As comic book readers we like to speculate what would happen if one character were in another comic universe. We've seen crossovers between Marvel and DC Comics but there hasn't been one in years. Even with the New 52, we've had the same heroes fight the same villains for decades. What if that could change?

In the 80s, it turns out Marvel almost started licensing several DC characters. Jim Shooter posted last year about how they were approached by DC since Marvel was doing a better job licensing their characters.

The question for this week is what if Joker left Gotham City? What if he didn't just leave Gotham but left DC altogether? In other words, would Joker work as a villain in the Marvel Universe?

This is where you get to share your thoughts below. Would the heroes in the Marvel Universe put up with his antics. How would the scenarios play out? Could Joker fight Spider-Man, the X-Men or the Avengers? Let us know what you think.

Tony Guerrero is the Editor-in-Chief of Comic Vine. You can follow him on Twitter@GManFromHeck. He doesn't care what universe Joker visited as long as it wasn't his.

He would be a very interesting villain for spiderman. he could definitely push spiderman to his limits in morality.wolverine might just kill him, daredevil would be another good hero to have him go up against. i think punisher would kill him too. i think that the two best hero counterparts in the marvel universe would be spider-man and daredevil. Punisher might work, but only in a story line where he doesn't get captured by punisher. if he does its ka-blam for the joker.

joker would be dead

hes lucky batman keeps him alive

I could imagine Joker killing off a minor street-level hero or two before leading into a huge storyline with the Punisher trying and failing to kill the Joker. The problem with that kind of framework is that if anyone actually won that fight, Marvel would lose a great character (probably the Punisher).

Spidey and Daredevil would be decent heroes for the Joker, but a Joker/Punisher saga would just rock!

I think the Marvel universe couldn't handle The Joker. That's just my opinion. I think Joker should stay in DC.

@stetson12 said:

He would be a very interesting villain for spiderman. he could definitely push spiderman to his limits in morality.Wolverine might just kill him, daredevil would be another good hero to have him go up against. i think Punisher would kill him too. i think that the two best hero counterparts in the marvel universe would be spider-man and daredevil. Punisher might work, but only in a story line where he doesn't get captured by punisher. if he does its ka-blam for the joker.

How many times has Wolverine failed too kill someone and Punisher has failed to kill Jigsaw how many times?

Many people in Marvel U are idiots

just look at Avengers vs X-Men ROLF.

The joker would win

great people of comicvine the wonderful marvel universe would go through another civil war or a complete disaster where joker would kill every single hero.... and villian for his sick joy or better yet would get killed the second some one like idk punisher wolverine basically everyone that you all are naming who knows he might even drive spiderman mad to where he needs to kill him the reason adding him to marvel would be so intresting would be for the simple fact he has the intelligence to turn great heroes into sick twisted people in shorter words he'd drive everyone mad until finally he got killed thats just my opinion-lowk

@lowk357 said:

great people of comicvine the wonderful marvel universe would go through another civil war or a complete disaster where joker would kill every single hero.... and villian for his sick joy or better yet would get killed the second some one like idk punisher wolverine basically everyone that you all are naming who knows he might even drive spiderman mad to where he needs to kill him the reason adding him to marvel would be so intresting would be for the simple fact he has the intelligence to turn great heroes into sick twisted people in shorter words he'd drive everyone mad until finally he got killed thats just my opinion-lowk

Isn't that already happening with Avengers vs X-Men and all the other heroes vs. heroes events?

If handled right...and kinda only put in very specific stories...maybe...

He wouldn't own the Marvel Universe though.

@NightFang: yup bet instead of wasting our time with issue after issue im pretty sure i'd be just a simple one shot ;)

He'd be an interesting one time villain that the heroes would have trouble stopping, but once stopped I reckon he gets killed since the MU is less forgiving than the DCU.

It just wouldnt work because joker is TOO hardcore he'd kill any hero who didnt have the gull to fight him seriously, its crazy that batman hasnt taken any permanent damage. The only way i see it working is if they basically made him like the Hood where hes a villian that all marvel characters get involved with & fear plus he would put fear into all villians too. Also just saying this if the joker did kill spiderman i got norman osborn killing him just for taking his prize kill away.

@barnabae70 said:

It just wouldnt work because joker is TOO hardcore he'd kill any hero who didnt have the gull to fight him seriously, its crazy that batman hasnt taken any permanent damage. The only way i see it working is if they basically made him like the Hood where hes a villian that all marvel characters get involved with & fear plus he would put fear into all villians too. Also just saying this if the joker did kill spiderman i got norman osborn killing him just for taking his prize kill away.

THANK YOU!!!

It depends on which version of Joker you prefer. The Mark Hamill? Caesar Romero? Heath Ledger?

I could maybe sort of see the Romero one fighting Power Man and Iron Fist, or the Hamill one against Daredevil, but this really boils down to that Marvel needs new blood in the villian department.

No. Marvel Villians have always been far more powerful then DCs the same could be said for heroes as well. In the Marvel U the joker would be seriously underpowered compared to Magneto , Thanos , Abomination , Sabretooth , Mr Sinister or even Bullseye.

Joker just doesn't seem to line up with anyone in the marvel stable. Maybe Punisher or Daredevil but neither feels right. Chances are someone would end up killing the Joker because like stated before MU is less forgiving. Then again who knows Joker has given the League a run for its money in the past who knows what'd he would do to the Avengers. It would be very interesting to see this as a mini series, with DC and Marvel swapping there major villains. Then playing out how the two sets of heroes would deal with these new villains.

the joker can be a great villain, one that would torment who ever captured his fancy. but who in the marvel u would mister J set his eyes on? is there someone whod tickle his fancy? all his random killings,gas bombings, great schemes in one way or the other lead to the bat. the bat inspires jokers greater works without someone to bring out his madness on the greatness of his wouldnt shine. and i dont know if anyone in the marvel u can motivate him to sparkle. spiderman seems like the ideal guy since hes one of marvels only true heroes who wont kill with a strong drive to protect anyone and everyone(no one dies) but with his cracking personna it may clash with the jokers.you cant have 2 people fighting for the audiance attention(innocent bystanders) via jokes and flashy wardrobe. id see the joker put off by pete.

@G-Man Didn't this come up on Twitter?

@ravisher said:

joker would be dead

hes lucky batman keeps him alive

This

Hulk verse joker, geez wonder who would win. I really don't know how he can still be a live.

Joker as Marvel Villain? Perhaps, as shown above with Punisher, maybe vs. Moon Knight, or Daredevil.

Insane madman and chemist who likes to hurt and kill people and likes dressing up in purple, sorry but we don't need another Norman Osborn

One word:
 
"SNIKT!"

@turoksonofstone said:

This.

Seriously, the only reason he's still around is because Bats is too nice to kill him. Can you imagine if what happened to Jason happened to Kitty or Jubilee? Joker-kebabs.

I think Joker would make a cool Moon Knight villain. Give the already crazy schizophrenic man someone even more psychotic to fuel the crazy. That encounter would be...CRAZY.

He is not one of my favorite villains to begin with. I guess its because I don't understand his motivations, with Green Goblin I sort of get it. But with the Joker he just seems like he wants to kill.

@stetson12: Soooo, right perfect Daredevil nemesis

between wolverine or the punisher he would end up dead

First of all half of what makes the Joker the Joker is Batman, and secondly I don't think marvel heroes could understand him and ,thus, wouldn't be able to defeat him!!!

Of course he'd work, Grant Morrison set up that he's an evolving psychopath that changes his style and methods to suit the times. Alan Moore set up his motivation as his infatuation/love of batman. If he was in the MU he'd find a new love and adapt his style and methods to the situation to get his attention. I don't know where the MU got this reputation as blood thirsty "The Authority" types. The heroes of the MU are HEROES and kill as a last resort keeping around horrible killers as long as humanly possible i.e. bullseye, venom, Osborn, and Red Skull not being murdered by their heroes by choice and kept alive whenever possible. And as for wolverine killing him off, he hasn't killed many big name MU villains the other heroes tend to stop him. Also the similar-to-joker villain Arcade shows wolverine wouldn't automatically kill a Joker type as he's been around for years while directly facing the Ol' Canucklehead regularly

Yes, I think so. He has shown how dangerous he could be given superpowers in the DCU. Despite not having any real superpowers, aside from chemical immunity, he is powerful enough to take down both non-powered and superpowered heroes and villains in the DCU. He knows how to exploit the weaknesses of others. I could see him doing things like giving Deadpool a run for his money, or fighting Howard the Duck, or forming a partnership with Green Goblin or Hobgoblin.He's too smart to let Wolverine kill him- I could see him screwing with Logan mentally. I could see him getting at Spider-Man.

He would be a good but VERY short lived villain.

With no-one to keep him alive and people like Punisher, Wolverine, Ghost Rider and all the other slightly lax moraled individuals running around New York. He would wind up dead very quickly.

I always had this dream scenario where Batman and Spiderman switched their villains. I think the Joker will be an amazing Spiderman villain, a great weird contrast to Peter Parker, especially since the way the Joker would go after Aunt May would truly unleash Peter.

I could see him going after Captain America, Spiderman or Daredevil. When dealing with characters like the Punisher and Wolverine he'd probably have backups like bombs planted in schools or some way to divert their attention the moment their thoughts turn to homicide.

@Mr. Kamikaze said:

I think Joker would make a cool Moon Knight villain. Give the already crazy schizophrenic man someone even more psychotic to fuel the crazy. That encounter would be...CRAZY.

Damn! You beat me to it, that's exactly what I was thinking. For obvious reasons, an encounter with Deadpool could be fun too, until Deadpool cuts the Joker's head to make a funny trophy with it.

I think Joker only really makes sense as a foil to Batman, specifically. He's the impossible chaos to Batman's constant quest for order. No character in the Marvel universe is a proponent of order to the degree that the Joker would really get under their skin as the complete anti-thesis to everything they pursue, to their every defining characteristic.

The Joker also works best as a visual with Batman. Where many characters have their own "colour" to both their appearance and personality traits, everything about Bruce and Batman is very monochromatic and strict, and Joker provides great contrast to that. It's almost as if, on a petty level, the Joker cramps Batman's style, and what better reason to punch someone in the face?

I mean obviously the Joker would WORK as a Marvel villain, but the question was whether he'd be good. I don't think so. I think his quality as a compelling character is almost entirely predicated on his proximity - philosophically if nothing else - to Batman.

I don't think the heroes of marvel would tolerate him for very long. Its why he's perfect in DC. batman never will cross the line to get rid of him but with marvel, they have characters who will kill him the minute he caused massive amounts of trouble. captain America is willing to kill as is wolverine, punisher, so who would tolerate him? I don't think anyone would.

Not at all.

The Joker would be a great villain in Marvel Universe given to the proper writer. But as people have already stated he crosses the wrong hero Punisher, Wolverine, etc heck he might cross the wrong villain I could see him rub the Kingpin the wrong way and he's dead. 

lol He'd probably team up with Deadpool and kill the entire Marvel roster. 

If someone like The Hood or as someone else mentioned, Arcade can survive the MU, I think The Joker would thrive there. I think he'd actually be a very good Cap villain.

I think it depends on what direction you go with the character. Since hes part of the batman rouges hes definitely more grounded in reality compared to Marvel characters which more often then not are extremely powerful. what it would really come down to is who he would face and could he be written in a way that reflects the marvel universes style and proven to fit in their side of the big 2 publishers spectrum.

@ravisher said:

joker would be dead

hes lucky batman keeps him alive

This.

I would love to see Captain America absolutely befuddled by the sheer insanity of the Joker. I don't think he's ever faced a villain like that. Failing that, i just think, and this surprises me myself, that the Joker is too high a class of villain for the Marvel Universe. Weird. I mean, he's not fitted to a cosmic foe or an immortal or armoured one, and outside of Cap, he is just too complex and interesting a villain for the street level ones. Go figure!

I am sure that a good writer can incorporate Joker in the Marvel U but realistically, Joker would either get gutted like a fish or Castle's gonna put a bullet between his eyes. The reason Joker works with Batman because Batman won't kill and the Joker pushes him to his limits. Guys like Logan and Castle will kill, happily

idk osborn vs the joker sounds good there both bat s,,, crazy would be interesting to see.

Personally I like Arcade more, I could see him as a villain of Tony Stark though.

I don't read Marvel but no, he wouldn't fit!