Joker

Jerry Robinson (concept)

### Nicknames

The Joker, Domino Killer, Gravedigger, Joe Kerr, Oberon Sexton, Red Hood, Clown Prince of the Crime, Puddin', Jack Napier, Ace of Knaves and Harlequin of Hate

### Relatives

Jeannie (Possible Wife, Deceased)Unborn Son (Deceased)

Lonnie Machin (Possible Son)

Melvin Reipan (Cousin, Deceased)

### Occupation

Professional Criminal, Mass Murderer, Former Ambassador for Iran

### Portrayed By

Cesar RomeroJack Nicholson

Mark Hamill (voice)

Kevin M. Richardson (voice)

Heath Ledger

John Di Maggio (voice)

Brent Spiner (voice)

Michael Emerson (voice)

Troy Baker (voice)

Jared Leto

**Joker** is the main antagonist in the Batman TV shows, films, video games and comic books. He is a master criminal and is a highly knowledgeable psychopath with a twisted, sadistic sense of humor. His manipulative mind allows him to control Gotham City with the press of a button. He is shown to have a high level of knowledge and is able to comprehend various scientific tasks. His crazed grin, clown-like appearance and sadistic practical jokes all make Joker one of the most diabolical villains.

## History

### Origin

Joker was a criminal known as the Red Hood. In the story, he fell into a vat of chemicals while escaping from Batman. He emerges with white skin, green hair and a bizarre grin.

Though many have been related, a difinitive history of the Joker has never been established in the comics, and his true name has never been confirmed. In Alan Moore's *The Killing Joke,*It depicts him originally as an engineer at a chemical plant who quit his job to pursue his dream of being an stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperate

   to support his pregnant wife, Jeannie, the man agrees to help two criminals break into the plant where he was formerly employed. In this version of the story, the Red Hood persona is given to the inside man of every job; this makes the inside man to be appear as the leader; allowing the two ring-leaders to escape. During the planning, police contact him and inform him that his wife and unborn child have died in a household accident.

Stricken with grief, he attempts to back out of the plan, but the criminals strong-arm him into keeping his promise. As soon as they enter the plant, however, they are immediately caught by security and a fatal shoot-out ensues, in which the two criminals are shot dead. As he attempts his escape, he is confronted by Batman, who is investigating the disturbance. Terrified, the man leaps over the rail and plummets into a vat of chemicals. When he surfaces in the nearby reservoir, he removes the hood and sees his reflection: bleached chalk-white skin, ruby-red lips and emerald green hair. These events, coupled with the other misfortunes that day, drove the engineer through an entire personality shift that results in the birth of the Joker.

The story Push-Back, supports part of the Joker's origin story. In it, a witness (who coincedentally turns out to be Edward Nigma AKA The Riddler) recounts that the Joker's wife was kidnapped and murdered by the criminals in order to force the engineer into performing the crime. In this version, Joker was called Jack.

The second arc of Batman Confidential re-imagines the Joker as a gifted criminal and abandons the Red Hood identity, also called Jack, who is nearly suicidal due to his boredom with his "job". He talks to a waitress, Harleen Quinzel, who convinces him to find something to live for. Jack becomes obsessed with Batman after he breaks up one of his jobs, leading Jack to attract Batman's attention at a ball. Jack injures Lorna Shore, leading Batman to disfigure his face with a Batarang. Jack escapes and Batman gives Jack's information to mobsters, who torture Jack in a chemical plant. Jack kills several of his assaliants after escaping but falls into an empty vat while wild gunfire punctures the chemical tanks above him, and the result flood of antidepressant chemicals alters his appearance into that of a clown, completing his transformation into the Joker.

No recounting of the Joker's origin has been definitive, as he has been portrayed as lying so often about his former life that he himself is confused as to what actually happened. As he says in *The Killing Joke:*"Sometimes I remember one way, sometimes another...if I'm actually going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!".

### Criminal Career

From the Joker's first appearance in *Batman #1,*he has been willing and eager to wreak as much havoc as possible upon innocent people in order to claim the mantle of Gotham City's greatest criminal mastermind. Throughout his decades-long war with Batman, he has committed crimes both whimsical and inhumanly brutal, all with a logic and reasoning that, in Batman's words, "makes sense to him alone".

   In *The Killing Joke,*the Joker shoots Barbara Gordon (aka Batgirl), paralyzing her below the waist. He kidnaps Commissioner James Gordon and taunts him with photographs of what his done to Barbara, in order to prove a point that any normal man having "one bad day" can become just like him, but fails to drive Gordon insane, despite giving him serious trauma. Batman rescues Gordon and tries one final time to reach the Joker, offering to rehabilitate him. After a few moments of consideration, Joker refuses, stating it's too late but shows his appreciation by sharing a joke with Batman which surprisingly receives an uncharacteristic laugh from the vigilante and allows himself to be taken back to Arkham Asylum.

The Joker also murdered Jason Todd, the second Robin, in the story "A Death in the Family". Jason discovers that a woman who may be his birthmother is being blackmailed by Joker. She betrays her son to keep from having her medical supply thefts exposed, leading to Jason's brutal beating by the Joker with a crowbar. The Joker locks Jason and his mother in the warehouse where the assault took place and blows it up just as Batman arrives. Batman finds Jason's lifeless body and his death haunts him since and has intensified his obsession with his archenemy.

Psychiatrist Harleen Quinzel eventually ponders whether the Joker may in fact be faking insanity so he could avoid the death penalty. As she tries to treat the Joker, he recounts a tale of an absent father and runaway mother to gain her sympathy. Falling in love, she allows him to escape Arkham several times before she is eventually exposed. Driven over the edge with obsession, she becomes the criminal Harley Quinn and the Joker's closest partner.

In a company-wide crossover "The Last Laugh", the Joker believes himself to be dying and plans one last historic crime spree, infecting the inmates of The Slab, a prison of super criminals, with Joker Venom to escape. With plans to infect the entire world, he sets the superpowered inmates loose to cause mass chaos in their "jokerized" forms. Meanwhile, he tries to ensure his legacy by defacing statues in his image. The entire United States declares war on the Joker under the orders of President Lex Luthor; in response, Joker sends his minions to kill the President.
The heroes of the world attempt to fight off the rampaging villains, while Black Canary discovers that Joker's doctor modified his CAT scan to make it appear that he had a fatal tumor in an attempt to subdue him with the threat of death. Harley Quinn, angered by the Joker's attempt to get her pregnant without marrying her to continue his legacy through artifical insemination, helps the heroes create an antidote to the Joker's poison and return the supervillains to their normal state. Believing Robin, Tim Drake, was eaten by Killer Croc in the ensuing madness, Nightwing eventully catches up with the Joker and beats him to death where his heart stopped. To keep Nightwing from having blood on his hands, Batman resusitates the Joker with CPR.

During the events of No Man's Land storyline, Joker murders Sarah Essen Gordon, Commissioner James Gordon's second wife, by shooting her in the head as she tries to protect the infants that he had kidnapped. He did not, however, take any pleasure in the act, shown frowning afterwards instead of his trademark grin. He surrenders to Batman, but continues to taunt Gordon, provoking the commissioner to shoot him in the kneecap. After lamenting the fact he may never walk again, Joker began laughing manically as Gordon avenged the fate of his daughter.

In "Emperor Joker", a multi-part story throughout the Superman titles, Joker steals Mister Mxyzptlk's reality altering power, becoming a nigh-omnipotent being, and remaking the entire world into a twisted caricature, with everyone in it stuck in a loop, repeating the same patterns over and over again. Superman's powerful will allows him to fight off the Joker's influence enough to make contact with the weakened Mxyzptlk, who along with the less-powerful Spectre, encourages Superman to work out Joker's weakness before reality is destroyed by Joker's misuse of Mxyzplk's power. As time runs out, Superman realizes that Joker is still unwilling to erase Batman from existence, as the Joker totally defines himself to his opposition by the Dark Knight; if the Joker can't even willingly erase one man, how can he destroy the universe?. The Joker's control shattered, Mxyzptlk and Spectre managed to reconstruct reality from the moment Joker disrupted everything, but Batman is left broken from experiencing multiple deaths. Superman had to steal Batman's memories so that he could continue, apparently transferring them to the Joker.
During the return of the new villain Hush in Gotham City, Riddler hires the Joker to save him, offering Joker the name of the crooked cop who killed his wife all those years ago. However, Joker's attempted revenge is cut short when Hush attacks with Prometheus, forcing the Joker to retreat. After Jason Todd returns to life and takes over his killer's former Red Hood identity during the lead-up to Infinite Crisis, Jason asserts that Joker was not quite as crazy as he leads people to believe. Jason attempts to force Batman to shoot Joker, angered at Batman's refusal to kill despite what his done. Batman refuses, however, driving away Jason with a well-aimed Batarang instead. At the conclusion of Infinite Crisis, Joker kills Alexander Luthor, hero of the original Crisis on Infinite Earths and villain of Infinite Crisis.

In Batman #655, a captive shoots Joker in the face. Joker returns in Batman #663 after having undergone extensive facial surgery that had left him with a permanent smile and unable to speak coherently. With intensive care at Arkham, he sends Harley Quinn to kill his former henchmen, having her use a more lethal version of Joker Venom, in order to signal his "rebirth". The Joker appears as he did before Batman #655.

### Countdown

In Countdown #50, Jimmy Olsen interviews an incarcerated Joker about the murder of Duela Dent, who had called herself the Joker's Daughter. The Joker states that he had never had a daughter, and expresses awareness of the Multiverse's existence and of shifts in reality. The Joker appears as he did before Batman #655.

## Personality

The Joker is homicidal, psychopathic, ruthless, sadistic, maniacal, lunatic, manipulative, intelligent and diabolical master criminal who wants nothing but chaos and anarchy wherever he goes, as well as reveling in the suffering of others. In most speaking roles, the Joker is given a high-pitched, comical, bouncy, silly and over-the-top voice that occasionally stoops down to a slight growl, in accordance to his clown-like appearance and maniacal personality.

## Abilities

Joker commits crime with countless "comedic" weapons such as razor-sharp playing cards, acid flowers, cyanide pies and electric joy buzzers. He also employs Joker Venom, a deadly poison that infects his victims with a ghoulish rictus grin as they die while laughing uncontrollably. This venom comes in many forms, from gas to darts to liquid poison, and has been his primary calling card from his first appearance til' he is present; however he is immune to it. Joker is very skilled in the field of chemistry, genetics and nuclear engineering.

Joker has moderate skill in hand-to-hand combat. Over the years Batman is stronger, but Joker is faster and more agile. Joker has been known to hold his own in hand-to-hand combat against Batman, however every time he is subdued by Batman, it is through physical force. However, Joker has been proven to be skilled in the area of martial arts as well, this being proven when beating Batman without "cheating".

Joker has also cheated death numerous times; being caught in explosions, shot repeatedly, dropped from high heights, electrocuted, etc. Joker always managed to come out fully alive and unscathed to wreak havoc again. However, Joker's most powerful weapon is his cunning and manipulative mind.

## Equipment

* **Joker Venom:**
* **Knives:**
* **Firearms:**
* **Jester Cane Sword:**
* **Razor-Sharp Playing Cards:**
* **Electric Joy Buzzer:**
* **Harpoon Gun:**
* **Acid Flower:**
* **Crowbar:**
* **Hammer:**
* **Mallet:**
* **Boxing Glove Arm:**
* **Long-Barreled Gun:**
* **Explosive Toys:**
* **Bazooka:**
* **Custom Explosives:**
* **2 Pencil:**
* **Grenades in Coat:**
* **Lighter:**

## Henchmen

* **Harley Quinn:**
* **Ajax:**
* **Black Queen:**
* **Bruiser:**
* **Deuces:**
* **Duke Wilson:**
* **Jack of Diamonds:**
* **King of Clubs:**
* **Kite:**
* **Lar, Mo and Cur:**
* **Lefty:**
* **Lewis:**
* **Needles:**
* **Nitro:**
* **Slapsy:**
* **Slim:**
* **Snipes:**
* **Sparky:**
* **Tino:**
* **Mr. Hammer:**

## Quotes

* "If the police expect to play against the Joker, they had best prepared to be dealt from the bottom of the deck!"
* "Kid, I'm the Joker. I don't just randomly kill people. I kill people when it's funny."
* "You'll never be sad, and you'll never be lonely. You'll always have me to dance with."
* "I'm not mad at all. I'm just differently sane."
* "If you have to explain a joke, there is no joke!"
* "His mask is his real face."
* "All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy."
* "Why be a disfigured outcast when I can be a notorious Crime God? Why be an orphaned boy when you can be a superhero?"
* "Life's a bowl of cherries and this is the pits."
* "See, there were these two guys in an insane asylum and one night, one night they decide they don't like living in the asylum anymore. They decide they're going to escape! So, like, they get up onto the roof and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight, stretching away to freedom. Now, the first guy, he jumps across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daren't make the leap. Y'see, y'see, his afraid of falling. So then, the first guy has the idea...he says Hey! I have my flashlight on me! I'll shine it across the gap between the two buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me! But the second guy just shakes his head. He suh-says...he says What do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I'm half way across!"
* "Aren't I just good enough to eat?"
* "Ladies and Gentlemen! You've read about it in the papers! Now witness, before your eyes, the most rare and tragic of nature's mistakes. I give you: the average man. Physically unremarkable, it instead possesses a deformed set of values. Notice the hideously bloated sense of humanity's importance. Also note the club-footed social conscience and the withered optinism. It's certainly not for the squeamish, is it? Most repulsive of all, are it's frail and useless notions of order and sanity. If too much weight is placed upon them, they snap. How does it live, you ask? Faced with the inescapable fact that human existence is mad, random and pointless, one in eight of them crack up and go stark slavering buggo! Who can blame them? In a world as psychotic as this, any other response would be crazy!"
* "So I see you received the free ticket I sent you. I'm glad. I did so want you to be here. You see it doesn't matter if you catch me and send me back to the asylum...Gordon's been driven mad. I've proved my point. I've demonstrated there's no difference between me and everyone else! All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day. You had a bad day once, am I right? I know I am. I can tell. You had a bad day and everything changed. Why else would you dress up as a flying rat? You had a bad day, and it drove you crazy as everyone else...only you won't admit it! You have to keep that life makes sense, that there's some point in all this struggling! God you make me want to puke. I mean, what is it with you? What made what you are? Girlfriend killed by the mob, maybe? Brother carved up by some mugger? Something like that, I bet. Something like that...something like that happened to me, you know. I...I'm not exactly sure what it was. Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another...if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice! But my point is..my point is, I went crazy. When I saw what a black, awful joke the world was, I went crazy as a coot! I admit it! Why can't you? I mean, you're not unintelligent! You must see the reality of the situation. Do you know how many times we've came close to world war three over a flock of geese on a computer screen? Do you know what triggered the last world war? An argument over how many telegraph poles Germany owed it's war debt creditors! Telegraph poles! It's all a joke! Everything anybody ever valued or struggled for...it's all a monstrous, demented gag! So why can't you see the funny side? Why aren't you laughing?"

## Appearances in Other Media

### Batman (1960's)

Cesar Romero portrays the character of the Joker in 19 episodes of the 1960's Batman television series. The Joker of this series is characterized by a cackling laugh and comedy-themed crimes such as turning Gotham City's water supply into jelly, beating Batman in a surfing competition and pulling off a bank heist based on a stand-up comedy routine. Romero refused to shave his distinctive mustache for the role, and it was partially visible beneath his white face makeup. Romero reprises his role in the 1966 film *Batman.*

### Gotham

Joker is referenced numerous times throughout the show including in the first episode where a standup comedian was seen performing at Fish Mooney's club and is later forced to witness Fish Mooney beat up Oswald Chesterton Cobblepot after she caught the latter feeding information to the GCPD about Mario Pepper being framed for the murder of the Waynes.

In the episode "The Blind Fortune Teller", a teenaged man named Jerome Valeska portrayed by Cameron Monaghan and was a member of Haly's Circus and is orphaned when his mother, the snake charmer, was discovered to be murdered. It is later revealed that Jerome was the murderer and his birthfather, Cicero the blind fortune teller, had tried to cover up Jerome's role in the murder. Various promotional spots strongly implied that Jerome might become the Joker when he grows up. He later reappeared as the public leader of Maniax, a group of sociopathic criminals composed of former Arkham Asylum inmates that was secretly formed by Theo Gavalan in his agenda against Gotham, eventually slaughtering most of the GCPD. However, his reign of terror ended with Gavalan, while "playing the hero" shoots him dead, although it is heavily implied by Cicero that his actions inspired several people to continue his legacy and one of these new criminals eventually became the Joker. In the ending of the episode "The Red Hood", shortly after the remaining members of the Red Hood gang were stopped, the Red Hood was recovered by a long-haired blonde youth who proceeded to put it on, and then make a finger motion in a similar manner to a gun, implying that he was going to continue the Red Hood legacy and possibly inferring he might become the Joker later on.

### DC Animated Universe

Joker appeared in Batman: The Animated Series which debuted in 1992, the Joker being voiced by Mark Hamill. It is revealed he was once a hitman for mobster Sal Valestra. His name is being mentioned is Jack Napier but later episodes offer the notion that it is merely an alias. The Joker's motivation seems to stem from an obsession with antagonizing Batman, though a few episodes portray him as an egomaniac out to immortalize himself and his criminal career. He also appears in The New Adventures of Batman and the Batman/Superman crossover episode

    World's Finest where Joker travels to Metropolis and attempts to kill Superman in exchange for $1 billion from Lex Luthor. In the Justice League episode "Wild Cards", he plans a multitude of bombs across Las Vegas and televises the Justice League's attempts to find and disarm them in a mockery of reality television. To add drama to the broadcast, he pits the League against the Royal Flush Gang, which in this version consists of five superpowered teens. The bombs turn out to be a ruse to attract viewership so Ace, a psychic, can render everyone watching the broadcast insane. The plan backfires when, during a fight with Batman, Ace's control collar is removed and she turns her powers on the Joker himself.

### Batman Beyond

In Batman Beyond, set 40 years in the future of the DC Animated Universe, the Joker has not been seen in several decades. There are now street gangs known as Jokerz, some of whom emulate his appearance and others who simply use some sort of clown motif. In the episode "Joyride" a skeleton wearing the Joker's suit is seen in a cave where the Jokerz go for initiation.

The Joker appears in *Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker,*both in flashback sequences and the present. It is revealed that the Joker eventually recovers and continues to be a thorn in Batman's side, until one night he kidnaps

    Tim Drake the second Robin and over the course of three weeks, he tortures and alters the boy to become his own twisted "son". Attempting to turn Tim against Batman, the Joker however instead killed by Tim when he tries to have him kill an injured Batman. Batman and Batgirl, in conjuction with Commissioner James Gordon, hide the corpse beneath Arkham Asylum.

40 years later, the Joker returns to Gotham and is determined to wreck havoc on the city continues into the future as the clown apparently returns alive, unchanged, however it is revealed that this isn't Joker in the flesh but in fact Tim Drake whom was forcefully implanted with a chip containing the Joker's personality and DNA during his brief tensure as his "son" which slowly began rewriting Tim into a clone of the Joker. Terry McGinnis, the current Batman, eventually defeats Joker by frying the chip with the Joker's own Joy Buzzer thus returning Tim to normal.

### The Batman

A different interpretion of the Joker in this cartoon is portrayed and voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. Joker is more wild and unkempt, sporting a purple and yellow straightjacket, fingerless gloves, bare feet, wild green hair and

    red eyes. The Joker also moves and fights with a monkey kung-fu like style, using his feet at dexterously as his hands, and often hangs from the walls and ceilings. His appearance becomes somewhat refined later in the series, where he adopts the more traditional garb of a purple suit and spats, but he still has wild hair and wears no shoes, save one episode. He employs his signature Joker Venom in the form of laughing gas as well as other weapons such as his electric joy buzzer, razor sharp playing cards, acid-squirting flowers, spring-loaded boxing glove, grenades with smiley faces, explosives shaped like Jack N' The Boxes and explosive pies. In the movie, he was transformed into a vampire with paler clothes, claws, fangs and supernatural abilities.

### Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Joker appears in episodes "Deep Cover for Batman" and "Game Over for Owlman!" voiced by Jeff Bennett. A heroic counterpart of the Joker called the Red Hood appears and is shown to be an extremely capable fighter, able to hold his own against multiple members of the Injustice Syndicate. In addition, he wields projectile weapons like spades and like Joker, he was disfigured when falling into a vat of chemicals. His sanity is said to be "Bent, but no broken" then he tries to rally his world's heroes which are alternative versions of villains against the Injustice Syndicate, but they are defeated. In "Game Over for Owlman!", his appearance and personality is very similar to the Silver Age version, with him teaming up with Batman in order to stop Owlman however goes back to his evil roots in the end. He has an arsenal of joke and comedy weapons including his laughing gas, a trick "BANG!" gun, pocket-sized bazooka, acid-squirting flower, water can, punching glove gun, bombs, whoopie cushions, pogo-sticks, razor playing cards, joy buzzers, bolo-type streamers, hammers and sharp metal chickens.

### Young Justice

Joker appears in the episode "Revelations" voiced by Brent Spiner. He is a member of the Injustice League, and takes part in their plan to hold the world hostage using Poison Ivy's plants by actually manipulating the plants. He is mostly absent from the Injustice League's fight with Young Justice until Ivy's plant creature is destroyed, whereafter he attacks Robin. When the Injustice League is surrounded by the JLA and Young Justice League teams, Joker manipulates the plants into a suicide assault, releasing Joker Venom spores into the air before being knocked out by Batman. The spores are absorbed by Doctor Fate, and no one is actually killed.

### Batman (1989)

The Joker is portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1989 film Batman in a very popular and well received version of the character. In the film, Joker is a gangster named Jack Napier who is disfigured when he falls into a vat of chemicals during a confrontation with Batman. His trademark grin is the result of a botched attempt at plastic surgery. Driven insane by his reflection, he launches a crime wave designed to "outdo" Batman, who he feels is getting too much press. While he was simply a cold-blooded criminal as Jack Napier, as the Joker he describes himself as an "Homicidal Artist" who makes "art" by killing people. When Bruce Wayne confronts the Joker, he later recognizes him as the mugger who murdered his parents. At the end of the film, the Joker falls to his death.

### The Dark Knight

In 2008's The Dark Knight, the Joker is portrayed by Heath Ledger and was described as a psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy. He was introduced as a bank robber targeting mob banks, but when hired to kill Batman, he reveals his desire to upset social order and comes to define himself by his struggle with Batman. Unlike most incarnations, where his appearance is a result of chemical bleaching, the Joker sports a Glasgow smile, and accentuates it through unevenly applied white, black and red makeup, he also has faded green hair. Accordingly, he still leaves his victims with post-mortem smiles throughout the film, but with the use of a knife and makeup rather than chemical manipulation. During the course of the film, he tells conflicting stories about how he acquired his scars, which involve child abuse and self-mutilation. He mostly eschews gas-based weapons common to the character in favor for knives, firearms and an array of explosive devices.

### DC Extended Universe

Jared Leto plays as the Joker in the DC Extended Universe, making his debut in the 2016 film Suicide Squad. The Joker is Gotham's most powerful crime lord and also manipulated his psychiatrist Dr. Harleen Quinzel into falling in love with him during his time as a patient in Arkham Asylum and eventually convinces her to free him, and subsequently gives her electroshock therapy. The Joker then takes her to the Ace Chemicals plant, and Quinzel voluntarily jumps into the chemicals that created her lover, bleaching her skin and completing her transformation into Harley Quinn. At some point, the Joker kills the vigilante Batman's partner, Robin, with Harley's help which leads to her capture and becoming a member of the Suicide Squad. The Joker becomes depressed without Harley and so plans to rescue her; torturing one of Amanda Waller's security officers to lead him to the facility where the nano bombs were controlled and manufactured, so the Joker forces one of the scientists into disabling Harley's bomb. The Joker steals one of Waller's helicopters and attempted to save Harley however the chopper is shot down but the Joker survives the crash and frees Harley from her cell at Belle Reve prison.