Joker Express

**"Joker Express"** is the sixth episode of the fifth season of *The Batman* and the fifty-eighth episode overall.

## Synopsis

Gotham citizens are bursting into hysterical laughter and dumping their stolen goods into the river, putting Batman, Robin and Batgirl onto the trail of The Joker, who is using a steam train to commit his new crime wave.

## Plot

A subway train rushes by in Gotham City one fine morning. In the Gotham National Bank, an old woman bank teller is putting away bags of money into the vault. A friendly security guard greets her, but the woman lets out a giggle. She excuses herself and walks into the vault. The woman begins to laugh insanely inside the vault. The guard looks inside, only to be hit by a runaway money cart the old lady is riding. The guard yells to her, but the woman simply turns around to expose an insane expression on her face. The lady rides around the bank, throwing money in the air aimlessly.

The crazy lady rides out of the bank on the cart, still laughing. Suddenly, Batman arrives to stop the cart. The woman continues to laugh, grabs two sacks of money, and begins to run. She is again stopped by Robin. The lady runs around the boy and is then stopped by Batgirl. The lady, still not caught, is finally taken down by a bola from Batgirl.

Batman walks over to the lady, still laughing hysterically, and examines her. Obviously the work of the Joker. Batman turns around to find that the woman is not the only one laughing and stealing. All over town, there are dozens of robberies being perpetrated by crazily laughing citizens.

That night, Batman is standing on the GCPD building's roof with James Gordon. Batman tells Gordon of his attempts to stop all the robberies, but they were too scattered. There was no obvious pattern. Gordon explains that he had his men try to stop the robberies themselves, too. Gordon tells Batman that those who did the robberies explained that they have no idea why they did it or how they were hypnotized. None of the victims have anything in common.

In the alleyway below, Robin and Batgirl are waiting for their leader to finish his conversation with Gordon. Their conversation is interrupted when Batgirl randomly begins to chuckle. Robin realizes with horror that she, too, has become infected.

An alarm begins to sound below. Both Batman and Gordon look to see the jewelry store under attack with Batgirl and Robin in pursuit. But, unknown to Batman, is that Robin is the one in pursuit of the infected Batgirl.

Robin and Batgirl have a brief dual with Batgirl being the victorious one. The battle ends with Robin hanging on to his Batrope on the edge of a bridge. Batgirl takes out her sharp Batarang and prepares to cut the rope and Robin's life.

Before she gets the chance to kill the sidekick, Batman arrives and scolds her. Batgirl tries to attack the hero, but he is too quick. He takes out an antidote canister from his utility belt and sprays Batgirl in the face. Instantly, the girl stops attacking and falls to the floor. Robin ascends back to the top of the bridge to regroup with Batman.

Batgirl, now fully recovered, does not remember her robbery. Batman has to tell her what happened. Batgirl looks at her stolen jewelry and states she doesn't even like pearls. The Dark Knight asks the girl if she remembers where she was taking the jewelry. She does not but looks into the distance and states she might know, though.

In the river the bridge goes over, the Joker is sitting on a boat with Punch and Judy watching laughing robbers throw their stolen goods onto the villains' boat. Joker then notices the three heroes arriving in the distance. He tells his henchmen to drive away. As the heroes arrive, the Joker and his minions have escaped in their speed boat.

The next day, Bruce and Dick are in their civilian clothes. The two are casually following Barbara to see how she became infected by the Joker. Dick constantly complains, stating how they watched Barbara pick out purses for two hours.

The girl goes onto the train. Bruce recalls how Barbara always takes the train to college. The men go to the train right as she does. Midway through their trip, the lights on the vehicle begin to flicker. Everyone on the train is surprised by it.

That night in the Gotham Museum, there are three more giggling robbers. The thieves are none other than hypnotized Bruce, Dick, and Barbara.

In the Batcave later, the heroes watch a news show detailing Wayne's hypnosis and robberies. Alfred walks in, saying how lucky the police are for getting away with such little injuries.

Batman, continuing watching the report, stops the video and zooms in on some robbers in the picture of them throwing valuables in the Gotham East Canal Bridge: the woman with the funny hat, the boy with piercing, the mean old man. They were all on the train and now they are hypnotized. That's how the Joker is doing it. Robin asks how the Joker can hypnotize someone with a train. Wayne recalls the lights flickering and how they were all put into a trance afterwards. The lights are the key.

On the train again, the lights begin to flicker on the passengers. Joker, who is in the conductor's seat, begins to soothe his victims over the loud speaker. The light flickering immediately stop thanks to one of Batman's gadgets. The heroes are on the train, too. The emergency lights go on, giving a dim red look to all the cars. Luckily, no one was fully hypnotized.

In the conductor's car, Batman arrives and punches the Joker into the window. The Joker punches the hero back with a boxing glove gadget. Joker hands the Dark Knight over to Punch and Judy to fight for him.

A fight erupts, and Batgirl and Robin rush to assist Batman. As soon as Punch and Judy are defeated,the heroes notice the Joker back in the conductor's seat. He presses a button that detaches his car from the one his henchmen and the heroes are in. He takes one path and the other cars take another. The Joker has gotten away again.

The heroes have more problems though. The car they are in is headed for a dead end, and they have the car with the passengers! Batman, quickly thinking, throws a freeze grenade under the train, freezing the wheels completely. Everyone is saved, but they still need to get the Joker.

On foot, the heroes trace Joker's railway. They stumble upon an old coal mine. Batman explains that was Gotham's main source of industry in the 1800s: coal. There's abandoned mines like this one all over Gotham.

Joker's voice is heard taunting the heroes. Suddenly, the rail beneath them gives out. All three heroes land in a minecart that immediately takes off. Along the ride, cardboard cutouts of Joker begin to pop up to scare and shoot the riders. Batman cuts all of them down with Batarangs.

Eventually, as soon as the ride stops, the Batman, Robin, and Batgirl are blasted with a weird version of Joker gas, making them unconscious. Joker stands over their sleeping bodies with pride.

When the heroes wake up, the find themselves in a cage without their utility belts. Joker laughs, holding all their gadgets in his hand. The villain stands over a painted train that resembles him. The train is pointed at none other than the three heroes.

Joker explains that killing them with a train would be too cliché. It's only there to help him with his escape. His real plan, as he shows, is that he rigged all of the abandoned coal mines all over Gotham with dynamite. With one click of the button, all of Gotham will be sucked into the ground below. Joker hops onto his train and departs, leaving the heroes to be killed by the soon to be destroyed Gotham.

Lucky for the Dark Knight and his sidekicks, Batman always carries an emergency lock pick deep in his costume. He frees them instantly. Batman looks at the GPS on his wrist gauntlet. Robin says it's no use. They can't get back to the surface by digging. Batman is not so defeated. He takes a pile of Joker's primed dynamite.

In the Batcave, Alfred is busy sweeping little pieces of dust off the floor. The wall to the Batcave explodes, exposing Batman. Alfred is not surprised. Batman hops into the Batmobile and drives off through the new entrance he made. Alfred continues to sweep nonchalantly.

Batman drives by the sidekicks back in the coal mines in the Batmobile. He quickly tells them to get in. They do so and the car blasts off after the Joker's train.

The Joker, trying to get outside the city limits before he explodes all of Gotham, is quickly making his escape. However, the Batmobile is quicker. Just three miles away from the city limits, the Batmobile arrives right behind Joker's train. The heroes jump on and end up in the cart containing all of the stolen goods. Batman notices their utility belts and grabs them.

Joker, knowing that he cannot escape with the stolen goods now that Batman's there, throws a grenade that breaks the connection between his car and the stolen goods' car. Batman is undeterred and shoots his Batrope between his car and the Joker's. He tells his sidekicks to cover him;the Dark Knight's going to tightrope between two trains.

The Joker, noticing Batman's circus act, uses his acid flower to try and burn the Batrope. The kids, like they were told to, hit the Joker with Batarangs in time to stop him in his tracks. Batman, running out of time because of the acid that did get on the rope, jumps and finally makes it onto Joker's train.

The hero and villain begin to fight. Batman manages to get the detonator from Joker, but the madman takes a nearby shovel and beats Batman in the face with it.

As the train passes the city limits, Joker takes his detonator from the dazed hero and clicks the button several times. However, the city still stands. Batman gets up and tells Joker that he can't detonate anything without the battery. The hero holds up the stolen battery from the detonator that he took out during their scuffle. Batman beats Joker to the ground and stops the train. The madman is defeated.

Back in the Batcave, the three heroes look at the gigantic hole in the wall Batman created getting the Batmobile. Batgirl comments that Batman should expand the Batcave. Maybe Batgirl can have her own Batgirlcave. Robin, frustrated, states he should have his own cave. Batman stops the yelling by shooting down any idea of any sidekick having their own cave. Batgirl, not upset, says that she's done being the hero for the day. She's going shopping again and offers Robin to come saying there is a handbag sale. Grayson laughs and calls Barbara a regular joker.

## Cast/Characters

* Rino Romano as Bruce Wayne/The Batman
* Evan Sabara as Dick Grayson/Robin
* Danielle Judovits as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl
* Alastair Duncan as Alfred Pennyworth
* Kevin Michael Richardson as The Joker
* Mitch Pileggi as James Gordon
* Monica Richardson as Harriet
* Jim Meskimen as Chuck
* Punch and Judy
* Becky
* Ralph

## Events

- Character debuts:

* Harriet Potter
* Chuck
* Ralph

- Barbara is confirmed to now be in college.

## Trivia

* The flickering lights the Joker made resemble the *Deadlights* from Stephen King’s *IT.*
* Barbara admits that she hates pearls.
* Harley Quinn does not appear at all despite being introduced in *Two of a Kind* which was before this episode making this the only time she doesn't appear with Joker after her introduction.
* The character that bears reseblance to Glen Murakami makes a cameo yet again.
* Unlike the previous episode,this one uses the new sound for the bat-transition.
* After what happened in *The Breakout*, Batman is now equipped with a key under his gauntlet that allows him to unlock cages.
* Batman using caves to find the Batcave happened previously in *The Batman vs. Dracula*.

## Errors

* When the guards catch Bruce, his eyes are black.
* When Batman throws Batarangs at Joker's stands, they do not make their whirring sound.
* When Joker presses the detonator, his hand has night colors. Eyes error.Night colors.