| “ | All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far is the world from where I am. Just one bad day. You had a bad day once, am I right? I know I am. I can tell. You had a bad day and everything changed. Why else would you dress up like a flying rat? You had a bad day, and it drove you as crazy as everybody else... Only you won't admit it! You have to keep pretending that life makes sense, that there's some point to all this struggling! God, you make me want to puke. | „ |
| ~ The Joker exposing his worldview to Batman - his most famous quote. |
The Joker is the one of the main antagonists of the DC Universe, specifically serving as the main antagonist of the Batman franchise and a major antagonist in the Justice League franchise.
His Qualities[]
What Makes Him Entertaining?[]
- He is, without a doubt, one of the most iconic fictional villains in all of human history. The Batman franchise is incredibly widespread and nearly anyone familiar with Batman's character would know that the Joker is his arch-nemesis. The character has recieved such popularity, that almost not a single adaptation of Batman can exist without having the character in it.
- One of his defining character traits is being laughably evil and having comedic moments that go hand-in-hand with his heinousness. Many of his crimes revolve around the general theme of comedy (jokes, pranks, clowns, etc.), and he's usually cracking jokes during the crimes themselves regardless of if they're actually funny.
- He is a flexible "interpretative character" that different writers have depicted in different, yet equally valid, ways. In the 1940s he was mostly depicted as a clown-themed crime lord; in the 1960s he was treated as more of a simple prankster; and in the 1980s he became a dangerous, nihilistic terrorist.
- He is intelligent enough to consistently pose a threat to Batman, himself a genius in several fields, and is a skilled enough planner to almost always escape any permanent justice. He frequently comes up with incredibly complex schemes and plans that pose a danger to all of Gotham City simply for his own amusment, and it usually takes people equally as good at planning in their own right (namely Batman) to put a stop to them.
- He can be very charismatic and manipulative when he needs to be. He has been able to convince people to help him, sometimes even when they already know who he is and what danger he poses. It's not for nothing that he's been able to evade the justice system for so long.
- A key trait of him is that he is an actual genius in the fields of chemistry and engineering. He has been able to invent a number of his own gadgets (such as his famous laughing gas) and can easily hijack other people's sophisticated devices to use for himself as well.
- He serves as an interesting foil to Batman's character, being a cynical, unstopable force of nature while Batman is a hope seeker with an strong dedication to order and justice.
- While incredibly rare these days, some writers depict him with some morally redeeming qualities (even if other writers retcon those traits out of canon).
What Makes Him Detestable?[]
- From the 1980s (Specifically Post-Crisis/New Earth) onwards, the Joker has most commonly been depicted as an irredeemable, sadistic monster who has committed a multitude of incredibly heinous atrocities. On top of that, his motivation behind most of his crimes is "for the evils" in its purest form which gets further emphasized during Post-Flashpoint/New 52. He simply finds the horrors he inflicts on others to be amusing and funny from his warped perspective, and to him that is reason enough to carry them out. The atrocities tied to his name include mass murder, torture, mutilation, psychological abuse, and many, many more — and to him, these are all just parts of some trivial game. While he sometimes is depicted with redeeming qualities as mentioned above, this is very rare and is usually later made non-canon by other writers anyways.
- More often than not, his relationship with Harley Quinn is depicted as horrifically abusive, with the Joker frequently mistreating Harley both physically and psychologically despite her deep love for him. This abusive relationship is sometimes used to make some of Batman's other enemies seem less evil in comparison by having them dislike the Joker for it (with Poison Ivy being a notable example). To make matters worse, a New 52 Suicide Squad comic depicts the Joker as having "other Harleys" that he abused and killed in the past.
- Though ultimately depending on the writer, the Joker is sometimes depicted as being much less competent than other writers might depict him, with some putting him in humiliating moments.
- Also depending on the writer, there are sometimes where the Joker is depicted as a sore loser who does not take having his plans thwarted with grace, though this is less common.
External Links[]
- Joker on the Villains Wiki
- Joker on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Joker on the Batman Wiki
- Joker on the DC Database Wiki
- Joker on the Database Wiki
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Template:DC Entertainingly Detestable