The Joker Was Always Evil | Batman The Animated Series 

I think making him sympathetic would be mistake. He supposed to be a psychopath…a monster. Not a tortured soul crying for love and acceptance.

Making The Joker, of all supervillains, coming off as a tragic character because "we live in a society" pretty much defeats the purpose of what makes him a true menace to Gotham City. He is called a "Clown Prince of Crime" for a reason. Redeeming qualities doesn't matter to him as long as he's committing more crimes and wreaking havoc as possible as he can just for kicks, like telling Batman that there are no laws against the Pokemon.

I think Mad Love sums him up the best. He can lie well enough to pretend to be sympathetic... but deep down he is exactly the same on the surface. Just a monster with a twisted sense of humor.

I liked The Joker as a madman. A monster, not a misunderstood individual

My favorite origins for Joker were the ones where he wasn’t a victim of society or a family man with a tragic story, it was the ones where he was already a deranged lunatic who just needed that bad day to trigger his true evil. You’re not supposed to like or sympathize with him, he’s a character meant to be feared. That especially works perfectly with the kind of Batman story where he wants to help and rehabilitate his villains. The Joker is the one he cannot fix because he wasn’t broken, he’s just evil plain and simple.

The reason the Joker works well against Batman is because they really polar opposites. Batman is an empathetic man. He even has sympathy for some of his rogues and even helps them at times. Making the Joker sympathetic destroys why he works so well.

While I'm tired of the Joker being overused, I will admit that when done well, he can be very entertaining.

I think Joker having once worked in organized crime actually does work as a solid contrast to the chaotic clown he is now. It's why I prefer Paul Dini's backstory in Case Study to The Killing Joke.

The Joker is one of those rare characters of fiction that never needs a backstory. They never satisfy who he eventually becomes. He works better as something that just exists.

The Joker is the natural nemesis for The Batman. Batman is methodical, disciplined, trained, researched, purposeful. The Joker represents the chaos and absurdity of life, which all of those things epitomized by Batman can never truly overcome.

One underrated moment that I think does a great job illistrating your point is in the episode Harlequinade. When Joker's going to nuke Gotham to get all his eniemies at ones, Mayor Hill asks about all the innocent people that will die. Joker doesn't go into some great speech about society or showing them who they really are inside, he simply replies "some Joke on them, eh? Think of it as the ultimate Punchline!" He does the most dispicalble things because he just finds them funny and that's a lot more scary to me.

My favorite bits with the Joker are when he just completely loses it and drops all pretense of being a clown and just straight up kills someone. Like Return of the Joker's "You're not Batman!" line followed up by him just trying to choke Terry out. He so desperately likes to pretend he's above it all and he's got it all figured out.

Maybe the reason he's so insistent on proving all it takes is one bad day is so he can convince himself he wasnt always a monster.

To me, the greatest summation of Joker as a being in the DCAU was in Batman Beyond Return of the Joker when Bruce responds to Terry when he asked if Joker was his biggest villain by saying "It wasn't a popularity contest. He was a psychopath. A monster." The way I have always interpreted the Joker is as a force of nature, not a representation of the mentally ill. Joker is completely aware of his own actions and basks in the glee that causing carnage and misery brings him.

I like the idea of knowing just enough about the Joker's origins, but he should stay somewhat mysterious and shouldn't always be a tragic figure.

In the Killing Joke, loved the line Joker has "sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another. If i have an origin I like it multiple choice". Love the idea of no origin and he keeps making one's up when he needs one

The Joker's ambiguity and irredeemable evil makes him terrifyingly iconic. He does not need a backstory, he just malicious and relishes it. There's a similar character in Bleach that undoubtedly took some queues from this monster clown. Tokinada Tsunayshiro, a high ranking member of a powerful noble family who just wants to see the worlds enveloped in chaos while being utterly cruel. He uses his status as immunity and laughs as he tortures and kills. He also enjoys playing mind games with others, bringing up past failures or hypocrisies before suddenly threatening them. Sometimes there's no need for a backstory or sympathy, just evil will do.

I love that DCAU Joker gets progessively more evil and scary as his chronological appearences progress. He's a pretty Silver age/Romero esk Joker in Christmas with the Joker and Last Laugh. To Be a Clown is more creepy just because of the overlooming threat to an unsuspecting child. Joker's Favor and Laughing Fish is where the tone of the character really shifted and the suggestion that this Joker is a killer is really inforced, while not explicitly stated. Mask of the Phantasm and Mad Love are really the next major stepping stone. Showing how depraved and abusive he can be. Of course the major culmination is Return of the Joker, which makes Death in the Family seem friendly family. At least in the comics this was just a spur of the moment thing he thought to do. But what Joker did to Tim was well planned out, done slowly, and greatly enjoyed every step of the way. You can tell in Joker's monologue to Bruce just how much he's savoring every torterous word to him.

I prefer Joker being pure evil, he's not meant to be a victim like some of the other villains, to me it makes more sense that he was always a bad guy with no redeeming qualities rather than him being a normal guy before he became The Joker.

The Joker is one of those rare characters where his background can be fluid enough to fit the story and be whatever kind of role the narrative needs him to be, but also doesn't require any sort of background whatsoever - he simply just is. The BtaS version strikes the perfect balance of chaos between malevolence and devil-may-care. Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger walked this line pretty well, while Joaquin Phoenix was almost a different genre entirely. Jared Leto just belongs in a pillory somewhere. Cameron Monaghan did a great job, even if the series writing became garbage pretty quickly and he maybe aped a little too much Ledger at times. But no one can touch Mark Hamill. Not a single other animated version has even come close. Most are just annoying or pale imitations.

The Joker is a prime example on a great usage of "Evil for evils sake" trope. Not all villains need a tragic backstory or a deep reason as to why they are doing things. In the cases of pure evil, the past does not matter, what matters is the now and gettin that greatest of duels with their sworn nemesis, or finalizing that one big plan for the simplest of reasons. In a similar sense there have been many people who have gone to do various things just to see what happens. Whether those be the "I wonder what happens if I fire the airsoft gun at my foot" or the ones who ponder "what makes the fridge work". One will have a visit to the hospital, the other will have a broken fridge. Same goes for those who know what will happen, but do it anyway to see it happen. Regardless of the end result.

I remember in a DVD extra that a writer said whenever the Joker does something really horrible but you laugh at it you're definitely on the right track when writing him. I absolutely love how this show portrayed that side of Mr J, and with Mark Hamils masterful voice work, he'll always translate into a portrayal that has such gravitas... It makes you smile.

The Joker craves an audience to be shocked and awed at him. Sure he could'a killed Andrea but then he wouldn't get to hear her reactions. The funeral for Batman (and Sydney) was just him coming up with a good bit for Harley and his grunts and once it's over, break for lunch! The guy even ripped off Mad Hatter and made three comedians almost ruin their lives by forcing them to become costumed villains because a year ago they mocked him routine at a comedy show he went to in disguise. And at that year's contest after making fun of their situation, he drops the disguise and just steals the trophy even though the crowd liked his routine. The man is compulsively committed to The Bit ...it's this compulsion that paints his weakness very, very clear. He **needs** to be the star of Gotham's real life horror story. When his favourite 'hobby'Charlie Collins almost killed him in some alley or when he's standing, pantsed in front of a crowd who are laughing AT him, when he's being yelled at by Ivy, Hatter and iirc Crane at the end of Joker's Wild because he changed the channel in the Arkham rec room showing his most recent defeat **and** the fact he was whipped up into a fury to blow up the titual casino for an insurance scheme-that ALMOST worked if Bats hadn't told him He wilts like his fake flower at the idea he's being looked down on And eventually, in the Return of The Joker film for Batman Beyond, this attitude bit him in the arse...TWICE.

this and the '89 movie's take on the Joker were the only ones that ever made sense to me. The Joker is not some sad little weepy boy who hurts people cuz he's all broken up inside and wants to lash out, he's a bully and a monster at heart and getting disfigured just meant he didn't have to pretend to be "normal" about it anymore.

Joker's stories and personality prove that BTAS (and animation as a whole) is not inherently less effective than live-action. When I watched these shows as a kid, and even now, I never thought of them as lesser than live-action. They were just good stories. In fact, I still argue that these stories work better in animation because of how the animators are able to better express the emotions of the characters on screen as well as the psychological imagery that the story requires. If this show doesn't prove that animation can be just as good (or even better) than live-action, I don't know what will.

Joker, A Villain obsessed with his own Self-Satisfactions and desires of being written in the History Books

Joker works better when he's just a irredimable monster. Not some poor soul who became a villain out of tragedy like Freeze or Two Face but a madman who enjoy the suffering of others. This helps the moments Batman has to save Joker's life even more intense. It's clear the Joker is beyond redemption, there's nothing on him that worthy saving. Letting him die could seem like the best option to create a better world. But Bruce can't do it. He knows that it's not up to him to decide who gets to live or die, even a monster like the Joker. It shows the strenght of Batman's compassion and his dedication to his core values.

Agreed, Joker is much more effective as a cynical nihilistic monster who merely tries to convince anyone who will listen that he is a tortured soul. In fact his use of multiple freudian excuse stories indicates that he finds the entire concept of 'one bad day' worthy of mockery. *Nothing* is sacred to the Joker. He trolls at Harvey Dent's identity disorder, Penguin's ego-boosting extravagance, Ivy's environmental concerns, and of course Harley's genuine desire for his affection. He considers them all pale imitators to him, Batman's one true nemesis. As a former online moderator, he's even easier for me to hate.

You’re absolutely right. The Joker was never anything but tragic or sympathetic. He was as Poison Ivy described, a psychotic creep. Born from the darkness itself. The clown acid bath, simply gave him an identity. As Batman put it in return of the Joker. “It wasn’t a popularity contest. He was a psychopath, he was a monster”.

“ He has no qualms with murdering people, he enjoys inflicting despair and misery on others..and he likes apples.” Truly, a man I can relate to

Another bit of evidence to backup your assertion that joker’s obsession with Batman is secondary is in Batman beyond return of the joker, when the joker says to Bruce “I suppose I should salute you as a worthy adversary and all that, but the truth is I really did hate your guts.”

We need more villains like the Joker. All of the shows I've watched in recent years seem to be obsessed with redeeming villains. It's getting old, and fast irredeemable villains need to make a comeback

I love both depictions of him, the sympathetic joker and the pure evil joker. As long as both are done well, of course

And Jared Leto LOL. That's a good one and insanely accurate

The only sympathetic version of Joker that I felt worked was Telltale; he was still somewhat violent and homicidal but he's actually trying to be a good person, and his friendship with Bruce is INCREDIBLY tragic.

The only relatible thing about the Joker should ever be is that he isn't immune to making bad jokes. Every so often, you'll get a cornball in there. A pun so terrible that a shrug or a groan from the viewer is sure to follow.

I also never liked giving him a name. I like how the 'Phantasm' script just refers to him as 'The Tall Man' in flashback scenes. Apparently they planned to show a surrealistic flashback of his origin when Bruce realizes who he is, but never animated it for some reason. "The Tall Man falls into an impossibly wide vat of green chemicals. The chemicals SWIRL and BOIL, filling the screen. Suddenly it turns into a swirling surrealistic jumble of purple and green colors, out of which erupt various objects of Joker-related imagery -- playing cards, chatter teeth, Harley, laughing fish, murderous robot clown toys, and finally a gigantic image of The Joker himself, evil as sin and LAUGHING to bust a gut."

People who take the "one bad day" line at face value miss the point of the Killing Joke, I feel. To me, the whole point of Killing Joke was that Joker's whole claim is a lie he tells himself to justify what he does. He needs to believe that he became what he is because of a terrible event to be comfortable with his own actions, but the narrative does not justify that, because Commissioner Gordon does not break and become like Joker. What Alan Moore posited was that you don't just become a crazed killer just because of tragedy. Joker was probably not a great person even before whatever terrible event made him the Joker. It didn't do good things for his mental health, clearly, but he wasn't just some otherwise normal person who suddenly went violently insane because of a single event. I had a whole thing about this that I meant to say in response to the Killing Joke, but I could never get that comment to post. It kept giving me an error - often a sign that your comment has something that whatever automated system RU-vid uses has determined you've violated their policy. I suspect it didn't like that I talked about the history of police violence against the mentally ill, but I really have no idea for sure.

Mark Hamill's Joker was the Original Perfect Joker. He was the One that i think Truly Inspired the Idea of Heath Ledgers Joker. Pure Evil, No Background, an Incarnation of Chaos itself with a Ton of Mysteries!

Hamill’s Joker will always be THE Joker in the same way Kevin will always be THE Batman.

As a comic book fan growing up, I never ever bought into the idea of The Joker as a sympathetic figure before his transformation, I've always preferred him as someone who was already evil and just fully embraced the madness once he dropped into the vat of chemicals. The fact that Batman is partially responsible for helping to turn him into the monster that we all know makes their dynamic even more deeper and wild

When it comes to BTAS keeping the Joker evil from even his origin is that it reminds people that turning to evil isn't just something that comes from tragedy. People often turn to evil because it's an easy road for them to get power and indulge in their vices.

I like that Joker was basically the only villain in the series who's origin/first meeting with Batman is never shown on screen. By the time the show started, him and Batman had already been enemies for some time before, so we can't sympathize with who he was because we don't know anything about him. The closest was in Mask of the Phantasm but even then we don't know much about him besides that he worked for the mob

I personally like both psychopathic irredeemable Joker and a more sympathetic version of him, like the one from the Joker 2019. I think it's better that both exist, so we have a choice which we think is better for some contexts and which is better for others. And both Joaquin Phoenix' performance and Mark Hamill's are absolutely gorgeous, they really do make the character come alive.

The pure joy he gets from being evil for no reason is exactly why he and Emperor Palpatine are my favorite villains in all of fiction! I absolutely *love* his portrayal in "Harley Quinn! The way he quickly said "Harley!" to The Scarecrow's "impossible choice" and then he took off laughing with Batman on his heels had me rollin'! Not to mention when later on The Scarecrow removed his cowl and absolutely ruined The Joker's fun! How can you not love this guy?!

Great video, Luke. BTAS Joker stands apart from the tragic vilians you mentioned. As you said, even his game with Batman isn't really that important to him. I consider him and Roland Daggett to be the most reprehensible BTAS villians, both devoid of any redeeming qualities whatsoever. In addition to the way the character is written, Mark Hamill's voice acting brings home how demented he is.

Joker is the best example of a villain that doesnt need backgrounds or have to be sympathetic. He just have to chaotic and well written.

I love the idea that the tragic story of the Joker as a man who was pushed over the edge by “one bad day” is a completely made up story by him. Another way to mess with his victims, making them believe that maybe just maybe there is still some shred of humanity left deep within him. When in reality Joker is, and always has been, completely irredeemable.

As much as I love Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Joaquin Phoenix performance as the Joker but the DCAU Joker will always be the definitive version of the character in my opinion.

I think one thing worth noting is that, if the Joker had been the one to kill Andrea Beaumont's father, he wouldn't have hesitated to kill her on the way out, laughing and smiling the entire time. Instead, Jack just calmly walks away, unconcerned. His job at the time was just to kill her father, not her. While the Joker takes joy in causing as much death and destruction as possible, for "Jack", killing was just a part of the job, and he only did it when the job called for it. Professionals have standards, I suppose.

Honestly, 'Jack' suits him just because four Jacks and a Joker or two can be found in a deck of cards. Yes, I'm going to intend the pun.

Brainiac: " Were you born evil? " Lex Luthor: " No human is born evil . . . except, of course: " *shows him a picture of the Jack Napier* Lex Luthor: *scowls in disgust.*

My personal headcanon is that the Joker isn't really mad or mentally ill at all. Sure, we can label him as narcissistic, having anti-social personality, and a bunch of other stuff, but imo he is none of that, not in a clinical sense. Everything he does is performative, even his so called madness, he is a perfectly sane person that does horrible acts because he likes it. He doesn't need help in Arkham, he needs to be put on Blackgate.

The more I see pre-Joker Jack Napier, the more I realize..... Man, they really used 1960's Jack Nicholson as a model for gangster Jack. Just look at 7:22, and tell me there isn't a resemblance!😂❤

The truly scary thing about the Joker is that he's a reflection of a type of people that we have to occasionally deal with. There are some people who really do just enjoy being mean and nasty. But they're such a divergence from the vast majority that society in general doesn't want to believe that they're just horrible people.

Joker when you laugh with him: 😂 Joker when you laugh at him: 🤬

I think what most people forget (Specially with recent Retcons) its that the Joker isnt exacly a Tragic Villian in The Killing Joke. Yes, his backstory is reveal there but The Joker makes very clear that he isnt a reliable narrador, so every flashback in The Killing Joke isnt exacly real. I onow this was retcon with The Three Jokers due to... Spoilers... But even then, the original intention was that he isnt reliable

Something else that is interesting about the Harlequin is that it's not just the name of a kind of jester. Back in the olden times, there were life-size mannequin-like puppets that were also called given the name Harlequin.

I always liked the idea of the joker just being the run of the mill mobster before becoming the joker,

Really great video! I agree with you on multiple points. One quick correction: In Batman #1 we actually do get a hint at Joker’s backstory. He chooses one of his victims, Judge Drake, because he sent him to prison, showing he was a criminal well before he became the Joker since his first appearance.

Even if he was abused as a child it doesn't necessarily make him a sympathetic villain in the real world there are serial killers that had abusive childhoods that doesn't mean they're sympathetic

“Some of Hollywood’s finest actors… and Jared Leto.” I don’t think even Firefly could’ve inflicted that kind of burn.

A lot of things influence us and guide us to the people we become. But as agents with free will, we are ultimately accountable for our actions. No backstory, no matter how tragic, would justify the monster that the Joker is. And that fact liberates the character from the need for any backstory at all.

There was a comic I read once, it had the joker before his transformation as a hitman or something like that, but more importantly a sociopath. He was good at his job but would often mess things up just so things would be more entertaining for him, The job he was doing at the chemical plant was almost over, him and his associates had snuck it and if I remember correctly had what they were looking for, but the man who would be joker was board because things were too easy, so he intentionally raises an alert, which results in him fighting off security and the police while smiling and laughing, before encountering batman and getting knocked into the chemicals. All the chemicals did to him were change his perspective a little and free him from his obligations, one of the first things he comments on after climbing out of the river, is he looks at the moon and says it looks beautiful tonight.

Now for Lex Luthor.

I think the joker having multiple origins can actually work to fit into his character - they're all lies. Although if there had to be a single definitive origin, I think a combination of both the crime family & one bad day merged into one would be the best route to go. Make him always have been evil, but still go through such a horrid event, that it just makes him more dangerous, evil, twisted. Save the sympathy for Harley, Joker is at his best when he's just pure twisted evil. He never could know heartbreak, because he was always heartless. The only person besides himself that he should have ever cared for, was Batman, in his own deranged way.

A huge reason for why Jack Horner was so "liked". He was just irredeemable. No sad backstory or anything. As, like with real life: Some people are just... "broken" in a way that *cannot* be fixed.

There's no denying that the Joker is a malevolent madman, the Moriarty to Batman's Holmes. An unrepentant homicidal maniac who gets his giggles by his acts of crime, ranging from larceny to murder. Still, thanks to Mark Hamill's excellent voice acting, the Joker's my favorite of all of Batman's rogues gallery. His lines cracked me up, and that laugh...oh my God, that laugh! You don't know whether to be creeped out or laugh along with him. Mark brought the perfect balance of menace, insanity, and hilarity to the Clown Prince of Crime.

The joker casino episode is my personal favorite btas episode because you get to see joker going from being angry about his likeness being stolen too low key admiring the fact that people are willingly having money stolen from them, even musing to himself that he should just take it over and retire, and then reverting back too wanting to blow the place up once batman shows up. It shows that he's still got a somewhat shrewd business mind locked away inside his broken psychopathic personality.

I always loved how the animated series followed the Burton series and made Joker a mobster. It makes so much sense how Joker would have these connections to the criminal underworld and his many heists. The animated series expanded on the Burton origins and I prefer it that way. It showed that the Joker was already a messed up person to begin with, it was just the vat of chemicals that made him a go crazy.

I think the Joker can be a tragic figure as long as you center the tragedy correctly: he did not become a monster because of tragedy, but rather the tragedy is that someone with as much potential as the Joker is a monster. He's a genius who regularly matches wits with Batman and Lex Luthor, he formulated a chemical that makes people laugh so hard they fall into a coma or die, etc... but he has always chosen to use these talents for evil because he's a narcissist and sociopath. Falling into acid just gave him an excuse to go mask off.

Honestly I get older I like the idea of an evil Joker as opposed to a tragic or truly insane one. Now that doesn’t mean we can’t have both but I think part of what makes Joker so fascinating and fun is that he twists the truth to serve his purpose. That’s something every Joker has in common, tragic or otherwise. He might even fool himself to get through the day. I think the problem with making him fully tragic is it downplays his actual villainy. Real crazy people don’t do what he does, he’s a criminal mastermind. The pity we have for him is another layer of manipulation he uses to fool everyone like Harley or even Batman. Allegedly Frank Miller and Alan Moore use to have this debate all the time with Frank Miller arguing pure evil and Alan Moore claiming Joker is Batman’s dark reflection. I use to support the ladder’s theory but I’m now definitely believing in the former.

I concur with the idea even before seeing this video. Not every needs a tragic backstory same a hero needs a tragic backstory to invoke a sense of justice and duty. Just an intriguing motivation for their actions can provided enough.

At last... The Joker episode! I don't mind a sympathetic backstory for the Joker, but I don't see it being necessary. Heck, I prefer no backstory at all. Either way, once the makeup goes on and that hair turns green, this man is a lunatic and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Love the fact that when Batman battles the Joker, the less he feels sympathetic, he feels towards him.

Like the Joker relating to Harley... or his making a successful mob hit, your video nails it. Well done!

Makes ya want to laugh. Doesn't it Artie?"

This was WONDERFUL, thank you very much! TAS so totally reinvented a ton of Batman's rogues, and INVENTED Harley Quinn, having an amazing effect on the entire franchise. Mark Hamill's performance, especially against Kevin Conroy, is iconic for a very good reason. The Joker's self-obsession and self-mythologizing is undercut and exploited SO PERFECTLY in the Batman Beyond movie, Return of the Joker, when Terry just absolutely DESTROYS him verbally at the end. I'm so glad I found your channel-- Time to dive into your archives.

my favorite part of all these videos,"TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT ME!!" it just throws me off every time.. great job on this one though

5:09 "The comic ends in an ambiguous way, suggesting that Batman has been tipped over the deep end." Nope. Gotta disagree with you there. Batman does NOT kill the Joker at the end of The Killing Joke, because if he does, The Killing Joke is meaningless. The Joker is trying to make Gordon (and by extension Batman) break through "one bad day," since that's what happened to him. But as Batman notes at the end, Gordon is made of sterner stuff than that, demanding that Batman bring in the Joker "by the book." And Batman himself notes that he doesn't want to beat the Joker up at the end of the book and even offers him sympathy, extending his hand to help him find a way back to sanity. If the Batman kills the Joker at the end of the book, that means the Joker was right, and I can't believe that Alan Moore would ever say that. (Besides, there's absolutely nothing in Moore's ultra-detailed script about it, and that's not something he'd leave out.) The "Batman kills the Joker at the end of The Killing Joke" thing has only ever been Grant Morrison fanwank, and has absolutely no basis in the book itself.

The batman black and white short story "Case Study" by Paul Dini and Alex Ross sums up the joker for me the best. He's not crazy at all but simply pretending to be he's actually completely sane and is just hiding behind a veil of insanity to wage a war against Batman. I like to think that since Dini wrote this story it's interpretion pertains to BTAS Joker as well.

Personally, I don't think anything compares to his portrayal in the Arkham Asylum graphic novel from 1989, truly a terrifying read for the young and relatively new reader.

It's interesting to me that the least complicated of villains are oftentimes the most misunderstood

As I’ve said to you many times, I wish they’d stop having him laughing and playing pranks all the time. I think he’s much better when there’s a disconnect between his rictus grin and his disturbing behaviour. Jack Nicholson’s version is probably my favourite because the whole clown thing is pretty arbitrary - he”s got playing cards in his hat, for some reason - and his ‘clownish’ behaviour manifests more in a sort of toddler-like distractibility and vicious whimsy. Most of the time his laughter seems intended to underline the fact that what he’s doing isn’t funny at all, and THAT’S the joke. Nicholson often used to claim it as his best work and I probably wouldn’t argue with him (I do not wanna get nuts).

The Joker is 6'5" & 191lbs in canon & I hate that more often than not, The Joker isn't depicted as taller than Batsy in comix or live-action.

The multiple choice backstory was also later (and nicely) utilised in The Dark Knight when Heath Ledger Joker told multiple stories about how he got his scars.

Joker works better as a monster from the start than a tragic villain. Where the likes of Two Face, Mr Freeze, Harley Quinn and so on were once good people pushed over the edge by madness or tragedy a person could only become like The Joker if they were messed up to begin with.

12:03 I will never get over his arched back walk, it's so unnecessarily extra 🤣.

great stuff!! keep up the great work!

Him having no discernible origin story makes him a better fun house mirror of batman, the hero with the backstory that literally everyone knows

He's been portrayed by some of Hollywood's finest actors. And Jerad Leto. Cold...but accurate.

Mark Hamil does an awesome job voicing The Joker in BTAS and some people might find it hard to believe that the man who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars played The Clown Prince Of Crime!

One of the last real villains who people don't like or didn't like coming up him and Harvey dent are legendary

i think my favorite idea of an origin story for the joker is the same one the joker prefers, that he has no definitive origin story other than falling into the acid as The Red Hood, as he's said himself, "If i'm going to have a past, i prefer it to be multiple choice!" - (The Killing Joke)

It's also possible that his mob nickname when he was still jack napier was "the joker" because he had a sick sense of humor or would always be ready with some gallows humor laced comment when he was doing evil things. There was one real high flyer in the chicago outfit named Joseph "Joey The Clown" Lombardo who was well known for having a disarming sense of humor and cracking jokes all the time, even when he was killing people and cutting them up.

The Joker made me laugh and be afraid of him all at the same time he terrified me and made me laugh into tears. I am very grateful he does not exist and I want to keep it that way. God help us if someone tries to be like him.😰

Another masterful essay, congrats

Like Marvel, DC has a multiverse full of different versions of characters, including the Joker. The sheer malleability of the character is what makes him so fascinating. This version is undeniably the most influential of the modern era, inspiring other versions that have their own unique qualities to their villainy. Making him only one way wouldn’t be very interesting as his manic tendencies makes him a complete mystery and in a lot of ways, far more dangerous. That makes him infinitely scarier. He could reasonably be anyone. Driven mad.

Kinda screwed up when a large chunk of society thinks pure evil like Joker is sympathetic. Remember he's not Legitimately insane like the Ventriloquist or Two-Face he is fully aware of his actions and revels in them

DCAU Joker is peak Joker.