Jerome Fleck

Joker (by Murray Franklin)

Zachary Trumble (Adoptive Uncle)

Jeremiah Fleck (Twin brother)

Gelos (Avatar of)

**Jerome Arthur Fleck,** also known as Jerome Arthur Valeska (as Fleck is an Americanized reading of Valeska), was a criminal born the late 1930s to Paul Cicero and an unknown mother, along with his twin brother Jeremiah Cyrus Fleck. He & his brother were adopted by Lila Fleck after she entered a relationship with Paul Cicero. After killing Murray Franklin on the Murray Show, Jerome dons the name **Joker** & becomes a notorious criminal in Gotham City. Eventually Jerome would die & be resurrected, and then die once again. Before his second death, he would be assisted in manufacturing a gas that would transmit his consciousness to whoever inhales it. He would send a Jack-in-the-box to his brother before his death, and once the gas was inhaled, the consciousness of Jerome was fused with Jeremiah Fleck. Eventually Jeremiah would be come to be known as The Criminal Joker, and would be mentally connected to the later Clown & Comedian Jokers.

## Biography

#### Early Life

Jerome Arthur Fleck was born in the late 1930s along with his twin brother Jeremiah Cyrus Fleck to Paul Cicero & an unknown mother. When he was a toddler, his father would marry a woman named Lila Penny Fleck. Lila would treat both Jerome & Jeremiah as her own sons. His father was a violent and wrathful man who would consciously physically assault both his wife as well as his sons. His father would tell him after these episodes of abuse that the world didn't care about him & that it was better to acknowledge this instead of having false hope. Lila would tell Jerome to just be happy and began to call him "Happy" as a nickname. Jerome would develop a disorder that causes him to laugh uncontrollably in response to stress that he would carry into adulthood. On a particularly bad case of abuse, Jerome was tied up to a radiator by his father while his brother Jeremiah watched in horror. Jeremiah would grab a gun hidden in his father's mattress and use it to take revenge on his father. Upon being shot, Paul Cicero would be blinded by the bullet but still stayed alive. The police would eventually be called & Cicero loses custody of his sons while Lila gets sent to Arkham Asylum.

Jerome & Jeremiah were both sent to live with their uncle, Zachary Trumble, while Lila was in Arkham Asylum. His uncle would stick Jerome's hand into a bowl of boiling chicken stock as a punishment for stealing a snickerdoodle. Jerome would adopt some traits of his abusive father, and constantly scare & abuse his brother, not knowing how to properly show his affection. Once leaving Arkham Asylum, Lila adopts Jerome & Jeremiah again, but Jeremiah would be sent to St. Ignatius after telling his mother that Jerome continued with the abuse. Jerome would continue to live with Lila, and eventually lose all recollection of his abuse from his father, and even forget that Lila wasn't his biological mother. Lila would fabricate a past for him, and make the claim that his father was the captain of a ship that sank at sea, named Sven Karlsen. Lila would also take up a career as a snake charmer and join Haly's Circus. Paul Cicero would later also join the circus as a blind fortuneteller, but he would never reveal his parentage to his son. While at the circus, Jerome would gain skills in being a party clown, as well as gain a desire to become a stand-up comedian, even though he lacked the comedic talent to do so. As a child, Jerome also found himself obsessed with the Murray Franklin Show, viewing Murray Franklin as a father figure.

## Composited Characters

Arthur Fleck (2019 Joker Film)

Jerome Valeska (Gotham Television Series)