The Joker, whose face is chalk white with red-stained lips and green hair due to a chemical accident, is the arch-nemesis of the caped crusader known as Batman. First introduced in Batman #1 back in 1940, he has been a mainstay villain for decades, appearing in nearly every media iteration of the franchise. In the 1989 feature film version of Batman, the Joker was actually a gangster named Jack Napier, who was played by Jack Nicholson. After being driven insane following a fall into a vat of chemicals, the Joker sought to commit mass murderer by contaminating household products with his deadly Smilex, which caused his victims to literally laugh themselves to death.
A more macabre incarnation of the Joker was presented in the 2008 film The Dark Knight, where the Joker was played by the late actor Heath Ledger. Unlike Batman, this version of the Joker was not given a proper name, and his origin was only hinted at, mostly through the Joker's own account, which changed dramatically with each retelling. This Joker was more clown-like in that he actually wore make-up, rather than having his features disfigured due to an accident. The Joker caused quite a stir when he mounted his own two-pronged large-scale attack against Gotham City's organized crime cartels as well as members of the Gotham City Police Department. He was ultimately captured by Batman and taken to a mental hospital.
A different version of the Joker appeared in the 2016 film Suicide Squad where he was played by actor Jared Leto.
In comics[]
The Clown Prince of Crime. The Harlequin of Hate. He is a man of many names and even greater mystery. His true identity is unknown, but his reputation is known across the country. He is the greatest threat the Batman has ever face. An unrepentant psychotic killer, the Joker creates chaos for the sake of chaos. He cares little for money or power, and seeks only to sew discord and madness everywhere he goes. It is believed that the man who would one day become the Joker was a failed comedian, who was bribed into committing a robbery under the guise of the Red Hood. On the night of the crime, the Red Hood had an encounter with Batman. During the fight, the Red Hood fell from a catwalk into a vat of chemicals. His body was flushed out a drainage pipe into the river, but when he emerged, he was shocked to find that the chemicals had turned his skin white, his hair green and his face contorted into a bizarre jester's grin. Driven irrevocably mad, this man abandoned the Red Hood identity and became the Joker. Ever since, he has done everything in his power to make Batman's life a living hell. The Joker has been captured many times and remanded to the Arkham Asylum state institute for the criminally insane, but always manages to find a way to break free. In addition to the multitude of crimes and murders he has committed, the Joker is also responsible for killing Jason Todd (the first Robin), crippling Barbara Gordon (the first Batgirl) and fatally shooting Sarah Essen Gordon (wife of Commissioner James Gordon).
Batman film series[]
Jack Napier was a high-ranking member of the Gotham City underworld, and worked as the "number one guy" for Boss Carl Grissom. Jack was romantically involved with Grissom's girlfriend, Alicia Hunt, which ultimately proved to be Jack's undoing. Grissom found out about the affair, and sent Jack on a job to clean out Axis Chemicals before the Gotham City Police Department could raid the facility. It was Grissom's intent that Jack would die during a firefight with the GCPD. At the facility, Jack Napier encountered a masked vigilante who called himself Batman. Jack tried to kill Batman, but a ricochetting bullet sliced across his face, causing him to tumble into a vat of toxic chemicals. Jack was flushed out through the Axis drainage system and emerged in Gotham River. He found that the chemicals had turned his hair green, the skin on his face white, and his lips dark red. It also made him go irrevocably insane. Calling himself the Joker, Jack set out to avenge himself against both Carl Grissom and the Batman.
"Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?
I ask that of all my prey.
I just like the sound of it".
The Joker caused widespread chaos throughout Gotham City, committing mass murder by contaminating household products with his deadly Smilex, which caused his victims to literally laugh themselves to death. His scheme kicked into high gear, when he had multiple hot-air parade balloons poised to release Smilex upon the entire city. Batman foiled this plot by using his Batwing to clip the lines on the balloons, so the Joker shot down the Batwing. He then kidnapped reporter Vicki Vale and took her to the crumbling Gotham cathedral. Batman pursued them for their final throw-down, which resulted in the Joker falling from the top of the cathedral to his doom.
The Dark Knight Trilogy[]
- " It's a funny world that we live in. Speaking of which, you know how I got these scars?"
- ―The Joker
The man who calls himself the Joker was a crazed criminal whose true name and origin are unknown, though he likes to tease people with possible allusions to his history. While describing his early life to a Nigerian gangster named Gambol, the Joker said that he suffered under an abusive father, who drank a lot and sliced his face open with a knife while repeatedly intoning the phrase, "Why so serious?" Later, however, he gave assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes an altogether different account of his origin.
"Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you... stranger".
The Joker enjoyed creating carnage both within Gotham's underworld community and the city's infrastructure. He robbed a bank, stealing funds that belonged to leading members of the city's criminal empire, thus drawing out the Batman to come and face him. He set members of Sal Maroni's gang against each other, but also challenged them to find and destroy the Batman. He openly threatened to kill someone every day unless Batman revealed his true identity. He murdered police commissioner Gillian Loeb, and raided a fundraiser for District Attorney Harvey Dent. Through the course of this event, he kidnapped Rachel Dawes, ultimately killing her, and mutilated Dent, which caused him to go insane. He tested the intestinal fiber of Gotham's populace by threatening to destroy two ferries filled with people (one populated by criminals) unless they agreed to destroy one another.
Batman asked the Joker if he was trying to prove that everyone was as ugly as he, bluntly informing him that he was alone in his corruption and insanity. Before he could detonate both ferries, Batman hit him with his shooting wrist-blades and threw him over the edge of a building. The Joker started to laugh as he readied himself for death, but Batman, refusing to kill him, instead caught him with his grapple gun and left him hanging for the police to take into custody.
Notes[]
- The Joker and Joker, The both redirect to this page.
- The Dark Knight is the final film for actor Heath Ledger, who passed away on January 22nd, 2008 from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. All of Ledger's scenes from the movie had already been filmed however.
- The Joker is also the name of a playing card found in most modern card decks, as an addition to the standard four suits, hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds. In many card games such as Poker, the Joker may be played as an optional wild card, meaning that it may have any value depending upon the discretion of the player.