| “ | Red Hood: I'm guessing your Jason was killed by the Joker too? Batman: ...Yes. It was the turning point for me. It opened my eyes. There was only one sane response... ...So I killed the Joker. |
„ |
| ~ Batman recounting killing the Joker to avenge his world's Jason Todd to another alternate Jason Todd. |
The Joker is a minor character in the DC Comic series Countdown to Final Crisis. Like every other incarnation, he is a clown-like criminal and the archenemy of Batman from an alternate universe. He is one of the few incarnations to successfully break Batman, to the point where the Dark Knight murdered him, thus breaking his moral code.
Biography[]
The Joker's past and origins are a complete mystery, but at an unknown point he got into conflict with Batman, becoming his archenemy in the process.
Eventually. Joker murdered Batman's protege and sidekick Jason Todd/Robin (possibly in the same manner as in A Death in the Family) for unknown reasons, causing Batman to suffer a mental breakdown, becoming more ruthless and violent. Seeking revenge on the Joker, Batman brandished a handgun and used it to shoot the Joker to death in cold blood. This act shocked Superman and Wonder Woman, who believed that Batman had gone too far.
Legacy[]
The Joker's killing of Jason Todd had a lasting impact on Batman and on his now-deteriorating relationship with the Justice League; Joker driving Batman to break his moral code, had a turning point on his morality, as Jason's murder prompted him to take extreme measures in battling crime, in which he waged war on all supervillains by murdering any he could find. Seeing that their former ally wouldn't stop in his campaign, the rest of the Justice League were left with no choice but to hunt him down to end his mad rampage, making Batman a fugitive.
Trivia[]
- Joker killing Jason Todd only to be killed in turn by a vengeful Batman, which drove the latter to go a murderous rampage is referenced in the 2018 live-action TV series Titans, albeit with some differences. But the main difference is how each of the two Batman's killed their respective Jokers.
- This is could also be another reference to Superman from the Injustice franchise, in which both of them murdered the Jokers from their own respective worlds to avenge the ones their Jokers killed, and end up losing their moral compasses in the process.