Characters / Batman: The Joker

• The Joker Vol 1 (1975) #1-10 (the tenth issue was unpublished until 2019)
• Joker (2008) (a graphic novel by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo)
• The Joker Vol 2 (2021) #1-present (currently ongoing as part of DC Infinite Frontier)
• The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox (2021) #1-7 (digital first mini-series)
• The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing (2022)

Live-Action:

• Batman and Batman: The Movie (1966), played by Cesar Romero
• Batman (1989), played by Jack Nicholson (and Hugo Blick as his younger self). This incarnation has his own character-specific page here.
• The Dark Knight (2008), played by Heath Ledger (Ledger was posthumously awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal). This incarnation has his own character-specific page here.
• DC Extended Universe:
  • Suicide Squad (2016), played by Jared Leto
  • Birds of Prey (2020), played by Fake Shemp Johnny Goth
  • Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), played by Jared Leto again
• Gotham (2019), played by Cameron Monaghan (although due to Warner Bros Writing Around Trademarks, the name "Joker" is never used).
• Joker (2019), played by Joaquin Phoenix (Phoenix won the Academy Award for Best Actor, making the Joker one of only three characters to win an Oscar for two different preformers — the others are Vito Corleone from The Godfather and Anita Palacio from West Side Story) This incarnation has his own character-specific page here.
  • Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)
• Batwoman (2019), portrayed by Nathan Dashwood for the original, and Nick Creegan as Marquis Jet, a Canon Foreigner and a successor to the role.
• The Batman (2022), played by Barry Keoghan

Voice Acting:

• Mark Hamill deserves his own list. Through voice acting, he has played the character more than any other actor.
  • The DC Animated Universe (Character page here)
    • Batman: The Animated Series
    • Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
    • Superman: The Animated Series
    • Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
    • Static Shock
    • Justice League
  • Batman: The Killing Joke ^note He had been apprehensive about returning to the Joker for every new project, but always said he would return for The Killing Joke
  • Justice League Action
  • Batman: Arkham Series in Asylum, City, Knight, and VR.
  • DC Universe Online
  • LEGO DC Super-Villains
  • Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?
• Richard Epcar, who voices the character in video games by NetherRealm Studios, also deserves his own list.
  • Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
    • Mortal Kombat 11
  • Injustice: Gods Among Us
    • Injustice 2
  • Infinite Crisis ^note His only turn as the character that was not developed by Netherrealm
• Troy Baker is yet a third person with his own list.
  • The young version of the Arkham Joker seen in Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, as well as the tie-in film Batman: Assault on Arkham
  • Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem and Batman Unlimited: Mechs Vs. Mutants
  • Batman vs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • Batman: The Long Halloween
• The Batman by Kevin Michael Richardson
  • The Batman vs. Dracula
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold by Jeff Bennett
  • Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold
• Batman: Under the Red Hood by John DiMaggio
• Young Justice by Brent Spiner
  • Spiner also voiced the character in Batman: The Audio Adventures.
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Michael Emerson
• invoked Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders by Jeff Bergman (Darrin-ing Cesar Romero)
  • Batman vs. Two-Face
• The LEGO Batman Movie by Zach Galifianakis
• Batman Ninja by Tony Hale
• Harley Quinn by Alan Tudyk
• Injustice (2021) by Kevin Pollak

• Abusive Parents: One common tactic for the Joker to garner sympathy is claiming he was ill-treated by his parents. Given his propensity to spew out contradictory backstories, nobody knows if they're true.
  • In the animated series, he claims to have been beaten as a child when interviewed by Harley Quinn. It is unknown if this is true. According to Batman, he's simply making it up.
    Harley Quinn: Joker told me things, secret things he never told anyone...
    Batman: What did he tell you, Harley? Was it the line about the abusive father, or the one about the alcoholic mom? Of course, the runaway orphan story is particularly moving, too. He's gained a lot of sympathy with that one. What was it he told that one parole officer? Oh, yes... 'There was only one time I ever saw dad really happy. He took me to the ice show when I was seven...'
    Harley: (crying) Circus... He told me it was the circus.
    Batman: He's got a million of them, Harley.
  • In one issue of New 52, he claims to have been driven insane by an abusive grandmother, who also bleached his skin to its present pallor.
    • In the same continuity, he is one to a baby gorilla he adopts, trains up as a gun-wielding henchman, and ultimately gets killed off for laughs.
  • In the comic book adaptation of Injustice: Gods Among Us, it's implied Harley fears he would be one and gives their daughter to her sister lest he kill the child. It's left ambiguous whether the Joker is even aware of the ruse.
• Acquired Poison Immunity: In many continuities, he's immune to his trademark Joker Venom/Smilex. In a crossover comic with Captain America, he also proves to be immune to Red Skull's "Dust of Death", as their trademark poisons are too similar to each other.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: Several, in fact, depending on the adaption.
  • In Batman (1989), he killed the Waynes before his transformation, causing Bruce to become Batman.
  • In Batwoman (2019), he hijacked a school bus full of kids and rammed the Kane family car off the road, forcing Batman to grapple their car to a bridge to keep it from falling off while he went after his foe. Unfortunately, the grapple hit a defective door handle, causing it to fall and kill Mrs. Kane, while Beth was presumed dead and left in the hands of a psychopath to become Alice in her later years. All of this drives Kate to eventually become Batwoman. But that's not all! Season 2 reveals he made a painting out of people's guts one time—said painting is being investigated by Kate, but Black Mask shoots down her plane as part of his scheme, causing her Batsuit to fall into the hands of homeless girl Ryan Wilder, who takes up the mantle in Kate's stead. Oh, and that school bus? Season 3 reveals that Ryan was left an orphan because Joker zapped one of the kids on the bus with his joy buzzer for the hell of it. Said kid was her brother Marquis, who went insane and led Ryan's mother to give her up for adoption for her own safety. And did we mention that Marquis is the new Joker?
  • In Joker (2019), his starting of numerous riots across Gotham leads to the death of the Waynes.
  • The Elseworld Batman/Lobo establishes that he and Batman are twin brothers and that he went down the path of crime because Joe Chill kidnapped him the night their parents were killed.
• Allegorical Character: Joker represents Chaos while Batman represents Order.
• Ambiguous Start of Darkness: Related to his Multiple-Choice Past, the only thing consistent is that he was a low-level crook who got dunked in acid before becoming who he is today.
• Ambiguously Bi: We know he's been in a relationship with Harley Quinn so his attraction to women is a given. But in Batman: Cacophany, after Joker's busted out of prison by Onomatopoeia, he mistakenly thought the Hero Killer had a clown fetish after Onomatopeia offered him a lot of money and mentioned that the Mad Hatter tried to get him to perform homosexual acts with him in prison for years, indicating that he wasn't really interested in men. On the other hand, Joker partially stripped down for Onomatopoeia without hesitation and even looked disappointed after the killer disappeared on him, making it hard to get a feel for whether Joker really is interested in being with another man, isn't really into men but will do it for the amount of money Onomatopoeia is offering him, or is only fine with Onomatopoeia being his partner since he mentioned he didn't want Mad Hatter finding out about this.
• Appropriated Appellation: In Batman: The Man Who Laughs, it's established that the name "The Joker" was given to him by the media, and he liked it so much that he decided to call himself that.
• Arch-Enemy: A classic example to the Batman, and not just in the comics - they are pretty much the iconic gold standard when it comes to this trope. In several instances, Batman deconstructs and dismisses the Foe Romance Subtext, claiming that the clown is nothing but an unhinged psychopath.
• Attention Whore: A big part of his motivation in various continuities. He even admits as such at one point, while denying he's not behind one particular crime. The clown also hates being told that his jokes are boring.
  Joker: Do you really think I would stir up so much trouble and not make sure you knew it was me?
  • Batman: Arkham Knight takes this even further by revealing that being forgotten is the only thing the Joker truly fears.
  • Terry McGinnis uses a Boring Insult against the clown in Return of the Joker so he'll have a Villainous Breakdown and be defeated for good.
• Ax-Crazy: One of his main characteristics is his willingness to go psycho on anyone, including his own henchmen.
• Bad Boss: Willing to casually kill his own henchmen for any reason, be it part of a plan, for amusement, or simply on a whim. Just to demonstrate how much disregard he has for his henchmen, a reoccurring motivation for offing his own lackeys is failing to laugh at one of his jokes. Or laughing too late. Or laughing for too long. Or laughing at the wrong joke. He's... unpredictable.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Defied by The Joker in at least one story (Emperor Joker). Evil Jimmy Olson kills Superman, who has been turned into a dog, by crushing him underneath a fire hydrant. The Joker is simply annoyed, because he doesn't know how to make something as pointless as beating a dumb animal funny. Jimmy Olson is then beaten to death by two giant robots who appear out of nowhere.
• Believing Their Own Lies: He sometimes believes his Multiple-Choice Past, Depending on the Writer of course. One issue of the Robin had the Joker actually in tears as he told the psychiatrist of his abusive childhood, only for the psychiatrist to coldly point out that it's the seventh story he's told now.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He's usually written off as a joke, but this Monster Clown is far more unpredictable than what others think, having upstaged the likes of Mongul and Brainiac in terms of villainy. He also takes being snubbed from joining any Legion of Doom personally, and if he does join, the other villains usually shun him. Joker also loves to hear himself laugh, but gets enraged if he is the butt of someone else's jokes.
• Black Comedy: This is one of Joker’s specialties. To normal people, killing would be a terrible thing, but to Joker, it’s hilarious, especially if he does it in a way that amuses him.
• Body Horror: The acid bath bleached his skin white and his hair green and forced his mouth into a perpetual and utterly unnatural grin.
• Big Bad: If there is anyone causing trouble for the Bat-Family chances are it is usually Joker most of the time.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: In a "Detective Comics" story written by Paul Dini, the Joker (while impersonating a stage magician he had previously murdered) shot Zatanna in the throat so she couldn't recite a spell to save herself, then locked her in a tank of water while strapping Batman in an electric chair. He didn't shoot her in the head because he wanted Batman to watch helplessly as she died. This didn't go so well because first, he's BATMAN! and second, Zatanna was able to write a healing incantation on the lid of the tank using her own blood, which made the spell even more powerful.
• Boring Insult: While the Joker has used it a few times on others, he mostly does it to hear the sound of his own voice as the people he usually slings this insult at don't really care whether or not they're boring. On the other hand, he gets really furious when others intentionally use it against him. Terry exploits this flaw with glee and even rubs it in his face in Return of the Joker. For a comedian, the only thing worse than silent glares is The Heckler.
• Break the Comedian: A sure way to determined if things have gotten real, even for the Joker, is if he isn't laughing or joking. A famous example involved the Joker being frightened during the events of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run, when he was horrified by Arcane's actions. Also, he can't stand being the punchline of someone else's joke in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
• Clear My Name: The Brave and the Bold has him framed for several murders and he must use Batman's help.
• Clownification: Often times his origin story is an involuntary baptism in bleach. His Joker Venom is used to forcefully do this to someone while they die.
• Collective Identity: As revealed in Darkseid War and DC Rebirth, the Joker has been used by three people, though Batman: Three Jokers clarified it as this: The Criminal (the original "Golden Age" Joker from the character's debut in Batman #1), The Clown (the "Silver Age" Joker, strongly implied to be the one who killed Jason Todd), and The Comedian (the current "Modern Age" Joker, who kidnapped and tormented Jim Gordon).
• Combat Pragmatist: While his fighting prowess varies from remarkably proficient to extremely weak Depending on the Writer, the Joker is a consistently dirty fighter, striking enemies when and where they are most vulnerable. Besides his myriad of gag gadgets, he often carries concealed weapons, gases and acids on his person, and won't hesitate to brandish a wrench or smash a chair over your head in a pinch. He is usually adept with knives and unlike Batman, rarely has any reservations about firearms. He has no qualms kicking an opponent when they're down, and will employ deception, feigning surrender or defeat to let Batman lower his guard.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting:
  • Originally Conrad Veidt from The Man Who Laughs.
  • Later portrayals base themselves on his actors, with Cesar Romero a popular candidate, and after Jack Nicholson came in, artists such as Alex Ross base him on him, such as the actor's distinct widow's peak and slicked back hair.
• Confusion Fu: This is often his last line of defense when Batman corners him, especially in the animated television shows. Effectiveness varies. He once got the better of Cassandra Cain, a master martial artist who can analyze her opponent's body language to predict their moves because his body language was confusing nonsense.
• Consummate Liar: Joker is a phenomenal actor, acting almost genuinely emotional every single time he weaves a new origin story for himself.
• Cop Killer: Sometimes police officers are among the Joker's victims:
  • During Knightfall he and Scarecrow killed several members of a SWAT team, and one of his last actions in Batman: No Man's Land was to kill Commissioner Gordon's second wife, Lt. Sarah Essen.
  • The version of Batgirl seen in Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! was from a universe one where the Joker killed Commissioner Gordon instead of crippling her.
  • Part of the reason Gordon takes over the post of Commissioner in both The Dark Knight Trilogy and Batman: Arkham Series is due to the Joker killing Gillian Loeb. Additionally, the first game in the latter series, Asylum, he sees several of Arkham's guards killed by him and his men.
  • He's holding a dead cop's corpse in his intro in Injustice: Gods Among Us and using it as a puppet. He also talks to the body of one of the Regime enforcers who captured him once he breaks out and heads to Gotham.
• Crazy in the Head, Crazy in the Bed: A few women actually became attracted to him because of how his utter insanity and impredicability charmed and fascinated them, most notably Harley Quinn and Punchline. According to Harley, he could be could the passionate lover when he wanted to.
• Create Your Own Villain: Most stories posit he was chased by Batman through a factory with No OSHA Compliance, which caused him to be exposed to acid, discoloring his skin and hair and driving him insane when he sees his reflection. Often he claims Batman is responsible for turning him into The Joker. What his origin story is remains a mystery.
• Creepy High-Pitched Voice: In voiced roles, he usually has a high-pitched voice to contrast Batman's low voice.
• Crossover Villain-in-Chief: In DC's Crisis Crossover events that involve a lot of villains, like Salvation Run and Forever Evil (2013), The Joker usually fills this role along with Lex Luthor.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Insanity aside, sometimes the Joker's plans and methods are so out there they just seem stupid. Despite appearances, he's usually very cunning, and always very dangerous. In fact, part and parcel of what makes the Joker's plans devastating is that he knows how to hide the punchline for lack of a better word. The plans are so innocuous, so disheveled and so utterly random that they usually have no sane MO, which makes it hard to see the bigger picture of the plan unless Batman pieces it together quickly.
• Critical Psychoanalysis Failure: Happens frequently, though this may be an indication of the competence of the staff at Arkham. One such time was with Dr. Harleen Quinzel, who bought his story hook, line and sinker and declared him sane, then broke him out of Arkham and started dating him (of course, her exact analysis was that he was utilizing Obfuscating Insanity and it's implied that she was actually right, so perhaps she was the only good doctor at Arkham after all...)

• Deadly Prank: He generally considers murdering someone for a joke to be morally no different than putting a whoopie cushion on their chair.
• Decomposite Character: The Three Jokers (see below) are each based on one era of Joker's time as a singular entity and his behavior during that time.
  • The "Criminal" is based on his earliest appearances in the Golden Age, where he was a No-Nonsense Nemesis who mainly cared about the results.
  • The "Clown" is based on his Silver Age depiction, in which he genuinely wanted to make people laugh, although now he also has the willingness to kill that the actual Silver Age restricted.
  • The "Comedian" is based on his Bronze Age depiction defined by The Killing Joke, a complete and utter psychopath that relishes in hurting other people out of sheer spite and hate.
• Depending on the Artist: His depiction varies a lot between eras and between different artists in the same period. Major differences are whether he can form facial expressions other than a grin, and whether he is average-sized or freakishly tall and thin.
  • His grin varies a lot between incarnations. In more out-there stories, his grin is usually fixed, or at least unrealistically huge when he does smile. In grittier, more realistic versions, the grin is either simply painted on, or an actual Glasgow Grin, giving him a more gruesome, unnerving look.
• Depending on the Writer: There are many huge variations, the most common and glaring being:
  • Whether he was driven insane or was already insane and became completely bonkers.
  • Where he is on the spectrum between "wacky prankster" and "utterly depraved and sadistic sociopath and murderer".
  • Whether he is a senseless, performative terrorist wreaking havoc for kicks or a deceptively cunning and competent criminal mastermind. Or both. Usually both.
  • His relationship with Batman changes a lot. Sometimes, it's a fairly standard hero/arch-nemesis fare, sometimes they're mutually obsessed with each other, and in some versions, their relationship is somewhat sexually charged, particularly from Joker's end. In The Dark Knight Returns and ''A Serious House on Serious Earth', Joker's quite explicitly sexually interested in Batman, to the point of actually groping him in the latter.
  • Just where Joker draws the line of what he considers acceptable behavior, if he does at all, varies wildly. Some versions have henchmen with Swastikas on their chests, some are confirmed rapists, while most mainstream incarnations have him be either uninterested in, or outright disgusted by things such as Nazism or rape.
  • He's no Batman, but sometimes he is a proficient hand-to-hand combatant, Psycho Knife Nut or marksman, and other times a flimsy wimp who goes down in one punch. In some of the grittier settings, his raw strength, numbness to pain and viciousness are enough to level the playing field with Batman.
  • Whether he actually loves Harley Quinn varies. In the animated series, (where Harley first appeared) the writers have outright said he's a sociopath incapable of loving anyone, and just sees her as a useful mook. Some other works imply he really does love her on some level (although he's usually still an abusive asshole.)
  • He can either be Faux Affably Evil, Laughably Evil, just a Monster Clown, or some combination of the three.
• Depraved Bisexual: The Joker is completely and utterly insane and sadistic. The Killing Joke showed the not-yet Joker's pregnant wife saying that he was "good in the sack." There's also the few and far-between Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other moments he has with Harley. Plus all that Foe Romance Subtext he has toward Batman. Harley and Ivy both think that the Joker only has eyes for Batman. Joker has often professed affection toward Batman (complete with moments of desperate attention-needing) and in "Cacophony" Joker explicitly states that he wants Batman sexually. Although, being the Joker, he wants him sexually only after he's dead.
• Depraved Homosexual: Not above invoking this deliberately to get under Batman's skin. Whether he means all his flirting and feel-copping varies slightly Depending on the Writer and heavily depending on one's own interpretation.
  • At least one such incident implied he would be interested in Batman... but only after he was dead. Again this may only have been a tactic to get under Batman's skin or truthful admission. The readers will never know for certain.
• Diplomatic Impunity: In A Death in the Family, Ayatollah Khomeini appoints him the UN ambassador to Iran, giving him diplomatic immunity. This was later retconned to the fictional Syraq due to reasons of taste.
• Dirty Coward: Zigzagged. How brave, how coward, and how much or how little he gives a fuck about his life varies depending of the version, the issue/chapter/episode, and sometimes, even the scene. Some versions have him genuinely not caring if he dies and even actively hoping Batman will kill him to make him break his code while others will beg Batman for mercy or to save him when he believes he's in actual danger.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Has been known to try to kill people for minor slights, such as welshing on a bet on a sporting event for trivial stakes.
• Domestic Abuse: This characterizes his relationship with his "henchwench" Harley Quinn to a T. Joker frequently yells at her, puts her down, humiliates her, and exposes her to all manner of violence ranging from "merely" slapping or punching her to outright trying to murder her. Such is her Mad Love that she ignored his abuse for most of her existence in comic history, with the two only separating in the late 2010s.
• The Dreaded: Easily one of the most feared villains in the entire DC universe. Other villains are afraid of him - it's been said that when criminals want to scare each other, they tell Joker stories.
• Driven to Madness: Doing this to others (especially Batman) is part of his MO. What drove him to insanity remains unknown.
  • His plot in The Killing Joke is to put Jim Gordon through the wringer hard in the hopes of driving him mad. He'll also try to drive Batman over the edge (particularly, drive him to break his "no killing" rule), sometimes by cutting off all of Batsy's human connections.
  • The Dark Knight reworks it into Driving Gotham To Senseless Violence with wanton acts of destruction or terrorism, just to prove everyone's as bad as him deep down.
    Joker: When the chips are down, these... these "civilized" people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve.
  • Ironically, a 1952 story has the Joker get himself falsely committed to an insane asylum, to question a patient who knew the location of a cache of money. The end of the story has him Laughing Mad due to a prank Batman used to disguise his identity.
  • He succeeds in driving Superman to villainy by tricking him into killing his own wife and nuking Metropolis in Injustice: Gods Among Us. Supes goes on to establish a planetwide dictatorship and becomes much worse than the Monster Clown who drove him to insanity.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Just take a gander at his earliest appearances:
  • He didn't have his signature laugh. This seems to have been a way to "goofy up" the character to make him less terrifying in the days of the Comics Code Authority. Later on, he'd learn to giggle while remaining terrifying.
  • He actually committed crimes for money^note  Well, jewels, anyway. For all we know he was just throwing them away, and wasn't really interested in causing chaos or terror for a joke's sake.
  • Building off of that, his plans weren't really "insane" until the Silver Age (at which point it's not even fair to say this was exclusive to him), nor was there any question of the character's mental stability.
  • His obsession with Batman wasn't there, much less the idea that he would pass up chances to kill the Bat or learn his identity. This aspect was probably introduced to explain the Bond Villain Stupidity he (and every Batman villain) had become infamous for in the Silver Age.
  • His clown-like complexion was actually makeup in his early appearances. He even removed his makeup to disguise himself as a cop, which was referenced in The Dark Knight. It's later revealed that the look is permanent after falling in a vat of chemicals.
• Electric Joybuzzer: One of his signature weapons, a lethal variation, most memorably used in Batman (1989). He ended up Hoist by His Own Petard when trying to use it on Static.
  Static: That was fun. Let me try! (BZZZZT!)
  (Batman approves.)
• Enemy Mine:
  • The Brave and the Bold #111 and #191 have him team up with Batman to clear his name after being framed for several murders. The first instance turned out to simply be a framing the guilty part occasion but the second instance was actually genuine on Joker's part (except the person Joker seemingly murdered turned out to be faking their death).
  • He also does this with Batman whenever The Batman Who Laughs is involved (specifically in the Dark Knights: Metal series).
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's usually on the receiving end of this. Most other supervillains are wary of him and try to avoid working with him or becoming his enemy: variably because he's even worse than them, for pragmatism because they don't trust him, out of fear he'll betray and kill them, etc. That said, there are also some lines even the Joker himself won't cross:
  • He abruptly ends a partnership with Red Skull when his Nazi affiliation comes out. Red Skull simply wonders why he is so surprised when he thinks that the Joker would make a great Nazi. The Joker is NOT happy about this, proclaiming "I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an American criminal lunatic!" And yes, folks, even an equal-opportunity murderer like the Joker despises the Nazis!^note The Joker had originally thought that Red Skull was just dressing up as a Nazi as a sort of theme, which he approved of because it sounded like great trolling.
  • The exception is mentioned again in the Last Laugh arc where the Joker immediately refused to join the American Neo-Nazi Aryan Alliance group in the Slab after he was offered membership. Later on he is disgusted when his minions vandalize the Moai on Eastern Island.
    Joker: I'm evil and all that, but you guys are just plain mean.
  • Will not harm dumb animals and doesn't condone it. There's no humor to be had in that. Higher primates apparently do not qualify but a lot more effort went into that one. Case in point: Emperor Joker sees the Joker disgusted with a corrupted Jimmy Olsen tormenting the Superfamily and Batman when they're turned into animals.
  • While in Arkham with villain Warren White, AKA the Great White Shark, Joker calls him the worst person he ever met. He states that while he may kill people, even he doesn't steal their kids' college funds.
  • A girl named Janey Bennett, whose class was studying criminal behavior, became pen pals with the Joker while he was in Arkham. When Janey revealed that her father, the mayor of Motor City, was abusing her (exactly how isn't specified, though it was implied to have been really bad) the Joker broke out and, convinced that the authorities would be of no help, tried to force the mayor into admitting to his crimes and giving him Janey (so that he could find a better home for her) by threatening to contaminate the city's blood supply, going through with it (because the ends justify the means) when the mayor refused to give in to his demands. He originally intended to give her to Batman as well so he could protect her but at the end decided to give her to her mom.
    Joker: I mean, stealing a city blind is something I can admire... but being mean to one's own daughter... that just makes my blood boil.
  • The Joker absolutely loathes The Batman Who Laughs, to the point where he drops his usual joking demeanor and is deathly serious whenever directly referring to him, even willing to work together with Batman to face him when it comes down to it. To Joker, the Batman Who Laughs is the worst possible result of his rivalry with Batman and an insult towards both of their personal philosophies and legacies — a bad joke that should never have existed in the first place. When he learns that Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom have been keeping the Batman Who Laughs prisoner in the Fortress of Doom and release him in exchange for information, not only is the Joker is furious and Rage Quits the Legion, but he leaves them alive, telling them that while he planned to betray and kill them all eventually anyway, whatever the Batman Who Laughs will do to them when he betrays them will be even worse.
    Joker: If you want me, there's one dark path you're not going to turn down. There's no joke here. I think you'll find I'm deadly serious on the topic. The Batman from the other world. The Batman Who Laughs. He's a wrong thing, Lex. He's going to ruin the whole game, and I won't stand for it.
  • In the penultimate issue of Batman: No Man's Land when he killed Sarah Essen, the Joker himself wasn't amused by it, and was scowling afterwards. He left behind the babies had he planned to murder without harming them, and walked outside to surrender to the police. That said, he still grinned to Gordon about it after and found it hilarious when Gordon shot him in the kneecap, thinking he did it to purposefully echo how the Joker shot Barbara.
  • One of the earliest examples of this can be seen in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run, when Anton Arcane and his fellow escapees from Hell ascended, the Joker stopped laughing.
  • Illegally parking in handicap spaces is also something that the Joker doesn't tolerate. There's nothing remotely funny about it.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: There’s a comic storyline when Hush informed that a dirty cop Office Halmet killed his wife Jeannie. The Joker wanted nothing more than to kill said cop in revenge. Then there’s Batman: Three Jokers where, despite it being being heavily implied he was abusive, the “Comedian” Joker is seen setting up fake tea parties with dolls, clearly trying to substitute them for his wife and child showing that he does miss them and desire to be a family with them.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The Joker is Nihilism Incarnate: he believes that life is pointless and insane, and the only thing anyone can do is give into the madness. Life is a joke, and once he got the joke he never stopped laughing at it. One of the reasons he's obsessed with Batman is because Batman is The Anti-Nihilist: Batman also thinks, to some degree at least, that life is meaningless. But rather than embrace the madness, Batman fights against it, trying to bring order to chaos through his heroic actions. So Batman got the joke too, but he's not laughing, and the Joker doesn't understand why.
• Eviler than Thou: While he has been on the receiving end before in many adaptations and universes, especially when written by Scott Snyder, Joker will upstage his fellow Bat-Rogues in terms of villainy.
  • In Joker's Last Laugh, he goes to the next level by hatching a scheme in which he Jokerizes every supervillain on the planet.
  • Then in Emperor Joker, he went even further and out-villained DARKSEID.
  • Injustice: Gods Among Us and Injustice 2 show that other villains like Sinestro, Brainiac and Gorilla Grodd view him as a depraved madman who triggered Superman's Face–Heel Turn just For the Evulz.
• Evil Genius: Though rarely the focus of his character, Joker is usually an extremely gifted chemist, engineer and inventor, constantly creating new and better versions of his signature laughing gas as well as adept in other fields such as computer engineering and is able to easily understand and adjust the inventions of heroes and other villains like Lex Luthor with no issue. He's also (unsurprisingly) a skilled planner on par with Batman himself, in addition to being extremely charismatic and manipulative when he wants to be.
• Evil Laugh: Basically his frickin' trademark. Every incarnation has one they indulge in as they spread madness, suffering and ruin, and every one of them is legendary in its own right.
• Evil Mentor: The Joker has corrupted many other people into becoming villains themselves, with Harley Quinn just being the most famous example.
• Evil Is Petty: Joker truly sees no difference between throwing cream pies, robbing a museum, and wanton mass-murder. To him, it's all just part of the joke.
• Evil Versus Evil: In addition to his battles against Batman, Joker has also feuded with and fought against his fellow Arkham rogues, including Scarecrow, Two-Face, Riddler, and more.
• Facial Horror: His iconic "perma-clown" appearance (the green hair, chalk-white skin, and most of the time, red lips) is the result of being submerged in a tank of chemicals. However, there was times this has gotten worse.
  • While The Dark Knight is one of the few times the Joker's clown-like appearance is the result of make-up, he does sport a Glasgow Grin.
  • While Joker still has the permanent clown look, it's combined with the Glasgow Grin.
  • While Batman: Endgame would see the skin of his face restored with a chemical called Dionesium^note found in Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus pits and the meteor that made Vandal Savage immortal, at the start of The New 52, the Joker had the Dollmaker skin his face and then, after he recovered it, spent Death of the Family wearing it like a Leatherface-esque mask. And even in Endgame, his restored face ends up badly burned as the result of the finale battle between him and Batman, though it still ends up restored again.
  • Gotham sees neither Valeska escape this. After his death in season 2, Jerome (the proto-Joker) ends up resurrected in season 3, but because Dwight thinks his attempt to revive him failed, Dwight ends up cutting off Jerome's face ala Death of the Family and Jerome ends up stapling it on when he catches up with Dwight and while he later has it properly reattached, there's still scars from what happened. Jeremiah, Jerome's twin and the show's true Joker, ends up with the "perma-clown" appearance due to Jerome having the Scarecrow brew something up to spray in Jeremiah's face, but season 5 sees his fateful fall at Ace Chemicals badly scar his face and sear off most of his hair with only stringy patches left.
• Fame Through Infamy: He's practically built a career on crimes designed more to spread his infamy than anything else. Perhaps his true illness is that he is an Attention Whore through and through...
• Faux Affably Evil: Often addresses others in a polite and friendly way before he unleashes merry hell on them.
• Flanderization: Over the years, his actions have become almost exclusively focused on causing as much carnage and chaos as possible or harassing Batman and his allies rather than performing any non-lethal mischief or practical crime.
• Foe Romance Subtext: Sometimes will mess with Batman's mind by calling him by pet names or using innuendo. Or outright groping him. According to later writers, Joker regards their hero/villain dynamic as a very special relationship, and resents anyone or thing that gets in the way of it (like all those family members Bruce enjoys hanging out with), which is disturbingly like a jealous lover.
  • Bruce deconstructs this notion in Return of the Joker, noting that it wasn't a "popularity contest." Terry also deduces that Bruce's stoicism made Joker even more determined to make Batsy laugh at all costs.
• Foil: To Batman in several ways. If the origin offered in Killing Joke is to be believed, both Batman and Joker had one bad day that put them on very different paths.
  • While Batman refuses to kill anyone, Joker revels in death.
  • Joker's gadgets tend to be rather goofier but much more lethal, such as the Joker Venom that leave a rictus grin on his victims.
  • While Batman gets along well with his allies, sidekicks Robin and Batgirl, his mentor Alfred and Love Interest Catwoman, Joker frequently abuses his sidekick Harley and has tried to kill her before, not to mention all the times he has been a Bad Boss by killing his henchmen for any reason you can think of, sometimes for no reason at all.
  • While Batman's backstory is well known to the citizens of Gotham who know of the tragedy of the rich Waynes' in Crime Alley including in real life, Joker's backstory is a mystery, but most versions he tells are consistent in two things: he was a nobody and possibly born poor.
  • Batman wears dark clothing that mostly consists of black and grey, but Joker wears bright clothing that mostly consists of green and purple.
  • In most adaptations, his voice is high-pitched in contrast to Batman's low voice.
  • Representing order, Batman upholds justice and the rule of law (the spirit if not always the letter); the Dark Knight is The Anti-Nihilist who also believes life is meaningless but decided to create his own purpose. A fervent nihilist who believes anyone can have a "bad day" as he sums it up, Joker is strongly anti-authoritarian and anti-society, indiscriminately destructive, and downright insane.
• For the Evulz: His usual MO. Many of his crimes always involve sowing chaos and the schadenfreude of other people's misery.
  Alfred: Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
• Fountain of Expies: The Joker is so iconic, and so often copied we have a trope for it: Practically Joker.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Often plays this role among villain team-ups. It's implied that the only reason the other DC villains ever invite him to things is because they're terrified of what he'll do to them if he's not. Lex Luthor Jr.'s death at the end of Infinite Crisis is brought about because, as Lex Luthor puts it:
  Luthor: You made one big mistake. You didn't let the Joker play.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: While most of Batman's rogues gallery have a Freudian Excuse, the key thing about Joker's Multiple-Choice Past is that nobody really knows who he was before he put on the Red Hood and fell into a vat of acid. As such, he was literally a nobody... who turned into the DC Universe's scariest villain and who at times has upstaged even Brainiac or Darkseid. In "Underworld Unleashed," Trickster even states that whenever the Clown Prince of Crime joins a league of villains, the other baddies tend to keep him at an arm's length.
• Frozen Face: Most depictions have his face as such, with his massive rictus grin being something he can't really stop doing.

• Gadgeteer Genius: While he seems to be a chemist first and foremost, the Joker has no trouble coming up with a range of tools and weapons of his own design and is easily as smart as Batman in this area. Other stories show that he has a solid enough understanding of such varied fields as engineering, computers and even robotics that he can at least hijack the sophisticated inventions of others and use them for his own ends with no difficulty whatsoever, and he is generally implied (though rarely outright stated) to have had a scientific background prior to becoming the Clown Prince of Crime.
• Glasgow Grin: Heath Ledger's portrayal features very noticeable scarring from such wounds and tells two conflicting stories of how he got them. Sometimes, Depending on the Artist, the Joker has one in the comics, usually in out-of-continuity stories.
• Glorious Death: His greatest ambition in most if not all of his incarnations (as well as one of the reasons his sheer determination always allows him to survive the most unthinkable situations) is that he wants to die at the hands of Batman so that he can let him Jumping Off the Slippery Slope and leave a lasting legacy even from three feet under.
• Gonk: Depending on the Artist, he varies from "disfigured, but still fairly handsome" to "barely passes for human", the latter cases usually feature him with a really long and narrow nose and a huge, exaggerated mouth with a permanent Slasher Smile.
• Good Counterpart: He has one on Earth 3, the Jokester who is the enemy of Owlman, and in Batman the Brave and the Bold, a heroic version of him is the Red Hood, who has his backstory but as a vigilante and didn't break from his chemical bath.
• Guest Fighter: After making appearances in the previous crossover and being a major player in NetherRealm's other big series, Joker shows up in Mortal Kombat 11 all on his own, freed from the restrictions of a Teen rating and able to showcase the true depths of his depraved bloodlust.
  • Of all mobile games, he, along with Batman, Harley Quinn and Catwoman appear in SINoALICE with the Joker being a Sorcerer. Players can pull him in the same banner as a Joker-fied Pinocchio.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: A consistent amongst various incarnations, especially in the DCAU and the Arkhamverse; while he often hides it under his jovial persona, Joker is easily set off by any slight, real or perceived, and the object of his rage will always receive some sort of violent retribution.
• Handshake of Doom: Often kills unsuspecting victims by offering a handshake. When the other person grabs his hand, their palm is pricked by a device that resembles a joy buzzer, which injects deadly venom into their blood stream.
• Hated by All: Apart from Harley (and even then, only when their on-off relationship is "on"), Gaggy and Punchline, no one likes or supports the Joker. In any way, whatsoever. Damn near every other member of Batman's Rogues Gallery hates his guts, mostly because not only is he completely sociopathic and unpredictable, but also they are all scared shitless by him. The only reason why he's even allowed in teams such as the Legion of Doom is because of that fear: if they exclude him from the lineup, then chances are that dead bodies will be lining the streets in their name. Trickster spells it out in "Underworld Unleashed."
  Trickster: Great going, Neron, bring in the one guy no one wants to be in the same room with. When super-villains want to scare each other, they tell Joker stories.
  • Nether Realm Studios especially seems to love making Joker out to be evil incarnate. In Injustice: Gods Among Us and its sequel, he loses all his cred (and life) once he nukes Metropolis; Harley ditches him entirely, Batman just completely gives up on indulging him anymore, even Guest Fighters like Hellboy consider him worthless, and non-Batvillains such as Grodd, Brainiac and even Darkseid loathe him for either Metropolis, or just in general principle. Mortal Kombat 11 shows that even the MK cast see him as a scourge upon the realms, and also express distaste toward him for either his nuking, a previous outing, or because he's seen as a buffoon who cannot be taken seriously (this is usually the case for other villain characters).
  • About the only person who can tolerate him for long is Lex Luthor, only because they both have the same level of hatred for their respective enemies. Even then, Luthor prefers to keep his distance from the Joker, if only because a bored Joker screws with everything For the Evulz.
• Hate Sink: Posthumously, his Injustice-verse incarnation is the primary target for scorn in the games and tie-in comics — the version from the Injustice-verse itself, at least. He tricked Superman into killing his own wife Lois Lane (who happened to be pregnant at the time) and nuking Metropolis, then pulling a Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred! on the poor guy who then slowly became a tyrant, all for the sake of doing it and go after an easier target compared to Batman. His role as The Corrupter to Harley is explained to make her redemption feel more plausible, as even she despises him for his actions. In particular, while Superman does terrible things, he is portrayed as a Tragic Villain due to the losses he suffered before becoming a bad guy. As such, his killing of the Joker is always played for maximum pathos. Even villains as despicable as Brainiac, Darkseid and Gorilla Grodd openly despise him. This even continues into his Guest Fighter appearance in Mortal Kombat 11^note Even though that Joker is implied to be either the one from Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe or from the non-Regime Earth in the first Injustice game, rather than the one that actually nuked Metropolis, where even the likes of Kano, Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn can't stand him.
• Hero Killer: Famously murders Jason Todd extremely brutally in A Death in the Family, causing a shift in Batman's story and even affecting the tone of the greater DCU.
• Hijacked by Ganon: As he's Batman's Arch-Enemy, he has a habit of pulling this on his fellow Bat-Rogues in the comics and other media, such as him deposing of and impersonating Black Mask in Batman: Arkham Origins.
• The Heavy: Usually giving Batman some trouble in a most series.
• Hope Crusher: His life's goal is to either kill Batman or corrupt him by getting him to break his no-kill rule. Most of the time, he doesn't intend to stop at Batman either — he's a nihilistic Misanthrope Supreme. His murderous behaviour — as well as his suicidal recklessness — are violent acts of protest and despair at the world, not purely For the Evulz and his battle with Batman being an ideological one over who is correct. What he really wants is to give all mankind one bad day.
• Horrifying the Horror: Been on both the giving end and receiving end.
  • According to the Trickster in Underworld Unleashed, villains will try to scare each other by telling stories about him.
  • On the receiving side: the Creeper, the Batman Who Laughs, Rag Doll's daughter Junior, Anton Arcane's antics, Terry McGinnis, and learning his own name scare the hell out of him.
• Horror Host: Though the stories had more to do with crime than horror, the Joker's Asylum one-shots consisted of the Joker narrating stories about himself and the other members of Batman's rogues gallery, making puns and quips about the events and the characters involved all the while.
• Human Head on the Wall: There's a rather famous piece of comic book artwork◊ drawn by Brian Bolland featuring The Joker lounging in a chair in front of a trophy wall mounted with the decapitated heads of various DC heroes and villains, all of them painted white and their faces distorted into a smile like the Joker himself. It's even been parodied a bunch of times with other comic supervillains sitting in Joker's place.
• Hypocrite:
  • He absolutely despises The Batman Who Laughs, even though he's no different and depending on who's writing him, he could be worse.
  • He loves to mock other people's misery For the Evulz, but when they laugh at him, he flips out. For all his bravado and snark, he really hates being the punchline.
• Iconic Outfit:
  • The purple suit and matching pants with either an orange and/or green shirt with a bowtie or tie, remains the definitive Joker look one that many artists and costume designers have given spin on. He is sometimes known for wearing a cool hat but other times goes hatless. Heath Ledger's custom-designed purple long-coat, trousers, blue shirt and green Waistcoat of Style with a tie has likewise become iconic and famous for its contemporary and downright stylish update on the classic look.
  • The original Red Hood outfit which is a black suit, white shirt, bowtie with an opera cap and a bizarre red dome is also quite famous.
  • The Hawaiian tourist outfit he wore in the notorious scene in The Killing Joke.
  • The white suit he wears in Miller's The Dark Knight Returns as well as the white nurse maid outfit with red wig in The Dark Knight is also quite notable.
  • The Future Joker look from Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker which went with a mime look (black body suit, slicked-back hair) is also quite distinct and unique.
• I'm a Humanitarian: There have been a few times when the Joker engaged in cannibalism, such as an issue of JLA (1997) after Day Of Judgment, where upon the reveal that the Martian Manhunter took the League and the now Hal Jordan hosted-Spectre into the Joker's head, the Joker lamented eating a man's tongue raw. Additionally, an infamous bit in Emperor Joker has the Joker eat all of China while he had Mr. Mxyzptlk's powers.
• Insane No More: Is cured by Batman forcing unknown pills down his throat in the non-canon Batman: White Knight, causing him go back to his real name, Jack Napier, make a Heel–Face Turn and accuse Batman of being part of the problem (he's also considerably better than the usual Joker, being closer to the earlier trickster personality).
• Insult Backfire: He once responded to Robin telling him he was out of his mind by saying "Gloriously so. Isn't it wonderful?"
• I've Come Too Far: At the end of The Killing Joke, Batman tries to reason with the Joker, insisting that they've got to stop before one of them kills the other and offering to help rehabilitate him. Joker briefly considers the offer before solemnly turning it down.
  Joker: No. I'm sorry, but... no. It's too late for that. Far too late.
• It Amused Me: His raison d'etre. Why kill people in horrific ways, ruin their lives, and generally make the entire universe a worse place than he left it? Because it's funny.
• Jekyll & Hyde:
  • The Elseworld Batman: Two Faces is essentially a retelling of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where he is the Hyde to Batman's Jekyll.
  • Inverted in the case of Batman: White Knight, where taking pills cures Joker of his insanity and brings back his original Jack Napier persona. However, if he fails to take the pills, the Joker resurfaces, which is exactly what happens in Batman: Curse of the White Knight, and he's much worse than before.
• Jerkass: Though that is a total understatement, Joker still more or less counts as one. When he isn't killing or torturing people for his own amusement, he's taunting them and trying get under other people's skin.
• Joker Immunity: invoked The Trope Namer. He was originally conceived as a one-off villain but proved too interesting a character to be killed off so quickly, and a last-minute edit had him survive instead. He's so famous for this that most works that kill him off, the audience doesn't buy it, and it serves as an effective twist the rare times when he is Killed Off for Real. But even those rare occasions may continue to feature him in flashbacks or hallucinations as a Posthumous Character.
• Large Ham: Holy shit, yes. He has an enormous sense of showmanship and is seen cracking Black Comedy jokes every minute, and it's a nigh-guarantee that whoever is portraying him will be munching the scenery to the very structure. Most especially the case if it happens to be Mark Hamill.
• Laser-Guided Broadcast: In comic books as well in most of the media, when The Joker takes the control of TV and makes one of his menaces to threat and/or destroy Gotham City, good part of his message goes directly to Batman by tempting him to stop his plans, where usually destroy the city is just a secondary plan, getting/trapping/killing Batman as his real main plan.
• Laughably Evil: Depending on the Writer, the Joker can be quite humorous in spite of being a murderous psychopath, especially in more lighthearted stories where he's more of a kooky prankster whose misdeeds tend to be more of a bizarre nuisance than a serious threat.
• Laughing Mad: A recurring aspect of his origin story (especially in works released after and inspired by The Killing Joke) is that the moment he first sees his altered appearance from falling into a vat of chemicals (or whatever did it to him in that adaptation), he starts laughing maniacally from the physical and psychological pain.
• Lethal Joke Character: In-Universe. Those unfamiliar with him tend to write him off as just some fool dressed as a clown, only to realize very quickly why they should keep their guard up around him. He's still one of the most dangerous characters in the DC Universe despite existing in a world filled with metas and gods. He's even upstaged Lex Luthor, Ra's Al Ghul, Brainiac and Darkseid in terms of villainy.
• Locked into Strangeness: He has neon green hair caused by the chemicals he fell into.

• Mad Artist: The Joker is a performer who commits his crimes as much for the theatrics as any sadism or profit. He once referred to Batman as the Straight Man in their act, and in the 1989 movie described himself as a "homicidal artist" who made art until someone died. He even tried making a Snuff Film titled "The Death Of Batman", acting like a Prima Donna Director in the process.
• Master of Disguise: A talent he possesses even in his earliest stories. Joker is an expert with make-up, costumes and impersonations and has posed as everything from police officers to doctors to even Batman himself. He can go to extremely elaborate lengths to pull off his deceptions too, fabricating entire backstories and staying in-character for months at a time to see his plans through.
• Mirthless Laughter: The Joker's constantly laughing, either at the pain and misery of others, the pain and misery he inflicts on others, or even his own pain. However, as described by many and offered by the reader based on his scenes and what he does, there is NEVER any joy in his laughter. Never any real happiness. Just cruelty and mockery of pain and sorrow. If he does indeed have a tragic backstory that caused his madness, then this makes sense as he has chosen to laugh instead of cry. His statement about how the universe should end "so there won't be anymore people like me" during the Emperor Joker storyline lends weight to him being a Sad Clown.
• Misanthrope Supreme: While it's not evident given Joker's Laughing Mad demeanor and his penchant for macabre jokes usually at the life and limb expense of someone else, Joker is actually absolutely full of hatred and spite towards basically everyone and the entire world. Several stories have gone into this and it's implied that the Joker finds it so easy to kill everyone around him, not because he feels nothing for them, but in fact because he loathes everyone aside from his twisted relationship with Batman.
  • The first issue of Batman with Joker's debut has him described as having "burning, hate-filled eyes" and the moniker, "the Harlequin of Hate".
  • The Man Who Laughs had Bruce dosed with a light version of the Joker Venom and he felt his perspective shift into a paranoid vengeance were he felt everyone deserved to be punished for his parent's death just for existing.
  • Death of the Family had Batman describe how Joker's irises are always narrow when looking at anyone but Batman and that it is usually an indication of negative feelings toward something with Bruce mentioning that his eye are the eyes of someone who hates everything he sees.
• Moment of Lucidity: There've been a few times when outside forces have sent him into a fit of temporary sanity over the years.
  • In the Justice League storyline "Rock of Ages", Martian Manhunter has to put in incredible effort to reorganize Joker's mind long enough for him to give up the cataclysmic Philosopher's Stone. The briefly sane Joker immediately says My God, What Have I Done? verbatim as he hands it back, before quickly losing his mind and going back to the laughing madman.
  • The famous example from the end of The Killing Joke, where Batman tries to convince him to allow Batman to rehabilitate him before their vendetta kills them. Joker considers it for a long, somber moment before quietly reflecting that they're both too far gone.
  • Batman: Cacophony ends with Joker being pumped full of an inhuman amount of antipsychotic drugs to keep him under control while in recovery from a near-fatal stabbing. Batman takes the opportunity to have a relatively-sane conversation with him, though it's somewhat subverted by Joker still being a homicidal sociopath even while heavily sedated.
• Monster Clown: One of the classic examples.
• Multiple-Choice Past: Practically the trope codifier and namer. Even he isn't sure of his own history. The most accepted version introduced in Detective Comic #168 (1951) has him as a thug named the Red Hood who jumps into a vat of chemicals to escape Batman, disfiguring him and inspiring him to adopt the name Joker.
  • Why he went by the name the Red Hood has changed over the years: The Killing Joke claims he was a failed comedian pressured into becoming a criminal to support his pregnant wife. The trauma of his disfigurement from jumping in the acid and his wife's earlier accidental death drove him insane. However, even this backstory is questionable, as the Joker himself calls it "multiple choice".
  • He even gives multiple reasons on how he came Back from the Dead in Injustice 2 and will go along with whatever others think is true despite being canonically Dead All Along and only appearing as a hallucination to his ex-moll.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Whenever he is made temporarily sane, most notably by a Lazarus pit after Ra's Al Ghul killed him after a Villain Team-Up and in JLA (1997) #15 during the Rock of Ages storyline, Joker usually expresses deep remorse for his crimes. Unfortunately it never lasts.
• Mysterious Past: He's given vague and contradictory info about his backstory.^note Indeed, not knowing who he originally was is key to his character. Because of this, some writers depict him as a literal and/or figurative avatar of madness and chaos. What is generally accepted is that Batman had a hand in Joker's creation and that the clown was a low-level thug who got dunked in acid before becoming who he is today.
• Narcissist: Joker has a giant ego, thinking he's the smartest and greatest comedian, criminal, and person in the world who loves to hear himself laugh even if others don't care. The minute someone calls his jokes lame, openly mocks him, or makes him the butt of their prank, he becomes an Ax-Crazy maniac. This flaw has been used against him many times.
• The Nicknamer: He's prone to giving nicknames to allies and enemies alike. Sometimes affectionate, sometimes snarky, but always undesired. Calling Batman "Batsy" or "Bats" and Robin "boy blunder" are probably his most iconic.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Some of the Joker's victims fall into this.
  • Batman: The Dark Knight Returns sees him kill David Endochrine and Ruth Weisenheimer, who were clearly based on David Letterman and Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
  • During Knightfall, once he realizes that Azrael isn't Batman, his plan's gone to hell, and one too many criticisms from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert stand-ins, he kills the stand-ins.
  • In one of the issues for the The Batman tie-in comic, The Batman Strikes, he terrorizes a stand-in for Conan O'Brien. Interestingly enough, the real O'Brien voiced Endochrine in the animated version of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In the series proper, Harley's debut had the two of them terrorize a stand-in for Dr. Phil for the climax.
• No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: He wants to win a proper triumph over Batman by successfully carrying out a scheme to frustrate, defeat, and ultimately destroy him, and has been known to pass up easy opportunities to kill his foe precisely because they were too easy to be satisfying.
• No Love for the Wicked:
  • He is shown to be more interested in his schemes and mayhem rather than sex. Indeed, usually the closest thing he shows to romantic interest in someone is his Foe Romance Subtext with Batman.
  • He has had sex with Harley, but it is implied that it's more for her rather than his own enjoyment. He has actively ignored her when he simply wants to work on his schemes, even when she's in the translucent red night dress.
• No Name Given: The Joker is the only Batman villain who doesn't have an official real identity. However, there are three occasions where names have been used. The Jack Nicholson version used the name "Jack Napier", which was briefly mentioned in the Animated Series episode "Dreams In Darkness" since the series was partially based on the movie, albeit the doctors list it as one of his aliases. The Gotham version played by Cameron Monaghan gives him the name Jeremiah Valeska. The Joaquin Phoenix version used the name "Arthur Fleck", though the movie raises the question that he doesn't know who his father is, so 'Fleck' might not even be his surname. The Telltale series plays with this by 'naming' him 'John Doe' - which is just a stand-in name police/hospitals use when they don't know someone's identity. While he still has no official name to this day, it's general fan consensus that it's either Jack Napier or just Jack.
• No Sense of Humor: Surprisingly enough, the original version of the Joker was this. In his first appearance, he was a permanently smiling psychotic gangster with no sense of humor whatsoever. In his first fight with Batman, Bats is actually the one making puns, while Joker is screaming "I am going to kill you!"
  • For all his snark about others' misery, the clown really hates being the punchline in some adaptations such as Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
• Not a Mask: Sometimes he pretends to wear makeup, but it ain't makeup. Jack Nicholson's version wore flesh-tone makeup over his pale skin several times after his transformation. Though, this is Depending on the Writer, as Heath Ledger's depiction does wear makeup. It's unclear if this is the case for Caesar Romero's depiction, as Romero's mustache is visible at times (he refused to shave for the part).
• Nothing Is Scarier: What makes Joker so scary is the lack of a consistent backstory. After all, he codifies the Multiple-Choice Past trope. As such, he went From Nobody to Nightmare by virtue of becoming the scariest villain in DC Comics, who haven't taken a stance on this. In Injustice 2, Atrocitus even wonders what exactly drove the clown to nihilism.
• Not Me This Time: Though he certainly wouldn't mind committing them, he's been framed for murders he didn't commit several times, such as by James Gordon Jr.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: He is not the buffoon even the other villains think he is by outstripping them just to prove how evil he is.
• Obfuscating Insanity: Zig-Zagged Trope/Depending on the Writer. Some stories claim that the Joker is actually sane but pretends to be otherwise to avoid the death penalty. Others say he is genuinely crazy. It must be noted that Joker, like other Batman villains, was only identified as insane from the 70s onwards by various writers.^note This was part of the trend of Hollywood Psych in the air and which DC editors and writers infused into the stories to keep it contemporary. It must be noted that from a legal perspective, Joker would not qualify as insane. Insanity has a separate clinical and legal definition, and a legal definition of insanity stops short at whether the person knowingly inflicts cruelty and accepts that he's breaking laws, both of which fits Joker perfectly
• Odd Friendship: With Lex Luthor. While they've fought, the two work surprisingly well together and tend to display a mutual respect. One of the best examples of this comes from Underworld Unleashed. Recruited as part of a team of five villains to serve to demon Neron, Luthor and Joker immediately conspire with the others to steal Neron's power, only for it to be revealed as a successful scheme to get rid of the other three villains. Luthor and Joker understood each other so well they managed to put this together without even speaking about it. They even high-five afterwards.
• Offscreen Villain Dark Matter: Despite the Joker's infamous reputation and violent instability he never has any issues finding new henchmen for his schemes nor does he ever have any issues finding the resources needed to pull off his often-convoluted plans and he's often able to do it all without attracting the attention of Batman or the authorities until he's ready for them.
• Omnicidal Maniac: He becomes this during Emperor Joker after stealing the powers of Mr. Mxyzptlk. With reality-warping powers under his control, Joker intends to remake and decreate all of existence simply for funsies and because he feels revolved by the universe for having created him.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: In the story "Joker's Millions," Joker decides to retire after inheriting rival mob boss "King" Barlowe's fortune and spends his money freely, only to find out too late that most of it was Counterfeit Cash. Joker is now torn between admitting a dead man conned him and becoming Gotham's Butt-Monkey (which he won't do), getting jailed for tax evasion (which he won't do either), or returning to crime so he can save his reputation from being sullied. This was later adapted into an episode for Batman: The Animated Series.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: A general rule of thumb: If the Joker isn't smiling, something very bad is about to happen.
  • If you want to know how truly terrifying The Batman Who Laughs is, look no further than the way Joker acts whenever discussing him. He doesn't laugh, he doesn't smile. He becomes calm and serious and simply tells whomever he's talking to that the TBWL is "a wrong thing that shouldn't exist". Someone HAS to be scary if the very thought of him makes Joker act like a calm rational sane person.
  • In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, he flips out when Terry mocks him for his fixation with Batman.
  • He abruptly ends a partnership with Red Skull when the latter is revealed to be a Nazi, angrily proclaiming that he "may be a criminal lunatic, but he's an American criminal lunatic!"
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Pretty much sums up his feelings towards Batman. He often flies into a rage whenever someone else attempts to kill Batman when in his company, and whenever Batman (seemingly) dies he has a tendency to completely snap and turn sane. This actually goes the other direction as well: the Joker feels that Batman is the only one allowed to defeat him, and it's shown he's terrified of someone else doing him in some continuities.
• Outside-Context Problem: A recurring theme of Joker's "first appearance" stories in various adaptations is that nobody in Gotham is prepared for a guy who's only in it For the Evulz. Also, the Joker himself likes to find these and exploit them.
  • On the rare occasion Joker gets bored and leaves Gotham, expect everyone to think of him as just a silly clown, until the bodies start piling up.
• Pet the Dog: For as much of a lunatic as he is, he does have some standards:
  • He read stories to Astrid Ingram as she grew up and also helped deliver her.
  • He loathes Nazis. He might be an absolute criminal, but the Nazis are monsters.
  • He isn't amused by someone illegally parking in a handicapped space. There's no comedy in that.
  • He might hate Batman, but he genuinely respects him, his principles, and their status as each others' Arch-Enemy. This comes to a head when it comes to The Batman Who Laughs, who the Joker despises - not only is the Joker not an Omnicidal Maniac, but TBWL is a twisted mockery of all of the principles that Batman holds. The Joker won't abide by TBWL existing because of all of those reasons.
• Phrase Catcher: Back in his prankster phase during the Silver Age, whenever one of Joker's capers got foiled, someone would inevitably trot out the line "The joke's on you, Joker!" For obvious reasons, his current Monster Clown incarnation doesn't get this nearly as often.
• Pimp Duds: He sometimes accessorizes his purple suit with a very wide-brimmed hat, which makes the ensemble look like a stereotypical pimp costume. Jared Leto's turn in Suicide Squad (2016) runs with this in his dynamic with Harley Quinn.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Played With, while pragmatic might be too strong of a word, many of Joker's Even Evil Has Standards moments are mostly because he finds a specific crime to be unfunny, rather than having any moral qualms with such an act.
  • Joker's famous hatred of nazis can also be chalked up to this. As Joker is an Equal-Opportunity Evil, he wouldn't be one to discriminate and target specific groups. Everyone is fair game to Joker.
• Pre-Insanity Reveal: Depending on the version, he may have been an ordinary comedian before he went nuts.
• Purple Is Powerful: Purple is one of Joker's three colors (along with white and green) and he is powerful.
• Psycho Knife Nut: In many appearances, knives are his weapons, either to disfigure his victims or kill his foes. Often both.
  The Joker: Do you want to know why I use a knife? Guns are too... quick. You can't savor all the little emotions. You see, in their last moments, people show you who you really are.
• Psychopathic Manchild: While his intellect is far from childlike, Joker's clown-themed gags, his penchant for wanton chaos, and endless laughter like a maniac while maiming others really throw his maturity into question.
  • For starters, when Batman is telling Joker to stay away from the Gordons after he apparently hurt Gordon's wife (it was actually his son, Gordon Jr. who did the deed), Joker commented that he didn't do anything to "the old bitch", and starts commenting to Batman that he misses the old Batman, and commented that he "doesn't want to go to bed yet" and that he "wants to play."
  • In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, he blows a raspberry after admitting he didn't view Batman a Worthy Opponent. After Terry belittles his fixation with Batman, the clown has a Villainous Breakdown that's more or less a temper tantrum.
  • This even gets lampshaded on in Mortal Kombat 11 and Injustice 2.
  • Batman (1989) takes it a step further by showing him as the apparently sane (but still very, very evil) Jack Napier prior to his transformation. In between the vicious murders he committed as Napier and then as the clown he becomes, Joker "punches out" two television sets with an Extendo Boxing Glove, blows into a birthday-party noisemaker, obsessively cuts up photographs to make collages of them, hosts a parade with giant cartoon-character balloons, makes funny sound effects with his mouth, and sends the woman he's stalking a note written in crayon.
• Redemption Rejection: In The Killing Joke, Batman defeats the Joker once again and then desperately pleads with him to accept help recovering from his madness before they eventually kill each other. In one of his rare, completely serious moments, the Joker sincerely apologizes and tells Batman that it's far too late for that.
• Related in the Adaptation: In the Elseworld one-shot Batman/Lobo, it is revealed that he and Batman are twin brothers.
• The Resenter: Joker has often shown resentment towards people in many ways in different stories. The best example is him being resentful of anyone who garners more attention from Batman than him and anyone he sees as "stealing his act", i.e. being a laughing mad, jokey maniac cramping his style (The Creeper in Batman TAS). Regardless, many of his crimes and attitudes often carry an undercurrent of resentment be it towards the Bat-family because he resents sharing Batman with anyone or normal people for living their mundane lives free of care. Given how much spite seems to fuel his rampages, Joker's probably got a mountain of resentment inside of him.
• Restoration of Sanity: On occasion, Joker's sanity will suddenly return to him, usually in stories where Batman retires or is believed to have died. His reactions tend to vary - sometimes we don't see how he reacts to what he did, but other times he actually shows genuine regret for his actions. Of course, these never tend to stick.
• The Reveal: When Batman sat in Metron's chair in Darkseid War, one of the questions he asked was who the Joker was and the answer freaked him out. In DC Rebirth, it's revealed why: The Joker is a Legacy Character: the Joker responsible for Death of the Family and Batman: Endgame is not the same man who crippled Barbara Gordon—and neither of them are the original Joker.
• Riddle for the Ages: Being the Trope Namer for Multiple-Choice Past, it's unknown who he was before falling into an acid tank and whether he was nuts even before being dunked. He even believes his origins, Depending on the Writer of course.
  • One issue of the Robin had him talking about having Abusive Parents, only for a psychiatrist to tell him it's the seventh story he's told now.
  • Batman lampshades this to Harley in the animated series, thinking it's another lie to gain sympathy.
  • The Killing Joke claims he was a failed comedian driven to crime to support his pregnant wife. The trauma of his disfigurement and his wife's earlier accidental death drove him mad. However, even this could be a lie, as he himself calls it "multiple choice".
  • It's even discussed in Injustice 2, as Atrocitus wonders what drove the Joker to nihilism. Despite only appearing as a hallucination to Harley in story mode, he spews out multiple theories for his Unexplained Recovery and will say Sure, Let's Go with That in non-canon fights. Was he resurrected by someone, or is he from another universe? Did he escape from either the Source Wall or the Phantom Zone, or is he just an apparition? Or is he someone else who is copying his antics?
  • Shadow of the Bat #38, Tears of a Clown: He celebrates his anniversary of the day he was a still sane, but hapless comedian, and was thrown out of an exclusive Stand-Up Comedy club for an unfunny act the patrons mercilessly heckled. It was the last straw as he agreed to provide to his family by pulling a job for the Red Hood gang. So he kidnaps all the patrons and reenacts his act with control collars that will kill them when they laugh. Oddly enough, the patrons are hardcore Stand-Up Comedy fans, so they can't remember the number of times they've booed someone. However, even this origin story could be a lie.
  Joker: They throw me out, and I had a wife and an unborn child... or it was two cows and a goat? Sometimes it's so confusing...
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: He's primarily Batman's Arch-Enemy and mainly harasses Batman and most members of the Bat-family. But there is the rare occasion when he goes up against other heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, or Green Arrow.
• Rule of Funny: One of his primary themes (alongside insanity), as explained in Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader?:
  "Kid. I'm the Joker. I don't just randomly kill people. I kill people when it's funny. What would conceivably be funny about killing you?"

• Sadist: Torturing, humiliating, and generally making others miserable is his main way of humouring and entertaining himself. His sadism also paves way for why he likes to fashion himself as an exhibitionist; he wants to make a show out of just how much he can brutalize and torment others and tends to make it a special case if it involves Batman. The Joker is so absorbed by his desire to cause harm and suffering for the sake of entertainment that even other sadists are either shocked and/or confused by just how far he's willing to spread his depravity.
• Secret Identity Apathy: In most continuities, he simply doesn't care about Batman's Secret Identity, because his obsession is with Batman himself and not the man behind the mask; and occasionally, because he's of the opinion that Batman is the true face anyway. Sometimes this goes so far as to actively avoiding finding out or being told by someone else, because for some reason knowing Batman's secret identity will somehow "ruin" their dynamic, and the Joker likes things just as they are. When Scarecrow pulls off Bruce's mask in Harley Quinn, it practically triggers a Villainous Breakdown.
  Joker: Half the fun of our relationship was the mystery! Now I know Batman is just some boring, rich asshole with parental issues!
• Self-Made Orphan: In The Brave and the Bold #31, Atom reads his mind and sees The Joker burning his parents alive after they catch him killing animals.
• Slasher Smile: He wears one almost by default. Reportedly, it was inspired by this photo◊ of Conrad Veidt in character as Gwynplaine (a man with a disfigured face, causing him to have a perpetual grin) in The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo.
  • It's come to be his primary disfigurement over the original skin bleaching.
• The Sociopath: A skilled and gleeful manipulator, a vicious butcher who brutally tortures and murders others simply because he thinks it’s funny, extraordinarily impulsive given that he’s prone to turning his murderous urges on his own men on a whim or because one upset him in some way, shape or form, and has not even the vaguest notion of empathy, neither for his men or his victims.
• Sold His Soul for a Donut: While most of the villains Neron dealt with Underworld Unleashed wanted more power or something else useful (like Dr. Polaris ridding himself of the Neal Emerson personality or Lex Luthor wanting his full health restored) for their souls, the Joker sold his for a box of Cuban cigars.
• The Spook: Attributing to his Multiple-Choice Past, Joker's origins are an eternal Riddle for the Ages. He'll give contradictory and/or vague statements just to gain sympathy and escape from Arkham. DC Comics refuses to take an official stance on this.
• Start of Darkness: Detective Comics #168 posits he was a laboratory worker who becomes the Red Hood in order to steal a million dollars from his employers and retire. In The Killing Joke he quits his job to become a comedian, but fails and is coerced by mobsters to commit a robbery, becoming the Red Hood. His disfigurement and (in The Killing Joke) his wife's death earlier in the story destroy what little was left of his sanity and he becomes The Joker. Maybe.
• Stealing the Handicapped Spot: He doesn't do this. Rather, he hates it when other people do it and finds it hilarious to horrifically cripple them so they can legitimately park in handicapped spots.
• Straw Nihilist: The poster child for this. He claims that everything in life is just "one big joke" and death is the ultimate punchline. Joker also believes that "a bad day" is more than enough for anyone to turn out like him. This is shown notably in Injustice: Gods Among Us, The Killing Joke, and The Dark Knight. Atrocitus even wonders what drove Joker to nihilism during an intro banter in Injustice 2.
• Strong as They Need to Be: His fighting skills fluctuate wildly. Sometimes, Joker is an excellent fighter who can actually defeat Batman in a straight-up fight, whereas most writers prefer to present him as so weak that he can be knocked out cold with one punch.
• Stupid Evil: Depending on the writer, Joker can sometimes be killed off by people he's wronged due to his cruelty and sadism.
• To Create a Playground for Evil: His motivation in stories like Emperor Joker.
• Too Kinky to Torture: The Joker has shown a proclivity for this over the years. At one point, the Joker berated a man who'd captured him for only hitting him in the face and The Dark Knight similarly sees the Joker berate Batman during the the latter's beating of him. He also enjoyed his and Bruce's final fight in The Dark Knight Returns. Salvation Run had established the Joker's been in constant pain since he took his fateful dive into the vat of chemicals that altered his appearance and not only had gotten used to it, but grew to enjoy it. This quote from The Dark Knight sums it up perfectly:
  Stephens: I can tell the difference between punks who need a little lesson in manners, and the freaks like you who would just enjoy it.
• Tombstone Teeth: He is often drawn with too many too-long teeth as part of his trademark rictus grin, highlighting his nature as a psychotic and sadistic killer.
• Troll: Most incarnations of the Joker dress up as being a lethal one of these. The best example is his DC Animated Universe version, who tailored each of his schemes as a joke or a prank, and sometimes even lectured his underlings on the importance of proper buildup and delivery when telling a joke. Batman in particular is the Joker's preferred victim, and many a Joker has refused to kill or unmask a Batman dead to rights simply because it would spoil the fun of trolling him. But when others use this against him, he really goes nuts, as it's his main Berserk Button^note probably because he feels it's his domain and others upstaging him is something he won't tolerate due to his narcissistic ego.
  • In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Terry McGinnis exploits this by delivering an epic Boring Insult so the clown will have a Villainous Breakdown.
  • King Barlowe proved to be a big one in his Thanatos Gambit in the episode "Joker's Millions" of The New Batman Adventures. In a spiteful Video Will, he gives the clown his millions, revealing in his tape that most of it was fake. Expecting the clown to splurge on it, he won't have enough to pay off the IRS, allowing Barlowe to get the "last laugh" after his death without Joker coming after him.
• Underestimating Badassery: Depending on the story, he's usually written off as some clown incapable of harming others. He isn't.
• Unreliable Narrator: Even he isn't sure of his own history, so anything he claims is suspect at best.
• Villain Has a Point: Given his devotion to Rule of Funny, he's quite knowledgeable on what makes successful comedy.
• Villain Song: There's no other villain who has belted out as many memorable music moments, not even the Music Meister. Three of them incidentally were sung by Mark Hamill behind the mic:
  • Alan Moore's "I go Loony" from The Killing Joke, an in-panel song-and-dance tune that was eventually made into an actual song belted out in Batman: The Killing Joke.
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold has "Where's the Fun in That?" from the episode "Emperor Joker".
  • The Batman has him sing a cover of "Settin' the Woods on Fire" during his "night on the town" with Harley Quinn.
  • Batman: Arkham City ended with him covering The Platters' "Only You (and You Alone)", Batman: Arkham Origins had him cover Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold, Heart" and Batman: Arkham Knight had him provide an original composition, "Can't Stop Laughing".
• Villainous Friendship: No matter how bad things turned out last time, Lex Luthor and Joker will always work together again. Played With, as it isn’t just because of friendship. As Luthor himself notes in the ending of Infinite Crisis, you always "let the Joker play," lest he come after you for revenge later on for leaving him out.
• Villainous Harlequin: He was this during the Silver Age. He is also this in Batman (1966) and Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
• Villainous Rescue: In Dark Nights: Metal, The Joker pulls this off by teaming up with Batman to defeat the Batman Who Laughs, Batman knowing that a jokerized Batman would have the upper hand teams up with the Joker. It is so unexpected that the Batman Who Laughs, who is still prepared for anything Batman would conceivably think of, is unable to counter it let alone even consider it a possibility.
• Villain Protagonist: He was the star of his own nine-issue self-titled series from 1975 to 1976. In order to adhere to the Comics Code Authority, The Bad Guy Wins was never in effect - while he usually managed to get one over on other villains, each issue would end the Joker being apprehended for his crimes. He also got his own movie in which Batman didn't even exist yet, delving deep into what someone would have to go through to become the Joker.
• Would Hit a Girl: Simply put, he doesn't give a shit about injuring or killing women because, after all, killing is either a comedy or he just hates everything. For well-known examples, he shot Sarah Essen in the head, paralyzed Barbara Gordon with a shot to her spine, and he's a notorious Domestic Abuser towards Harley on their worst days.
• Would Hurt a Child: Children are not exempt from who Joker would like to attack or kill as an out for his evil. He battered Jason Todd with a crowbar and tossed a baby, gambling for Sarah Essen to grab and rescue, among other things. Given his insanely long history as a supervillain, Joker has killed a child somewhere down his career.
• You Monster!: He's subjected to being called this by a number of heroes and villains, all of whom become appalled by just har far Joker is willing to indulge in his depravity and for never considering the enormity of the damage he causes towards others. Not that Joker cares about it one bit.

The Criminal

The Criminal version of the Joker takes on the traits he used during the Joker's Golden Age appearances, where he was a No-Nonsense Nemesis to Batman and had no problems with Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? in response to the Caped Crusader. Of the three, he is the most organized and philosophical, believing that there must be some meaning to the Joker as Batman's archenemy.

• Character Exaggeration: Golden Age Joker wasn't fully the stoic overboss the Criminal is depicted as. He still had some traits that would be emphasized by later ages into his biggest traits, like a tendency to smile menacingly at people, but seemed to have a grasp on his sanity and was a bit more serious about things before becoming an utter loon who did everything he did for sick laughs in the Silver Age and a violent psychopath who wants the world to burn to further his nihilistic views in the Bronze Age.
• The Don: Claims to have "ran Gotham" before Batman appeared on the scene.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: Is the most sharply dressed and dapper of the three Jokers. His clothing brings to mind classic gangsters of the 30's and 40's, which makes sense considering the era Batman was created in.
• Mirthless Laughter: The Criminal actually hates laughing since it causes him physical pain. He seems to do it most often when things aren't going his way, like when Jason Todd mocks him or when Batman foils his scheme at the end.
• Revenge: Comments he makes to Jason imply that this is his motive for warring against Batman, to have his revenge over his fall into toxic waste.
• The Stoic: Of the three, he laughs the least as he is the most serious and also claims that it hurts when he laughs. This is a reflection of how the Joker was in the beginning where he was surprisingly serious and only tended to smile menacingly at others.

The Clown

The Clown is the showman of the group and the one responsible for the zany props, elaborate crimes with locales like a giant props factory, and makes sure his crime sprees follow a theme. He is physically modeled after the Silver Age Joker who was more of a harmless prankster, though the Clown is anything but harmless. After all, he is strongly implied to be the same Joker who bludgeoned Jason Todd and killed him in an explosion.

• Adaptational Badass: He's based on the Silver Age depiction, but the Silver Age had a lot of criteria that made comic book villains considerably less dangerous. Since this is way past the time of those restrictions, he's more than willing to kill. It's even implied he was the Joker that killed Jason Todd.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He's the Silver Age Joker, and thus he's a Harmless Villain who did not much more than make crude jokes, right? Well we're not in the Silver Age anymore, and he's just as dangerous as the other two Jokers. Ask Jason Todd; it's heavily implied he was his killer.
• Crowbar Combatant: If the implications are to be believed, then he's definitely the Joker to have made the crowbar a popular Iconic Item for the Joker mythos.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: It turns out that the Silver Age Joker, a Harmless Villain in his hayday, was possibly the one that killed Jason Todd, making him of all people the catalyst for the Red Hood as we know him.
• Monster Clown: While all of the Jokers are obviously this, he definitely takes the cake by not only having the title. But the one with the zany, elaborate, comedic and yet deadly schemes.
• Would Hurt a Child: Comes with the territory, when it''s implied that he's the one that killed Jason Todd.

The Comedian/Jack Oswald White

The Comedian is the sadist of the group and the one most bitter and hateful towards everyone and everything. Modeled after the Bronze Age Joker as defined by The Killing Joke, he's the most violent and psychotic, believing only in chaos.

• Ax-Crazy: Is stated by Batman to be the most sadistic, psychotic and violent of the three.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While it’s implied he may have been abusive to her, Book Two shows he genuinely misses Jeannie and desires to have her and his son back so they can be a family, as shown by his daydreams about them.
• Given Name Reveal: Flashpoint Beyond #5 reveals his real name: Jack Oswald White.
• Psychopathic Manchild: While all three Jokers are this to one degree or another, the Comedian is most petty, spiteful, and immature of the three. He only cares about hurting others and causing harm out of spite. He has no greater goals beyond punishing the world for his own misery and is the meanest out of the Jokers.
• Villainous Rescue: Shoots dead two Joker goons that were overpowering Barbara in Book Three.