The Real Story of Joker

"If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice." That's what the Joker
said in the pages of 1988's Batman: The Killing Joke, shortly before perpetrating
actions that would forever divide DC fans into two groups: those grossed out by the
work of Alan Moore, and those who would wait to be grossed out until his work in
the early '90s. The point remains: even Joker can't figure out where Joker came
from.
And it isn't like he's DC's only character with a nebulous backstory. The comic book
publisher's beloved universe has been rebooted more times than a picky customer
at Footlocker, and the origins of some iconic heroes and villains have become
difficult to follow. There have been half a dozen Superboys and a smorgasbord of
explanations for Hawkman, to say nothing of that precursor Green Lantern who
couldn't use his powers on wood. But for some reason, it's the Clown Prince of
Crime's genesis that has become the third rail of superhero stories.
2019's Joker took a big-screen swing at imagining where Batman's nemesis came
from, taking inspiration from The Killing Joke, Taxi Driver, and TikTok videos of
people dancing on stairs. But comics have been trying to get an origin story to stick
for decades, with broad strokes involving the Red Hood Gang still called back to
today.
Meanwhile, back in the nonfiction world, the actual origin story of the Joker goes
way, way back, significantly further than the character's 1940 debut in the pages of
Batman #1. And in keeping with the villain's wishes, it's even multiple choice.
An Origin Shrouded in Mystery
The creation of the Clown Prince is shrouded in controversy, with the three men
involved — writer Bill Finger and artists Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson — each
offering a different account of how the Joker came to be. The exact order of events
varies depending on who you believe, but in essence, the character was a hybrid of
influences. Robinson produced a joker playing-card design.
Finger provided inspiration in the form of a clown-face logo from Coney Island and,
crucially, a picture of actor Conrad Veidt playing the disfigured, permanently
grinning title character in the 1928 horror film The Man Who Laughs. Both
Robinson and Kane, who for decades received sole credit for the creation of
Batman, designed the character on the page, while Robinson and Finger helped
develop the concept of the Joker as Batman’s nemesis. The result was a villain
unlike any of the gangsters and mad scientists Batman and his recently added
sidekick Robin had ever faced before.
From Sick Jokester to Merry Prankster
In his first outing, the Joker is a cold-blooded maniac with an unnerving smile, who
goes on two separate murderous crime sprees before Batman brings him down.
The Joker’s “venom,” a poison that leaves a macabre rictus grin on its victims faces,
made its first appearance in the character’s very first rampage.
But the killings stopped in 1942, by which point the Joker was one of Batman’s most
popular and frequent opponents. After that, his crimes evolved into traps and
heists that were elaborate, comical, and largely harmless — in Batman #44 (1946),
in which the Joker wins big at a casino and is inspired to build a huge slot machine
to try and off Batman and Robin by dropping giant coins on them. (When that fails,
he tries to crush them with massive dice.) His tendency toward such spectacular set
pieces grew even more pronounced after the rise of the censorious Comics Code
Authority in 1954.
During this transitional period in the character’s history, Bill Finger devised his most
frequently cited origin story. Published in 1951, Detective Comics #168 revealed
that the Joker was once the Red Hood, a masked criminal who fell into a vat of acid
while attempting to escape from Batman. When he emerged from the cauldron, the
villain was cursed with green hair, corpse-white skin, and that unnerving
perma-grin. It was this account of the Clown Prince’s creation that Alan Moore and
Brian Bolland would draw from in their seminal 1988 graphic novel The Killing Joke.
Bam! Pow! TV Icon!
The Joker had largely faded into obscurity when pop-culture superstardom came
calling. The campy Clown Prince of Crime was the perfect fit for William Dozier and
Lorenzo Semple Jr.’s pop-art Batman television show, launched in 1966. The most
frequently recurring villain on the show, he was portrayed by aging heartthrob
Cesar Romero, who famously refused to shave off his trademark mustache for the
role and simply had the character’s greasepaint applied over it.
The Swingin’ Sixties Batman series has fallen in and out of favor with fans over the
years, with some decrying its deliberate unseriousness and others praising its
vibrant design and tongue-in-cheek performances. Romero’s Joker is a far cry from
the sinister, slightly more psychotic version that we’re used to seeing now, to be
sure — but his flamboyant theatricality has definitely influenced all subsequent
portrayals of the Dark Knight’s archenemy.
A Return to Darkness
As the fervor for the TV show faded, the Batman comics, which had aped the series’
bam-pow-zap style during its run, began to drift back to their grim 1940s roots — a
move made possible by the loosening of the Comics Code rules and a new
generation of creative talent rising in the ranks. In 1973’s Batman #251, writer
Dennis O’Neil and artist Neal Adams reintroduced the Joker to the comics page
after a four-year absence. More importantly, they added murder back into his
repertoire for the first time in over 30 years. The Clown Prince of Crime was once
again free to traffic in carnage.
Teaming with artist Irv Novick, O’Neil would also introduce the Clown Prince’s mad
court: Arkham Asylum, a mental institution for the criminally insane, which comics
readers first got to visit in 1974’s Batman #258. The duo additionally helped to
launch the Joker’s very first solo series in 1975. Whether teaming up with other
villains like Lex Luthor, Two-Face, and the Penguin or striking out on his own, the
character remained a mainstay of the entire DC Universe from that point forward.
Every Version Of The Joker Ranked From Worst To Best
The Joker is unquestionably one of the greatest villains in the history of comic
books. As Batman's arch-nemesis, he's been terrorizing Gotham City since his debut
in 1940, with crimes ranging from bank robberies to an attempt to be the first man
to commit murder on the moon, and all the way to widespread destruction that's
left an entire city turned into grinning zombies hell-bent on destruction—and
befitting a character that great, his popularity hasn't just been confined to comics.
Unfortunately, while the Joker's greatness has resulted in some genuinely great
performances, the character's track record outside the comics hasn't exactly been
spotless. With over a dozen major appearances in TV, movies, and video games, the
the varied interpretations of the Clown Prince of Crime have cast a pretty wide net
from amazing to terrible, and we've taken the time to rank them all from worst to
best.

Certainly, no villain has managed to inflict as much pain and suffering on Batman as
the Joker, who has on more than one occasion brought death to Bruce Wayne’s
extended family. As long as there is a Batman bringing justice to Gotham City, there
will be a Joker to bring nightmares.
Proud to be a Joker fan ☺
Hope you all like the video. Don’t forget to subscribe our channel to watch more
such videos.
See you soon in the next video.
Bye for now.