Arthur Fleck

“What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner l, in a society that abandons him **and treats him like trash'*?! I'll tell you what you get,*"you get what you fucking deserve!”** -Arthur Fleck to Murray Franklin

**Arthur Fleck**, later known as **Joker**, is the titular protagonist villain of the 2019 psychological comic book thriller-film of the same name, the first installment of the *DC Black*series.

Arthur Fleck is a mentally unstable failed comedian who, following his great lack of success and respect, loses his sanity until he becomes a nihilistic and psychopathic mastermind known as the "Joker", aiming himself to create an anarchistic mutiny against the rich population of Gotham City and make Gotham smile in his way.

He was portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix.

## Biography

The man who would later be known as the Joker was born in Gotham City on November 21, 1946, as Arthur Fleck, the son of Penny Fleck and another father. When he was raised by his mother and her boyfriend, they were abusing him physically and mentally brutally until a neurological condition was created in him, and caused him to develop uncontrollable laughter in unsuitable moments until he would nearly choke up.

As he became an adult, in 1981, he often learned how to control his laughter problem with the help of a therapist and a social worker in Arkham Hospital to obtain medications to help himself handle the problem and later his depression, dissociative personality disorder and psychopathy.

Ever since that he was younger, Arthur sought to become a popular comedian worldwide so he can bring laughter and joy to the world, which his mother raised him to believe in, and, even kept his true family lines as secrets for him.

To achieve his life goal, Arthur had taken the job of an advertising clown for a talent agency, so he can use the future salary he would get to help his mother to heal from her illnesses and to help himself.

Despite this, when he was on duty as the clown, holding the agency's sign in front of the goers of Gotham, a group of teenagers had stolen the sign, causing him to chase them into an alley where they broke the sign on him and beaten him violently, leaving him broken, sad and mad, increasing his fragile sanity problems.

Arthur, alongside his mother, as like many residents in Gotham and the US, are fans of the Murray Franklin Show, a late-night talk show led by Franklin himself. Arthur fantasized himself attending the show in the audience and being warmly called out by Franklin himself who tells him that he wishes he has a son like him.

Despite his failures and despite his attempts to take care of his mother in their shared small rotten apartment in Gotham, Arthur developed an obsession with a banker and a single-mother named Sophie Dumond, a young beautiful cynical woman, after he meets her in an elevator.

He imagined himself being with her the entire time, and trespassed her home, it is unknown to whether he killed her or not.

Like the clown in his work, he had done working late at night, and, later went on a subway to his home. In the subway, he was watching how a young woman is harassed by three young and wealthy Wall Street stock brokers from Wayne Enterprises. Seeking to save her, he burst out in his uncontrollable laughter.

Taking the attention of them, the woman was saved but Arthur was beaten and bullied violently by them until he carried out his gun which was loaned for him by his associate so he can protect himself. He used the gun to kill two of the three businessmen and chased the third one, killing him as well. He then escapes the place terrified, at the end of the day however, he concluded that he indeed loved killing them.

The triple murder kickstarted the rise of a social anarchistic movement known as The Clowns, which cause massively destructive riots against the rich and the powerful population, doing riots even in Thomas Wayne's speech of becoming a mayor for Gotham (only for his plan to get rid off the poor and to destroy their homes).

Returning home, Arthur took a short shower, and his mother was watching Franklin's show on TV, whilst Arthur's mental health was further degraded, as he was writing jokes in his notebook and later when his mother was asleep, he was hiding in their fridge.

After coming out, he was dancing to a music show on TV while holding his gun, until his mother had an illness episode, rushing her to the hospital.

In the hospital, Arthur was afraid of losing his mother. Upon the serial murders he committed, Arthur flees away to his home, where he was investigated by two GCPD detectives. He denied anything he did. Before getting a stroke, Penny told Arthur of his true parentage, as well as her early life with Wayne.

On the TV, he saw that a humiliating video of himself performing stand-up comedy was shown in Franklin's show.

In the video, Arthur's pathological laughter was shown during the stand-up performance, which Franklin used to humiliate Fleck in living, driving him mad.

Taking his parentage to the Wayne Manor, Arthur later met his estranged brother, Bruce, and met Alfred Pennyworth before getting rudely dismissed by him. Arthur soon sneaks into a private screening of *Modern Times* in order to personally speak with Thomas Wayne who rudely denies that he is his father, stating Arthur's mother Penny is insane and obsessed with him which leads Arthur into a mental breakdown while triggering his pathogical laughter. In response to his laughter, Thomas punches him in the nose and warns him to not touch his son, Bruce again.

Confused and upset, the very next day Arthur visits Arkham State Hospital to find his mother's file and meets a clerk in charge of storing files of patients there. He quickly takes notice of Arthur's unstable demeanour and pauses in horror when looking into file, when he refused to release the file to Arthur, he steals it anyway and is saddened and distraught to find out that what Thomas Wayne said was true, Penny is indeed delusional and that he isn't Arthur's biological father. Not to mention, when Arthur was a child, A young Penny who was obsessed with Thomas Wayne let her boyfriend physically and emotional abuse him which contributed to his mental health and pathological laughter.

When Penny woke up the next day, he tells his mother previously he thinks his life was a tragedy but he realized, it is a comedy, he immediately smothered his mother to death with a pillow, much to his satisfaction.

Arthur wakes up in his own home, where he is discussing with two former friends of his about the recent events. They thank him, however, he later brutally kills one of them using a scissor and by bashing his head several times in the wall and let his other friend go.

Covered in blood much to the horror of the other, Arthur later announced that he is no longer what he was, unleashing The Joker alias he created, completely.

In his restroom, he dyes his long hair in bright green, and, puts on a clown makeup on his face before donning a luxury clown-like suit and shoes he had kept in secret, before leaving home to dance on the stairways, now fully as Joker.

The two GCPD detectives see him dancing as Joker on the stairways until he stops and sees them. He escapes by running into the subway but not before he is hit by a taxi.

In the subway, for his luck, a riot of the Clowns movement was occurring, and, he used it to hide and escape before being invited to Franklin's show.

When he was preparing for his performance in the show, he would be thinking of committing suicide in living, but after achieving so much love from the Clowns, he abandons it and his purpose of bringing laughter and joy to the world, aiming himself toward the Clowns' ongoing mutiny.

In Franklin's show, he is dancing, before he discusses with his beloved TV idol on himself. Joker then proceeds to tell morbid jokes before eventually admitting to murdering the three Wallstreet boys at the subway, Franklin decides to take advantage of the situation for ratings by carrying on with the show instead of shutting it down. Franklin later taunts him for what he did, driving Joker who is already insane to use his gun to kill him in front of a horrified audience while he laughs crazily. Before getting shot, Franklin attempted to shut him down, yet the efforts were futile since Arthur is already too insane to be reasoned with.

Upon leaving the show studio, he is arrested by the GCPD, and, while driving to the station, he sees massively destructive series of riots of the Clowns all over the town. In some way, he is rescued by the Clowns after they crash land an ambulance into Joker and the GCPD car.

Despite being injured, he is smiling evilly, now completely accepting what he has become and becomes the popular leader of the Clowns, achieving his goal of making Gotham smiling via anarchy.

During the massive riots, the Joker sends out a group of Clowns to the city, where, on his behest, one of them kills Thomas and Martha Wayne and takes Martha's pearls, much to Bruce's horror. This makes Joker indirectly responsible for the creation of Batman.

Upon succeeding in everything he had ever wanted to achieve despite failing to bring laughter and joy, it is implied that he either turned himself in or eventually got caught by the SWAT team, which led him to Arkham's jail division. He is then being interviewed by an FBI psychiatrist as he laughs at the thought of Bruce Wayne ending up as an orphan like him and of what's yet to come between the two, much to the shrink's curiosity. It is implied that he immediately killed the FBI psychiatrist who was interviewing him as his shoes are drained in blood, celebrating his glorious victory with laughter and dancing before being pursued down the halls by Arkham orderlies. It is also implied, due to his actions in Gotham City, he became known worldwide as an infamous and controversial figure whose impact on society will be long-lasting.

## Kill Count

### Directly

* Three Wayne Enterprises employees (shot dead)
* Penny Fleck (smothered with pillow)
* Randall (stabbed with scissors)
* Murray Franklin (shot in the head and then chest)
* FBI Psychiatrist (stomped to death)

### Indirectly

* Thomas and Martha Wayne
* Clown-Dressed Rioter
* Two GCPD Officers

## Appearance

Arthur Fleck is a 35-year-old man with silk-long-brown-hair, he is also a skinny man with no fat. He stands 5 feet 10 inches tall. He was often wearing a casual brown jacket, brown pants and even a grey buttoned shirt.

As Joker, he would put on clown-like luxury red, orange, yellow and brown bright suit and shoes, and, dyed his hair in bright green with painting his face with clown makeup, drawing tear-like blue eyelashes around his eyes, while his mouth was drawn in bright red like a big evil or sad smile.

## Personality

Ever since that he was born, Arthur Fleck always wanted to bring laughter and joy to the entire world, aiming to do so by becoming an infamous comedian. However, he was often physically and mentally abused by his mother and her boyfriend due to being the estranged son of a billionaire, something Arthur later takes as hatred toward the rich and the powerful.

As a result of being abused, Arthur dives deeply into psychopathy, depression and even dissociative personality disorder, until he develops pathological laughter created by the abuse.

Despite his mental health, Arthur would have never thought of giving up on his goal to be a popular comedian, and, when he goes to achieve this goal, he takes the job of a clown for a talent agency. As he was abused again by a group of teenagers, Arthur was recalling how he was eating trash from society.

Hence, Arthur's fragile sanity began to be broken, and, he was still not giving up and found somewhat of joy in his mother and Sophie Dumond, until, he was watching how he is humiliated by society again, this time by his beloved TV idol Murray Franklin.

Using the subway to return home, Arthur once again fell into the rich society's dirty hands when he was saving a young woman from being harassed by 3 businessmen. Using his laughter issue to harass him, Arthur would later carry out his weapon to kill them off, and, he was falling in love with it, further becoming a psychopath despite being terrified.

Developing an obsession of loving Sophie, he was stalking her and even came out to a date with her in a diner, even though he was picturing a series of their meetings. As he was returning home, he would dive deeply further into his insanity by entering into the fridge after writing some bad jokes. Feeling uncomfortable with how the world treats him, Arthur later saw how the Clowns movement takes all of its rages against the rich population, and he would love to see their anarchistic riots.

Broken, sad and depressed Arthur always loved taking care of his mother, until she was telling him his true origins, in which he would unleash the monster he would become against her, doing so in great sadness and pain. Upon meeting his estranged father, Arthur was in denial of how his father was denying his existence, yet shown joy with meeting Bruce Wayne, his estranged brother and yet-to-be his arch enemy.

Ruling out as a bad boy of the society, Arthur was banished from his true home to his filthy small home, where he unleashed the Joker into the light by killing a former friend of his, loving it so much until he became the clown anarchist he is.

As Joker; Arthur loved being completely freed from his depressed life he used to have, liking to think that his life is a comedy now rather than a tragedy, and, he later developed himself to become the leader of the Clowns after killing his TV idol in front of a horrified crowd, yet, he was already inside of his insanity, so he burst out in a crazy laughter.

When he was rescued from the hands of the police, something the society would bring toward him to mistreat him, by the Clowns, he was fully accepted as their leader. By doing so, he was allowing the ultimate dark, psychopathic, murderous and nihilistic criminally insane Joker to come out into the great light, and managed to achieve one goal; to being beloved by society in his lowest points and to make Gotham smile.

That was enough to finally make Arthur happy, even when recaptured by authorities. All of this establishes Arthur as a tragic figure who desired appreciation. Even if it meant becoming one of Gotham's worst criminals.

## Powers and Abilities

Arthur has no superhuman special powers, from the reason he is a human being like everyone around him, yet he indeed had a variety of abilities such as;

* **Very High Intelligence:** Arthur was endowed with exceptional intelligence, so wise and sophisticated that even though he did not know how to handle the Clowns anarchy around him, he used his intelligence to outsmart the detectives investigating him and mastered his skill of carrying out anarchistic actions.

* **Above Average Strength:**  Arthur is shown to have above average strength, as he strangled and almost killed Alfred Pennyworth, a former undercover CIA agent with multiple physical abilities, including vast superior strength to that of an average man.