violence he can perform and laughs insanely at the imagined carnage, as he began a massacre in his own twisted Bat-mobile, before continuing to murder Killer Croc, Penguin, Riddler, and Two-Face but underestimates the fact that he too must feel the effects of the toxin.

While initially confident that the toxin would have no effect on him as he seemingly has no fears, the Joker becomes very disturbed and progressively frightened at the new surroundings around him, including his body being cremated, his grave shown to be small, overgrown and vandalised, no one (except a crying Harley) attending his wake, a radio broadcast explicitly detailing that no one would remember him before an announcement regarding the construction of a Batman museum focused on his rivalry with his greatest foe, the Penguin and Gotham, Batman, and even Harley forgetting about him. The Joker eventually realises that, with all the horror he's inflicted on others, no one will mourn or miss him, and his legacy will soon be forgotten as Gotham and Batman move on with their lives.

Joker's final defeat

Joker locked away forever, deep within Batman's mind.

Now genuinely frightened that he is trapped within the nightmare and will not be remembered by anyone, the Joker is stalked by an invulnerable Batman and continued on through an empty graveyard where he was continuously haunted by an exponentially increasing number of Batman statues. Finally, as the Joker reached the center of Batman's psyche, Batman ambushed the Joker and punched him hard, sending the Joker against a hard wall. The Joker then uses his weapon to blow away the wall and is slightly relieved when he believes that he has found an exit. Ironically, this is nothing more than a ruse by Batman, having finally turned the tables on his hated nemesis and is regaining control of his mind. Batman reveals to the Joker that the villain is terrified of being ashes and being forgotten and that he will indeed be forgotten by everyone.

For the first time in their battles, the Joker is truly horrified and helpless against Batman as he is severely beaten and thrown into a cell within Arkham Asylum. As Batman locks the door to the cell, the Joker screams and desperately pleads with the hero not to imprison, leave, and forget him, as he will then be locked away within his mind forever, telling the hero "I need you!". Batman, having finally realised that the Joker was always at his mercy, bids one final goodbye to his nemesis and locks him away in his personal hell in the Extreme Isolation wing of Arkham Asylum forever as Joker slowly sobs and fades away.

Immediately afterwards, Batman regains his mind and sanity and, having built up a tolerance to the fear toxin and freed by a redeemed Jason Todd (now donning the image of the Red Hood), injects Scarecrow with his own toxin. Scarecrow is reduced to a pathetic and cowering man on live television and is soon taken to the GCPD jails where he is locked with his fellow criminals. After bringing peace back to Gotham, Batman retreats back into Wayne Manor and blows it up with with both him and Alfred inside, seemingly killing them. In reality, however, Batman faked their deaths so he could keep guarding Gotham now using a new more terrifying vigilante persona known as "The Ghost".

During the end credits, the Joker's hallucinatory ghost is heard singing a sad reprise of "Who's Laughing Now", realizing that he is trapped forever and only remembered as nothing more than a bad memory best left forgotten before breaking down, crying uncontrollably until he is no longer heard. As Gotham returns to peace, the Joker's legacy will slowly be forgotten with the villain not only dead, but locked away in his own, personal hell, alone and forgotten for all time. With his legacy forgotten and Batman putting the past behind him, the Joker has finally lost and is gone forever in body and spirit.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League[]

Despite the Joker not appearing in the game due to being long dead, his actions still have a major impact five years after the events of Batman: Arkham Knight. Now part of the Suicide Squad again to fight the invasion led by Brainiac and the brainwashed Justice League, Harley Quinn constantly mentions him throughout the game, like when she visits the ruined Daily Planet building at Metropolis and mentions she should have gotten some press due to her solo work always setting up the Joker's punchlines, but that she is no longer anyone's sidekick.

Later on, as the Suicide Squad explores the Metropolis History Museum, they come across The Batman Experience, an interactive exposition vocally hosted by Jack Ryder, who explains how the Joker used Arkham Asylum for his nefarious schemes in the previous games with moving cardboards and recordings of many of those involved, like the Joker (including one of the Joker's Titan form and of his death), though Harley complains that the exposition didn't mention the Joker's transfused blood plan despite it being the both "best and worst part". After leaving the museum and being ordered by Waller to kill the Justice League, Captain Boomerang taunts Harley on if she feels the need to kill the Leaguers to prove herself for her boyfriend's death, leading her to punch him because she is a "freakin' superstar".

While dealing with the Penguin so he can assist them, the Penguin responds back to a taunting Harley by calling her a "widow" for the Joker's death. Sometime afterwards, as Poison Ivy's little clone Ivy takes them hostage with her huge carnivorous plant Daphne, Harley pleads her to remember her past life to let them go and face Lex Luthor, promising to make up with her and reminding her how they have through worse things together like knowing the Joker.

The Joker is last mentioned when the Suicide Squad captures and prepares to kill Batman, who is restrained to a park bench. When Batman insults them, Harley remarks that the Joker was the one who was good with hurting people with words before taking her gun to execute him, as he is still somewhat brainwashed by Brainiac. Still, Batman doesn't beg for any mercy and mocks Harley one last time by asking her if she is done with her bad stand-up routinee, to which Harley responds that you must always end with your best joke and fires the gun, killing Batman and accomplishing the Joker's goal to finally kill the Dark Knight, even though he didn't live to see it. However, unknown to Harley or the other Squad members, Batman's death means that his repressed memory of the Joker within his psyque died with him upon his execution, ceasing to exist for good, thus erasing the last forgotten remnant of the Joker permanently.

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