Joker

[Source]

"*If they're going to play with the Joker, they'd better be prepared to deal from the bottom of the deck!*"
―Joker[src]
**The Joker**, born **Jack Napier**, was a human comedian and criminal who served various criminal empires throughout his storied career and also formed his own lawbreaking group called the Red Hood Gang as well as the famous Joker Gang.

## Biography

### Early life

The man who who would become known as the Joker was born Jack Napier on August 16, 1951. Details of his childhood were scarcely known, but Napier himself claimed that he moved around a lot with his siblings. Sometime later, he was married and attempted to pursue his dream of being an actor as well as a stand-up comedian, though both failed miserably. He was later hired as an engineer at the Ace Chemical plant, but was soon fired.

Living in a rundown tenement on the far side of Gotham, Napier became an enforcer for the mob because they afforded him a chance at a decent sum of money. At one point early on, he and Bruce Wayne caught a glimpse of each other. He was later hired to target the businessman Carl Beaumont after his mob bosses discovered Bane had embezzled from them. Andrea Beaumont returned home from grocery shopping, only to see the criminal emerging from the house, and silently walked past her. She rushed inside to find her father murdered in cold blood.

### Criminal career

#### Red Hood

Years later, Napier became the Red Hood, criminal leader of the Red Hood Gang. In debt to the mob and desperate to support his pregnant wife, Jeannie, Red Hood staged their first robbery at the Ace Chemical Plant, where he was formerly employed. During the heist a shootout ensued between Red Hood's gang and the Gotham Police which lead to an intervention from Batman. Leaping in front of him, Red Hood attempted to shoot the Caped Crusader, but the bullet was ricocheted through his cheeks. In a panic, Napier lost his balance, and fell off a catwalk and into a drainage vat of chemical waste that washed him out into the river.

Believing Napier to be dead, the mob hired a corrupt police officer to take his wife out for his failure to produce the money. He succeeded, and Napier's wife, along with their unborn baby, burned to death in a alleged "accidental" electric fire. Upon discovering this, the crook's already fragile mind and sadistic nature fully surfaced and he began a brief search for the corrupt cop who killed his wife. Driven partially insane from the experience, the criminal decided to pattern himself after the playing cards Joker character that the chemicals were used to create and vowed to show the world the triumph of his comic genius.

#### Joker

Soon after his recreation and new name, the Joker quickly became a noted criminal entity in Gotham's criminal underground. He did this when he brazenly challenged Gotham's underworld and police department by announcing over the radio that he would kill three of Gotham's most prominent citizens: Henry Claridge, Judge Drake and Jay Wilde. Batman investigated the crimes and were startled to find the victims' bodies stricken with a macabre perpetual grin upon their faces. The Joker attempted to murder Batman with the same deadly Joker venom that he used on his other victims, but the Dark Knight stopped him and the Joker went to prison.

The Joker did not stay in prison very long however. He soon escaped via an explosive capsule concealed in a molar, and continued his never-ending crime spree.

## Personality and traits

"*You of all people should know there's plenty wrong with me.*"
―Joker[src]
The Joker was demonstrated to be a sociopath, even prior to his chemical bath. He harbored little remorse regarding any murders he committed under Sal Valestra's gang, and also intended to start his own criminal gang. In addition, one of the photographs of Joker pre-chemical bath that existed had him holding a cigarette, implying that, at least pre-transformation, he had been a cigarette smoker.

After being dunked into a chemical bath, his mental instability increased, making him among the most dangerous criminals in Gotham, attempting to commit murder all for the sake of jokes. He had little regard for his own life and safety, even laughing in instances where his own death was seemingly inevitable, as evidenced by his reaction when the fairgrounds were exploding around him alongside the Phantasm's preparations to kill him, as well as his reaction when he saw, during a failed evacuation from the doomed LexWing, his explosive marbles rolling towards him.

Once, he even deliberately aimed a gun turret on an airplane he planned to make an escape in on the nuclear bomb he had set to detonate, fully acknowledging that he would most likely die from the bomb being set off just to ensure Batman could not disarm the bomb. His lack of regard for his survival was such that, after Batman was about to kill Joker in anger for the torture of Helena Wayne, Joker referred to the act of Batman killing him as "that kind of fun" when calling Batman out by stating he should have done it years ago. When the returned Joker believed that he finally was about to eliminate Bruce once and for all, he admitted that he despised Bruce and actually "hated his guts."

Despite his apparent insanity, the Joker was also shown to be quite intelligent, which was best demonstrated with the Phantasm murders, where he very quickly deduced the Phantasm's true identity, Andrea Beaumont, just from hearing her name on a secretary's announcement, knowing it couldn't have been her father as he had personally made sure he was dead from his prior life as a mob hitman. Other demonstrations of his intelligence included his deliberately stealing the Laughing Dragon due to not only deducing Superman's fatal weakness to kryptonite, but also the fact that the infamous heirloom was made out of the material, and when he deliberately chose to forego his usual trademark gimmicks for his crimes, and even sent a body double to the Iceberg Lounge while he went to rob the U.S. Mint of cash specifically to avoid having Batman track him down. Also, when the Injustice Gang managed to capture Batman, he repeatedly insisted that they kill Batman when they had the chance due to realizing just how much of a threat he posed to their plans.

Even after his miraculous return from seemingly certain death in c. 2008, his intelligence hadn't died down, as evidenced by how he managed to deduce the true identity of the new Batman, as well as anticipating that the new Batman would deduce that his sister Helena was in on the Joker's schemes. He also anticipated that Bruce Wayne had "monkey-wired" the new Batman and was monitoring everything they were saying at that point, even implying he was hoping for this in order to expose the truth to his old archnemesis that Helena was literally under Joker's control via a Cadmus chip.

The only thing equal to Joker's mental instability was his massive ego. He perceived himself as the greatest comedian in the world and the greatest nemesis of the Batman, and would not hesitate to destroy anyone who claimed or demonstrated otherwise. One example of this hubris was when he was booted out of a comedy show and got back at the ones responsible by hypnotizing them into becoming super villains in order to cement himself as the "funniest man in all of Gotham", only to end a laughingstock afterwards

Another blow to his pride was when he was made to believe that he had inherited a massive fortune from a hated rival of his, only to learn that a majority of it was fake and it was a trick to get the last laugh on the Clown Prince, enraging the Joker beyond words. Another time was when Harley Quinn managed to successfully capture Batman so that she and Joker could truly live happily together, but Joker saw this as an insult to his profession and assaulted Harley, going as far as to push her out of a window to her possible death. Batman then admitted that he tricked Harley into calling the Joker because he knew that his ego would never allow another to kill Batman, further damaging Joker's pride. Bruce Wayne would later reference this character trait of Joker's when advising the new Batman on how to beat Joker by referring to him as being "vain" and "loving to talk."

Owing to his more clown-like appearance, he generally used more comedy-based elements in his crimes and plans. As such, he also got angry whenever someone "explains the joke" to him viewing it as not a joke at all. This resulted in him nearly killing Harley Quinn when she explained how she modified the plan for Joker in an attempt to help him kill Batman (alongside the above mentioned massive ego). Likewise, he also tended to use abandoned or otherwise defunct toy/candy factories or warehouses with some sort of comedy/clown theme as hideouts, like Laffco Toy Factory, the defunct World of the Future Fair fairgrounds, Funnibone Shipping, and the Jolly Jack Candy Factory.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

**Pain Resistance**: Because of Joker's constant use of chemicals, he built up an unusually large resistance to pain.

**Toxin Immunity**: Because of his constant use of chemicals, Joker had virtual immunity to poisons and most drugs, except in massive doses.

### Abilities

* **Genius-level Intellect**: The Joker was also very skilled in the fields of chemistry, genetics, and nuclear engineering. He also seemed capable of mastering whatever he put his mind to when he wanted to. He was also highly computer literate.

* **Skilled Combatant**: Although he paled in comparison to any real fighter like those of the Batman Family, the Joker had frequently proven himself to be an excellent hand-to-hand combatant. His ability to withstand seemingly any amount of pain, and the agility granted him by his insanity and willpower made him a fearsome physical foe. He fought nearly completely unpredictably, and always had tricks up his sleeves for if he was losing. There were many times where he was shown as being able to hold his own in hand-to-hand combat against Batman himself.

* **Bilingual**: The Joker spoke fluent English as well as some Spanish, though he claimed that he flunked Spanish in High School.

### Weaknesses

**Mental Illness**: The Joker was highly mentally unstable, which at times caused him to make bad decisions that put his own well-being in jeopardy.