Green hair, white face, smile, more like a grin - even those who have never touched comics in their lives recognize him. A laughing psychopath, a killer jester, a clown prince of crime - or simply the Joker, the one and only. Batman's arch nemesis turned 77, and it's been one hell of a busy year. In our material we will try to go through at least the top of this voluminous and vibrant story, filled with laughter and blood.

If you approach the character from the perspective of cultural studies, it turns out that he is a couple of thousand years old. After all, in essence, the Joker is a trickster, not much different from the folklore Loki and Mephistopheles, an evil, insidious creature who mocks what people revere, the embodiment of pure nihilism. Its predecessors can be found in almost every world culture and era, be it a forest spirit with a specific sense of humor or a fairground Harlequin mocking poor Pierrot. Perhaps this is why the Joker has taken root so well - because he has always been around.

Joker's first appearance

The terrorist clown appeared in its familiar form in 1940. Who this character's father really is is a mystery that is not destined to be solved. Each of the three people working on Batman comics at the time - Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson - claimed that he created the Joker, and the others, they say, just picked up the idea.

It is no longer possible to determine which of them is right. But the source of inspiration is definitely known - the German actor Conrad Veidt in the image of Gwynplaine from the film adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel “The Man Who Laughs” in 1928. And also, oddly enough, the Joker playing card.

Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine. It is possible that the Joker's skin color also owes to the fact that the film was in black and white.

Those who think that at first the Joker was a cheerful criminal and joker, and began to kill only towards the end of the 20th century, do not know the history of comics well. The so-called "Golden Age", which lasted from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, was heavily implicated in blood. The same Batman, for example, did not immediately become a thorough moralist and once did not stand on ceremony with gangsters. Of course, he didn’t shoot at point-blank range, but if he had to throw another bandit off the roof, he didn’t hesitate. So the Joker made his debut in comics as a real serial killer.

According to the plot of Batman #1, the newly-minted villain announced on the radio the names of his victims, usually someone from the city elite of Gotham, and they died exactly 24 hours later with unnatural smiles on their faces. The maniac had a simple goal - to sow fear and gain authority based on it among local gangsters. A very reasonable plan. The early Joker was generally far from mad. Cruel, cold-blooded, resourceful, but hardly crazy. He hardly even laughed.

Early comic books were a bit like silent horror films. For all their absurdity, they regularly create horror

But there was still something irrational in him. The evil jester decided that he did not want to know who was hiding under the mask of Batman, and even refused to kill the hero at the first opportunity - it’s not interesting. If we draw parallels between the first Joker and Heath Ledger's interpretation, the image of the villain in The Dark Knight no longer seems so non-canonical.

When the Joker was funny

For ten years, none of the authors even thought to explain why the character has white skin and green hair. Although this was not common for Batman comics. The Joker generally became the first full-fledged supervillain of the Bat-universe - before him, Bruce Wayne fought with ordinary criminals. The story of the red-hooded robber falling into a vat of chemicals only appeared in the early 1950s and is still considered canon.

In the Silver Age, the Joker was hungry for wealth and afraid of the tax office

Around the same time, conservative psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published a controversial book, Corrupting the Innocent, in which he argued that comic books were polluting the minds of children and leading them down a crooked path. The work caused a lot of noise, and publishers across America were forced to adopt the Comics Code, which obliged writers and artists to strict self-censorship. Thus began the “Silver Age” - an era of fun, harmless and monotonous adventures.

Batman and the Joker also came under attack, turning into a noble knight and a playful clown, respectively. From now on there could be no talk of any murders. Thematic crimes took their place. Pumping the city with laughing gas and making everyone throw away their jewelry, committing a robbery dressed up as Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, escaping from the police, making the cops laugh until they were helpless - that’s what the white-faced villain now liked. And what kind of villain is he? So, a hooligan and a dirty trick.

In the 1960s, the Joker finally received his first screen incarnation in the Batman series with Adam West. The role was played by Cuban-born actor Cesar Romero, who had previously played mostly heroic lovers. However, he showed himself brightly in his new role. The Joker turned out to be noisy, silly, but charming - to match the series itself.

The 1960s Batman series is considered a classic in the States. This is how most mature Americans have known the Joker since childhood.

The jokes are over

You can't expect anything good from such a clown

In the 1970s, the good nature pills with which he had been fed for twenty years slowly stopped working on the Joker. Violence was creeping into popular culture, especially in cinema, and comics could not help but succumb to the general trend. It was then that the saga of the Dark Knight acquired the familiar features of a dark detective thriller.

The first bell that marked the return of the killer clown was the plot of “Five Ways of Revenge of the Joker” in 1973. In it, the villain once again escaped from custody, but instead of committing absurd crimes, he began to punish former accomplices who abandoned the leader to the mercy of fate. And the punishment did not mean throwing a cake in the face - no, everything was in an adult way. Two were poisoned with the poison of laughter, another took a drag from a cigar with nitroglycerin, and the fourth was simply hanged by the maniac. The last henchman was supposed to be a snack for the shark, but Batman saved him.

The Joker's personal series did not last long. How to write about someone who doesn’t even look like an anti-hero?

The Joker experienced a real renaissance in the 1980s, when two stories about him were released, which left the deepest mark in the history of comics. Everyone who is into geek culture has heard about Alan Moore's The Killing Joke at least once. This graphic novel consistently ranks among the top must-read comics. There are many reasons for this.

Firstly, it was after the events of The Killing Joke that Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, found herself confined to a wheelchair. This was a bold move on the part of the publishing house - before this, the heroes had never lost their strength for a long time and certainly had not become disabled.

Secondly, The Killing Joke is the first attempt to show the Joker as a real person, a tragic figure whose madness has a good reason. Thanks to the deft manipulation of emotions, the reader was surprised to discover that the sinister jester, it turns out, could be empathized with. But it is a mistake to believe that the comic reveals the real backstory of the Joker - no, DC and Moore would not risk killing the intrigue. The novel offers only one of the possible options.

This scene from The Killing Joke has sparked outrage among feminists across America.

But the “Death in the Family” arc, on the contrary, sought not to surprise the reader, but to please. DC audiences at the time loved the Joker's violent antics and hated the second Robin, Jason Todd. The writers created him to replace the super-correct Dick Grayson, who left Batman for free and became Nightwing. The new boy wonder was supposed to be a "bad guy" in the spirit of the times, but instead he became a bad character.

The public did not like the daring and harsh sidekick so much that DC took an unprecedented step - they launched a telephone vote whether Todd would survive the next adventure or not. Readers coldly sentenced the guy to death. His death was not quick or painless - the Joker, laughing devilishly, beat the young man with a tire iron and left him, barely alive, in a mined warehouse. Batman tried to save his ward, but everything was already predetermined.

Over time, Jason Todd was resurrected, but it took more than ten years. And in the 1980s, Robin's death was final and irrevocable. It's hard to overstate the importance of this plot twist for Batman and the comic book industry as a whole. Later, the scriptwriters more than once forced the Joker to commit much greater atrocities, going beyond all limits. But it seems that no one has been able to surpass the effectiveness of “The Killing Joke” and “Death in the Family”.

On large and small screens

The success of the 1978 Superman film and the increased popularity of the Batman comics convinced Warner Bros. that audiences were ready for a big Night Knight movie. The studio bosses decided to play straight away with their trump cards. Or rather, from the Joker. In early drafts of the script there was also a Penguin, but the creators threw him out so as not to distract the audience's attention from the confrontation between the two arch-enemies.

The film company wanted the film to be an unambiguous hit, and the acceptable risk was exhausted by hiring a young Tim Burton as director and not too much. famous Michael Keaton to play Batman. The villain had to be played by a real star. Robin Williams and even David Bowie showed interest in this role.

Legend has it that Jack Nicholson became a prime candidate after one of the producers saw Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. The actor’s wild grin and crazy eyes made an indelible impression on the film boss, and he convinced his colleagues that Nicholson and no one else should play the Joker. After much persuasion, Jack agreed, but the fee he asked for was fabulous - 60 million from the film’s box office receipts and a percentage of video and merchandise sales.

Let's admit the obvious: Nicholson played Nicholson in "Batman", only in makeup

The Joker in Burton's film turned out to be bright and charismatic, but... not crazy at all. This is a narcissistic and cruel gangster dude, but not an infernal buffoon whose laughter sends goosebumps down your spine. Perhaps the reason is that its origin is not shrouded in secrecy. The viewer knows that before falling into a vat of chemicals, Nicholson's Joker was an ordinary bandit. The writers even gave him human name- Jack Napier (after the late actor Alan Napier, who played Alfred in the 1960s Batman). There is no mystery, no intrigue. And the decision to make him the killer of Bruce Wayne's parents caused wild indignation among comic book fans.

However, the film turned out to be worthwhile and successful. He popularized Batman and the Joker, showed them in all their dark glory, erased the memories of the old comedy show. Warner Bros. almost immediately they gave the go-ahead for a sequel and, what is much more important for us, the animated series “Batman” by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini - gothic, gloomy, and not wanting to coddle with the young viewer. Of course, it was also intended for children, but he was not shy about raising adult topics. There was drama, there was psychologism. It was there that the Joker's companion appeared - everyone's favorite Harley Quinn. And there was the best Joker outside of comics.

Hamill's Joker will forever remain in the childhood memories of thousands of viewers. Well, or in nightmares

When Mark Hamill was invited to the studio, he was sure that he would be offered to write a couple of stories for the series. After "Star Wars" acting career didn’t work out, and Mark began writing scripts, even achieving success in this. Therefore, when he was asked to stand behind the microphone, the former Skywalker was somewhat surprised. But there was nothing unusual about this - two years earlier, Hamill played the supervillain Trickster in the series “The Flash,” created by the same WB television division in the wake of the popularity of Burton’s “Batman.” The types of the two villains coincided in many ways, and the creators decided to call this particular actor.

And this turned out to be one of the most correct decisions in almost the entire history of animated series. Mark felt the character so subtly and truly, got into the role so much that to this day he is considered in the best voice Joker of all. What's there - it's simple the best Joker. He's funny, creepy, crazy, and his laugh is unmistakable.

Mark Hamill still managed to play the Joker live... well, almost. In the series "The Flash" he returned to the role of the Trickster, but borrowed his voice and mannerisms from the killer clown

Joker of the new century

In the 1990s, the comic book industry was in a frenzy. A crisis of sales, a crisis of ideas - in general, a crisis of everything. In what was happening in the DC universe of those years, from its parallel worlds, shifts in space-time, sudden deaths and resurrections, the devil himself will break his leg. Therefore, we will bypass this kingdom of chaos, since nothing truly epochal about the Joker came out then. Although true comic book experts can certainly argue with this.

In the "Emperor Joker" arc, the evil jester tricked him into gaining divine power and temporarily became the ruler of the universe...

...and in “The Last Laugh” he infected the whole world with a virus that turns everyone into a crazy clown

He remained on the periphery in the early 2000s. In significant arcs like Batman: Hush! the clown appeared, but more often in a supporting role. Readers and authors seem to have become bored with him. The tired image needed a radical update.

In the 2004 Batman animated series, the Joker already appears in an unusual form. He is hunched over, moves in the manner of a monkey, instead of a neat hairstyle there is a lush green mane, instead of a tailcoat there is a straitjacket. Unusual, but fresh and bold, although overall the animated series was much inferior to its predecessor. But those changes in the Joker were only a sign of what was really to come.

In the 2004 animated series, the Joker is completely different from himself. And it suits him

When Christopher Nolan was asked why he cast Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight, the director replied, “Because Heath is fearless.” And what Nolan and David Goyer had in mind required remarkable courage. Both fully understood the burden of responsibility that lay on their shoulders, despite the fact that Christopher was and remains far from comics. Restarting the Batman franchise is one thing, but fitting it into a conventionally realistic world fantastic character, which also has a gigantic army of fans, is completely different. This required an actor who was ready, firstly, to accept a barrage of criticism from geeks, and secondly, to convince the world that the filmmakers were right in encroaching on the canon.

Many articles have been written about Ledger's Joker and even scientific works. This is, without a doubt, one of the most striking and influential acting works in cinema of the early 21st century. But comic book conservatives still criticize it for being uncanonical. They say this is no Mr. Jay: he behaves wrong, doesn’t look like he should, and in general, Nolan made something of his own, and not a film adaptation of comic books about Batman.

The last entry in the diary that Ledger kept on behalf of the Joker while preparing for the role was the words “bye-bye” on the entire page. Creepy coincidence

But if we analyze the image created by Ledger, precisely in the context of the character’s history, an interesting thing becomes clear: the actor and the screenwriters captured the essence of the Joker as accurately as possible. What should a killer jester be like? Crazy? The Joker in The Dark Knight makes grandiose multi-step plans in order to achieve an irrational goal that is understandable to him alone. Cunning and cruel? How many
He killed during the film, how many lives he broke! It was he who turned the honest and noble Harvey Dent into the revenge-obsessed Two-Face, significantly desecrating the moral ideals that had barely arisen in Gotham. Eccentric and ironic? Yes, all the Joker’s monologues resemble the stand-up show of a radical comedian, and he himself is a kind of hybrid of Andy Kaufman and Charles Manson. And how he bursts into laughter during the beating - this is the most revealing scene that reflects the essence of the character!

Even the Joker’s special relationship with Batman is revealed in “The Dark Knight” much better than in Burton’s, where the gangster clown perceived the archenemy as just another hindrance, nothing more. So everything couldn’t be more canonical.

The year The Dark Knight was released, Brian Azzarello published the graphic novel Joker, where the villain clearly resembles Heath Ledger

Clown without a face

Eight years have passed since the release of The Dark Knight. All this time, the Joker, whose interest has grown sharply, constantly appeared in comics, cartoons and video games. We especially highlight the Batman: Arkham series, in which Mark Hamill returned to his favorite role for two games, and was replaced by the no less talented Troy Baker. The franchise covers almost the entire history of the confrontation between Batman and the Joker - from the first clash to the death of the laughing psychopath and his, so to speak, posthumous existence. This is a competent compilation of dozens of comic stories into several voluminous but integral works.

As for the comics, the version of the clown from the universe of The New 52 made the most noise. Screenwriter Scott Snyder (no relation to Zack Snyder, by the way) took a daring move: in the story, the Joker loses face. Literally. The clown simply cuts it off. And after some time, he steals his face from the Gotham police evidence vault. And puts it on. Like a mask. Directly onto the bare meat. Brrr, even writing about this is unpleasant.

So just watch

Nevertheless, such extreme suited the character perfectly. The new look emphasized the depth of the clown’s mental disorder. He is a real monster, whose inflamed brain generates ingenious and sophisticated plans. Even Harley Quinn is afraid of this Mr. Jay, and she is understandable.

It seems that the Joker is able to survive anything only because death itself prefers to stay away from him. Batman is more confused and helpless than ever before this embodiment of chaos. In the finale of the Death of the Family arc, which is considered one of the best in The New 52, ​​the Dark Knight defeats his enemy, but it seems that this is also just part of the Joker's plan. The show must go on.

In the Batman arc R.I.P. The Joker already looks like a serial killer from a horror movie

Over the past year, we've gotten two new on-screen Jokers. The first of them appeared in the series “Gotham”, and everything is not easy with him. The character played by Cameron Monaghan is named Jerome Valeska. He is the son of a circus performer who killed his own mother, after which he was committed to Arkham Asylum, escaped from there and became a daring criminal with a penchant for theatrical effects.

The creators claim that Jerome is not the Joker, but it’s hard to believe them. He acts like the Joker, talks like the Joker, laughs like the Joker. He even looks like the Joker, except that his skin is normal color and his hair is red. And since the series has completely given up on realism and resurrects dead characters once or twice, the likelihood that a young psychopath will bathe in chemicals increases to 99%.

And that's good. Yes, the mystery of the identity of the killer jester will again dissolve, but “Gotham” is famous for showing on the screen everything that was left behind the scenes in the comics. Otherwise, Monahan's image corresponds to the canon, and the acting style is clearly inspired by Mark Hamill's voice acting.

Cameron Monaghan (Jerome from Gotham) doesn't even need to wear makeup

And now we get to the most talked about Joker of recent years - Jared Leto in Suicide Squad. The irony is that there is essentially nothing to say about him. The character in the film the bat cried - for a little over eight minutes, and he is revealed (or rather, “outlined”) in just a couple of scenes. He is eccentric, self-centered, emotionally unstable - in general, almost as he should be. Only sometimes, like everything in the DC cinematic universe, it is too serious and pathetic. The Joker's comedic side is barely hinted at.

But they added humanity to the image. In the film, Mr. Jay not only keeps Harley Quinn with him like a funny toy, but loves her, although it’s hard to believe that his rotten heart is capable of feelings. Leto himself said in an interview that he wanted to show the complex and contradictory nature of the Joker, to make him a man who both enjoys madness and suffers from it. Alas, a huge number of filmed scenes with his participation were never included in the theatrical cut of the film.

Let's hope all the deleted scenes with the Joker will be shown someday. I really want to know what kind of toys Leto wanted to show

Of course, we missed something. It is impossible to cover everything that has come out about the Joker over 75 years within one material. For example, there are no theories about what is happening with the clown in DC comics now. And there it just turned out that all these years there were as many as three different Jokers acting as villains instead of one. This plot twist is aimed at hype as clearly as the much-publicized betrayal of Captain America. And until the writers come up with a clear and sane justification for it, it’s not worth taking it seriously.

Joker is a global star. An icon of modern pop culture, no less than Batman. And no matter what writers, artists, actors and directors do with it, its essence will not change. An evil clown, the embodiment of cruel irony of fate and unadulterated madness. A villain whose image is etched into the memory at first sight. Too popular to ever disappear. No matter how the fate of the DC cinematic universe turns out, there is no need to worry about the Joker - his laughter will ring out more than once.

In this article from “Joker from A to Z”, I will try to compile full picture, describing the history and character of the main villain and the most sworn enemy of Batman - the Joker.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

Name: The Joker. Real name unknown.

Also known as: Jack Napier, Jason Reipen, Johnny Trape, Joseph Kerr, Tromp Mercury, Johnny Jape, Slappy, Red Hood, Mr. Genesius, Sir Reginald Harlequin, J. Columbine, H. A. Laughlin, etc., etc.

Place of residence: Gotham city. He spends most of his time in the Arkham psychiatric hospital for criminals.

Occupation: Professional criminal.

Weight: 86 kg.

Height: 189 cm.

Eyes: Green.

Hair: Green.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

External signs: White skin; ruby lips, forever stretched into a wide smile; long nose, elongated chin.

Sexual orientation: Hetero. Claims that he was married and that his wife died in an accident. He sincerely rejoices when he has to deal with female opponents (which does not prevent him from treating them with no less cruelty than everyone else). He is partial to some of the inhabitants of “Arkham”, which, as a rule, terrifies them. Since the 90s, his constant girlfriend is Harley Quinn, a former Arkham psychiatrist who sacrificed her career and sanity for the Joker and became his obedient slave. He periodically throws her out of the window, but otherwise they have an almost perfect relationship.

Favorite clothes: Purple suit and hat, yellow vest, yellow or green shirt, white gloves.

Favorite food: Fish.

Favorite animal: Hyena.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

Story: One terrible night, a gang of criminals, led by a man in a red cap, entered the Ace Chemical Processing Inc. factory to rob a card company that was located in the same building. Within minutes they were discovered and confronted by the police and a mysterious vigilante in a bat suit. All the bandits, except Red Hood, died from police bullets. The leader was able to find a way out of the hopeless situation: jumping over the railing, he jumped into a vat of chemicals, flew through the sewers and found himself in the river where Ace Chemical dumped its toxic waste. The criminal successfully escaped from pursuit and, having climbed ashore, took off his cap. It turned out that swimming in the poisoned liquid had left its traces: from the reflection in the river, a nightmarish clown face stared at the unfortunate man. Chalk white skin, hair the color of artificial grass and ruby ​​lips stretched into a creepy toothy smile - that's what the unlucky robber saw. And from that moment he disappeared... his personality dissolved into madness.

NO ONE knows who this man was before this day. NOBODY, not even himself - in his inflamed brain the true and the imaginary, truth and lies, reality and fantasy were mixed. Was he a cold-blooded thug or an ordinary loser who risked breaking the law to get money for his family? One thing is certain: something bad happened before his visit to Ace Chemical, and the physical transformation was only the last straw for him. (This in no way justifies what that person THEN did.)

The silence of the night was broken by insane laughter: the disfigured criminal appreciated the joke that fate played on him. And I decided to joke back. “I look like an evil clown... Clown? Not a clown, but... JOKER!!!” And the reborn got down to business.

Very soon the newspapers called him nothing less than the Clown Prince of Crime. Operating with incredible ingenuity and ruthlessness, the madman has gained a reputation as the most dangerous creature in Gotham City. Robberies, mass murder, nuclear terrorism, alliances with other supervillains, as well as (brief) world domination and a near-end of the world are just some of the Joker's deeds. He even managed (I'm not kidding) to serve as the UN ambassador for Iran and serve time in a Soviet concentration camp.

The Joker commits his crimes in a special style. Bringing to life the phrase “die of laughter” became his life’s goal. He loves to turn his atrocities into sinister performances, accompanying absurdly cruel actions with buffoonery and clowning. His criminal plans are carefully thought out, but at the same time leave room for improvisation and include many different escape options.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

Batman: What do you want from the city?

Joker: I want a new bike... I want to go to Florida... I want...

A scene from Tim Burton's Batman script that was not included in the film itself.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

1989 film version: Jack Napier right hand mafia, always carries with him his lucky deck, and his favorite purple suit. But suddenly the mafia decides to get rid of him (Jack liked the leader’s girlfriend), and sets the police on him. Location of Axis Chemicals. Then, of course, Batman appears. And it's his fault that Jack falls into acid. his face becomes disfigured, his skin takes on a shade of blue. Even plastic surgery doesn't help. They tried to do everything in their power, but alas, now our Jack is doomed to wear a malicious smile on his face. When Jack looked at himself in the mirror after the operation, he lost all sanity. Now he has nothing to lose. Essentially, Jack died and, like a phoenix, was reborn from the ashes as a psychopathic killer. Oh yes... New life - new “business cards” (you have to maintain your image =)), and this is, of course, the Joker card. The weapon certainly looked like a clown prop. And before us appears the same Joker we know today.

Target of crimes: Potentially anyone and everyone. The Joker trusts no one and treats victims, enemies, allies, helpers and those who simply “passed by” with equal cruelty. He is a “wild card” in any human deck, an outcast in any company, not controlled by anyone and not subject to any influence. Those who consider him an ally tend to die first. Those who hire him for “dirty work” must be prepared for unpredictable results. His assistants had better keep their mouths shut (“Learn not to ask stupid questions,” says the Joker, throwing one of his subordinates under the wheels of a passing car to the rest of the gang in one of the comics). Decent people...

Decent people have no place in this city. They are better off living somewhere else.

The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

The maniacal jester also has a circle of favorite victims. First of all, of course, Batman is the superhero of Gotham, a mysterious night avenger, protector of the innocent. It was from him that the Red Hood ran away, jumping into chemical waste. But this is not about trivial revenge. In most of his comic and screen “incarnations,” the evil harlequin does not consider Batman to be the culprit of his misfortunes; he thinks that fate struck him by chance, and strikes back in exactly the same way - at random. But competing in wits with the Man-Bat quickly became the very essence of the criminal clown's existence. He needs a worthy opponent on whom he can play deadly tricks, and constant defeats only stimulate him. The Joker always says that he will kill the Bat, that he hates the Knight of the Night, etc., but in reality everything is much more complicated - without an opponent, his life will lose meaning, because there will be no one to “play” with him.

Joker: Haven't you figured out why I haven't killed you yet?

Batman: No.

Joker: I've been meaning to tell you for a long time... eh-he-he-he-he... I LET you win. This is the game, you know? I make a mess, you catch me... If you win, I go back to Arkham, run away, and it all starts again. But if I win... BOOM! KAPUTT! Game over! And who needs it?

That is why the Joker, although he had many opportunities to put an end to the Black Avenger forever, always delayed the reprisal until the last moment or gave his enemy a chance to escape. And he never took the chance to find out the true identity of the mysterious opponent. However, according to many fans, he recognized her a long time ago - it just doesn’t matter to him.

One of the inhabitants of “Arkham”: I say, let’s take off his mask. I want to see his real face.

Joker: Oh, don't be so predictable, for God's sake! THIS is his true face.

From the comic book “Asylum “Arkham”.

Next on the list are the Bat's allies. They are the ones in the greatest danger - the Joker only needs them as a way to hurt Batman. Then - policemen, lawyers, politicians - everyone who personifies law and order so hated by him (the more famous, the better - the mayor or the police commissioner, for example). Finally, the doctors treating the Joker in the Gotham psychiatric hospital “Arkham” - after another escape, he sometimes visits his doctors to communicate at home (of course, with a fatal outcome).

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

Causes and purposes of crimes: There is no reason as such. Everything the Joker does is for his own pleasure, experiencing psychotic ecstasy from his sociopathic deeds. His main goal is to prove to everyone that he is both the greatest comedian and the greatest criminal of all time. The Clown Prince of the Underworld is sure that he can achieve this in only one way - by defeating the Bat, and always with the help of some witty trick (a banal shot in the heart is not suitable in any case!). Of course, in many stories the villain pursues mercantile goals, but still money is not the main thing for him. He can rob a bank, and the next day buy 20 thousand “jacks in a box” for, to put it mildly, an obscure reason.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

Strengths: The Joker has no superhuman abilities, no international criminal empire, no millions in a Swiss bank, not even very developed muscles. And yet, in the DCU (DC Universe - a universe that exists in the imagination of thousands of authors and artists working for the DC comics company), he is the most terrible and dangerous psychopath, striking fear into the hearts of much more powerful and physically strong villains. The Joker likes to say that his strength is madness, and this is true. He is ready to do anything in order to achieve his goals and realize his plans; dangers and even death do not frighten him (at least in many stories), although the instinct of self-preservation always kicks in at the right moment, saving the psycho from imminent death. His madness manifests itself in an uncontrollably frivolous attitude towards life and reality: he ridicules everything in his path and, having ridiculed it, destroys it. Therefore, he is ready to laugh at both mortal danger and a formidable opponent. Some comics directly state that the Joker is not very aware of what is going on both around him and in his own head (in films, this point is usually not emphasized).

Dr. Ruth Adams, psychiatrist at Arkham: The Joker is a special case. Some of us feel that he is beyond treatment. In fact, we're not even sure if he can be called insane... We're starting to think it's some kind of neurological disorder like Torett's syndrome. It is possible that what we are actually seeing here is a kind of super-sanity, a brilliant new modification of human thinking, more suitable for urban life in the late twentieth century. Unlike you and me, the Joker seems to have no control over the information he receives from his senses from the world around him. He can deal with this chaotic clutter at the entrance only by going with the flow. So on some days he is a mischievous clown, on others he is a psychopathic killer... He reinvents himself every day. He considers himself the ruler of chaos, and the world around him as a theater of the absurd.

Batman: Tell that to his victims.

From the comic book “Asylum “Arkham”.

However, without really delving into the essence of what is happening, the sinister jester navigates a dangerous situation much better than healthy people and knows how to turn the tide of a fight with a seemingly predetermined outcome: his sick brain always suggests unexpected and witty solutions. He has no equal in his ability to find the weak points of his opponents and use their own weapons against them. Finally, the Clown Prince of Crime never cared about such nonsense as the fairness of the fight.

Madness gives him a number of other abilities. As you know, the physical strength of crazy people increases due to the adrenaline reaction of the body. The Joker has never studied martial arts or hand-to-hand combat and in a fight he has nothing special to boast about, but sometimes his insane rage gives him the strength to rush at the enemy like an animal and fight on equal terms even with Batman, an expert in all possible martial arts. In addition, the permanent phase shift gave the killer jester unusually agile nervous system: he is not affected by any psychotropic, intoxicating, etc. drugs (although they often later affect the doctors who give them), as well as the “fear gas” invented by a mad scientist nicknamed Scarecrow, and the botanical charms of the villainess Poison Ivy .

Over the years of his criminal life, the Joker has acquired a number of practical skills: he is a good shooter (his favorite tactic is to shoot at every living thing indiscriminately), has a good command of bladed weapons, is well versed in explosives and toxic substances, not to mention various cunning tricks and dastardly tricks, often demonstrates undoubted acting talent and mastery of disguise, and is an expert in all kinds of torture and sadistic methods of brainwashing. But still, his main weapon is ingenuity, unprincipledness and... madness.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

Survival: Almost superhuman. He was shot, drowned, blown up, burned, electric current was passed through him, and still he survived.

Relationships with the underworld: As already mentioned, complex. He has no friends or permanent accomplices, because he denies any laws and rules - including those of the criminal world. The Joker has repeatedly joined forces with other supervillains (Penguin, Scarecrow, Lex Luthor, Carnage); every time it all ended in mutual betrayal and fight. However, his eerie aura and nightmarish reputation inspire respectful fear and almost reverence among most criminals, and his power within the walls of Arkham is limitless. The Joker has never lacked help, as he pays well and his plans always work (until the Bat interferes). As a rule, a maniac clown takes into his team two or three strong and stupid thugs who do not ask unnecessary questions and do not think about what they are doing. But, unlike most crime bosses, he loves to do all the dirty work himself.

The Joker is a member of the Unjust Gang, a secret society of supervillains led by Lex Luthor. He is also a member of the Council of Nero (that is the name of the Devil in the DCU), was one of his five lieutenants; however, he later teamed up with Luthor to steal the power of the ruler of hell.

Current status: Healthy, cheerful, crazy, energetic and ready for action.

Joe also appeared in the film industry:

Batman (film, 1966) (film and TV series) - Cesar Romero

Batman (1989) - Jack Nicholson

Batman: Dead End (2003 film) - Andrew Koenig

The Dark Knight (2008) - Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger was the ultimate Joker. It was he who revealed his entire character. But the Joker played a cruel joke on him. On January 22, 2008, Heath Ledger was found dead in his Manhattan apartment. Probable causes of death are suicide or drug overdose. Many believe his death is the Joker's fault. What exactly the role of the Joker influenced the psyche of Heath himself. Even Jack Nicholson believes it. Before filming The Dark Knight, Heath met with Nicholson to share his experience. The first thing Jack said was: “Don’t mess with the Joker, he won’t bring you any good.” Who knows, maybe the Joker tried this...

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

Well, let's start from the beginning. The Joker's first appearance in a movie was the TV series of the 60s, where he was slightly changed in terms of appearance: now he has light green hair, combed into a ball, and instead of a frozen smile, the corners of his mouth were lengthened with lipstick. His suit was made dark pink, and his gloves were purple. In the series, the Joker is more of a clown than a villain. In addition, he acts very weakly here, only following the Penguin's instructions. After that, the Joker for a long time was only in cartoons and comics.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

In 1989, the Joker returned in Tim Burton's Batman, played by Jack Nicholson. Here he gets a name - Jack Napier, the former right hand of crime boss Carl Grissom. Jack falls into acid... I already wrote further) There is no Robin in this film, and Batman remembers that the Joker killed Bruce Wayne's parents when Bruce was still a little boy (by the way, it's interesting here... imagine: little Bruce... well, approximately how old was he when they killed him parents? And approximately how old was Joe in those years? Well, let’s say about 25 years old. Now Bruce is 25-30, then Joe’s approximate age is 45-50... but this is based on the film of 1989). The traditional appearance was preserved: green hair, white face, red lips, expensive purple suit, purple gloves and a constant smile. They did their best with a smile: Jack Nicholson had artificial make-up applied to the corners of his lips and cheeks, “frozen in a smile.” At the end of the film, he was killed by Batman, although the Joker was given much more time than Batman. In the story, Harley Quinn was killed by the Joker himself (although she was denied a jester costume and a nickname, but let's hope that Harley will show herself in the next Batman).

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

In 2003, another film appeared, this time an amateur low-budget one, BUT Andrew Koenig (who plays the Joker) impressed many and is considered something between the images of Ledger and Nicholson. The Joker's appearance is reminiscent of the Nolan film, but the Joker here has brown hair instead of green. The character of the Joker in this film is a little crazy and dies at the end.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

And finally, The Dark Knight. Here the Joker has no name (in addition, he leaves no evidence, and his past cannot be found out). The appearance is traditional, but distorted: the Joker has light green curly hair, black outlines around his eyes (taken from the comics), a dirty purple suit, dark purple gloves and a white face. The permanent smile became 2 scars carved in the mouth. Throughout the film, the Joker gives two versions of their appearance: their father's bullying and their unhappy family life, but the real reason never revealed. The stories are accompanied by the phrase “Why are you so serious?” (originally “Why so serious?”), which became the signature to the film. Falling into waste is abandoned here - the Joker's white face here is sloppily applied makeup, which is wiped off several times during the course of the film. The knife is the favorite weapon of the new Joker: in his opinion: “knives provide the closest contact with the victim.” Also distinguishing features of this villain are dynamite and gasoline. The Joker does not die at the end, making the film a prequel.

Hit himself, having locked himself in the living room for a month, came up with the image of the Joker. He didn't want his Joker to be like Jack Nicholson's Joker. Heath's Joker is selfish, with his unsurpassed facial expressions, with an eternal smile in the form of scars, with the wonderful intonations of a psychopath. In this film, Joker shows all the morality of society. Not Batman, who protects the citizens of the city, but the Joker. Heath Ledger's Joker provides us with the meaning and philosophy of people like Harvey Dent as well as society. The Joker plunges the city into chaos and plays his subtle game.

A big influence on the Joker character in this version was the Batman comic book episodes entitled "The Long Halloween", "The Killing Joke", and "The Man Who Laughs". The character's 1940s co-creator, Jerry Robinson, was hired as a consultant, as was his colleague Bob Kane for Batman (1989).

Grim Joe

The Joker's makeup consists of three parts - special super-strong silicone pads, which are secured with special cosmetics. Two of them are attached to the cheeks, and the third is under the lower jaw. Lip makeup is done using special lipstick and silicone products that can give the face the effect of a stretched mouth. This combination in combination with makeup allows you to get the effect of a mouth torn from ear to ear and a post-traumatic keloid scar on the lower lip and right cheek, in order to further frighten the actor’s face, and also to give the image some external deformities. In addition, a special makeup was also applied to the face, which makes it possible to give the face an extremely pale tint, and therefore Heath’s hero looks like a living dead man. All the makeup, not counting the makeup, was applied carelessly and sloppily, so that the viewer would no longer have any doubts that this is a real psycho. Heath Ledger's daily makeup took just under an hour.

The tragic death of Heath Ledger raised two pressing questions during the film's release: whether to show the recently deceased Heath Ledger as a disfigured Joker speaking his catchphrase, and whether to cut the scene where the Joker plays dead from the final cut. This situation was resolved on the basis that Heath Ledger worked very hard on this role and in any case would have been proud and happy about it.

Well, we're done with the films.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

The following image of the Joker is shown in the recently released game Batman: Arkham Asylum. The Joker is one of Batman's opponents and the game's bosses. Delivered by Batman to Arkham. As it turned out, it was a carefully planned plan to try to kill Batman, but as it turned out, it was not ideal. He starts a riot and seizes power in the hospital. He constantly appears, leaving both audio messages and video messages. He is Batman's main opponent. In one of the meetings, he turns two of his assistants into monsters using a mutagen called "Titan" (in the last meeting, himself). The PlayStation 3 version of the game has the ability to play as the Joker (I hope to appear on PC). The appearance of the Joker in the game was most influenced by the Batman movie, comic books and the animated series. The Joker was voiced by actor Mark Hamill (everyone's favorite Jedi also voices the warden in the game Darksiders), who managed to become familiar with this character while working on the animated series about Batman.

Joker "from A to Z"

Joker "from A to Z"

Joe is also present in the game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Its ending states that after the separation of the worlds, the Joker became much stronger. He took over Gotham City and declared himself mayor. Now he will start a Mortal Kombat tournament in Gotham City, in which participants will fight to the death for the amusement of the Joker. In the end, the winner of the tournament will fight the Joker himself.

In addition to Batman, the Joker has been a member of other universes. In the full-length cartoon The Batman/Superman Movie, he became Lex Luthor's partner. Also there was Batman, as Superman's ally and Lois Lane's new lover.

The Joker was also in one of the Scooby-Doo series. There was also Penguin Man, who he teamed up with. Batman and Robin were there too, as new friends of the Mystery Inc.

Joker - Character History

Joker DC comics – Character history – Joker DC comics

Joker (character)

Art by Alex Ross
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance: Batman #1 (April 25, 1940)
Created
Bill Finger
Bob Kane
Jerry Robinson

Capabilities

• Criminal mastermind
• Experienced Chemist
• Uses military-grade props and toxins

The Joker is a fictional supervillain created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson who first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book Batman (April 25, 1940) published by DC Comics. The rights to create the Joker are disputed; Kane and Robinson took credit for the Joker's design, acknowledging the contributions of Finger's writing. Although the Joker was planned to be destroyed during his initial appearance, he was spared editorial intervention by allowing the character to endure as the arch-enemy of the superhero Batman.

One of the majority cult characters In popular culture, the Joker has been listed among the greatest comic book villains and fictional characters ever created. The character's popularity has seen him appear on a variety of merchandise such as clothing and collectibles, inspire real-life structures (such as theme park attractions), and be referenced in many media. The Joker has been adapted to serve as Batman's adversary in live-action film, animated, and video game incarnations, including the 1960s Batman television series (played by Cesar Romero) and in Jack Nicholson's film The Batman (1989), Heath Ledger's The Dark Knight (2008) , and Jared Leto in Suicide Squad (2016). Mark Hamill, Troy Baker and others provided the character's voice.

Creation and development

Joker DC comics – Character history – Joker DC comics

1940 sketch of Jerry Robinson's character (left behind) The Joker. (correct) Actor Conrad Veidt in character as Gwynplaine in The Man Who Laughs (1928). Veidt's grinning visage inspired the Joker's design.

Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson are credited with creating the Joker, but their accounts of the character's concept differ, each providing his own version of events. Finger, Kane, and Robinson's versions acknowledge that Finger produced actor Conrad Veidt's portrayal of the character as Gwynplaine (a man with a disfigured face, giving him an endless grin) in the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs as the inspiration for the Joker's appearance, and Robinson produced the play's sketch Joker cards (right).

Robinson claimed that it was his 1940 map sketch that served as the character's concept, and which Finger associated Veidt's image. Kane hired 17-year-old Robinson as an assistant in 1939, after he saw Robinson wearing a white jacket decorated with his own illustrations. Starting out as a letterer and background inker, Robinson quickly became the primary artist for the newly created Batman comic book series. In a 1975 interview in The Wonderful World of DC Comics, Robinson said he wanted a supreme arch-villain who could test Batman, but not a typical crime lord or gangster, designed to be easy to locate.

He wanted an exotic, enduring character as an ongoing source of conflict for Batman (similar to the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty), designing a devilishly sinister-but-buffoonish villain. Robinson was intrigued by villains; his studies at Columbia University taught him that some characters are made up of contradictions, leading to the Joker's sense of humor. He said the name came first, accompanied by an image of a deck playing card he often had on hand: "I wanted someone visually exciting.

I wanted someone who would leave a lasting impression, would be quirky, would be memorable like the Hunchback of Notre Dame or any of the other villains who had unique physical attributes. “He told Finger about his concept over the phone, later providing character sketches and images of what would become his iconic Joker playing card design. Finger thought the concept was incomplete, ensuring Veidt's image with a terrible, permanent mouth-hole grin.

Kane countered that Robinson's sketch was produced only after Finger had already shown the Gwynplaine image to Kane, and that it was only used as a card design owned by the Joker in his early appearances. Finger said he was also inspired by an image at Steeplechase Park in Coney Island, which resembled a Joker head he sketched and later shared with future publishing director Carmine Infantino. In a 1994 interview with journalist Frank Lowes, Kane stated his position:

Bill Finger and I created the Joker. Bill was a writer. Jerry Robinson came to me with a Joker playing card. That's the way I sum it up. The Joker] looks like Conrad Veidt – you know, the actor in The Man Who Laughs, the 1928 movie based on the novel] by Victor Hugo…. Bill Finger had a book with a photo of Conrad Veidt and showed it to me and said, 'Here's the Joker.' Jerry Robinson had absolutely nothing to do with him, but he will always say that he created him until he dies. He brought in the playing card that we used for several problems for him Joker] to use as his playing card.

Robinson credited himself, Thumb and Kane to create the Joker. He said he created the character as Batman's unlikely nemesis when additional stories were quickly needed for Batman # and he received history credit in a college course:

At that first meeting when I showed them the Joker sketch, Bill said it reminded him of Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs. This was the first mention of him... Bob himself can be credited to him, we all played a role in him. The concept was mine. Bill completed that first script from my outline of the persona and what should happen in the first story. He wrote the script for it, so he really was a co-creator, and Bob and I did the visuals, so Bob was too.

Although Kane adamantly refused to share credit for many of his characters (and denied Robinson's claim until Kane's death), many comic historians credit Robinson with creating the Joker and Thumb with character development. By 201 Thumb, Kane and Robinson had died, leaving the story unresolved.

Golden age

The Joker debuted in Batman #1 (1940) as the first villain of the same name, shortly after Batman's debut in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The Joker originally appeared as a ruthless serial killer, modeled after the Joker playing card with a bleak grin, who killed his victims with "Joker Venom": a toxin that left their faces smiling in a grotesque manner. the character was intended to be killed off in his second appearance in Batman No. by being stabbed in the heart. Finger wanted the Joker to die due to his concern that recurring villains would make Batman seem unsuitable, but was overruled by then-editor Whitney Ellsworth; a hastily drawn panel, indicating that the Joker was still alive, was added to the comedian. The Joker went on to appear in nine of the first twelve Batman issues.

Joker DC comics – Character history – Joker DC comics

The character's regular appearances quickly established him as the archenemy of the dynamic duo, Batman and Robin; he killed dozens of people, and even derailed a train. By issue #13, Kane's work on the syndicated Batman strip left him with little time for comics; artist Dick Sprang took over his duties, and editor Jack Schiff collaborated with Finger on the stories. At the same time, DC Comics found it easier to sell his stories to children without the more mature pulp elements that spawned many superhero comics. During this period, the first changes to the Joker began to appear, portraying him more as the Joker than a threat; when he kidnaps Robin, Batman pays the ransom by check, implying that the Joker cannot exchange it for money without being arrested. Comics writer Mark Waid suggests that the 1942 story "The Joker's Walk, The Last Mile" was the starting point for the character's transformation into a goofier incarnation, a period that Grant Morrison believed would last the next thirty years.

The 1942 cover of Detective Comics #69, known as "Double Gun" (with the Joker emerging from a genie's lamp, aiming two guns at Batman and Robin), is considered one of the largest Golden Age superhero comic covers and the only depiction of the character using a traditional weapon . Robinson said other modern villains used guns, and the creative team wanted the Joker - as Batman's adversary - to be more resourceful.

Silver Age

The Joker was one of several popular villains continuing to appear regularly in Batman comics from the Golden Age into the Silver Age, as the series continued during the rise in popularity of mystery and romance comics. In 1951, Thumb wrote an origin story for the Joker in Detective Comics No. 168, which introduced the feature of him formerly being the criminal Red Hood and his acquiring a physical defect the result of a fall into a chemical vat.

By 1954, the Comics Code Authority was established in response to increasing public disapproval of comic book content. The backlash was inspired by Frederick Wertham, who hypothesized that the media (especially comic books) were responsible for an increase in juvenile delinquency, violence, and homosexuality, especially among young men. Parents banned their children from reading comics, and there were several mass arson attacks. The Comics Code banned gore, innuendo and excessive violence, stripping Batman of his menace and transforming the Joker into a stupid, thieving trickster without his original homicidal tendencies.

The character appeared less often after 1964, when Julius Schwartz (who disliked the Joker) became editor of Batman comics. The character risked becoming a vague indicator of a previous era until this goofy version of the Joker character was adapted into the 1966 television series Batman, in which he was played by Cesar Romero. The popularity of the show led Schwartz to keep the comics in the same vein. While the show's popularity has waned, however, so have those of the Batman comics. After the series ended in 1968, increased public visibility did not stop the comedian's sales decline; Publishing director Carmine Infantino decided to turn things around, moving the stories away from school-friendly adventures. The Silver Age introduced several of the Joker's defining character traits: lethal joy horns, acid-squirting flowers, trick guns, and stupid, elaborate crimes.

Bronze Age

Joker DC comics – Character history – Joker DC comics

Cover Batman #251 (September 1973), featuring "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge", which returned the Joker to his murderous roots. Art by Neal Adams.

In 1973, after disappearing for four years, the Joker was revived (and revised) by writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams. Beginning with Batman #251's "Five-Path Revenge of the Joker", the character returns to his roots as an impulsive, homicidal maniac who matches wits with Batman. This story started a trend in which the Joker was used sparingly, as central character. O'Neill said his idea was to "just take it back to where it started. I went to the DC library and read some early stories. I tried to get a sense of what Kane and Thumb were after." O'Neill's 1973 Run introduced the idea of ​​the Joker being legally insane to explain why the character is sent to Arkham Asylum (introduced by O'Neill in 1974 as Arkham Asylum) instead of prison. Adams altered the Joker's appearance, giving him a larger-than-average figure, elongating his jaw, and making him taller and leaner.

DC Comics was a hotbed of experimentation during the 1970s, and in 1975 the character became the first villain to feature as the title character in the comic book series, the Joker. the series followed the character's interactions with other supervillains, and the first issue was written by O'Neill. The stories balanced between emphasizing the Joker's criminality and making him a likable protagonist that readers could root for. Although he killed thugs and civilians, he never fought Batman.

This made the Joker a series in which the villainy of the character prevailed over rival villains instead of a fight between good and evil, as the Comics Code Authority mandated punishment for the villains, each issue ending with the Joker being arrested, limiting the scope of each story. The series never found an audience, and Joker was canceled after nine issues (despite advertising a "next issue" for an appearance by the Justice League). The complete series became difficult to obtain over time, often commanding high prices from collectors. In 2013, DC Comics republished the series as a graphic novel.

When Genette Kahn became DC editor in 1976, she rebuilt the company's struggling titles; During her tenure, the Joker would become one of DC's most popular characters. While O'Neill and Adams' work were critically acclaimed, writer Steve Englehart and penciller Marshall Rogers ran an eight-issue run in Detective Comics #471-476 (August 1977 - April 1978) have defined the Joker for decades to come with stories emphasizing the character's madness.

In "The Laughing Fish", the Joker disfigures a fish with a mouth-hole grin resembling his own (anticipating copyright protection) and is unable to understand that copyright protection natural resource legally impossible. Englehart and Rogers' work on the series influenced the 1989 film Batman and was adapted into 1992's Batman: The Animated Series. Rogers elaborated on Adams' character design, drawing the Joker with a fedora and trench coat. Englehart outlined in general outline how he understood the character, saying that the Joker "was this very crazy, scary character. I really wanted to go back to the idea of ​​Batman fighting mad killers at 3:00 under a full moon as the clouds are destroyed."

Our time

In the years following the end of the 1966 television series, Batman's sales continued to decline and the title was almost cancelled. Although the 1970s re-established the Joker as Batman's mad, lethal adversary, it was during the 1980s that the Batman series began to turn around and the Joker achieved recognition as part of the "medieval" era of comics: mature tales of death and destruction. The change was ridiculed for moving away from tame superheroes (and villains), but comic audiences were no longer primarily children.

Several months after the Crisis on Earths of God began the era by destroying symbols Silver Age such as The Flash and Supergirl and undoing decades of continuity, Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (1986) re-imagined Batman as an older retired hero and the Joker as a lipstick-wearing celebrity who cannot function without his opponent. The late 1980s saw the Joker has had a significant influence on Batman and his supporting cast. In the 1988–89 story arc "A Death in the Family", the Joker kills Batman's sidekick (the second Robin, Jason Todd). Todd was unpopular with fans; rather than changing his character, DC decided to let them vote on his fate, and the 28-vote plurality had the Joker beat Todd to death with a crowbar.

Joker DC comics – Character history – Joker DC comics

This story changed the Batman universe: instead of killing anonymous witnesses, the Joker killed a major character in Batman fiction; this had a lasting effect on future stories. Written at the height of tensions between the United States and Iran, the story's conclusion had Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini appoint the Joker as his country's ambassador to the United Nations (allowing him to temporarily escape justice).

Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's 1988 graphic novel The Deadly Joke expands on the Joker's origins, describing the character as a failed comedian who takes on the identity of Red Hood to support his pregnant wife. Unlike The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke takes place in the mainstream continuity . the novel is described by critics as one of the greatest Joker stories ever written, influencing later comic stories (including then-Batgirl Barbara Gordon's forced retirement after she is paralyzed by the Joker) and films such as 1989's Batman and 2008's The Dark Knight Grant Morrison's 1989 Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth explores the psychosis of Batman, the Joker and other rogues in the eponymous vehicle.

The 1992 animated series introduced a female sidekick to the Joker: Harley Quinn, a psychiatrist who falls in love with—and ends up in an abusive relationship with—the Joker, becoming his supervillain accomplice. The character was popular, and was adapted into comics as the Joker's romantic interest in 1999. That same year, Alan Grant and Norm Breifogle's comic Anarky came to the conclusion with the discovery that the titular character was the Joker's son. Breifogle conceived the idea as a means to expand on Anarky's characterization, but O'Neill (by then editor for the Batman series of books) was opposed to it, and only allowed it to be written under protest, and with the promise that the discovery would eventually be revealed wrong. However, the Anarky series was canceled before a retraction could be published.

The Joker's first major storyline in The New 52, ​​DC Comics' 2011 reboot of the story continuity, was 2012's "Death of the Family" by writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capallo. The story arc explores the symbiotic relationship between the Joker and Batman, and sees the villain destroy the trust between Batman and his adopted family. Capallo's Joker design replaced his traditional outfit with a pragmatic, dirty, and tousled appearance to convey that the character was on a mission; his face (surgically removed in 2011's Detective Comics #1) was reattached with belts, wires and hooks, and he was outfitted with a mechanic's jumpsuit. The Joker's face was restored in Snyder and Capallo's Endgame (2014), the final chapter to Death of the Family.

Biography of the Joker character DC comics

The Joker has undergone many revisions since its 1940 debut. The most common interpretation of the character is that he disguises himself as the criminal Red Hood and is being pursued by Batman. The Joker falls into a vat of chemicals that bleaches his skin, dyes his hair green and his lips red, and drives him insane. The reasons why the Joker was disguised as Red Hood and his identity before his transformation have varied over time.

Joker DC comics – Character history – Joker DC comics

The character was introduced in Batman #1 (1940), in which he announces that he will kill three of Gotham's prominent citizens (including Mayor Henry Claridge). Although the police protect Claridge, the Joker poisons him before making his announcement, and Claridge dies with a terrible grin on his face; Batman ultimately defeats him, putting him in prison. The Joker commits bizarre, brutal crimes for reasons that, in Batman's words, "make sense to him." Detective Comics #168 (1951) introduced the Joker's first origin story as Red Hood: a criminal who, during his final heist, disappears after jumping into a vat of chemicals to escape Batman. His resulting acquisition of a physical defect led him to take the name "Joker", from a playing card it is believed he came to remind. the Silver Age transformation of the Joker into an object of ridicule was established in 1952's "The Joker's Millions".

In this story, the Joker is obsessed with maintaining his illusion of wealth and celebrity as a criminal folk hero afraid to let the citizens of Gotham know that he is poor and has been cheated out of his fortune. The 1970s redefined the character as a murderous psychopath. "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge" has the Joker taking violent revenge on the former gang members who betrayed him; "The Laughing Fish" has the character chemically add his face to Gotham's fish (hoping to profit from the copyright) by killing bureaucrats who stand in his way.

Batman: The Killing Joke (1988) was based on the 1951 origin story of the Joker, portraying him as a failed comedian who is pressured into committing a crime as Red Hood in order to support his pregnant wife. Batman's intervention causes him to jump into a chemical vat, which disfigures him. This, combined with the trauma of his wife's earlier accidental death, causes him to go crazy and become the Joker. However, Joker says that this story may not be true and prefers his past to be a "varied choice." In this graphic novel, the Joker shoots and paralyzes Barbara Gordon and tortures her father, Commissioner James Gordon, to prove that it only takes one bad day to drive a normal person insane.

After Batman rescues Gordon and subdues the Joker, he offers to rehabilitate his old foe and end their rivalry. Although the Joker refuses, he shows his gratitude by sharing a prank with Batman. After the self-mutilation of Barbara's character, she became a more important character in the DC Universe: Oracle, a data miner informant and superhero who has her revenge on Birds of Prey by destroying the Joker's teeth and ruining his smile.

In the 1988 story "A Death in the Family", the Joker hits Jason Todd with a crowbar and leaves him to die in an explosion. Todd's death haunts Batman, and for the first time he considers killing the Joker. The Joker temporarily escapes justice when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini appoints him Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, giving him diplomatic immunity. However, when he attempts to poison the UN membership, he is defeated by Batman and Superman.

In the main storyline 1999's No Man's Land The Joker kills Commissioner Gordon's second wife, Sarah, as she shields a group of babies. He taunts Gordon, who shoots him in the kneecap. The Joker, lamenting that he may never walk again, dies laughing when he realizes that the Commissioner was taking revenge for Barbara's paralysis. This story also introduced the Joker's girlfriend, Harley Quinn.

The 2000s began with the crossover story "Emperor Joker", in which the Joker steals the reality-altering power of Mister Mxyzptlk and remakes the universe in his image (torturing and killing Batman daily before reviving him). When the supervillain then tries to destroy the universe, his reluctance to eliminate Batman causes him to lose control and Superman defeats him. Broken by his experience, the events of Batman's death are transferred to Superman by the Specter so he can heal mentally.

In "Joker's Last Laugh" (2001), doctors at Arkham Asylum convince the character that he is dying in an attempt to rehabilitate him. Instead, the Joker (between an army of "Jokerized" supervillains) begins the final crime spree. Believing Robin (Tim Drake) to have been killed in the chaos, Dick Grayson beats the Joker to death (although Batman revives his opponent to keep Grayson from being the killer) and the character succeeds in getting a member of the Bat-Family to break their rule against murder .

Joker DC comics – Character history – Joker DC comics

In "Under the Hood" (2005), a revived Todd attempts to force Batman to avenge his death by killing the Joker. Batman refuses, claiming that if he allows himself to kill the Joker, he will not be able to stop killing other criminals. The Joker kills Alexander Luthor in Infinite Crisis (2005) to expel him from the Secret Society of Super Villains, which deems him too unpredictable for membership. In Morrison's Batman and Son (2006), the deranged policeman who impersonates Batman shoots the Joker in the face , scratching and maiming him. The supervillain returns in Clown at Midnight (2007) as a brutal, mysterious force who awakens and tries to kill Harley Quinn to prove to Batman that he has become more than human. The 2008 story forms the arc "Batman R.I.P." "

The Joker is recruited by the Black Glove to destroy Batman, but betrays the group, killing its members one by one. After Batman's near-death experience in "Final Crisis" (2008), Grayson investigates a series of murders (which leads him to the Joker in disguise). The Joker is arrested and then Robin Damian Wayne hits him with a crowbar, finding something similar to Todd's murder. As the Joker escapes, he attacks the Black Glove, burying its leader Simon Hurt alive after the supervillain considers him a failure as an opponent; The Joker is then defeated by the newly returned Batman.

In DC's New 52, ​​the 2011 reboot of his post-Flashpoint titles, the Joker has his face cut off. He disappears for a year, returning to launch an attack on Batman's extended family in "Death of the Family" so he and Batman can be the best hero and villain they can be. At the end of the storyline, the Joker falls off a cliff into a dark abyss. The Joker returns in the 2014 "Endgame" storyline, in which he brainwashes the Justice League into attacking Batman, believing that he betrayed their relationship. The story implies That the Joker is immortal - having existed for centuries in Gotham as the cause of tragedy after exposure to a substance the Joker calls 'dionesium' - and is able to recover from mortal wounds. "Endgame" restores the Joker's face, and also reveals that he knows Batman's secret identity. the story ends with the clinical deaths of Batman and the Joker at each other's hands.

Origin of the Joker

“They gave a lot of the origin of the Joker, how he turned out. It doesn't seem to matter - as he does now. I never intended to explain his appearance. We discussed it and BillFinger and I never wanted to change it at the time. I thought - and he agreed - that this removed some of the essential mystery."

Joker DC comics – Character history – Joker DC comics

Although many backstories have been given, a definitive one has not yet been established for the Joker. An unreliable narrator, the character is ambiguous about who he was before and how he became the Joker: "Sometimes I remember him one way, sometimes another...if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be a varied choice!" "The Joker's origin story appeared in Detective Comics #168 (February 1951), nearly a decade after the character's debut. Here, the character is a lab worker who becomes Red Hood (a masked criminal) to steal a million dollars from his employer and retire. He ends up in a vat of chemical waste when his robbery is thwarted by Batman, who appears with bleached white skin, red lips, green hair and a permanent grin.

This story was the basis for the most often cited origin story, Moore's one-shot The Killing Joke. The Joker quits his job as a Lab assistant, becoming a stand-up comedian to support his pregnant wife. Unsuccessful, he agrees to help the bandits with the robbery and dons the Red Hood. The robbery gets confused; the comedian jumps into a chemical vat to escape Batman, emerging disfigured. This, combined with more early death The accident of his wife and unborn child drives the comedian insane and he becomes the Joker.

This version has been cited in many stories, including Batman: The Man Who Laughs (in which Batman deduces that Red Hood survived his fall and became the Joker), Batman #450 (in which the Joker dons Red Hood to aid his recovery from the events in Deaths in the Family, but finds the experience too traumatic), and “Death of the Family.” Other stories have elaborated on this origin;" Pushback" explains that the Joker's wife was killed by a corrupt cop working for mobsters, and "Payback" gives the Joker's name as "Jack".

However, the Joker's unreliable memory allowed writers to develop a different origin for the character. "Case Study", Paul DiniAlex Rossitorie, describes the Joker as a sadistic gangster who creates the Red Hood identity to continue the thrill of petty crime. He has his fateful first meeting with Batman, which leads to him acquiring a physical defect. It is suggested that the Joker be sane and feign insanity to avoid the death penalty. In Batman Confidential (#7–12), the character, Jack, is a talented criminal who is bored with his job. He encounters (and becomes obsessed with) Batman during a robbery, embarking on a crime spree to get his attention.

After Jack injures Batman's girlfriend, Jack scars Batman's face with a permanent grin and betrays him to a group of bandits who torture him in a chemical plant. Jack escapes, but ends up in an empty vat as gunfire punctures the chemical tanks above him. A flood of chemicals (used in antipsychotic medication) changes his appearance and completes his transformation. The superhero Atom sees the Joker's memory of burning his parents alive (after they find him killing animals) in The Brave and the Bold #3, and Snyder's Zero Year (2013) suggests that the pre-mutilated Joker was the criminal mastermind leading the gang Red Hoods.

The Joker has stated many origins, including being the child of an abusive father who broke his nose and a long-lived buffoon of an Egyptian pharaoh. As Batman says, "Like any other comedian, he uses whatever material will work."

Alternate versions of the Joker

Joker DC comics – Character history – Joker DC comics

Many alternate universes in DC Comics publications allow writers to introduce variations on the Joker in which the character's origins, behavior and morals differ from the mainstream setting. The Dark Knight Returns depicts the final battle between an aged Batman and the Joker; others depict the aftermath of the Joker's death at the hands of many characters, including Superman. Still others describe distant futures in which the Joker is a computer virus or a hero trying to defeat the era's tyrannical Batman. In some stories, the Joker is someone else entirely; "Flashpoint" features Batman's mother Martha Wayne as the Joker in response to her son's murder, and in Superman: Bullets Flying Lex Luthor becomes the Joker in a world where Superman is Batman.

Characteristics

Known as Batman's greatest enemy, the Joker is known by many nicknames, including the Clown Prince of Crime, the Jester of Genocide, the Harlequin of Hatred and the Ace of Dodgers. During the development of the DC Universe, interpretations and versions of the Joker have taken two forms. The original, dominant image is that of an extreme psychopath, with a genius-level intellect and a warped, sadistic sense of humor. Another version, popular in comics from the late 940s to the 960s and in the 960s television series, is the eccentric, harmless Joker and thief.

Like other long-lasting characters, the Joker's character and cultural interpretations have changed over time, however, unlike other characters who may have to accommodate or ignore previous versions to make sense, more than any other comic book character, the Joker thrives on his changeable and contradictory personalities. The Joker is typically seen wearing a purple suit with a long tail, padded shoulder jacket, ribbon tie, gloves, striped pants and spats on sharp pointe shoes (sometimes with a wide-brimmed hat). This appearance is such a fundamental aspect of the character that when the 2004 Batman animated series placed the Joker in a straitjacket, it quickly redesigned him into his familiar suit.

The Joker is obsessed with Batman, the pair representing the yang of the opposition against the dark and light force; although it is the Joker who represents humor and color and Batman who lives in the dark. Murder, theft and terrorism, no crime outside of the Joker, and his deeds - theatrical performance, which are funny to him alone. Spectacle is more important than success to the Joker, and if it's not exciting, it's boring. Although the Joker demands indifference to everything, he secretly craves Batman's attention and validation.

Joker DC comics – Character history – Joker DC comics

The character was described as having killed over 2,000 people in Joker: The Devil's Advocate (996). Despite this body count, he is always found not guilty due to insanity and sent to Arkham Asylum, avoiding the death penalty. Many of the Joker's actions attempt to force Batman to kill; if the most organized and self-governing of people can kill, anyone is capable of becoming a monster like the Joker. The villain shows no instinct for self-preservation and is willing to die to prove his point. The Joker is "the personification of an irrational number" and represents "everything that Batman stands against."

Individuality

Joker co-creator Jerry Robinson in 2008; he conceived of the Joker as an exotic, resilient arch-villain who could repeatedly challenge Batman.

The Joker's main characteristic is his apparent insanity, although he is not described as having a specific psychological disorder. Like a psychopath, he lacks empathy, conscience and concern for right and wrong. In Serious House on Serious Earth, the Joker is described as being capable of processing non-sensory information only by adapting to it. This allows him to create a new personality every day (depending on what would benefit him), and explains why he is a mischievous clown or a psychopathic killer at various times. In "Clown at Midnight" (Batman #663, 2007), the Joker enters a meditative state where he evaluates his previous self to consciously create a new personality, effectively changing himself for his needs.

The Deadly Joke (in which the Joker is an unreliable narrator) explains the roots of his madness as "one bad day": losing his wife and unborn child and being disfigured by chemicals, finding something similar to Batman's origins in the loss of his parents. He tries (and fails) to prove that anyone can become like him after one bad day by tormenting Commissioner Gordon, physically and psychologically. Batman offers to rehabilitate his opponent; The Joker apologetically shrinks away, believing that it is too late for him to be saved.

Other interpretations show that the Joker is fully aware of how his actions affect others and that his madness is simply an act. Comics scholar Peter Coogan describes the Joker as attempting to bend reality to fit himself, superimposing his face on his victims (and fish) in an attempt to make the world understandable, creating a twisted parody of himself. Englehart's "The Laughing Fish" demonstrates the illogical nature of the character: trying to copyright the fish that bear his face, and not understanding why threatening the copyright clerk cannot achieve the desired result.

The Joker is alternatively depicted as sexual and asexual. In Dark Knight Returns and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth, the Joker seduces Batman; it's questionable whether their relationship has homoerotic overtones or if the Joker is simply trying to control his nemesis. Frank Miller has interpreted the character as being fixated on death and uninterested in sexual relationships, while Robinson believes the Joker is capable of romantic relationships. His relationship with Harley Quinn is offensively paradoxical; although the Joker keeps her on his side, he inadvertently harms her (such as by throwing her window without seeing if she survives). Harley loves him, but the Joker does not reciprocate her feelings, reproaching her for distracting him from other plans.

Joker DC comics – Character history – Joker DC comics

"Snyder's Death of the Family" depicts the Joker as loving Batman, although not in a traditionally romantic way. The Joker believes that Batman didn't kill him because he makes Batman better, and he loves the villain for that. Batman comic book writer Peter Tomasi agreed, saying that the Joker's main goal is to make Batman the best he can be. The Joker and Batman represent opposites: the extroverted Joker wears bright clothes and embraces chaos, while the introverted, monochromatic Batman represents order and discipline. The Joker is often portrayed as defining his existence through his conflict with Batman.

In "Movement 994 Normal", the villain tries to carry out normal life after Batman's (apparent) death, only to become his old self again when Batman reappears; in "Emperor Joker", the apparently all-powerful Joker cannot destroy Batman without canceling himself. Since the Joker is simply "The Joker", he believes that Batman is "Batman" (with or without the costume) and has no interest in what is behind Batman's mask, ignoring opportunities to learn Batman's secret identity. Given the opportunity to kill Batman , villain hesitation; he believes that without their performance, victory is meaningless. the character has no desire for typical criminal goals like money or power; his crime is designed only to continue his game with Batman.

The Joker is portrayed as having no fear; when fellow supervillain Scarecrow doses him with fear toxin in Knightfall (993), the Joker simply laughs and says, "Boo!" the villain was temporarily rendered normal by several means, including telepathic manipulation by Martian Manhunter and being revived in the restoration of life by Lazarus Pete (an experience typically causing temporary insanity in the subject). During these moments, the Joker is depicted as expressing remorse for his actions; however, during a medically induced period of partial sanity in Batman: Cacophony he tells his opponent: “I don't hate you 'cause I'm crazy. I'm crazy 'cause I hate you" and confirms that he will only stop killing when Batman is dead.

Joker Skills and Abilities

The Joker has no innate superhuman abilities. He commits crimes with a variety of military themed props such as a razor-tipped card playing deck, marble spins, Jack in the Box with nasty surprises and a cigar explosion capable of leveling a building. The flower in his lapel sprays acid, and his hand often holds a lethal joy buzzer, conducting a million volts of electricity, although both points were introduced in 952 as harmless joke points. However, his chemical genius provides his most famous weapon: the Joker's venom, liquid or gaseous a toxin that sends its targets into fits of uncontrollable laughter; higher doses can result in paralysis, coma or death, leaving its victim with a ghoulish, distressed grin at the mouth.

The Joker has used poison since his debut; only he knows the formula and is shown to be gifted enough to produce the toxin from common household chemicals. Another version of the poison (used in "The Joker's Last Laugh") causes its victims to resemble the Joker, susceptible to his orders. The villain is immune to the poison and most poisons; in Batman #663 (2007), Morrison writes that, being "an avid consumer of his own chemical experiments, the Joker's immunity to poison concoctions that might kill another person instantly was developed over years of ad hoc abuse. »

The character's arsenal is inspired by his nemesis' weaponry, such as batarangs. In "The Joker's Utility Belt" (952), he emulated Batman's utility belt with non-lethal items such as Mexican jumping beans and sneeze powder. In 942 "The Joker Follows Example", the villain built his versions of the Batplane and Batmobile, the Jokergyro and the Jokermobile (the latter with a large Joker face on its hood), and created a Joker signal with which criminals could call him for their robberies. The Jokermobile lasted for several decades, evolving with the Batmobile. His technical genius is not limited by practicality, allowing him to hijack Gotham's television airwaves to release threats, transform buildings into death traps, go on a gas offensive on the city, and rain poisoned glass shards on its citizens from the airship.

The Joker is portrayed as skilled in melee combat from his initial appearances, when he defeats Batman in a sword fight (almost killing him), and others when he overwhelms Batman but refuses to kill him. He is talented with firearms, although even his weapons are theatrical; his long-barreled revolver often fires a flag reading "Strike" and a second trigger pull starts the flag to pierce his target. Although formidable in battle, the Joker's greatest asset is his mind.

In this article you will learn:

Joker is a villain and psychopath from DC comics. The DC Comics universe is diverse and multifaceted. It has hundreds of characters, multiple timelines and physical spaces. Movies are made based on comic books, full-length books are written, and computer games. And it all started in 1940. Then the first comic book about Batman was written, in which one of the most recognizable villains of all time, Batman's sworn enemy, the Joker, appeared.

Story

Almost nothing is known about the past of the man who later became the Joker. Here are some facts: he lived in Gotham City, was a member of the Red Hood gang, and participated in gangster raids.

Batman and Joker

During the robbery of the Ace Chemicals card factory, the gang was discovered. One of the bandits (for an unknown reason, most likely from fear) fell into a cauldron with a toxic substance. The result of this incident was the appearance of such a character as the Joker.

The ordinary gangster underwent irreversible changes: his skin became bright white, black circles appeared around his eyes, his hair turned green, and a permanent smile was fixed on his lips. But the main thing is that the Joker has become completely crazy.

After this incident, a new villain appeared in Gotham City. His first crime was the murder of many people (corpses were found in an abandoned warehouse, all of them smiling from ear to ear).

The Joker was no ordinary criminal. He talked about the future crime in advance, appearing on television.

Among the Joker's atrocities were the following: the murder of the owners of that same card factory, the release of prisoners of Arkham Asylum and attempts to poison the city's reservoir.

The result of the feud between Batman and the Joker was the arrest of the latter and his placement in that same institution for the mentally ill.

History after restart

The New 52 version, which is a de facto reboot of the DC Comics universe, left the Joker virtually unchanged. The appearance of the villain has not changed, but his story has become a little different.

So, the reader met the Joker while the entire city police was chasing him. Here the antagonist was caught again and imprisoned in Arkham.

The Joker was not left alone in the hospital. One day, a character called the Puppeteer came to him, who, according to him, was the biggest fan of the Red Hood (one of the Joker's nicknames). The visitor, after communicating with the prisoner, cut off his face, after which rumors began to circulate around the city about the death of the Joker.

The villain's partner, a girl named , hopelessly in love with her crazy friend, has lost her mind from such gossip. She assembled a team of villains (the Suicide Squad), and together with them stormed the Gotham City police department. Thus, the girl hoped to receive the cut off face of the Joker and, possibly, revive her beloved. However, the Joker soon appeared again.

The villainous prankster began his criminal activities again. He killed several city policemen and regained his face. The Joker regained his appearance, only now his face was attached to his head with special belts.

Red Hood once again began killing the citizens of Gotham City and carving smiles on their faces.

Soon, the villain lured Batman to a card factory, where he was captured by Harley Quinn. At the same time, the antagonist himself kidnapped Alfred, Batman's servant, and the entire Bat-family.

Later, the Joker gathered together all of Batman's enemies, but the hero defeated them, and not without the help of the Joker himself (this inconsistency is explained by the Red Hood's manic desire to kill Batman himself). The result of the rivalry between the characters in this episode was another “death” of the Joker - he flies into the abyss near the waterfall.

In one of the latest issues, the Joker returned and infected Batman's allies with a dangerous virus, forcing them to fight against the hero. Residents of Gotham City were also infected and attacked all unsmiling people.

The shocking news was the latest developments of the city police - the Joker is older than Gotham City itself, and is also, most likely, immortal.

Features and abilities

The Joker is a typical crazy maniac. He is confident, very smart, and has many unusual skills and knowledge (in particular, in the field of chemistry). The villain is wary of both opponents and partners (temporary, because he doesn’t have permanent ones). The Joker's main goal is Batman, in whom the maniac sees the root cause of all his troubles. At the same time, the Joker respects his opponent, considers him smart and worthy.

The Joker is mad. He is merciless and uncompromising. To achieve results, he is ready to do anything. The Red Hood is fearless, but with agility he avoids dangerous situations and escapes from the clutches of death. He rarely understands the situation meticulously, but, relying on instincts and intuition, he is perfectly oriented at any moment. And madness prompts the villain to make completely unexpected moves and actions.

The Joker's powers and abilities include:

• Highest IQ level.
• Excellent knowledge of chemistry.
• Amazing ingenuity.
• Unique willpower - immunity to torture and influences on the mind.
• Immunity to poisons and acids of various kinds.
• Detective flair and talent for planning.

Special devices and mechanisms of the Joker:

• A toxin that makes a person laugh until they die.
• The acid found in the flower on a jacket or police badges.
• Playing cards with sharp edges.
• On the hand - an electric shock or a poisonous needle.
• Balls with smoke inside.
• Bombs different sizes and shapes.
• A cane from which rockets fly.

Jared Leto as the Joker

• Already in the second issue of the original universe (in 1940), the Joker was supposed to die. The fact is that most of Batman's opponents then appeared for 1-2 issues and were “disposable”. But editor-in-chief DC Comics then decided that the image of the Joker was incredibly colorful. The villain remained in comics for many years.
• The Joker has made numerous appearances in various lists of characters and villains. In 2006, Wizard magazine voted him the top 100 villains of all time. In 2009, the character was ranked second in the TOP 100 comic book villains from the Internet portal IGN. In 2012, the Joker was ranked eighth in the TOP 50 comic book characters by Empire magazine (the highest achievement for a villain).
• In the 2008 film The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger played the Joker. For this role he received an Oscar (albeit posthumously). This performance, by the way, took third place in the TOP 100 movie characters of all time from the same Empire magazine. And MTV completely gave the victory to this role in the “Best Villain” category.

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, Two-Face , Red Hood

• • Crazy and brilliant intellect
  • Unbending willpower
  • Leadership qualities
  • Extensive knowledge of, and access to, poisons, explosives and technologies
  • Masterful skills with various weapons
  • Escape Artist
  • Master of Disguise
  • Mastery of hand-to-hand combat skills
  • An excellent actor and master of impersonation
  • Master of manipulation and intimidation
  • Immunity to the vast majority of poisons and chemicals
  • Infected Blood
  • Pain Resistance
  • Survival
  • Special sense of humor

New 52

The image of the Joker has undergone some changes in the version The New 52; the character's appearance in the restarted universe remained virtually unchanged. The killer maniac first appears in Detective Comics#1, where he is being chased by the entire Gotham police force. After another skirmish with Batman, the Joker was caught and taken to Arkham Asylum. In the clown's cell, the clown is visited by a new villain, Dollmaker. He cuts off the Joker's face, noting that he is his biggest fan. However, it must be emphasized that the Joker met the Puppeteer with the words “This is the ideal place for the procedure,” thereby making it clear that he would allow it to be done to himself. After his defeat, the Joker disappears for about a year. When Harley Quinn hears rumors about the death of a maniac, she loses the remnants of her sanity and leaves the Suicide Squad to personally see the cut off face of her lover at the Gotham police station. Apparently she's hoping to have the opportunity to restore the Joker's face.

In Batman: Europa, Batman and the Joker find themselves infected with some kind of Colossus virus. To be healed, they have to join forces and go to Europe in search of the one who infected them. They pass through Berlin, Prague, Paris and Rome. In Paris, they manage to get close enough to the mysterious enemy, a battle ensues, during which Batman, weakened by the virus that kills him, falls from the roof. However, intentionally or accidentally, the Joker saves his life, preventing him from falling to his death. In Rome, Batman and the Joker finally learn that Bane set this all up to prove that Batman cannot live without the Joker. He begins to brutally beat the Joker, but the Dark Knight stops him and defeats him in the duel. Batman and the Joker realize that the antidote to the virus is in their blood, but Batman hesitates, realizing that if they drink each other's blood, they will both survive, and if not, then both will die. In the end, the Joker takes the initiative, punching his nemesis in the face and literally forcing him to save them both. Thus, Batman lets the Joker live, knowing that many people in the future will suffer because of this. In this story arc, Batman also learns that the Joker is proficient in French. He says: “The French Joker... Parfait (French: flawless). It makes me realize how little I know about my closest enemy, even after all these years.” The reader also learns that the Joker has connections in the underworld of Paris and, possibly, throughout France.

The Joker was also supposed to appear in the next film in the series, The Dark Knight Rises, as a cameo (similar to the Scarecrow, who, being a villain in Batman Begins, briefly appeared in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. ), but Heath Ledger died during the filming of another film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The novelization of the film mentions that the Joker is in Arkham, but he is not mentioned in the film itself out of respect for Ledger.

For his role as the Joker, Heath Ledger posthumously received Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and MTV Movie Awards.

The death of Heath Ledger raised two pressing questions during the film's release: whether to show the recently deceased Heath Ledger as a disfigured Joker speaking a catchphrase, and whether to cut the scene where the Joker pretends to be dead from the final cut, but ultimately decided to remove it, leaving the indication in credits that the film is dedicated to the memory of the actor.

At Lex Luther's party, Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent have a conversation, during which Bruce suggests that perhaps Gotham is speaking in him, and that they have had problems with psychos dressed as clowns, most likely referring to the Joker and his gang.

In November 2014, the head of Warner Bros. Pictures Greg Silverman has announced that Oscar winner Jared Leto will play the Joker in Suicide Squad. Shown in trailers and film new image Joker: He has deathly pale skin instead of white, green hair (combed back, like in some comics of recent years), missing eyebrows, many characteristic tattoos on his body and iron dentures instead of front teeth. In the film, the Joker wears a gray corduroy jacket, a purple silk shirt unbuttoned to the navel, black pants and shoes. He also appears dressed in a purple crocodile coat over his naked body and a tailcoat, very similar to the famous traditional costume of the Joker, in which he is most often depicted in the comics, but in the film he is not purple, but black. In Suicide Squad, the Joker is given very little screen time, but he still manages to be memorable and give the impression of an extravagant psychopath. In the film, he is introduced as falling in love with Harley Quinn and trying to free her from her imprisonment. However, it is worth noting that the Joker's attitude towards Harley Quinn is ambiguous throughout the film, just like in the comics. For example, the final version of the film did not include the footage previously shown in the trailer: during the final battle, the Joker appears at the metro station with his facial skin burned as a result of a helicopter fall. The villain invites Harley Quinn to escape with him, however, the girl refuses, citing the fact that she must help her friends. Then the Joker leaves her, throwing a smoke grenade at the Squad.

TV series

The 1966-1968 television series is a continuation of the film of the same name. The role of the Joker continued to be played by Cesar Romero.

The Joker appears in one short cameo in the first series. However, the main villain of the series, Harley Quinn, often remembers her “Mr. Jay”, never stopping trying to avenge his death and trying to restore his criminal empire. The villain is played by stuntman Roger Stonebarner, and is voiced by Mark Hamill, known for frequently voicing the Joker in animated films.

In the 16th episode of this series, a character appeared, perceived by many as a young Joker: Jerome Valeska, traveling around the country with circus group. In this version, the character is played by actor Cameron Monaghan and is presented as the son of the snake dancer Lila, whom he killed with an ax for her promiscuous and overly demanding behavior: “Oh, well, you know mothers. She saw no boundaries. I thought - okay, mom, be a whore. Yes, even be a drunken whore, but you don’t have to be a annoying drunken whore.” Jerome's father also appears in the series - the psychic Cissero, possibly a circus swindler. Valeska was killed in the third episode of the second season; at the end of the same episode, we may see the real young Joker among the hysterically laughing people who saw the story about Jerome on the news. The actor who played Jerome also refutes this - Cameron Monaghan said in an interview - “I am often asked, is Jerome Valeska the Joker? And I always answer: “No!”

The creators of the series have officially announced that Jerome will return in the third season. This was confirmed in episode 12, where Jerome's corpse was shown being reanimated. In the same episode, it was shown that a whole cult of psychopaths in clown and Harlequin costumes had arisen, inspired by Jerome's dying video speech. In the next episode, Jerome is revived, but with his face cut off: the scientist who revived him tried to lead a cult of imitators himself, wearing Jerome's face as a mask, but Valeska was resurrected and took his face. A little later, he sewed it into place with staples, which gave it the appearance of a scary clown. In the same episode, the Joker card was occasionally shown, which suggests that Jerome may still be the young Joker.

Animation

In the majority animated films and the animated series, the Joker was voiced by Mark Hamill.

Cartoon series

• "The Adventures of Batman" (1968-1969)
• "The New Adventures of Batman" (1977)
• “Batman” (Batman: The Animated Series, 1992-1995) and “The New Batman Adventures” (The New Batman Adventures, 1997-1999) - The Joker is voiced by Mark Hamill
• “Batman Beyond” (Batman Beyond, 1999-2001) - the Joker does not appear directly, but references to him are made many times: numerous gangs of Jokers (Jokerz), in “Joyride” (season 2, episode 3) a cave with a skeleton in a suit is shown Joker.
• Justice League - episodes Injustice for All (2002) and Wild Cards (2003)
• "Static Shock" - episode of The Big Leagues (2002).
• "Batman" (The Batman, 2004-2008)
• "Young Justice" - episode Revelation (2011)
• “Batman: the Brave and the Bold, 2008-2011”

Animated films

• “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” (Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, 1993) - The Joker is again voiced by Mark Hamill. The Joker's past is revealed; he was a hitman in the service of mafia boss Salvator Valestri.
• In the cartoon "Batman and Superman" (The Batman Superman Movie: World's Finest, 1998) he became Lex Luthor's partner.
• In the full-length animated film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000), the Joker appears in the world of the future after being thought dead for a long time. And the Joker again wants to defeat Batman, but Bruce Wayne is already old, and his opponent becomes a student of the original Dark Knight. The villain is voiced by Mark Hamill.
• Short film "Batman: Modern Times" (Batman: New Times, 2005).
• In the cartoon "Batman vs. Dracula" (2005), the Joker became a vampire. He is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.
• An alternate version of the Joker, the superhero Jester, appears in the prologue of Justice League: Crisis on Two Worlds (2010).
• In the cartoon "Batman: Under the Red Hood" (2010), the Joker locks Robin in a warehouse with explosives - in the explosion, Robin dies. Five years later, the bandit Black Mask helps him escape from Arkham and makes a deal, but the Joker terminates the “agreement” and takes Black Mask and his people prisoner. When an attempt is made to set the van on fire, Batman appears and prevents the bandits from being killed. Red Hood takes the psycho to his lair and beats him up. Batman intervenes, preventing the Joker from being killed. The Joker returns to Arkham again. He is voiced by John DiMaggio.
• In the two-part Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the Joker has a cameo in the first and appears as Batman's adversary in the second. In the first part, the Joker is overcome by catatonic syndrome, but upon hearing about Batman's return, his condition returns to normal. In the second part, the Joker pretends that he has become normal and that Batman is to blame for his manic behavior. Joker kills large number poisoning people with laughter on a late-night talk show, after which he goes to a local amusement park, where he also kills many people. Batman realizes that he killed so many people by allowing the Joker to live. In the fight, the maniac tries to kill Batman, piercing him with a knife many times, after which the Joker breaks his neck. He rejoices as he believes he has defeated his nemesis, causing him to lose control. The Joker laughs, turns his neck, completely breaking his cervical spine, and dies. After the police arrive, the Joker's body catches fire and Batman tells him to stop laughing.
• In the cartoon "Batman.  Assault on Arkham The Joker is freed from Arkham by his accomplice Harley Quinn. He planned to detonate a “dirty bomb” that would contaminate all of Gotham with radiation. But Batman defuses the bomb, and Deadshot pushes the helicopter, along with the Joker inside, from a skyscraper; the Joker's body was not found at the helicopter crash site. He is voiced by Troy Baker.
• In the 2015 animated film Batman Unlimited: Chaos, the Joker is the main villain.
• Appears in the animated film Batman: The Killing Joke, (an adaptation of Alan Moore's comic book) and is the main villain. Having escaped from Arkham, the Joker decides to conduct a monstrous experiment on the honest Commissioner Gordon. He shows up at his home, shoots Barbara, the commissioner's daughter, and takes nude photographs of her, after which he takes Gordon to a closed amusement park and shows in detail everything that he did to his daughter, in the hope of driving Commissioner Gordon crazy.
• In the 2017 animated film The LEGO Movie: Batman, the Joker reappears as the main villain planning to take over Gotham City.

Computer games

• In Lego Batman: The Videogame, the Joker is the main villain and is available as a playable character in the villain story and free play.
• The Joker appears in the game Mortal Kombat vs.  DC Universe." Its ending states that after the separation of the worlds, the Joker became much stronger. He took over Gotham City and declared himself mayor. Now he will start the Mortal Kombat tournament in Gotham City, the participants of which will fight to the death for the amusement of the Joker. In the end, the winner of the tournament will fight the Joker himself.
• In Batman Vengeance, the Joker, along with his beloved Harley Quinn, kidnaps a woman's child and fakes his death in a fist fight with Batman, then, "resurrected", sets explosives on the airship. The villain was soon caught by Batman and sent to Arkham Asylum.
• In the game Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Joker is one of Batman's opponents and the main antagonist of the game. Brought to Arkham by Batman, he rebels and seizes power in the hospital. He constantly appears, leaving both audio messages and video messages. In one of Batman's hallucinations, the player controls the Joker, but only for a short period of time. In the PlayStation 3 version of the game, you can use the Joker to fight the hospital guards, and he has a variety of clown gadgets. The appearance of the Joker in the game was most influenced by Tim Burton's film, comic books and animated series. The Joker was voiced by actor Mark Hamill, who managed to get to know this character and get used to the character while working on the animated series.
• In Batman: Arkham City, the Joker is also one of the main bosses. After the events of Arkham Asylum, he is infected with a Titan. At the end of the game, the Joker accidentally broke a test tube with medicine. The Joker asks Batman if he is happy, to which Batman replies that even after what the Joker did, he would still save him. The Joker says that this is really funny and dies. Batman carries the Joker's body outside the walls of Arkham City and gives it to the police. After this, the hero leaves, clearly blaming himself for what happened. After the game's credits, a recording is heard on Batman's communicator, in which the Joker sings a song Only You (And You Alone) band The Platters, and then laughs wildly.
• In DC Universe Online, the Joker is the main enemy of the heroes in Gotham. He is also the trainer of Gotham villains and the player can choose him as their mentor. Playable in Legend mode.
• In the game LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, the Joker is one of the two main enemies, along with Lex Luthor.
• In the game "Batman" for the Sega Mega Drive, based on the film of the same name, the Joker appears only at the end, where Batman defeats him.
• In The Adventures of Batman and Robin, the clown escapes from Arkham Asylum along with other villains. The Joker celebrates his birthday, planning to blow up the city and kill the heroes. He is the first boss in the game to fly in a hot air balloon. At the end of the first mission, he is defeated by Batman and Robin.
• In the game "Batman: Arkham Origins", which is a prequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Joker captures Black Mask and, under his guise, gathers 8 mercenaries to kill Batman. He is the main antagonist of the game. Like Bane, he is a playable character in multiplayer.
• In Injustice: Gods Among Us, the Joker drugs Superman into killing Lois Lane, after which the Man of Steel kills him and establishes a dictatorial regime across the Earth. The Joker from a parallel universe ends up in this universe along with the rest of the heroes, where he tries to take all the power for himself, but is defeated at the hands of Lex Luthor.
• Playable character in the MOBA game Infinite Crisis.
• In the game Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, the Joker becomes an anti-hero and helps the Justice League save the world from the villain Brainiac. Also a DLC character.
• In Batman: Arkham Knight, the Joker will haunt Batman as a hallucination after the events at the Ace Chemicals chemical plant and will comment on all the hero's thoughts and actions in his own style (and appear as a glitch on posters around the city). After deciding to surrender and reveal Batman's secret, Scarecrow will inject Bruce with a toxin, and the Joker will take over his mind and see the world through his eyes. But still, due to his fear of oblivion, the Joker's hold on Bruce's mind weakens, and in the final battle, Batman gains the upper hand over the Joker and locks him in the depths of his mind. After the game's credits, the Joker sings a farewell song and laughs sadly. He is the “subconscious” antagonist of the game. And in a subconscious moment, a playable character.
• In Lego Dimensions, Joker appears as a boss in the level "Meltdown at Sector 7-G". He is also a playable character.

Other appearances

Famous fan films

Criticism and reviews

Notes

1. The Joker Profile - Batman's Archenemy The Joker Bio (undefined) . Comicbooks.about.com (March 2, 2011). Archived from the original on June 6, 2012.
2. Batman: The Killing Joke
3. Batman: The Man Who Laughs (2005)
4. Batman: Harley Quinn (1999)
5. Gotham Knight 50
6. Daniel, Tony (w). Detective Comics v2, 1 (September 2011), DC Comics
7. Glass, Adam (w). Suicide Squad v4, 6 (February 2012), DC Comics
8. Glass, Adam (w). Suicide Squad v4, 7 (March 2012), DC Comics
9. Snyder, Scott (w). Batman v2, 13 (December 2012), DC Comics "Death of the Family: Knock Knock"
10. World Exclusive: The Joker Speaks
11. In Stetson or Wig, He’s Hard to Pin Down
12. Christopher Nolan not referencing Ledger's Joker's fate in new Batman film |  Hollywood.com
13. It’s Official: Meet the Cast of DC Comics" Suicide Squad Movie! - ComingSoon.net
14. Deleted scenes from Suicide Squad and why there are so few Jokers |  Favorites on MirF - World of science fiction, films and geek culture(Russian) . Retrieved August 20, 2016.
15. Mark Hamill - Biography (English) on the Internet Movie Database
16. Christopher George. The Adventures of Batman & Robin for Genesis (1995) - MobyGames(English) (16 January 2003). Retrieved August 1, 2012. Archived August 7, 2012.
17. Whitney Phillips. Trololo: You can’t just go ahead and publish a book about trolling = This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things. Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture. - M.: