The Dark And Twisted History Of The Joker
The Clown Prince of Crime, the Clown of Chaos, the one man that can put a smile on your face whether you want it or not. The main nemesis of Batman, who has been a thorn in his side for god knows how many years. With a face of a clown and a lighter you can’t forget, this figure has toed the line between scary and funny for much of his existence. The Joker is one of the most iconic supervillains in all of the existence known to man.
Introduced in Batman #1, published on April 25, 1940, the Joker has been terrorizing Gotham for about 80 or so years. With a manic grin on his face, you never know just what he is planning next. Whether it is copyrighting his own line of fish, killing Robin, or even teaming up with Batman a few times, albeit reluctantly, it is all the same to the Joker. But where did he come from? Well… we don’t really know for sure. We might know the basics, but even he does not seem to remember the exact details.
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Among the many origin stories, there is one constant. The man who would become the Joker fell into a vat of chemicals that altered his appearance. However, the Joker can’t seem to remember the specific details and tends to tell a different story each time. His origin in The Killing Joke, one of the most famous stories, is this just another possibility. We learn that the Joker might have been a lab assistant-turned-failed stand-up comedian who helped a pair of robbers in order to earn money to support his pregnant wife. However, he would learn of her death before going through with the plan, but the robbers would not let him back out. He would later jump into the vat of chemicals in order to escape Batman, who was coming after the criminals. The emotional toll caused by the death of his wife and unborn child and his disfigurement would drive him insane.
On the other hand, he might have also been just a lab assistant turned bank robber who was just trying to flee Batman, as detailed in Detective Comics #168 (February 1951). This was the origin of the Red Hood identity, later famously used by Jason Todd. Maybe he was just a sadistic gangster. Maybe he was not even insane, or maybe he has always been insane, even as a young boy. We will likely never know the full story, and DC intends to keep it that way as co-creator Jerry Robinson explains:
"They've given many origins of the Joker, how he came to be. That doesn't seem to matter—just how he is now. I never intended to give a reason for his appearance. We discussed that and Bill [Finger] and I never wanted to change it at that time. I thought—and he agreed—that it takes away some of the essential mystery."
Of course, we also have the different origins portrayed in the movies to consider. The 1989 film, gave him a name, “Jack Napier” and depicted him as the mobster who killed the Waynes, becoming The Joker after being betrayed by his boss. The Dark Knight followed several years later, and went in an opposite direction, giving him two stories about how he got his scars. First, he was scarred by his father, and second, he mutilated himself after his wife got her face “carved.” Neither of these stories was ever explicitly confirmed. Of course, the 2019 Joker movie would depict him as a former clown-turned-comedian who began his descent into madness in 1981 Gotham City.
There are dozens of other versions of the Joker, each with its own dark and twisted stories to tell. We would never know the truth. He might just have the last laugh after all.
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