The Joker

   Creation

Origin

Pre-Joker

 

According to BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #7 the Joker was a master at deactivating even the toughest security systems, but alas this was no life for him. What is the point of using a gift such as this if there is no thrill or chase involved? So, he quits using his skill and trips the alarms on purpose to draw the cops’ attention. Many fans claim that since Batman Confidential is a complete retalling of Batman's history, and because of Crisis on Infinite Worlds nullifying DC's pre-1980s history, that this version of the Joker's history trumps the rest and that the Joker's past as the Red Hood is no longer canon to the present universe, making Jason Todd the original Red Hood.

Also, in Batman: Legends on the Dark Knight #50 a handsome man with low self esteem named Melvin Reipan claims to be the Joker’s cousin. The Joker does not deny this, but nor will he allow this man to call him by what is supposedly his birth name. Melvin occasionally manages to say, “Ja—err I mean Joker” hinting on the fact that Joker’s name might be Jack; like in the (1989) movie, (B:TAS) cartoons or in Batman Confidential. It may also be telling you that the character from the Batman/Planetary crossover “Night on Earth” is using Joker’s original name, Jasper. The Joker also has a tendency to refer to himself as Joseph so he can make the joke, “My name is Joseph Kerr aka Joe Kerr” and in few occasions pre-Joker, he is called Joe.

Batman Confidential 7-12 show the Joker as having met Harley prior to becoming the Joker, and removes both the wife and Red Hood entirely from the story. Jack is an assassin from out-of-town who feels like all the inspiration has gone out of his life. He meets Harley in a bar who gives him a few suggestions, not knowing of his ill intent. Jack is already a borderline nutcase, but when he sees Batman for the very first time, something inside him snaps. Life has become worth living and the light is back in his life. His sudden obsession with getting Batman's attention is like love at first sight . Jack creates a series of artistic murders, leaving behind clues and keeping a watchful eye out for Batman. Batman gets irate after Jack stabs his girlfriend and actually puts a hit out on the Joker, which he tries to convince himself is the right thing to do because it will save lives, but in the end, he goes to rescue the Joker from the men he handed him over to, who had decided to torture Jack in a chemical plant. Jack fights with his captives and two of them land in an empty tank. Batman arrives too late; the dying thug shoots the unit above him and Jack is showered in green. At first he contemplates drowning, but then his desire to see Batman again makes him escape through a drainage system. Batman sees this from above and goes to look for him. 
 
Many writers of Batman have chosen to discard his origin altogether, and simply portray him as man who wants  to watch the world burn.  This aspect was certainly used in the film The Dark Knight, in which Heath Ledger delivered a character defining portrayal of the infamous Clown Prince Of Crime.

The Joker's Criminal Career

Throughout his criminal career the Joker has committed hundreds of crimes ranging from nonsensical and bizarre to destructive and deadly, making him a highly unpredictable foe. Although he is said to be constantly reinventing his personality, the Joker is typically an egotist as well as a nihilist. He sees no value to human life and therefore his murders are always part of a macabre joke, the punch-line understood only by The Joker.     

Paralyzing Barbara Gordon

 
any of the Joker's crimes have left a deep impact on Batman. The first was in "The Killing Joke," when he paralyzed Batgirl. The Joker knocked on the Gordons's door and when she opened the door, he shot her and the bullet hit her spine paralyzing her. As a result of this shooting, Batgirl became the Oracle   The Joker proceeded to kidnap James Gordon and tortured him to prove that “one bad day can turn anyone into me!” Batman rescued Gordon and the Joker willingly returned to Arkham Asylum.

In A Death in the Family, the Joker kills the second Robin, Jason Todd. Jason was searching for his mother to discover that she was being blackmailed by the Joker. He tries to rescue her but fails and is beaten badly by the Joker with a crow bar. The Joker then blows up the warehouse they were in and Jason is killed before Batman could rescue him. The outcome of which was the result of a public vote.

A Death In The Family

In The Joker: Devil's Advocate, the Joker is falsely accused of committing a murder and is put on trial. The Joker pleads guilty and Batman believes that the Joker did not commit these crimes because it was uncharacteristic. Batman eventually succeeds in finding the real killer and proves that the Joker was framed.

In Joker: Last Laugh, the Joker finds out he is infected with a terminal brain tumor and plans a big crime spree to make sure he goes out with a bang. He uses a venom to "jokerize" super villains locked up in the Slab, making them insane as well as bear a physical resemblance to him. They escape and proceed to wreck havoc across the world. The Joker also tries to get Harley pregnant before he dies. The U.S. declares war on the Joker under the orders of President Lex Luthor. Later Black Canary discovers the Joker’s CAT scan was modified to look like he was dying. Eventually Nightwing faces the Joker one on one with Joker's intention to kill the first Robin before he dies. Nightwing defeats him and he's sent to jail.

During No Man's Land, the Joker murders Sarah Essen Gordon, wife of James Gordon. In the end he surrenders to Batman and Gordon points his gun at the Joker, however ends up only shooting him in the knee. The Joker is at first distraught that he may never walk again, until he realizes that Gordon was just avenging his daughter's paralysis. He interprets it as a joke and laughs uncontrollably exclaiming, "Good one, Commissioner!"

At the end of Infinite Crisis, the Joker kills Alex Luthor.

In Emperor Joker, Mr. Mxyzptlk pays The Joker a visit in the slab in New York. Bored of his pranks being ruined, Mxyzptlk decides to give less than 1% of his powers to Joker to see the havoc he would cause, but Joker capatilized on his insanity and tricked Mxyzptlk and gained 99% of his powers and remakes the the universe in his image. He replaces the JLA with his Joker League of Anarchy, and makes original JLA into pathetic versions of themselves.

In Batman R.I.P., the Joker underwent electroshock therapy after surviving a close-range gunshot to the head. He decided to strip himself of his past, starting with the deaths of all his former henchmen & every person he met in the hospital ward; a baptism of blood. He's started wearing a completely different costume consisting of a sleeveless surgeon jacket & long hospital gloves, going for a Doctor Death look, but he's kept his purple pinstripe pants.

Harley Quinn

Vital Statistics:

Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 160 lbs (73 kg)
Hair: Green
Eyes: Green
Unusual Physical Characeristics: The Joker's facial nerves are paralyzed, which makes him appear as if he is persistently grinning, an expression called a "rictus grin." His green hair and nails, his rouge-red lips, and his chalk-white skin are all directly due to chemical exposure. The Joker's face is also damaged from massive scarring in the shape of a hideous smile.

The Abilities Of The Joker

• Pain Resistance
• Tainted Blood
• Joker Venom Immunity

The Joker is immune to fear as he does not understand the concept and sees everything as a joke. He also has an immunity to poison due to prolonged exposure to chemicals, plus incredibly high pain tolerance. The Scarecrow's fear gas has no effect on him, and Visionary failed to hypnotize him into a state of fear in Birds of Prey #121. He and Poison Ivy have shown immunity to each others attacks.  In Birds of Prey #16, the Joker was in a leg cast, but jumbled about as if it was not even there. He showed no symptoms of pain after a couple of  batarangs slit his mouth in Batman Confidential. Most of the time, he seems to enjoy pain, provoking others to take a swing at him, so he may with some truth be describd as a sadomasochist. Bullets seem to do little more than slow him down or put him out of commission temporarily. On several occasions, he has been known to survive explosions and crashes. His bones heal quickly, and it has been hinted in a few comics that he does not physically age.

The Joker is a genius inventor and chemist. Using a seemingly laughable but actually highly dangerous arsenal of comedy-themed weapons, such as his patented laughing gas, a bang-labeled spear-gun, explosive whoopie-cushions, an acid-squirting flower, a high-voltage joy buzzer, razor-sharp cards, poisonous pies,acid spraying water gun, and exploding cigars. he has managed to create an MO which fits his macabre appearance. The Joker is immune to his own venom as well as various similar toxins.The Joker is an excellant marksman;as shown in the story arc 'Lovers and Madmen'. He had made accurate headshots on his victims and never missed once, he also demonstrated his accuracy to some people so he would get hired for his skills by throwing a deck of playing cards in the air and shot a jack and both joker cards,and also shot the ropes of hostages he had hanging from a building to distract Batman. The Joker has occasionally demonstrated above average hand to hand combat, having caught Batman of guard with a kick on some occasions. He has used non comedy themed weapons such as :guns, knives,explosives,and even a pencil.

In “A Clown at Midnight” and again in Batman 663, there is a panel in which the Joker is sitting in a cell at Arkham waiting for the Dark Knight’s arrival. As he waits, a mosquito lands on his unnaturally pale arms and attempts to suck his blood. The insect dies quickly instead, for the Joker's bloodstream acts like a poison, killing off its unknowing prey.

The Joker does not possess any outright super-human powers; however, he does show several inhuman abilities. The Arkham Asylum story arc suggests that he is "super-sane;" this means that he sees how the universe really is, without any personal illusions, and that his entire personality can alter to fit the circumstances, making him excellent at impersonating and lying as he truly believes what he says. He has the great strength that madmen are often said to have, and is quite agile. And, like so many comic-book characters, the Joker always has the habit of cheating death. People have repeatedly assumed he is dead, only for him to rise up again and wreak havoc once more.

The Joker also has the tendency to break the fourth wall and seems to have a heightened sense of awareness that he is a comic book character. He is the only character to talk directly to the reader and has the ability to do things such as "turn" the comic page or handle his own word balloons. The Joker also seems to know that he exists as Batman's perfect foil. In "Going Sane" (in Legends of the Dark Knight #65-68), the Joker, thinking that he has killed Batman, figures there is no point to him being the Joker anymore and gets plastic surgery and attempts to lead a normal, sane life. However, upon discovering that Batman is still alive, he reverts to insanity and continues his life as a mass murderer.

Regardless of whether he is insane or faking insanity, his intelligence is obvious and his malevolence unmatched. The villains of Arkham fear and sometimes take orders from him and those who do not know any better and shrug him off as a clown soon discover him to be a force to be reckoned with. He has a habit of pushing his authority and does not always use henchmen to enforce it. Some notable weight-pushing, leadership, and rogue bossing can be found in Arkham Asylum: ASHoSE, Salvation Run, Batman R.I.P., Emperor Joker, & Batman: Gotham Knights.

The Sexuality- Or Lack There of- Of The Joker

The Joker is a complex man and so is his sexuality. Most do not even consider his sexuality because he is a psychopath, and psychopaths have not demonstrated the capacity to love. We, the comic readers, are still uncertain of the Joker's true feelings. However, this clown prince has been alive since 1940 and much has happened.

Homosexuality: In The Dark Knight Returns, the Joker was written as a homosexual, same for Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. A former henchman Batman once interrogated told him that the Joker broke his heart. In Batman Cacophony, the Joker started to undress after a man gave him a suitcase full of cash. When he took off, the Joker said, "Seduced and abandoned."

 
"Bat-Sexuality:" If the battles between the Joker and his "nemesis" were thought of as something else in the Joker's perverted mind, he may with some truth be said to be "Bat-Sexual." This has been a theory for quite some time because of his obsessive behavior towards the Dark Knight. There are some encounters between the Batman and the Joker such as the one in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth where the Joker slaps Batman's backside and continuously calls him pet names. This could be taken as his merely playing around and trying to annoy him or as something more. In The Dark Knight Returns the Joker refers to Batman as "Darling" and "My Sweet." The sadomasochistic ritual the Joker has with the Batman is sacred to him. In The Outsiders: Joke's On You Luthor taunts the Joker with, "Batman likes Catwoman better than you. He'll never love you, Sweetheart! You can keep screwing with his city, but he's never gonna take you to the prom!" after this, the Joker becomes enraged and ups his torture tactics. He has also shown repetitive intolerance to sidekicks and substitutes. He is shown as positively obsessed with Batman throughout Batman Confidential, as he causes havoc strictly to lure Batman into a fight, which caters to his sadomasochism, rather than Batman showing up to stop some random crime. He has also been known on several occasions to call Batman affectionate pet names, and he celebrates their anniversary of meeting for the first time, though this may be an odd obsession within a madman's mind.
 
Asexuality: The Joker has been claimed to have no sexual drive, and only to do it to hurt the other person when he leaves or get something in return. These actions have been shown in All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder#8 and It's Joker Time.

Death was described as sex for the Joker in a comic illustrated by Marshal Rogers and that may possibly be the only type he craves.

Auto-sexuality: The Joker is so vain he finds only himself appealing. People such as Haley Quinn adore him to the point where he knows he just is that great and therefore when he plausibly does it with her, he does it to prove his greatness. However, he is not against killing his own self-disguised henchmen and harlequins.

Symbolism

Seeing as the clown is supposed to symbolize happiness, fun and not at all death and destruction looking at other references will give a clearer look into the Joker’s character.
 
His colors are a definite portal into his dementia. The white skin was said to represent the way Joker hasn’t been able to die since his ‘death’ in his second appearance because he is possibly already dead; a zombie like figure walking amongst the living. That theory was mentioned by Alex Ross when he spoke on the Batman (1989) special. The violet attire could in fact be there to demonstrate his royalty or at least the fact that he is incredibly vain and finds much beauty in himself. 
 
Another very important thing is that the Joker's crimes are always 'funny' for him. They're also 'perfect' (in  Mad Love after Harley Quinn suggested him to kill Batman by only shooting him, he gets mad and says 'Know this, my sweet: the death of Batman must be nothing less than  masterpiece! The triumph of my sheer comic genius over his ridiculous mask and gadgets!'). He wants to be funny because he is a very theatrical man: he thinks of himself as an expert actor, always on stage. To maintain this trait, he speaks in a very dramatic way, thinking of his words as lines instead of simple things he says. He is a dramatis persona and he wants to underline it. The Joker is also very careful about his own appearance; in his twisted mind he is very beautiful indeed, and he likes to be well-dressed. In fact, he always wears purple, clownish suits. The most common is a purple tail-suit, orange shirt, a big green bow tie, violet silk gloves and spats on his shoes. Sometimes he carries a cane, and wears a long purple raincoat and a broad-brimmed hat (obviously violet). His hair is regularly combed and pomaded.  In movies like The Dark Knight (2008), the Joker puts on clown makeup; his skin is not 'naturally' white. In comics, on the contrary, his chemical bath made his skin marble white and his eyes, his hair, and his nails green. In Batman (1989) this is how Jack Napier came to be the Joker.          
 
 Le Mat is a Marseille Tarot card and was said to represent the Joker in Clash of Symbols ( Detective Comics #617) written by Alan Grant. He represents the mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. There are things commonly found in the image of this card that also have explanations; such as the sun that sits in the background. It is the divine nature of the Fool's wisdom and exuberance. Le Mat, like the Joker is fully equipped with everything he may need in his quest for experience and chaos. He is often illustrated with a flower that represents the way he sees beauty. Frequently accompanied with a dog or wolf, le Mat is distracted by the hardships of the world. This beast may also represent the fools animal desires. In a few versions of the card, he is seemingly unconcerned that he is standing on a cliff apparently about to leap. This action has been thought to illustrate the fool’s acts of idiocy, trust or simply carelessness.

Mythology In terms of mythology the Joker represents a “Trickster” archetype or an immortal being that uses deceit and chaos to interrupt the hero’s journey. More perfectly the reason a trickster does this is for his own amusement (the Joker’s reason to do anything).

Elseworlds

Deaths

The many deaths of the Joker are a common theme among Elseworld comics. This might be because of the reaction others get and because he is the most evil of all villains.

Kingdome Come : The aged prankster was the turning point in Superman’s life. The vile thing the Joker has done drove Magog to the point were he knew the only way to deal with the clown was to finish him off. This act led to chaos in the society.

Blood Storm: Armed with holy water, the Joker marched into the vampire Batman’s life, killed his only hope at surviving without blood shed, and allowed the demonic Bat to suck him dry so that his heart would be black.

Batman vs Lobo-The Joker of this world resided in Arkham like any other world until Lobo came a knocking. He had been hired by Scarface to take the Joker out, But Joker in turn hired Lobo to take out the Bat at a higher price. As the story went along we learn that the Joker is Batman's long lost brother. The night that Bruce Waynes family were killed Bruce froze in fear while Joey (Joker) went crazy and tried to fight off the man who killed their parents, the man took Joey and the young boy hadn't been seen for quite some time. In the end the Joker is defeated as is Lobo and it ends with Batman taking Joker back to Arkham.

In Catwoman Guardian of Gotham the Joker was attempting to unleash a lethal dose of Laughing gas into the ventilation system in a building when Batman slammed a batarang into his chest killing him instantly.

Other Earths

Earth-2 recently an aged version of the Joker appeared, He attempted to turn Helena Wayne's friend Harry into the new Two-Face by throwing acid at him which burned Harry's whole face. Later Helena and Powergirl track him down. He tries to kill her with a zap buzzer in his hand but Powergirl grabs his hand sending a shock towards him, killing him

Conclusion

Movies

Cesar Romero as the Joker. When he so appeared, Romero wore makeup whose format Ben Nye Sr. designed.

Batman: The Movie (1966)

Adam West's Batman, in the 1960s, had everything he would ever want in his utility belt, Batmobile or BatCave; not so with the Joker. William Dozier chose Cesar Romero as the Joker in an era when the villains had to be less threatening than later. In Batman: The Movie, the central villains were the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin, and the Catwoman. Both Frank Gorshin's Riddler and Burgess Meredith's Penguin (whose squawking laugh non-smoker Meredith originated to hide the coughing from the smoking he had to do in character) developed a greater reputation then Romero’s Joker. This was mainly because the era did not permit a Joker you could sink your bloodthirsty teeth into, and as Batman: The Movie was a feature-film version of the lampoon comedy series program, this Joker was perceived as too camp and ill-depicted as well as completely lacking the more sinister side that all Joker fans adored. However, he did fit the era. The energy within this Clown Prince of Crime was explosive, but Gorshin's Riddler was perceived as being able to out-laugh the Joker. There were many faults within this character at the time, but Romero still filled in the role of the Joker decently for his happy time. The overly comedic Joker of the series program and the feature film was only the beginning of the Joker's film depictions, for the character had never been shown on screen, least of all in color, before then. Though his performance proved that the character could be depicted convincingly, Romero's approach to the Joker is not the way most remember the character.

Batman (1989)

The Clown Prince of Crime shows himself as he is described in the comics in the movie directed by Tim Burton. Jack Napier, played by Jack Nicholson, is a big time mobster who works for mob boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance). Napier is Grissom's right hand man and most trusted acquaintance. Grissom sends Napier to the Axis Chemical Company to raid it. Little does Napier know that what he gets himself into will turn him into Batman's most dangerous, and hence greatest, enemy. As they are in Axis Chemicals the police arrive. Once they do, Napier realizes that he was set up by his boss, Grissom. While trying to escape, Batman shows up and Napier, his cheeks injured, falls into toxic waste. When he does, it turns his face green, his lips red, and his skin white. Going to a store-front surgeon who has to work with rusted, unsterilized equipment to attempt to re-attach completely severed nerves, he goes insane. Afterwards, Grissom becomes convinced that he had done away with Napier. But later, as he comes out of the shower, Napier shows up in his office, “Jack, is that you? Thank God, I thought you’d been..”
“Fried!?” asks Napier. “You set me up over a woman. A woman!” They continue to argue on the subject for a few more seconds and then Napier says, creepily, "Oh, Jack is dead, my friend. You can call me--Joker. And as you can see, I'm a lot happier!" Laughing, the self-styled Joker shoots Grissom again and again. After he does he takes over his empire, although many of the other gangsters do not like it. The Joker kills one gangster with a high-voltage joy buzzer to show who is boss. As the movie goes on, audiences learn that the Joker falls madly in love with Vicki Vale and that he had killed Bruce Wayne’s parents.

Later in the movie, the Joker invites Vicki to the Fluegelheim Museum, where he ruins all the paintings and some of the sculptures, then talks to Vale about being his girl. Batman then comes and takes Vale away, leading the Joker to growl, “Where does he get those wonderful toys?”

Later, the Joker gets angered that Batman is getting all his press. To give Gotham City "an enema," he takes advantage of his knowledge of chemistry and the fact that Axis Chemicals had abandoned research into a nerve gas for the D.O.D. to infuse a deadly poison into hundreds of basic chemicals at the source. When the components are mixed, the poison, which the Joker calls "Smylex," causes people to laugh uncontrollably before it kills them, leaving their corpses with rictus grins similar to the Joker's own. As the city worries Batman later exploits the Joker’s code and reveals what the Joker had poisoned. A massive recall results.

The celebration of Gotham City's 200th anniversary has been called off; in response, the Joker creates a huge parade to lure out the citizens of Gotham by promising to give away 20 million dollars. As the parade goes on, it proves to be a trick. For with balloon floats that he has obtained, he commences to attempt to kill all the partiers with Smylex gas, only to be stopped by Batman who sets the balloon floats free where they will explode harmlessly, using the Batwing. The infuriated Joker then yells, “He stole my balloons. He stole my balloons! Why didn’t anyone tell me he had one of those--things?” He then kidnaps Vale and takes her atop the Gotham cathedral. After a fight with Batman he falls down the giant tower, but when the police surround him, they hear laughter. This proves to be a recording of the Joker's own laughter.

The Dark Knight (2008)