text:
The Joker
Redirected from Joker
this wiki
This page includes spoiler details from the latest game in the series, Batman: Arkham Knight. Please proceed at your own risk.
|The Joker
|Biographical information
|Full Name
|Professional Criminal
|Base of Operations
|Gotham City, Arkham City
|Harley Quinn
Killer Croc
Mr. Hammer
|Physical description
|6ft 1in
|160 lbs
|Game Information
|Appeared In
|Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Arkham Origins
Batman: Arkham Knight
|Voice Actor
|Mark Hamill (Arkham Asylum, Arkham City and Arkham Knight)
Troy Baker (Arkham Origins, Arkham Origins Blackgate and Assault on Arkham)
|First Appearance
|Batman: #1 (Spring 1940)
Have you ever tried burping the National Anthem?
— The Joker in Arkham Origins
I just wanted to bring down your grim façade and for once, let you see the world as I see it, giggling in a corner and bleeding.
— The Joker in Arkham Asylum
Nice of you to say. But you of all people should know, there's plenty wrong with me.
— The Joker in Arkham City
Take a hint o'boy. We may have had our differences, but you and me, we're made for each other!
— The Joker in Arkham Knight
One of Batman's oldest enemies and his main nemesis with a tendency to cheat death on countless occasions, the Joker has haunted Batman's life for years, often being responsible for some of the most horrendous and tragic moments of his life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon, the abduction, torture, and murder of Jason Todd, and the death of Talia al Ghul. Seeking to break Batman's moral code and create as much destruction and chaos as possible, Joker's unpredictable nature make his plans to destroy Gotham complex and difficult to thwart.
Since his emergence within Gotham on Christmas Eve, Joker has seized complete control of the city's criminal underworld, gaining thousands of followers, overseeing a majority of its crimes and operations, and quickly became the city's most infamous criminal. With his murderous and chaotic actions serving as the catalyst for massive plans that constantly target Batman, whom he disturbingly views as both his greatest enemy and friend, Gotham City, and the world itself, the villain is always plotting and contriving situations that put the Dark Knight in a position that threatens his moral code of never taking a life, no matter how evil. As intelligent as he is violent, the Joker has formulated countless plans to destroy Gotham City, leading to the brutal deaths of thousands of men, women, and children over the years.
He served as the main antagonist in Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum, one of the main antagonists in Arkham City, one of the main antagonists in Arkham Knight, and was arguably the central antagonist of the Arkham series overall.
The Joker's origins were a mystery, barring that Batman was somehow involved. He revealed a possible story to Dr. Harleen Quinzel in Arkham Origins and to Professor Hugo Strange in Arkham City: once upon a time, he was a failed stand-up comedian who was working nights at Ace Chemicals in a feeble attempt to support his sickly wife and their unborn child. They died just before the night that he helped a gang of thieves in the employment of The Falcone Crime Family break into the Ace Chemicals plant, and was disguised as the infamous Red Hood, an alias the gang always gave to the inside-man so that he would take the fall. He then ended up falling into a vat due to Batman interfering with the heist, with the resulting chemicals disfiguring him to have him resemble a clown.
Strange refuted this story, however, claimed the Joker had probably fabricated it to avoid taking responsibility for whatever his actual actions had been, and commented that the clown had told at least ten different origin stories during his career. Joker admitted that even he didn't remember what happened, and that the various stories were inspired by a friend who once told him: "if you're gonna have an origin story, it may as well be multiple choice." It was entirely possible that this too was a lie. However, during his first meeting with Harleen Quinzel, he told a very similar story to what he told Dr. Strange, implying that may have been the true story.
Other versions of the story, told to Dr. Penelope Young, included being born in a small fishing village with thwarted aspirations of joining the circus and being the son of a police officer who was slain by the mob. The Red Hood persona, the Ace Chemical break in, and Batman's presence seemed to be the only consistent events in each retelling; the details of whether Batman threw the Red Hood into the vat, failed to prevent him from falling in, or if the criminal jumped in to escape justice seemed to depend on the Joker's mood at the time.
Even the Joker's own insanity may have been called into question, as this had never impeded his intelligence, ruthlessness, and ambition or prevented him from mastering chemistry to produce his various toxins and gases. He may not have actually been insane, just simply the purest kind of human evil. However, it can at least be verified that he suffers from intense visual hallucinations, as during his second defeat at Batman's hands at Blackgate prison's chapel, he visualized Batman as appearing like a huge, winged, monster rather than a human in a costume.
Incident Reports
Before Arkham Origins Incident
Shortly after his transformation, the Joker began scheming. Seeking to carve a name for himself in the Gotham criminal underworld, the Joker began to target Roman Sionis, also known as Black Mask, as the crime lord's trademark mask would make for the perfect disguise, and his steel mill, which was used as a front to manufacture drugs, came with all the resources needed to cook up deadly toxins and explosives. He may also have chosen Black Mask because of Sionis Steel's reputation for shady theme park construction. At some point, Joker even acquired such a site by poisoning a real estate agent with a palm pin when they shook hands on the deal.
Joker started his plans by stealing chemicals from Sionis' mill to manufacture explosives, and attracted enough of the crime lord's attention to have him followed. Joker raised the stakes by stalking (one of) Roman's girlfriend(s), Tiffany Ambrose. Roman placed a spooked Tiffany in his safe house at Lacey Towers. Unfortunately for Black Mask and his lover, the Joker was waiting when Tiffany returned from grocery shopping. Just as Tiffany messaged Roman about the identity of her stalker, whom he dismissed as "No one important", and begged him to come over, the Joker violently smashed her head into a counter and tied her to a chandelier.
Ever paranoid, Black Mask had a body double enter the safe house as a diversion while he snuck in via the adjacent balcony. The Joker, waiting at a table, casually shot the double through the heart on sight. The real Black Mask then rushed from behind and tackled the Joker straight through his props, but the Joker rallied, overpowered Black Mask, and tied him up. The Joker then used a Molotov cocktail to eliminate evidence, as well as torture Black Mask by giving him a choice: watch Tiffany burn to death or shoot her to put her out of her misery. Black Mask chose the latter, and the Joker dragged the struggling crime lord out with him.
The Joker kept Sionis alive to access the bio-metric locks of the Gotham Merchant's Bank, gave up inside information on his gang to improve Joker's disguise, and take the fall if Joker didn't feel like killing him first. The next several days were spent holding the former Black Mask captive and torturing him to reveal every detail about himself. Using these details to his advantage, Joker disguised himself as the crime lord, and took complete control of his gang, resources and power. Any slip-ups and out of character activity were put down to Black Mask sampling his own product.
Soon Joker had killed or turned gang members as he saw fit, and had the survivors place explosives in the sewers directly beneath significant skyscrapers. Then there was the matter of Batman. When not focusing on his other plans, "Black Mask" contacted eight of the world's deadliest assassins to come to Gotham City and compete for a $50 million bounty that he placed on the vigilante's head. One of these assassination attempts was carried out by Deathstroke, using some of Black mask's men to lure Batman to the docks so the assassin could duel him. However, thanks to some interference from one of the other assassins, Deadshot (who didn't want Deathstroke to take his bounty), Batman escaped into the night. Joker (while still disguised as the crime lord) then surveyed the damage and informed Deathstroke when he confronted him on the newfound knowledge that he had hired at least one other assassin besides himself that he had his chance and that the night was still young. He then proceeded to brutally murder a severely injured henchman from the earlier trap (as it involved a bomb detonating) by whacking him with a piece of rubble lined with nails.
As the big night neared, "Black Mask" had his men abduct Warden Joseph from Blackgate Prison and brought to his hideout. There, he casually burnt out one of the warden's eyes and threatened to slaughter his entire family if security wasn't lowered on the night that the recently captured Calendar Man was to be executed.
Arkham Origins IncidentOn Christmas Eve, the Joker made his move. As the assassins arrived in Gotham, "Black Mask" staged an all out attack on Blackgate Prison with dozens of his men and Killer Croc, who was one of his assassins. Murdering dozens of guards and releasing just as many inmates, "Black Mask" took Commissioner Loeb hostage, and announced that there would be a "clean slate" and some big changes for Gotham that night. Joker had Croc drag Loeb off while he and his crew released Calendar Man from the execution chamber.
Joker proceeded to wipe the slate, and left Loeb to be gassed to death in Calendar Man's place. While he made his way to the roof, Joker spotted one of the Penguin's drones following them and ordered Croc to smash it and retrieve its memory card so he could see just how much the Penguin had managed to learn. To his irritation, Croc only managed the former. As "Black Mask" made his exit via helicopter, Croc got his chance to make up for it when he caught Batman's scent, stayed behind to duel the vigilante, and claim the bounty.
Batman subdued Croc, escaped the police in his Batwing, and left the cannibal killer to them. To slow the vigilante down, "Black Mask" turned to the GCPD, and hired Edward Nigma, the head of the GCPD's Cyber Crime Division and secret master hacker, to broadcast a jamming signal to interfere with the Batwing and brought corrupt SWAT leader Howard Branden in on the bounty. Both were completely unaware of the explosives beneath their headquarters.
As the night wore on, Batman defeated Deathstroke and Electrocutioner, learned about the Lacey Towers affair from the Penguin, broke into the GCPD to hack into the National Criminal Database, discovered the bombs under Gotham, and deduced that the Joker was using Sionis to break into the Gotham Merchant's Bank. "Black Mask" was busy too, he ordered his men to cause as much chaos as possible, took over the Gotham Royal Hotel to convert the Ballroom into a death trap by using materials from his theme park, also rigging a portion of the hotel to explode on midnight of New Year's Day via bombs disguised as snowmen, and stole an ambulance so he could bust into the Merchant's Bank with Sionis at the stroke of midnight and begin his new reign at the very start of Christmas Day.
Life would be so simple if you were all I wanted.
— The Joker verbally sparing with Batman for the very first time.
Batman tried to negotiate the release of the bank manager since the Joker "had" him. The Joker was unimpressed with the offer, and instead fired several bullets into the vigilante's armor before he tossed him the bank manager. He fled the scene with Sionis and several million dollars in the back of his ambulance, and detonated the bombs that were rigged in the vault. Though Batman had managed to escape the trap, the bank manager was still dead, and was one of the first victims of Joker Toxin. While skeptical that even Batman could live through the explosion, Joker still sent in a handful of his men to sweep the building. Batman subdued all of them, and interrogated the last one.
Amazed that Batman could survive both his gunshot wounds and the explosion, Joker nevertheless remained in cheerful spirits as he embarked on the next phase of his plan. While the vigilante investigated Sionis's steel mill, freed the real Black Mask, and confronted Copperhead, the Joker headed for the Gotham Royal Hotel to call a meeting with the remaining assassins. Still disguised as Black Mask, Joker called in Branden and SWAT to keep the police and the media away from the scene. After he tracked down the electronic signal from the Electrocutioner's Shock Gloves, Batman infiltrated the hotel, and dispensed Joker's men just in time to hack into the security feed and watch the meeting.
Disguised as Black Mask, the Joker had commandeered the hotel's Penthouse and caught the assassins up on the night's events, and his displeasure. The night was almost over and "Bat Deaths" were "coming in far below projections". The Electrocutioner was more engrossed in his phone, and ignored Joker's lecture. Displeased with the thug's attitude, Joker dispensed with the Black Mask disguise altogether, and, after a little fun at the Electrocutioner's expense, kicked the swivel chair that he was sitting in out a window, and sent him plummeting to his death. An example made, the remaining assassins headed out into the night to find Batman except for Bane, who knew that he would be coming for the Joker. This macho posturing amused the Joker, who settled in to wait. He didn't have to wait long.
Batman acquired the Electrocutioner's Shock Gloves, used them to manipulate the hotel's electronics, dispatched the Joker 's and Bane's forces, rescued the hotel employees, and navigated through Joker's makeshift carnival attractions. All this greatly disturbed Batman as he turned each corner to find a new level of the Joker's madness, which included the converted Ballroom. The Joker stayed in touch with Batman through rigged TV sets and the hotel's P.A. system the entire time, mocked the vigilante, and claimed that he did more to eliminate crime in two days than Batman had in two years. Despite the apparently fool-proof measure of not building an exit into the ballroom trap, Batman was able to fashion one with his Remote Claw and resumed his progress through the hotel. An annoyed Joker temporarily ended their one-sided conversation, so he could go "shoot the architect". The architect begged Joker not to do it, but Joker ignored his pleas and shot him. Eventually, Joker also expressed mock-horror that Batman found his "snowman bombs", and then sadistically laughed at the Dark Knight about "watching the fireworks early" when the latter was not only unable to disarm the bombs, but instead ended up accelerating the countdown, thus forcing the vigilante to dive out of a window to evade the impending explosion.When Batman finally arrived at the penthouse, Bane went to work. He brutally pulled the vigilante down through the elevator roof and hurled him through the Penthouse doors to Joker's lounging feet. The Joker's one caveat before Bane finished the job was time to speak to his target: he had his hand on the detonator to the explosives under the Royal Hotel if the giant didn't keep his word. Bane gave him one minute. After regaling Batman with an anecdote about his childhood tradition of opening one present each on Christmas Eve, the Joker detonated a nearby building. Furious, Batman grabbed him, and demanded to know how many lives he just took. Joker gleefully revealed that the building was merely a construction site that was blocking his view. Batman slammed his enemy into the adjacent table, which overturned several unused detonators. After he grabbed one of the detonators, Joker revealed that it wasn't as harmless as the last. Pushed to his limit, Batman destroyed the detonator and began to beat the Joker. The clown kept laughing, right up until Bane returned and threw Batman off of Joker. After Bane told Batman about finding peace in his death, Bane threw him through the window and into the Library beneath the Penthouse. Batman held his own until Bane used his Venom induced strength to toss him through another window and onto the snowy Penthouse Balcony. The Joker had a ring side seat to the battle, and offered colorful commentary the entire time. However, his fun was interrupted by the arrival of police choppers. Someone had tipped off a killjoy called Captain Gordon about the Royal Hotel, and the police were closing in for real. Bane decided to leave. This didn't sit well with the Joker who opened fire on Bane's own escape chopper with a machine gun. That didn't sit well with Bane, who returned fire with a bazooka. The Joker remained completely unphased by this, and even spread his arms wide as if he welcomed an end to his insanity. Bane's missile missed the clown himself, but exploded right behind him, the force of which hurled him off the balcony. Batman dove after the Joker, and caught him in mid-air. The Joker attempted to punch the vigilante as he was grabbed. Batman countered, and subdued him with a headbutt. Even with falling debris knocking it loose, Batman's grapnel was able to slow their fall enough that they survived by crashing through the Hotel Lobby's glass dome. They were instantly surrounded by two of Joker's surviving men, who had their guns trained on Batman. To show the vigilante just how ''insane'' saving his life was, the Joker shot both men, and cited that they had done unspeakable things and deserved death just like he did, before he pointed his gun at himself. Batman disarmed and subdued him just as Branden and his SWAT team burst in, and were still intent on collecting the bounty. Batman escaped in the Batwing, and left the Joker in Captain Gordon and Harvey Bullock's custody. Bullock manhandled the Joker into the back of a squad car, and assumed the Bat and the Clown were partners to Joker's consternation.
Joker was sent to Blackgate, and underwent a quick psychological examination by a psych intern with a pretty name. Sensing that she was sympathetic, the Joker feigned an interest in her. In reality, he had retreated into a memory during which he recounted all the factors in his creation--the failed stand-up act, the ACE Chemicals break in, that first confrontation with a seemingly monstrous Batman, and bled together with the night's events, specifically with Batman saving him from that fatal fall. He now felt a connection to the hero and believed that it was fate for them to meet, two byproducts of one bad day. Harleen thought that he was talking about her.
While Batman hunted down Bane and Firefly, the Joker (possibly with Harleen Quinzel's help) instigated another riot at Blackgate, and took complete control of the facility. The only inmate that he didn't release, was Deathstroke, since a professional killer like him probably couldn't see the funny side to being a pawn in a game in order to take control of Gotham. After he responded to the riot, Batman fought his way through the prison to the Panopticon and found Joker holding Warden Joseph hostage with Bane at his side.
The Joker laid out his ultimatum: Batman was forced to fight Bane to the death as Joker strapped himself, with a hostage Captain Gordon, to an electric chair that would automatically kill him unless a heartbeat monitor attached to the chair registered Bane's death. With seemingly no alternative, Batman unleashed the full capacity of his Shock Gloves on Bane. Satisfied that he'd forced his nemesis to break his one rule, the Joker left, and intended to detonate the bombs that were still placed around the city. He took a brief pause to shoot Warden Joseph for calling him a freak, but Gordon took the shot with his bulletproof vest.
You just can't get it through your thick skull! WE BOTH EXIST BECAUSE OF THEM!!
— Joker explaining the punchline to Batman at the Prison Chapel
''Punch drunk, with his nemesis throttling him, the Joker looked into the eyes of the monster that had made him what he was. And laughed.'' Then everything went black.
The Joker came to strapped to a gurney and was wheeled back to his cell. Batman overcame all odds and chose to let him live yet again, which Joker found hysterical. He chose to see the funny side of the whole affair. Joker had a reason to be and the chance to top himself. This, he declared, was going to be ''FUN. ''
Later that evening, political activist Quincy Sharp made an appearance on the Jack Ryder Show to announce his intentions to reopen Gotham's infamous Arkham Asylum in an effort to create a more secure facility to rehabilitate and secure the most dangerous criminals. In reality, that was all a stunt for his mayoral campaign, and the plans of more sinister forces. Though he couldn't have known it, the Joker, through his actions and his very existence, had set in motion a chain of events that would push both Batman and himself to their limits.
Arkham Origins Blackgate Incident
Three months after his big debut, the Joker was at it again. A riot allowed him and fellow bosses Black Mask and Penguin to each take over a section of Blackgate. Using a series of tunnels that connected to a panic hatch in the Warden's Office, Joker captured Warden Joseph again. He took control of the Administration Building and had his men convert it into a funhouse themed fortress. He also hired Deadshot again to once more to act as an enforcer, and was unaware that the sniper was secretly tripling his earnings by cutting the same deal with his two rivals.
Hello, valued guest.
— The Joker reunited with Batman
When Batman arrived at the Administration Building, and attempted to locate an underground supply tunnel that would let him access Penguin's turf in the Cell Blocks, he found the Joker waiting for him. Joker admitted that he hadn't finished his alterations to the building yet, but Batman was more interested in threatening him for the Arkham Wing's Cryptographic Sequencer codes. Joker brushed off the vigilante's bravado by revealing Warden Joseph was in the conference room,and tied up with explosives. Batman tried to rush up the staircase that Joker was standing on top of, only to be bowled over by the explosives beneath it. Joker left the semi-conscious Dark Knight to focus on his alterations to the Warden's Office. He also shut off the ventilation to the Arkham Wing, and endangered the hostages held there, or so Batman believed.
You'll never foil my master plan, NEVER! Did that sound alright? I've been working on that.
— The Joker, Renaissance Man.
Batman caught up with the Joker exiting via the elevator just as he flooded the corridor with a gas version of the toxin that he'd used on the Gotham Merchant's Bank Manager on Christmas Eve. Batman escaped via the ventilation system, made his way to the Library and freed the hostages that Joker was storing there. In retaliation, Joker filled the room with gas again, but Batman escaped outside. The vigilante dealt with Deadshot before he made his way back inside and to the conference room, where he found Warden Joseph tied to explosives Joker had rigged to security junction boxes. After disabling the security controls to short out the boxes, Batman headed into the maintenance tunnels to find a way into the room, and came face-to-face with Joker's puzzles. Batman solved them, navigated the vent system, entered the room through a floor grate, and freed Joseph. Batman headed into the sewers to gain access to the office, but was delayed by other situations.
Okay, Bats, let's get ready to RRRRRRRUMBA!!!
— The Joker gets serious
That gave Joker the time to finish what he'd been cooking up in the Warden's Office: altered riot control gas that would allow him to control the minds of the inmates in small doses, and large doses would turn those brains to "succotash". Batman emerged from the bookcase panic hatch to confront the Joker, who had rigged the gas canisters to the prison's major air units for timed release. Joker taunted Batman with the Sequencer Codes, the only thing that would enable the office computer to shut off the countdown. Armed with a stun baton and a revolver, the Joker fought Batman, who defeated him with well-timed uses of the Line Launcher even after Joker flooded the office with some of the gas. Joker was knocked unconscious, which allowed Batman to retrieve the codes from his jacket and shut down the countdown. But Joker did manage to have the last laugh, and provided Catwoman with bombs sometime during the night, which allowed her to distract Batman while she escaped with Bane.
Note: Joker's involvement in Catwoman's escape attempt and the following depended on which boss Batman defeated last.
As two guards approached a seemingly unconscious Joker to collect him, the clown suddenly fired two hidden darts into their necks, which killed them both. Disguised in one of their uniforms, Joker easily bypassed the security forces and escaped into Gotham to plan his next performance.
Between Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum
Once recaptured, Joker was transferred to the newly re-opened Arkham Asylum. Despite the city's best efforts, he would go on to continually escape, and caused crime and chaos until Batman would stop him; a twisted running gag at Gotham's expense. He defied any kind of therapy or diagnosis. Joker's doctors were unable to decipher what kind of insanity he was even afflicted with. To add insult to injury, the Clown Prince of Crime came to view the Asylum as a sort of home. Joker was aware of being observed obsessively by one of the doctors while in his cell, and out of it put on a show, and spontaneously brutalized fellow inmates and asylum staff just to keep everyone on their toes.
Harley Quinn
Perhaps the Joker's most insidious act, was his seduction of his therapist, Dr. Harleen Quinzel. The psych intern, then a full fledged psychologist, transferred from Blackgate to Arkham and intended to study Gotham's growing number of super criminals and become a pioneer in her field. She was eager to gain insight into the mind of the self style Clown Prince of Crime in order to publish a book. Neither of them acknowledged the Blackgate Incident, but Joker strung her along as easily as he had then. Over the preceding months, Joker shared insights and secrets with Quinzel, many of which he most likely made up, and had her believe that he was the love of her life. Months later, Quinzel smuggled in explosives to break the Joker out and rechristened herself with his pet name, "Harley Quinn" and became Gotham's number one power couple. Joker had just been looking for a pawn to set him free, and had a would-be girlfriend cramping his style. Joker treated Harley like any other member of his gang: he physically and verbally abused her even when she did carry out his orders.
Holding Grudges
Soon after his arrival in Gotham City, the Penguin decided to make an impression on the underworld elite with a gala opening for his nightclub, the Iceberg Lounge. He included the notorious Joker, whose appearance would surely impress the crowd. When the Joker arrived, with Harley Quinn on his arm and a dainty flower in his lapel, the Penguin was thrilled. He was hosting the sinister soiree of the century - until a clumsy waitress spilled a drink on the Joker. The laughing Joker aimed his flower and an acid spray melted the girl's face. As alarmed patrons fled the scene, a cold, dark rage at the Joker curled inside the Penguin. The Joker eagerly returned to the Iceberg Lounge a few weeks later, but was insulted to find out that his name was not on the guest list. Willing to overlook this obvious mistake, Joker shot the doorman on his way in, kicked his feet up at a table, and ordered a glass of warm milk. He was pleased when alongside the milk was a summons to the club's VIP Section. Led to a back room--past a tank where Tiny the Shark circled--the Joker happily greeted the Penguin, who promptly pushed him out of a door onto the street. The Penguin squawked out that the club had a new "no clowns" policy before he slammed the door.
The Abromovici Twins
The Joker heard tales of conjoined Abramovici Twins, widely known as Mr. Hammer and Sickle, and their reputation for brutality, and he wanted them for himself. Sending Harley on a desperate mission to retrieve them, she passed on the message to the circus owner that her puddin' would pay big for the twins. Of course, the owner refused to sell his headlining act. He promptly vanished, only to be found three months later with a new smile carved onto his face. Later, during Arkham City, the brothers would be surgically separated, had a falling out, and Sickle defected to the Penguin.
The Joker's Diary
At some point before the events of Arkham Asylum, Joker hatched a scheme based around the 4th of July. While stuck in an existential rut, he encountered a criminal who claimed that he could control the weather. Joker learned this criminal's techniques, and, months later, set his scheme in motion by causing a power outage. This encouraged Gothamites to go outside. Batman investigated the power outage, overpowered the Joker, and broke his nose.
Even as Joker was dragged back to Arkham Asylum, his plan unraveled. His signature toxin had been released in a powder form by fireworks. Citizens who came into contact with it died. He was sedated by Batman before they arrived at Arkham. Before Batman could warn them, staff touched Joker, and the toxin on his skin and clothes, killed them. He was taken to a special cell without clothes and away from the other inmates, the one that was frequently used by Amadeus Arkham. During his time there, Joker began to write a book, which was sarcastically suggested by Batman, that contained the names of all the people that he had ever killed.
Before A Matter Of Family Incident
Skip the jokes? Hey, Sharpie, didn't she get my permanent record?
— Quote author
The Joker resurfaced sometime later, and was soon incarcerated at Arkham again. In an interview overseen by Warden Sharp, he was introduced to the up and coming, Dr. Penelope Young, who saw right through his various origin stories. Joker feigned forming a rapport with her, but became genuinely interested in Young's 'Project Titan' research, a medical process that was based on Young's theory that improving a patient's physical condition would also improve their mental recovery.
At some point, Joker (using his alias as Jack White) was introduced by Harley (under her real identity as Dr. Harleen Quinzel) to one of her old friends, Edward Burke. After he influenced Burke to think about building an amusement park for his daughter, Katie, Joker also gave him several ideas on how to build one. Eventually, Burke became the owner of Seagate Amusement Park. However, Katie was diagnosed with an incurable disease, which left Burke devastated.
Months later, Dr. Young was pleasantly surprised to find that an anonymous benefactor, 'Mr. White', had donated a generous grant for her research. Katie Burke was used as the first test subject for Project Titan, though the project was a failure, as Katie's condition got worse, and she suffered a painful death. Feeling distraught over losing Katie, Edward Burke decided to sign the amusement park over to Jack White, and committed suicide by using pills that were given to him by White (not knowing that it contained Joker Toxin).
Soon after, Bane was captured and quietly brought to Arkham Asylum so that Young could study him and the effects of Venom on the human body to design a more powerful variant of the formula. When discussing the Titan Project in public, Bane's involvement was kept secret, and he was referred to only as "Patient X". Officially, Bane was listed as an escapee from Blackgate Prison. Unfortunately, Young's initial Titan results were simply a more powerful form of Venom, which would temporarily increase the subject's muscle mass, but actually impaired their mental processes to the point of savagery. Young remained optimistic about her work until her next session with the Joker.
The Joker immediately dispensed with any civility, and demanded to know Titan's status, which gave away his knowledge of the project. A horrified Young realized that Joker had been her benefactor the entire time and was more than satisfied with the Titan Formula as it was. Joker had seen the manpower potential of Young's work instantly and had spent months making sure that she could provide him with the means to create an army of monsters. Young refused, but didn't go public with the revelation to save face. Young tried everything from returning the donations to actually putting a block on her account. Joker simply responded with multiple threatening e-mails, then escaped the Asylum.
If Dr. Young wouldn't give him his army, Joker would make it himself.
A Matter of Family Incident
Sometime after, Joker and Harley Quinn kidnapped Commissioner Gordon. Batgirl and Robin went to rescue him after the Joker threatened to kill Gordon if Batman arrived. He also took hostages and planted bombs around the oil rig which Batgirl and Robin had to save and disarm respectively. Eventually, Batgirl and Robin confronted Joker and Harley near the top of the oil rig. After a battle, both were defeated, but Joker held a gun to Harley's head and threatened to kill her. He then jumped off the oil rig and opened a parachute as he descended. Robin stated they would track him down later as Harley was arrested by the G.C.P.D.
Some time later, Joker attempted to attack Gordon again, by going after Barbara (without knowing of her crimefighting life). He arrived at Gordon's house, and shot Barbara in her spine, which caused her to be paralyzed from the waist down, and unknowingly ended her career as Batgirl. The joke was on him though, as Barbara refused to let that tragedy define her and became Oracle, an invaluable hacking and information source for Batman's detective work.
Before Assault on Arkham Incident
At some point while incarcerated in Arkham Asylum, Joker was visited in his cell in the dead of night by Arkham Asylum Warden, Quincy Sharp, who bore a knife. Before things could escalate any further, Sharp seemed to freeze up with sudden terror. Never one to miss an opportunity, Joker procured the Warden's knife, had a little fun at his expense, and slowly sliced his forehead. He left no visible scarring and never told anyone, most likely because the joke of a lunatic running the Asylum was too rich to spoil. However, the only record of this could be found in Sharp's Spirit of Arkham Diaries, and it's possible that he may have hallucinated the incident.
Joker believed himself to be the leading man in Batman's life, and was constantly trying to out do his previous atrocities. He came close to destroying Gotham several times, and was almost always outsmarted and certainly always out-muscled by the Dark Knight. While Joker saw the importance of a good supporting cast, he never developed strong ties with the rest of Arkham's super criminals, and preferred to keep the spotlight all to himself. He didn't even approve of Harley's friendship with Poison Ivy. He didn't seem to like the idea of Batman sharing the stage either and, in one of the most heartbreaking moments of the Dark Knight's life, killed Robin. The Boy Wonder he killed got better.
Assault on Arkham IncidentDuring one crime spree, the Joker kicked Harley out of their getaway car, and left her to face the music while he focused on his schemes. Joker was eventually returned to Arkham, but not before he stole a 'dirty bomb' and hid it inside Harley's mallet.
When the Suicide Squad entered Arkham Asylum, Harley Quinn and Deadshot confronted Joker at the Penitentiary's Extreme Incarceration (Located near the cell where Mr. Freeze was locked up). Immediately, Joker began talking to Harley, laughed, and commented about how he pushed her out of a moving vehicle in the recent past. In a rage, Harley attempted to kill Joker by shooting at him. The glass being bullet-proof, Harley instead shot through one of the air holes in the cell until she ran out of bullets, and almost killed Joker. Harley told Joker that they were through, and she had moved on to a "new guy". This caused him to immediately frown and growl in response. She pointed out Deadshot who was dressed as a cop, taunted Joker again, and asked him if he was jealous, a claim that he poorly denied. He also immediately recognized the "cop's" true identity as Deadshot due to having previously worked together before.
Later, Joker reflected on Harley and Deadshot being together. Joker couldn't believe that she had moved on after everything he did for her. Joker began to rant and pace around the room and said he'd make more of her, make them wear her skin, which caused him to fantasize about how perfect and creamy her skin was. Joker stopped upon seeing a gap in the wall where Harley was shooting at, in which he gleefully opened the wall to activate the door. After getting dressed, Joker stumbled upon Black Spider who, unknown to him, was dressed as Batman. Joker then pointed his gun at his head, but before he could kill him, Black Spider's head exploded. Momentarily stunned and confused, the Joker looked at his weapon and commented that it was the "best gun ever." Joker picked up the head to discover it wasn't Batman. Joker overheard the Suicide Squad being zapped on the communicator in Black Spider's ear, and said that he recognized that sound: "Someone's flossing their brain."
Joker immediately realized where they were, made his appearance, began shooting, and threw exploding marbles. Joker then confronted the Suicide Squad, or rather Deadshot, at which point Harley explained she was just using them to help him escape; it was a lie. The two then fled, but not before Joker attempted to kill Deadshot for "touching his stuff". Though Deadshot claimed that Joker's gun had no more bullets, Joker claimed that he was wrong, but fired the gun anyway, and after he proved that he was right, Deadshot punched him in the face, but he and Harley escaped through the laundry chute. Joker then demanded the mallet, in which he had hidden his dirty bomb. He then released all of the inmates in Arkham in an attempt to stop Batman. During the riot, Deadshot escaped Arkham via an SCU Helicopter, which unbeknownst to him, Joker and Harley were also on board. Joker and Deadshot fought intensely and the helicopter crashed into a building, which threw everyone out. The two continued fighting, and Joker managed to severely injure Deadshot with his knives. Deadshot then threw Joker into the helicopter, which promptly fell out of the building and exploded, with Joker laughing all the way down while he was pinned to the bulkhead with his own knives. It was confirmed that Joker's body was not found at the site, which hinted that he was still alive.
Road to Arkham IncidentTwo years later, the Joker and his goons raided Gotham City Hall, claimed that the city had "a paucity of parking spots designated for clown cars," took the Mayor hostage, tied him up, and strapped a bomb to his chest. As the Joker taunted the Mayor, he expressed annoyance that Batman hadn't shown up who ironically attacked moments later. Joker tried to escape via a large parachute, but was stopped by Batman, who proceeded to personally escort him back to Arkham Asylum in the Batmobile. In addition, as a direct result of Joker's assault, the Mayor declared that he was resigning from his position, and that he had enough of the city. Batman, however, sensed that the Joker went down too easily.
Arkham Asylum Incident
The night is young Bats, and I still have a trick or two up my sleeve.
— Joker to Batman at Arkham Asylum
Batman attempted to track down Gordon anyway, by detecting the alcohol that Boles left in the air. The Joker soon caught onto the Batman's attempt, and as a result, had Boles killed, and no longer needed him. The Joker took control of Arkham's intercom system, and told his goons to destroy the Batmobile as he took over the west side of Arkham Island.
Joker's next target was the Medical Facility where he ordered his goons to round up all the doctors in the area, most importantly Dr. Penelope Young, from whom he needed to retrieve the Titan Formula. To the Joker's annoyance, Batman defeated his goons and rescued the captive doctors. The Joker drew up a "party list" which contained the individuals who would help take care of Batman. He enlisted the help of Scarecrow, who proceeded to attack Batman at the Morgue. After escaping Scarecrow's Fear Toxin hallucination, Batman made his way to Gordon, who was conveniently placed near Bane's holding cell.After Batman rescued Gordon from Harley, the Joker pumped a large amount of Titan into Bane, and caused a fight with him and Batman. Joker was disappointed with Bane's inability to kill Batman, so he ordered his goons to assist him, though Batman defeated them all. The Joker's next order of business was to search the Arkham Mansion for Dr. Young's notes, and Dr. Young herself, who went looking for the notes. After he found Victor Zsasz at the Botanical Gardens, the Joker enlisted his help to deal with Dr. Young. Zsasz held Young hostage in the Warden's Office and threatened to kill her if he saw Batman approach. Joker told Zsasz to just kill Young, as she was useless to him since he had already gotten both Venom and Titan. Batman incapacitated Zsasz and rescued the doctor, though an explosion set by Joker in the Warden's safe killed her anyway. Harley then entered and had her thugs prepare Batman for the "party". Batman defeated them all, followed Harley, and rescued Sharp by tracking his DNA. Harley released Poison Ivy from her cell, despite her not being on the 'party list', much to Joker's apparent pleasure. He then unleashed the more violent, insane inmates all over the island.
Batman went after Harley, who sent her thugs after Batman again, though he managed to defeat them all. Harley's failure prompted Joker to remove her from the "party list", and Batman defeated and locked her up. Batman used Harley's DNA traces from around the island to track Joker to the Botanical Gardens, where he unsuccessfully tried to slow Batman down after he killed an Arkham guard, named Thomas Armbruster.
Joker demonstrated the successful Titan strain he had managed to create by injecting two of his thugs with a dart gun filled with Titan and had them attack Batman before he escaped via the elevator. Batman defeated the monsters and pursued Joker, who revealed over the intercom that he had teamed up with Poison Ivy and injected her with Titan, which caused her to become far more powerful and take control of the island surface with her evolved plants. Batman defeated both Scarecrow and Killer Croc down in the sewers and successfully harvested the spores that were needed to make an antidote for the Titan injection in Killer Croc's Lair. Batman then went down further into the sewers and found that Joker was trying to pump Titan pollutants into the Gotham River, and told his men to stop Batman from preventing that in a threatening, and serious manner. After Batman shut off the pumps, Joker sent down a Titan Henchman as a token of his displeasure.
Batman defeated the monster and escaped the sewers. Driven by more power-hunger, Ivy betrayed Joker and swore to go after him once Batman was killed. Joker assured Ivy that he would be prepared for her with an army of Titan monsters, and said the she could "bring the wine" and he would "make the salad". Batman managed to defeat Ivy at the gardens. With all of the enemies on Joker's 'party list' defeated, Joker had his men set off fireworks to direct Batman, the "guest of honor", to the "party" at the Visitor Center by the Penitentiary. Rather than fight Batman, upon his arrival and confirmation of being on the 'guest list', the goons acted friendly, cheered him on, and allowed him safe passage.Batman found a bomb planted by Joker at the Visitor Center and upon its explosion, discovered the Joker's lair: a throne room atop various plastic toys from which he had been broadcasting to the island. Joker was holding Scarface and taking out his frustration on him by having a fictional argument before he threw him away. Joker then berated Batman for ruining everything by "turning Bane into roadkill, feeding Scarecrow to Croc, 'slapping around' Harley Quinn (which was his favorite hobby), and destroying his precious Venom plants." The Joker then dispatched two Titan fueled security guards at Batman, who defeated them both.
Joker then revealed that he had recaptured Gordon before he could escape back to Gotham. Firing a Titan-tipped dart at Gordon, Joker was overjoyed when Batman took the shot himself. However, Joker was angered when Batman resisted and fought off his attempts to make him give in. Enraged that Batman would never allow him this final triumph, Joker shot himself with one of his Titan darts, and claimed he had little more to live for. Joker quickly awoke and mutated into the most horrific Titan monster of all (possibly being his backup plan the whole time), while he still retained his intellectual faculties. Joker then directed the circling Gotham News Helicopters and Jack Ryder to the rooftops of Arkham so that they could watch his final fight with Batman. After he strapped Gordon to an electric chair above a makeshift fighting arena (and made him the "referee"), Titan-Joker goaded Batman to give into his injection, as it was the only way they could be on even fighting terms. Batman refused, and used the only antidote injection on himself, which Titan-Joker found hysterical. The two, with assistance from Titan-Joker's henchmen, then fought a brutal battle, with Batman knocking Titan-Joker into the electrical generator that was used to torture Gordon.Titan-Joker got up from the attack and said that he could take anything Batman threw at him, and asked if the Dark Knight was ready for the next round. After he sprayed Explosive Gel onto his glove, Batman declared that he would never let Joker win and would always be prepared for his tactics. Enraged, Titan-Joker prepared to kill his relentless nemesis as Batman charged him. The gel on Batman's fist then detonated as he struck his opponent, and finally incapacitated the most dangerous Titan subject of them all. Following the Joker's defeat, the GCPD then retook control of Arkham Island, recaptured the escaped inmates, and watched over the Titan-powered henchmen as they returned to normal. Joker's transformation back to humanity was quite painful compared to others, and culminated with the severe injuries he received in his battle with Batman. Joker was taken back to his cell by several police officers and surviving Arkham security personnel, his plans ultimately failed. While locked up and recovering from Titan's effects, Joker was left humiliated, angry, and thirsty for revenge. While Joker planned his next move, he began to notice his body was not healing well after being injected with Titan, and began to fear that his defeat at Batman's hands may have cost him more than just being locked up again.
The Joker's SicknessAfter Batman stopped him from escaping Arkham Asylum, the Joker sat alone in his padded cell, and knew that something was wrong. The first sign was an unusual lump on his shoulder. He felt tainted. Weeks went by, and ten more unusual lumps appeared. The Titan had done something to him; Joker was dying. Joker knew it and soon so would anyone who saw him. The last thing he needed was to appear weak before his rivals. So, one day at lunch, the Joker took a spoon and dug out another inmate's eyes, and knew that would get him solitary confinement. Joker could keep out of sight, at least until his transfer to Arkham City. The Joker needed an escape plan, and on the night of his transfer, Harley Quinn provided him one. Disguised as an Arkham guard, she overpowered the Joker's escorts and stole her puddin' away to a boat that was waiting on the island's quayside.
As the boat carrying the twisted pair sped off towards Gotham, it was joined by a second. A secret alarm placed by Batman had alerted him to the Joker's escape, and he pursued the fugitives in the Batboat. They both ignored his orders to stop, so Batman opened fire. As Harley steered the boat to shore, missiles ripped the hull to pieces. They swam, with the weakened Joker being pulled through the water by a distraught Harley, who was desperate to save her puddin'. She pulled the Joker out of the water to safety, and somehow avoided Batman's searchlight. She and the Joker sat there, gasped for breath, and suddenly realized where they were: Arkham City.
After they arrived in Arkham City, the Joker and Harley Quinn were eager to explore their new stomping grounds.
Being the first inmate in the city undetected, Joker plotted to become the ruling elite in the Arkham City underworld and to use the facility for his own malicious designs and purposes and established his main base of operations at the Sionis Steel Mill, which was one of Black Mask's former company properties which Joker knew well from his time impersonating him. Over the next several months, Joker began to renovate the factory into his classical image, complete with a roller-coaster death trap that was meant as a sadistic recruiting method to weed out the inmates with the best reflexes (those that jumped from the coaster before the death plunge).
With Harley at his side, Joker began to brutally recruit inmates once again for his new army, both old and new associates alike, and soon became one of the leading powers of Arkham City, which rivaled that of Penguin and his gang. With Harley nursing him, Joker soon gained some of his health back and was well enough to walk without the use of a wheelchair, which allowed him to embark on some of his plans himself.
Having firmly situated himself in the city, Joker began to look to form several connections and partnerships to aid in his plans. He started by paying a visit to Mr. Cobblepot, a.k.a, the Penguin, who was also one of the first inmates in the prison as he refused to move when the perimeter wall was built, and believed that their bitter rivalry that started years ago was ancient history.
However, Penguin still remembered all the trouble that Joker had caused him over the years, refused to even let him enter the Iceberg Lounge, and shut the door just before he squirted acid towards his face. With Penguin now back on his hit list, Joker made it one of his goals to topple Penguin's power in Arkham City and slaughter him and his entire army. With both Joker and Penguin being the first inmates in Arkham City, they were seen as the major power-bases by other inmates to join in order to survive in the hellish domain.Lester Kurtz, arrived and was looking for a job. He easily escaped the Joker's death traps, and dispatched his goons. Joker, impressed, took a liking to Lester and welcomed him into his gang, but also instructed his men to keep a close eye on him. After he realized that the Joker was a poor choice of an employer, Lester bailed out on the gang and went looking for a job with the Penguin. Joker was unsurprisingly furious to the point that he put a bounty on Lester's head, and was unaware of the fact that Lester Kurtz was actually the latest alias of his hated enemy, Batman.
Joker and his gang became embroiled in violent turf wars for control over Arkham City with other fractions and gangs. In order to ensure that no one could either confirm nor deny the rumor of his illness, Joker relayed his orders through Harley while he remained in the shadows, and cooked up his plans and operations in preparation of Batman's inevitable arrival in Arkham City. Joker also used Harley to lead some of his men into making frequent raids on other inmates' supply of drugs in order to aid in his condition.
In addition to this, it seemed that Joker had also been taking every precaution to prolong his fate, including abducting his doctor, force him to give him a diagnosis, and isolate some of the Titan compound from his blood stream. The doctor, after informing Joker of his deteriorating condition and giving him the isolated Titan formula, was sent into the factory's old incinerator on Joker's roller-coaster.
At the same time, Joker began to obtain several shipments of the Titan Formula that he had sent off of Arkham Island into Gotham prior to Batman spoiling his plans. However, he also knew that others such as the Penguin were likely to have obtained some of the shipments as well and used the Titan that he salvaged from his blood stream as a failsafe supply should the other shipments get stolen or destroyed. To that end, Joker used the Titan in his possession to mass-produce large quantities of the chemicals once again. upgraded some of his gang, and sent them out to kill anyone he saw as an obstacle in his plans for control over Arkham City.
Among them was Bane, who ran a makeshift fighting ring in Arkham City, and was attacked by one of Joker's men, who was pumped up on Titan. Bane was defeated and nearly killed until Joker's Titan Henchman's heart went into cardiac arrest from the overuse of Titan and was mercy killed by him, who decided to locate and claim all the sources of Titan for himself once and for all, and knew just how dangerous it was, especially if it used against him.Joker would also target many of the political prisoners within the city, most of them having been incarcerated simply because they knew too much about Arkham City, and had his gang use them as little more than slaves to do his bidding. Some of this would entail these individuals actually complete several tasks that would aid Joker in his ambitions for the war over control of Arkham City, but for the most part, they were used simply as another outlet for the Clown Prince of Crime to let his madness loose and torture and murder more innocents even within the confines of the country's most massive prison complex.
While Joker continued to be embroiled in the turf wars for control of the prison complex, Mugsy, an old time associate of the Ventriloquist, brought Scarface back to Joker as a favor to get back into his gang, who was delighted to get his buddy back. Joker started spending more time with Scarface than anyone else, which made Harley jealous. Harley tossed Scarface into a boiler when Joker wasn't around, and consoled him by saying that she slipped, but he told her not to worry and brought out a new Scarface that Mugsy had made for him.
While Joker hugged the dummy, it motioned to his eyes with his fingers to Harley, which implied that it was watching her and hinted that Joker may have been intentionally using Scarface to mess with Harley's love for him for his own amusement and to make Harley more vicious and erratic in leading his plans and operations. Scarface was also the perfect means of abuse that Joker needed, with Mugsy creating a new one every time Joker got bored with one, which freed him to mutilate, torture, and destroy any puppet that failed to entertain him.
With multiple unseen connections and pawns in place, Joker was prepared to launch his latest plans for the death and destruction of all of Gotham City and beyond. With his pending illness, Joker took precautions to ensure that he was still seen as one of the leading powers in Arkham City and eventually conquer the new compound for himself. With his plaything of a manipulation, Harley Quinn, Joker issued orders that would eventually come to fruition to reveal a heinous plan that would be unleashed in Arkham City and violently erupt onto the unsuspecting citizens of Gotham City.
None knew of the full extent of the Joker's plans, not even Hugo Strange himself, who assumed that he had everyone in Arkham City under his control. Joker's plans would not only light up all of Gotham City with death and destruction, but would also give him everything he had desired for the past year: power, revenge against Batman, a cure for his illness, incredible and unlimited numbers to command, and even immortality itself to continue wreaking death, chaos, and destruction for decades with no end in sight.
The Set Up
Here's the thing. If you want to make sure that no one else finds out about your past, you should stop poking your nose into mine.
— Joker squaring off with Hugo Strange
With Joker regarded as one of the most violent and historic criminals of all time, it wasn't long before Hugo Strange had him brought into his office in order to study and understand him, and saw him as the ultimate challenge for his psychological tactics. After having Joker brought in to start taped interview sessions, Hugo Strange reminded the Clown Prince of Crime of his remaining time that was left before his impending death was short, something even Joker admitted. Strange then offered to make a deal with the villain: if Joker allowed the doctor to study him, Strange would make Joker's last days more 'comfortable' in return, and started their alliance.
Throughout his alliance with Strange, Joker had the mad doctor round up dozens of medical doctors and physicians for him to help cure his illness. Regardless of how many doctors Strange abducted and brought into Arkham City, Joker seemed more concerned and happy with torturing, mutilating, and murdering them rather than developing a cure.
Unknown to Strange, however, Joker had been using the doctors to drain large quantities of his poisoned blood and had them shipped off to emergency rooms all over Gotham City, which infected thousands of people with his illness. In return, Joker told Strange what it was that drove him over the edge of sanity, though all the stories that he told were nothing more than mere fabrications to hide the truth about his condition, which Strange later concluded after he read through a dozen different origin stories that Joker had told over the years.While Strange believed that he knew everything the Joker could be planning, the Clown Prince of Crime shocked him when he revealed that he knew everything about Strange, including his experiments, his control over Quincy Sharp, and his insidious plans for Arkham City, and threatened Strange that he would have all this information leaked to the authorities and the public if he didn't stop trying to uncover his past. Using his knowledge of this information further to blackmail Strange, Joker was able to obtain weapons from him (though Strange had his own designs for that course of action), had all the prison's food drops be delivered right outside his territory, and gained inside information on the occurrences within Arkham City.
Joker eventually found out that Strange had Mr. Freeze brought into Arkham City and was having him prepare countless medical drugs, chemicals, and serums for his plans by holding his wife, Nora, hostage. Wanting Freeze's genius for himself to develop a cure, Joker had Strange bring Nora to him to use as collateral to make Freeze develop a cure. Leaving Nora in one of his warehouses and at the mercy of his henchmen, many of whom wished to unfreeze and rape her, Joker blackmailed Freeze to develop a cure, and threatened to murder Nora if he failed to do so, though Joker planned to kill her regardless if Freeze succeeded or not.
However, Strange, fearing Joker's potential to ruin his plans, formed a pack with Penguin, helped him capture Freeze, locked him up in his Museum, and gained control of his weapons. Strange would still remain in contact with Joker, who was initially unaware of this betrayal, and continued to supply him with weapons as part of his plans to initiate Protocol 10, a military operation that Strange believed would make him famous and serve as a monument to Batman's failure and defeat.
Joker also began to suspect Strange's ambitions to use Arkham City as a coverup to actually plan an exploitation of the situation to wipe out every single individual within the prison. To that end, Joker made use of the construction equipment at the Steel Mill to build massive tunnels that connected to Gotham's sewers and subway system as a shelter for whatever Strange had planned to ensure that his army survived while the rest of his enemies were slaughtered.
Those tunnels proved to be the perfect entry points into the other villains' territory in order to conquer their turfs and claim them as his own. Joker also saw Strange's true designs as a great way to wipe out his most hated enemies and in which, by the end of the conflict, his army would be the only force left standing, ready to tear down the walls of the prison and completely destroy Gotham City once and for all.Eventually, one of Joker's trump cards arrived as Basil Karlo, also known as Clayface, who entered Arkham City completely undetected under Joker's orders. Assuming the guise of numerous inmates and security personnel alike, the monstrous mudpack eventually met with his cryptic employer. After he formed an alliance with the dying clown during his imprisonment in Arkham Asylum, Clayface was quickly convinced to aid the Joker and embroiled himself in the Clown Prince of Crime's last megalomaniac master plan. Despite not actually being imprisoned in Arkham City, Clayface had sided with the Joker for one key reason: to play "the role of a lifetime". At the request of the Joker, Karlo posed as the healthy crazed Clown Prince of Crime and willingly carried out the vast amounts of chaos the actual Joker would if he was capable.
With Clayface's vast and nearly unstoppable abilities under his command, the Joker knew he would all but conquer Arkham City with everyone fooled by his double, including Hugo Strange. Next to doubling as him, the Joker used the feat of clay as a puppet of power to carry out his most extreme tasks: have the shape-shifter overlook all operations outside the Steel Mill alongside Harley, recruite and build up his army into massive numbers, and ultimately convince a cold tempered Mr. Freeze to develop a cure for the clown's growing illness (although Hugo Strange had already taken Fries's wife, Nora, hostage by that point).
The Joker was almost sure that he was clearing a pathway straight to his victory and with the spotlight focused on his doppelganger, and knew that he could easily stay hidden in the shadows long enough to see through his countless plans; which coincidentally would also play into what would be Clayface's final "performance" as well.
Joker eventually used Clayface to disguise himself as various TYGER personnel in order to infiltrate their locations and obtain their equipment and even their card keys and codes needed to access structures right outside Arkham City's perimeter walls. With these items in his possession, Joker gained access to the Sionis Boat House, which was just next to his base, where he stored his most valuable weaponry, equipment, and plans; away from the prying eyes of Hugo Strange and his TYGER operatives who remained completely ignorant and blissful of the true magnitude of Joker's own operations.
Joker lastly used Clayface to infiltrate Arkham Island, TYGER's main base of operations, to place dozens of explosives deep within the bowels of the Asylum as part of his alternative plans for Batman and Gotham, as well as to take out TYGER when the time was right. With everything in place and his plans completely unnoticed by even Hugo Strange and TYGER, Joker waited for Batman's inevitable arrival in Arkham City, where their most brutal and psychological battle would play out.
Final Moments And Death
Well look who it is! I haven't seen you for.. How long has it been? Let's see, there was an asylum, some monsters and oh that's right! You left me to die.
— Joker
Each and every day, the war for control over Arkham City escalated and became more chaotic and violent as Joker relished in the mass amounts of chaos, destruction, torture, murder, and mutilation that he brought to the streets. In love with the very madness that he created, Joker was not concerned in the slightest about his opponents in the turf wars as he had already begun to lay the foundations of his megalomaniac plans and implement his numerous trump cards that only he and a select few knew about. Before long, Joker would obtain everything that he needed in order to conquer Arkham City and find the means to obtain complete power and control to destroy Gotham.
As Bruce Wayne was abducted and brought into Arkham City under Hugo Strange's orders, Joker's crew seized control of the Arkham City Medical Facility, that was built inside the Gotham Cathedral, and had captured all the medical staff in order to claim all the chemicals and drugs for themselves. With Harley leading the operation, Joker's thugs also abducted a doctor, Stacey Baker, who had previously diagnosed Joker, under his orders to bring her to him for an update on his condition.
Joker knew that Two-Face was stationed at the Solomon Wayne Courthouse near the church, and planned to execute Catwoman to showcase his might, and also intended to ambush the operation to spoil Two-Face's plans, kill Catwoman himself, and grab Batman's attention. As Batman infiltrated the courthouse, defeated Two-Face's men, rescued Catwoman, and strung Two-Face upside down over a pit of acid, Joker saw his opportunity to implement a surprise attack. Using a remote controlled sniper rifle that Harley had set up in the cathedral bell tower, Joker attempted to assassinate Catwoman, though his primary motive was simply to coax Batman into tracking him down as part of an elaborate trap.At the same time, Joker also began sending groups of his men to find Mr. Freeze, who had mysteriously disappeared, and to also enter Two-Face's territory and attack his gang in order to take advantage of his dwindling numbers. After he made his way to the Smelting Chamber, Batman rescued Stacey, defeated all of Joker's henchmen, and finally entered the office of the Clown Prince of Crime himself. When he entered the office, Batman found Harley crying over a seemingly lifeless Joker in a wheelchair. However, this was all a part of Joker's plans as he faked his own death in order to divert Batman's attention, which allowed the hero to become vulnerable to a surprise attack. Batman was gassed from behind by Clayface disguised as Joker (Batman believed that the Joker in the wheelchair was simply a dummy) and then beaten into unconsciousness by Harley with a bat, at which point Joker firmly tied Batman to the wheel chair, taped a phone to his chest, and stuck a syringe in his throat to transfer his poisoned blood into his body. Batman was infected with the same disease as Joker. Joker insisted that Batman follow his commands in order to get a cure for the disease from Mr. Freeze. Though Batman was willing to die if that meant the end of the Joker, the villain revealed one of his trump cards: thousands of innocent people in Gotham were also infected with his blood.
After he revealed that poisoning Gotham City was a separate plot from Protocol 10, Joker rolled the wheelchair outside the window, and told the Dark Knight that he would keep in touch with the phone that he taped to him. However, Joker planned to not only use Batman to obtain the cure, but also as his greatest asset in the turf wars in Arkham City in order to defeat his rivals. After Batman realized that he had no choice but to find the cure in order to save Gotham once again, he allowed Joker to send him on several missions to obtain the cure.
Meanwhile, a portion of Joker's crew had split up into two groups with one that killed Penguin's crew outside the old GCPD Building, where Freeze was previously stationed, and one that moved into Two-Face's territory and massacried all of his crew and rounded up any stragglers for information on where Freeze was.
Keeping in contact with his longtime enemy through phone calls, Joker eventually sent Batman to rescue Mr. Freeze from Penguin, and knew that this would also topple Cobblepot's power in Arkham City and eliminate a major opponent in his control for Arkham City. Once Batman defeated Penguin's forces, saved Mr. Freeze, and put Penguin out of commission, Joker immediately took advantage of this new tide in the battle and had his men slaughter hundreds of Penguin's men and press any survivors into joining him. Using the sewers systems and tunnels that Joker's crew had made over the previous months, Joker's followers infiltrated Penguin's territory and began claiming it for themselves.
At the same time, Joker sent his men to retrieve the last shipment of weapons from Hugo Strange under the foundations of Wonder Tower (Hugo Strange's base of operations), which contained the most devastating weaponry: missile launchers, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, automated assault rifles, mines, high frequency power generators, thermal googles, shotguns, grenades, and much more.
With his increased firepower, Joker took Arkham City by storm, nearly conquered the entire compound with only a small portion of Two-Face's territory left, and left a trail of death and destruction in his wake. Almost every prisoner within Arkham City would be forced to join Joker's army, which made Joker the ruling elite on the streets while Two-Face's men were being rounded up and tortured for information at the Steel Mill. However, Joker was still in desperate need of the cure and feared that perhaps Batman had actually failed or turned on him as he had not been heard from in hours.
Taunting Batman through phone calls with dubious clues about what he was truly planning, Joker was relieved to learn Batman had found the means to develop the cure and had Freeze create enough for both of them. However, Freeze destroyed one of vials of the cure and refused to give Batman the remaining one, which he locked up in his safe, until Batman saved his wife from Joker. Batman, knowing how little time he had left, fought Freeze for the cure. Joker in the meantime, planned to double-cross Batman the entire time, sent Harley to steal the cure (and to also murder several of his henchmen for failing to capture Freeze) while Batman and Mr. Freeze were fighting by cutting the wall open that was located behind the safe and pilfered the cure.
In place of the cure, Harley left two Joker cards, with one being a faxed version and the other being a physical card, which were actually clues to what Joker's plans truly consisted of, to taunt Batman. Joker also ordered Harley to steal some of Freeze's offensive equipment in order to increase his weaponry after successfully obtaining the cure. With Harley on her way to deliver the cure, Arkham City under his complete control, his increased weaponry, and Protocol 10 just under an hour away from commencement, Joker began making his plans to blow open the walls of Arkham City and form escape routes to lay a bloody siege on Gotham City and completely destroy it and wipe out all its citizens. To that end, Joker began placing explosives all around the perimeter walls, which were ready to be detonated when the rest of his plans were in place. As all supplies, ammunition, and weapons were prepared and stored away for transportation, Joker motivated his army and prepared them for the massive attack on the city.
When Batman had accomplished everything that he was blackmailed to do, Joker was delighted to begin his cat and mouse game with his old enemy and friend anew. To renew his game with Batman, Joker made an anonymous phone call to the Gotham Tonight Show to inform the staff there that Batman was in Arkham City in order to lure news reporter, Vicki Vale, to Arkham City. Once Vale was in the perimeters of Arkham City in her news chopper, Joker took over her broadcast in order to taunt her and then fired a rocket at her chopper, which caused it to crash-land.
With Vale's chopper destroyed and her pilot dead, Joker sent some of his men to kill the helpless reporter with sniper rifles, and knew that this would force Batman out into the open and serve as a diversion while Harley returned to the Steel Mill with the completed cure. Batman neutralized the threat and rescued Vale, at which point, Joker contacted him again, and told him that if he wanted the cure, it would be waiting for him at the Steel Mill. With all the pieces in place, Joker was prepared to start the next phase of his plans and obtain the main objective of his schemes: find the Lazarus Pit, which was hidden somewhere under Arkham City, to obtain immortality and absolute power and assume control over the League of Assassins.
However, just as Harley Quinn was about to reach Joker with the completed cure, Talia al Ghul, also in Arkham City to aid in her father's operations, intercepted her, tied her up, and stole the cure. Joker soon realized that something must have went wrong and resorted to an alternative, and knew that he needed to have his gang under the impression that he was cured in order to motivate them to attack the rest of Arkham City and Gotham.
Joker had Clayface utilize his abilities to assume his appearance once again and sent out a video taped message all throughout the Steel Mill to make his forces believe him to be completely cured and ready to lead them in full force once again. This worked beautifully as all his men prepared for their final siege of Arkham City as Joker concentrated his efforts on securing the Lazarus Pit. In the meantime, Joker also sent out a handful of his men to the Gotham Radio Tower near his base to take control of the broadcast frequencies and implant a message from him to all of Gotham as part of a fail-safe plot.After Batman rescued Nora from Joker's henchmen and retrieved Freeze's stolen equipment, he confronted Joker, who was staring into a mirror and appeared perfectly healed, though his reflection curiously showed him still sick, at the top of the Steel Mill at the Funhouse. However, the reality was that Clayface was still posing as the healthy Joker while the real Joker was on the other side of the mirror, and escaped from the Steel Mill through this diversion.
Batman eventually defeated that Joker and dozens of his men, but was soon surprised when the TYGER Helicopters suddenly began firing missiles at the Steel Mill and all over Arkham City under Strange's orders, which revealed that Protocol 10 was actually a security measure to wipe out the entire inmate population through missile attacks. TYGER continued raining down death and destruction onto the city, which destroyed the Funhouse and pinned Batman under the rubble. Clayface as Joker, gleeful, prepared to carve a smile into his face when Talia al Ghul interrupted him and offered him immortality in return for Batman's life.When Batman warned Talia not to do so. Talia presented her sword to the Joker, who gladly accepted it, agreed to lead the League of Assassins, and planned on taking advantage of Talia's knowledge of the Lazarus Pit to finally locate it. Leaving Batman, hundreds of his own crew, and even Harley Quinn, at the mercy of Protocol 10, Joker was led to the very building that was directly located over the Lazarus Pit Chamber, the Monarch Theatre.
Contacting his forces, Joker ordered the rest of his vast army to take shelter in the tunnel systems that they had constructed over the months to wait for Protocol 10 to end and the rest of their adversaries slaughtered before they emerged back onto the streets to start the final phase of his plans. At the same time, Joker sent a handful of his henchmen down to Wonder City to retrieve all the Wonder City Mechanical Guardians, and planned on reprogramming them to serve as weapons once he assumed leadership of the League of Assassins and commenced his massive attack on Gotham.
While it seemed that Talia had betrayed Batman, she truly intended to lure the Joker aside and kill him while Batman tracked her down by using one his trackers that Talia had equipped onto her person. Batman, however, knew that Talia was the one in danger and, true to his prediction, Joker easily outsmarted and overpowered her at the Monarch Theatre, and held her hostage to ensure that Batman arrived at the Theatre for their final performance. Joker finally prepared the last steps of his plans; and set up an arena for an incredible showdown with his old friend and eternal enemy.
Turning the Monarch Theatre into his own personnel arena, Joker rigged explosives all over the floors and walls, and knew that the key to immortality that he so desperately craved was underneath his very feet. With Protocol 10 wiping out the rest of the competition, Joker counted on Batman to take down Strange and come to him for their final battle. As Joker waited for Batman's arrival, he recorded one final message that was meant to be communicated to Batman in the event of his death. Once recorded, Joker gave it to his henchmen to be stored within the Steel Mill as part of his contingency plans to destroy Gotham. Once the rest of Gotham's super-criminals were killed off in Protocol 10 and Strange was taken down by Batman, Joker would be able to take complete control of the entire criminal underworld and lead the whole inmate population of thousands of bloodthirsty and sadistic mass murderers, serial killers, and rapists to blow the walls of the prison, stage a coup against TYGER, steal the rest of their equipment and armory, and erupt onto the streets of Gotham in an orgy of bloodletting.
With the League of Assassins under his complete control, the powers of immortality at his disposal, the most technologically advanced military grade weaponry known to man in his possession, and the sheer amount of numbers in his forces to command, Joker relished all of the death and destruction that he could bring to Gotham and the world for centuries with nothing in existence to stop or kill him.
After Batman stopped Protocol 10, all of TYGER's forces were neutralized, Wonder Tower was destroyed, and Hugo Strange and Ra's al Ghul, the secret benefactor behind Strange's plans and operations, were killed. With everything in place, Joker had his men conquer what was left of Arkham City and patrolled the streets as he took control of the prison's monitor and communication systems to challenge Batman to a final showdown at the Monarch Theatre.
Batman arrived, subdued all of Joker's men, and entered the very Theatre where his life as a crime fighter began to take root. With Talia at gunpoint, Joker demanded the cure from Batman, and confused the hero as he believed that Joker already had it and cured himself. In the confusion, Talia grabbed the sword that she presented to Joker and ran him through with it, which seemingly killed the Joker once and for all.
As Talia revealed that she had stolen the cure from Harley Quinn before she could deliver it to Joker, Batman looked at his hated enemy, believed that his death was an unnecessary casualty, and told Talia that there was always an alternative tactic to defeating an enemy. Talia defended her course of action to Batman by stating that it was a necessary one in order to save him, comforted him, and assured him that the long night of chaos and destruction instilled by the Joker, Hugo Strange, and her father, was finally over.However, after realizing that it was never simple with the Joker, Batman began to rethink all the strange occurrences throughout the night: a seemingly dead Joker dummy in a wheelchair, the two versions of the Joker card left in place of the cure, and a healthy Joker looking into a mirror that reflected a sickly Joker. Connecting them all together, Batman realized the truth: there was always two Jokers. Surmising that since Joker had never received his cure, Batman immediately concluded that the healed Joker was not the real one and turned to Talia just as he heard a gun click in the distance. Batman, screamed out to Talia in vain, was too late to warn her, and watched in pain as she was shot fatally in the back. Falling into the arms of her beloved, Talia apologized to Batman for her carelessness with her last breath and died as the insane laughter of the one, true Joker revealed himself in front of the movie projector and held the gun that he shot Talia with.
Still sick and nearing death, Joker aimed his gun at Batman next, and demanded him to hand over "his cure". The healthy Joker finally revealed himself to Batman as Clayface, having been smuggled into Arkham City under Joker's orders to take up the spotlight and divert attention from his true plans. Clayface agreed to assist Joker for the chance to play the role of a lifetime and then take on Batman's persona after he killed him.
Clayface grabbed the cure before Batman could, absorbed it into his body, and started an incredible battle with the Dark Knight, by using all his abilities to the fullest of their potential. With Joker watching the spectacle from the balcony, the fate of Gotham City and the world at large hung in the balance of this final showdown as Batman's own life was merely moments away from death. However, Batman was able to use the Freeze Blasts that were manufactured and given to him by Mr. Freeze in return for saving his wife to stop Clayface in his tracks and retrieve the sword that was still stuck within him from Talia's attack. Batman then proceeded to cut Clayface into pieces with the sword, at which point the Joker, after he made a tasteless joke about Talia's death, detonated the bombs on the floor for a "change of scenery."
As the floor exploded, Batman and Clayface were violently thrown down into the Lazarus Chamber, where their brutal fight continued. Clayface, greatly weakened, began isolating portions of his body into small soldiers to attack Batman as he attempted to compose his body mass once more. However, Batman, still wielded Talia's sword, was able to cut through Clayface's forces, and threw Freeze Blasts into his body, which froze him once again. The dying hero then entered Clayface's body, retrieved the cure, cut him open, and incapacitated the monster once and for all. Batman, after he finally retrieved the cure, drank it and cured himself of the Titan Disease, and also kept half to cure Joker and the rest of Gotham.
Joker, unshaken by Clayface's defeat, prepared to jump into the Lazarus Pit to claim immortality once and for all and become the new leader of the League of Assassins. However, much to Joker's dismay, Batman threw the sword into the main generator, which caused it to falter and knock what was left of Clayface into the pit. The controls and remaining generators went critical as a result as Clayface's body matter contaminated the chemicals of the pit, which resulted in an explosion that completely destroyed the pit and most of the room.
With his plans ultimately ruined, Joker demanded his last hope from Batman, and taunted him that despite all the death and destruction that he caused in just a single night, Batman would still save him. Batman voiced his hatred of the Joker and his temptation to refuse him the cure and let him die, and knew that he would only continue to break out and kill if left alive and locked up. Laughing at the absurdity of their never ending battle, Joker stabbed Batman in the arm, which caused him to drop the vial, and shattered on the floor. Joker screamed in horror as Batman threw him to the ground and tried in vain to drink the cure from the floor.Accepting that he would ultimately die, Joker asked Batman if he was happy and calmly sat on the ground. As the Joker's health began to reach its ultimate low, Batman reflected on the irony and humor in that Joker was actually correct: despite his crimes, Batman would have still saved him. The Joker agreed with Batman, found the situation genuinely funny, laughed and coughed soundly in his final moments before he finally succumbed to his Titan poisoning, and died with a smile on his face.
Pitying his long time nemesis, Batman grimly picked up and carried Joker's corpse out of the Monarch Theatre. As the doors opened, Joker's gang was outside chanting his name, and expected to see their leader triumphantly striding out and having defeated Batman once and for all. They all went completely silent when they saw the Dark Knight carrying the Clown Prince of Crime motionless in his arms. Among the gang outside the theater was Harley Quinn, who gasped, fell to her knees, and sobbed uncontrollably as she saw the Joker's limp body being carried away by Batman. Batman finally carried Joker's corpse through the main gate of Arkham City and into Gotham City, where the GCPD had gathered in preparation to retake the area from the rampaging criminals. He placed the Joker's body on the GCPD patrol car of Commissioner Gordon, who was also shocked to see Batman's greatest nemesis dead and repeatedly asked him what happened, only to be met with silence. Over the following weeks, as Arkham City was shut down, Batman saw to it that a massive quantity of the cure for the Titan Disease was manufactured and administered to all of Joker's victims, which cured them and saved their lives.After years of death, misery, and tragedy, the Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime, and Batman's greatest threat and arch-nemesis was gone at long last. However, unknown to Batman at the time, not all of the late clown's plots had been foiled as Joker had laid out a series of contingency plans and operations in the event of his death that had already taken effect. With Harley and the rest of Joker's followers ensuring that his legacy would be upheld, Joker's back up schemes would rock Gotham to its very core and continue to plague Batman. Even in death, the Clown Prince of Crime would wreak havoc on Gotham and continue his cat and mouse game with Batman.
AftermathJoker's death had deeply affected both Harley Quinn emotionally and mentally, and made her more vicious and temperamental, and Batman, who hadn't been the same, was unable to say a word about what happened during the last time that he was in Arkham City. Joker's death had also caused the creation of Harley's revenge plan on Batman.
Not long after his death, Joker's corpse was immediately taken to the hospital for an autopsy. Initial search revealed his body had a secondary layer of skin on top of the decaying one, and a box containing a flash drive, with a message "Do Not Open Till X-Mas" written on it, hidden under that layer. One of the doctors attempted to remove the box, only to trigger a Joker Gas booby trap. Afterwards, Commissioner Gordon, believed that the Joker was just as dangerous dead than he was alive, decided to take his corpse away and hid it from the rest of Gotham, and let only Batman in on its location.
Two weeks later, Harley escaped from her prison, reformed her old gang at the Steel Mill, kidnapped various GCPD Officers, and even created a shrine to Joker. While looking for the officers, Batman came across a message left by Joker before his death, but decided to put it off until later. After going to rescue the kidnapped cops, Batman was shot by Harley and put in a sphere in the Joker robot in a comatose state. After two days, Robin went to rescue Batman and stop Harley's plans.
After Robin rescued Batman, Batman himself went to deactivate the bombs before the facility blew up while Robin went to take the officers out of the building. After he deactivated the three bombs, Batman went to arrest Harley and discovered that it was she who stole the Mechanical Guardians from Wonder City and used them to attack him. Batman, after he defeated Harley's robots, discovered her ultimate plan: destroy the entire facility with a final bomb that was hidden inside the Joker Statue and kill everyone in it including herself, so she could reunite with her beloved Mr. J. Batman managed to escape the blast radius along with an angered Harley, but it appeared that Robin was caught in the explosion. After she took advantage of the situation, Harley tried to stab Batman with a knife to finish her revenge, and was stopped by Robin, who threw a Shuriken at her, which knocked her out. After he saw that Robin and the cops were okay, Batman left the area.
The day after, a posthumous message that was left by Joker was broadcasted to all of Gotham, including Batman. Joker warranted a search for his dead body to be returned to Harley Quinn, with the prize money of 100 million dollars, or several bombs rigged around Arkham City's wall would go off, and release its remaining inmates onto the streets of Gotham. Joker also left behind a message for Batman to go to Arkham Asylum to retrieve the code that could be used to deactivate the bombs. That, however, turned out to be a trap, as the bombs were actually placed within Joker's cell at the asylum by Clayface, in order to lure Batman there. The trap caused a large explosion, and destroyed a portion of the asylum. Batman, however, managed to survive, and later contacted Gordon to meet up. The Joker was later cremated with both Gordon and Batman present. Gordon handed Batman the flash drive that was found in Joker's body, which he would later analyzed at the Batcave. Inside was a video recording entitled: "The Last Will and Testament of the Joker", where he explained his reasoning for inducing chaos in Gotham. Not long after this, Gordon was somehow affected by Joker's toxin, which forced Batman to break Harley Quinn out of prison in order to find the location of the antidote for the toxin. Batman, while able to find the antidote, was led into a trap, and had to battle Killer Croc. With the help of Aaron Cash, Batman was able to immobilize Croc and cured Gordon in time.
Arkham Knight Incident
Nine months after Arkham City's shutdown, Joker's death and the ultimate failure of his plans lead Gotham to a time of peace and crime dramatically decreased to nearly zero for the first time in years. Without the Joker's chaotic and murderous presence plaguing the streets of Gotham, the citizens never felt safer and other criminals became much more quiet and relatively neutral. After he feared that something was developing behind the scenes, Batman continued to keep a dedicated vigil over the city and developed new technology as he continued to struggle with his feelings over his nemesis' death. However, without Joker's hold over the criminal underworld, a power vacuum was left in place as the other villains began to seize the opportunity to gain control over the criminal element for their own designs.
Ultimately, Scarecrow, who returned after two of hiding and plotting after Killer Croc's attack on him underneath Arkham Asylum, which left him horribly scarred and deformed, took over the criminal underworld and united all of Batman's enemies. After they all knew that Gotham City would never truly be theirs to conquer and twist to their own desires with Batman still alive, the villains agreed to temporarily collaborate in order to finally achieve their common goal: the death of Batman. With Joker's presence gone, the remaining members of Batman's rogues' gallery had a much easier time working together without the Clown Prince of Crime upsetting the balance and were silently working together for the past year to unleash an elaborate plot to destroy Batman and conquer the city that he vowed to protect.
After he consolidated all of the city's worst criminals and villains, Scarecrow instigated an evacuation of Gotham City on Halloween Night under the threat of his new strain of Fear Toxin, which was developed over the last couple of years, and was unleashed from within chemical weapons and bombs that were hidden throughout the city. With the city evacuated, only the police officers were left as the villains and their respective gangs, who were all working together, began to take over the streets and created chaos and destruction all over Gotham.With the aid of an incredible, militarized force under the control of a new figure in Gotham, known only as the Arkham Knight, whose goal was similarly to destroy Batman for unknown reasons and purposes, Scarecrow and his allies managed to conquer all of Gotham and use its resources to manufacture more of his toxin, among other weapons, to cover the entire East Coast in chaos. Harley Quinn herself joined the alliance with her own plans to avenge Joker's death and ensure that the villain's legacy lived on throughout Gotham City and the world beyond.
As Gotham descended into chaos, Batman attempted to neutralize the threat by infiltrating ACE Chemicals; the factory was converted into Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight's base of operations. Scarecrow manufactured massive quantities of his Fear Toxin within the chemical mixing plant and rigged the entire factory to blow, which would cause all of Gotham and the entire East Coast to be engulfed in a paralyzing wave of Fear Toxin. Though Batman managed to reach Scarecrow, the villain quickly turned the tables on the Dark Knight by revealing that his forces were currently attacking the Clock Tower, and had deduced that Barbara Gordon had been aiding Batman's war on crime for countless years.As Batman attempted to contact Oracle, Scarecrow locked him in the room as his new strain of Fear Toxin was pumped throughout. After he accepted that there was little chance of survival, Batman willingly stayed behind to reduce the amount of Fear Toxin in the facility before it exploded, which left the city safe. He reduces the blast by 75% but as he prepares to finish Batman turns around to find Joker standing in front of him, who suffered from the early stages of the Titan infection. Joker then asks "Miss me"? before knocking him out with a gunshot to the head. When he came to, Batman realized the horrifying truth that Joker's previously infected blood, which was injected into his veins by the villain nine months prior, was allowing his consciousness to take control of his mind. Scarecrow's Fear Toxin had accelerated the process and enabled Batman to see the Joker, the man who represented many of his greatest fears, though he alone was able to see and hear him. Joker revealed that he had previously accepted the possibility of death within Arkham City and took precautions to ensure that he lived on through his poisoned blood, which was delivered to Gotham's hospitals. Most of the victims who were administered the blood were cured by Batman and his allies, but some fell under the radar due to hospital records that never made note of their transfusions. By the time that Batman had cured them, the Joker's blood had already become assimilated into their bloodstream and with it, Joker's consciousness. Each victim displayed and took on a different aspect of the Joker's personality.Nothing but mere pawns to the Clown Prince of Crime, those individuals performed violent mass murders and acts of extreme sadism and megalomania until Batman was able to quarantine them underground in an abandoned movie studio that he had converted into a safety facility. The only victim that did not seem to show any symptoms of becoming another Joker was Henry Adams, a school principal, but he was kept under surveillance by Batman and Robin as he may have been the key to curing the others.
However, Joker's ultimate trump card came in the massive transfusion that he performed on Batman within Arkham City. The Joker truly lusted to take control of Batman's mind and body and become one with the hero. Scarecrow's Fear Toxin, mixed with the infection, brought out the darker aspects of Batman and all his fears in the form of the Joker, a Joker who knew that Batman was Bruce Wayne, and who taunted him on many personal things such as Talia's death and even Batman's own doubts and fears, including his guilt over Joker's death, much to the hallucination's delight as he slowly took over. With Joker in his mind, the psychopath had access to all his secrets and planned to use Bruce's company, equipment, funds, and resources to murder all his enemies, consolidate all the gangs under his criminal empire, kill all of Batman's allies, and ultimately lead a campaign of violence on Gotham and the world itself.
Throughout the long and brutal night, Joker's control over Batman progressed, which caused the hero's sanity to dwindle to the ultimate level and see and hear Joker everywhere as the villain recounted the countless, inhuman crimes that he performed throughout his life, including the mutilation and murder of an entire kindergarten class and replacing the baptism water at a church with acid. Batman himself began reliving particularly brutal events in his life that were orchestrated by the Joker, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon, and the abduction and horrendous torture of Jason Todd, the second Robin, which lasted for over a year in an abandoned wing of Arkham Asylum and ended with Joker brutally murdering him and videotaping the entire event for Batman to watch.Meanwhile, it was revealed that Henry Adams, who was previously believed to be immune to the effects of Joker's blood, was actually the victim that was the most affected and was simply pretending to still be sane. With Joker's influence taking hold of him, Henry made contact with Harley Quinn, revealed the existence of the other Jokers to her, and the pair made their plans to fool Batman in order to gain entry to the quarantine zone. When the time was right, Henry switched the security measures to allow Harley and her gang in, released the other Joker victims, and attempted to kill Robin. Upon losing contact with Robin, Batman headed to the movie studio and was able to neutralize all the Jokers and apprehended Harley.
However, Henry revealed his hand and, after he cruelly took Harley hostage, murdered the rest of the Jokers with a gun, and believed them to be shams of the original Joker. Henry drew his gun on Batman, as Joker's influence became stronger on the Dark Knight, with Joker commenting throughout the entire course of events. Joker deduced that, though Henry was an impressive host for him, he still could not compare to Batman and used his consciousness to influence Henry into committing suicide, which resulted in all four innocent hosts having their lives ruined and taken by the same influence. Batman put Harley in one of the quarantine cells as Joker continued to taunt him with his impending loss of free will and sanity.
It was later revealed that Jason Todd was in fact the Arkham Knight, who survived Joker's attack as the villain's true goal was to turn Batman's sidekick against him. After he named himself after the facility in which he was tortured for over a year, Jason lusted to kill Batman for not only failing to find him, but replacing him as well. After he stated that nothing could be further from the truth, Batman told Jason that he never forgave himself for what happened and plead to not let Joker win as that was what he wanted to happen with his torture. While he escaped as Bruce reached out to his son, Jason finally began to realize just how much Bruce still loved him and did in fact desperately try to find him during his abduction. Joker's moment for victory seemed assured when he and Batman engaged in a brutal, mental battle within Crime Alley, that ended with the Dark Knight breaking his nemesis's neck, albeit only in his mind. With that, Joker knew that he was pushing Batman toward his ultimate limit.
The Joker's Final Laugh
Joker fully took control over Batman when Scarecrow trapped the hero at the Arkham Mansion, exposed Batman's identity to the world as Bruce Wayne on live television, and finally injected him with a lethal dose of Fear Toxin. With Joker controlling his mind, the villain imagined all of the violence that he could perform and laughed insanely at the imagined carnage, as he began a massacre in his own twisted Batmobile, before he continued to murder Killer Croc, Penguin, Riddler, Two-Face, and Commissioner Gordon, saw Gotham City in flame and ruin, cited it to be his 'finest work yet', and told a pleading Alfred that his 'new master' would be returning soon.
Back in the real world, Scarecrow continued to taunt Batman on his failures and proclaimed that he had won. However, Joker began to taunt Scarecrow back and told him to: "get ready for the encore", and laughed manically as a confused Scarecrow injected him again, due to him having no idea that Joker had taken over and thought that Batman was resisting. Being sent back into Bruce's mind, Joker considered himself to be immune to the Fear Toxin, and called out to Batman to check if he was still around, which caused everything to go dark. But Joker underestimated the fact that he too may have felt the effects of the Fear Toxin injected within him.
When Joker turned the light attached to his gun on, he found himself in front of a painting of Batman carrying his corpse from Arkham City. As he explored, Joker became very disturbed and progressively frightened at the new surroundings around him: his body being cremated, his grave shown to be small, overgrown, and vandalized, getting surprised by a stone Batman statue before he shot it to pieces, no one (except a crying Harley) attending his wake, a radio broadcast explicitly detailing that no-one would remember him before an announcement that regarded the construction of a Batman museum focused on his rivalry with his greatest foe, not Joker but the Penguin, and Gotham, Batman, and even Harley moving on without him. Joker eventually realized that, with all the horror, misery, and death that he had inflicted on others over the years, no one would mourn or miss him, and his legacy would soon be forgotten as Gotham and Batman moved on with their lives. Genuinely frightened that he was trapped within the nightmare and that he would not be remembered by anyone, Joker continued on to an empty graveyard where he was continuously haunted by an exponentially increasing number of Batman statues, no matter how many he shot down, more still appeared. Finally, as Joker approached one of the statues, Batman ambushed him as he broke out of the statue and punched him hard, which sent him flying into a hard wall. Joker then used his weapon to blow away the wall and was slightly relieved when he believed that he had found an exit in the center of Batman's psyche.
Ironically, that was nothing more than a ruse by Batman, who finally turned the tables on his hated nemesis and regained control of his mind. Batman revealed to Joker that the villain was afraid of being ashes and being forgotten and that he would indeed be forgotten by everyone. For the first time in their battles, Joker was truly horrified, helpless and useless against Batman, ending with the clown prince being severely beaten and thrown into a cell within Arkham Asylum in Intensive Treatment. As Batman locked the door to the cell, Joker screamed and desperately plead with the hero not to imprison, leave, and forget him, as he would be locked away within his mind forever. Batman, after he had finally realized that Joker was always at his mercy, bid one final goodbye to his nemesis and locked him away in his personal hell in the Extreme Isolation Wing of Arkham Asylum forever, with Joker dejectedly uttering his final words to the hero: "I need you".
Immediately afterward, Batman regained both his mind and sanity and, having built up a tolerance to the Fear Toxin and being freed by a redeemed Jason Todd (who donned the image of the Red Hood), injected Scarecrow with his own toxin. Scarecrow was reduced to a pathetic and cowering man in front of live television and screamed insanely as his fears took control and saw Batman as a demonic figure, until Gordon knocked him out. Humiliated, beaten, and mentally broken, Scarecrow was taken to the GCPD Lockup, where he would remain locked up for the rest of his life along with his fellow criminals.
As Gotham returned to peace, Joker's legacy was slowly forgotten with the villain not only dead, but his consciousness locked away in his own personal hell, alone and forgotten for the rest of time. With his legacy forgotten and Batman putting the past behind him, the Joker had finally lost and was gone forever in both body and spirit.
During the end credits, Joker's hallucinatory ghost was heard singing "The Asylum Blues", and realized that he was trapped forever and was only remembered as nothing more than a bad memory that was best left forgotten before he broke down in tears and his voice was not heard again. The Clown Prince of Crime was now permanently dead and Gotham was back to normal without him or his presence.
Where ever he went, the Joker left a trail of madness, chaos and death in his wake. He had no interest in money or power, he was neither greedy nor did he have any concern over companionship or want of a friend, his goals were simple and downright evil, chaos for the sake of chaos. Joker's sense of humour was twisted and malevolent, uncountable deaths were just a distraction to sadistically feed his appetite.
Joker possessed countless mental illnesses however he did not seem fettered by his psychopathic qualities or simply unaware but took no attempt to cure or better himself. His illnesses ranged from multiple personality disorder to schizophrenia, hysteria, narcissism and borderline personality disorder and while listing his psychoses, the psychiatrist states it was endless. Eventually every person in Gotham, including Joker himself, gave up on trying to cure the madman except for one person, the vigilante known as Batman who despite all the evil and death he caused across Gotham, Batman refused to take his life which inadvertently began an obsession toward the Bat. The Joker in his early activities was also shown to be significantly emotionally unstable, often times changing from goofy to serious at the drop of a hat and at random times, as well as frequently shouting at both his minions and, late in Arkham Origins, at Batman himself in a sudden manner.
He was a monomaniac who underwent deranged fixations upon different obsessions. The most obvious one clowns which actually became the motif of his crime empire and carried out in his appearance and manner of killing his victims (making them laugh to death after exposing them to his Joker Toxin). Joker was completely fixated upon Batman, the first vigilante ever to set foot in Gotham. His obsessions was so bad he focused most of his energy into killing the Bat. Should Batman interfere in his plans, he instantly became the top priority. Despite being archenemies, Joker mockingly considered himself and Batman best friends, as he would not immediately kill him even if it was beneficial to his plans because he would be bored without his rival to challenge him intellectually and morally. This is also because he is not simply satisfied with Batman's death, but to destroy the foundations of everything he cherishes and values, and psychologically break Batman by making him compromise his morals to prove that he is no better than the Joker himself. He has stated, however, that he constantly relishes the idea of Batman's death and has attempted to kill the Dark Knight whenever the opportunity presented itself. He also had no care about the man underneath the cowl as he knew the second his identity would be revealed it would mean the end of their little game and even stopped Harley Quinn from unmasking him by saying "no one's who you think they are, my dear, why spoil the fun?"
Joker hated Batman's sidekicks, he believed that they held the vigilante back and only prevented him "playing" with Bruce. It was this that prompted him to kidnap and torture Jason Todd (the second Robin) then mail him the video of Jason's brutal death which only hung over Batman's guilty conscience
He had no concern over anyone's life except his own. If one of his own men were left behind or died, it was a mild inconvenience in the Joker's eyes. He would even kill them himself, including the most loyal thugs if he was disappointed by them, even for the sadistic entertainment in simply killing them. Even Harley Quinn, his most loyal minion and girlfriend who utterly idolized the maniac was left totally oblivious to his cruel treatment and utter abuse towards her. However, Harley is still useful to Joker's cause and as long as she remained a necessary aide to his plots, he would keep her by his side.
Despite his obvious untrustworthy appearance, the Joker is charming and even in come cases seductive. He was a pathological liar and a sadomasochist. Given his incarceration in Arkham City, he had concocted twelve unique identities with one defining detail, Batman. He was completely unafraid of any physical Batman would do to him, not only taking twisted delight in being beaten half to death by an enraged Batman but actually persuading him to kill him. Joker's very presence was corruptive, he brought out the worst in people, turning good men into killers (excluding The Bat of course) and was a cynical, manipulative Machiavelli. During his therapy sessions not only was he able to get Doctor Young into thinking that he was completely sane but actually tricking Doctor Harleen Quinzel into thinking herself in love with the Joker. He openly did not think much of humanity, believing every man, woman and child were as equally insane and sadistic as he was in the inside and that to deny this was purely madness, in this case he resented Batman for his ideas that people were basically good.
The Joker was not totally deluded however, he was aware that he was a bad person who deserved death and was completely dumbfounded when another person risked their own life to save his as he was aware that he wasn't worth saving. He was a nihilistic and suicidal individual. When Bane rocketed an RPG toward the Gotham Royal Hotel, instead of panicking he casually accepted his fate without a hesitation. On more than one occasion he presented numerous opportunities for Batman to take his life, if only to prove that deep down everybody was like him. Despite his nihilism, the Joker completely overvalued his life above anything else. After feeling the effects of the TITAN poisoning from Arkham Asylum, he frantically searched for a cure so he would not die, he even had his girlfriend kidnap all doctors across Gotham then brutally tortured and killed anyone who could not cure his disease.
He became increasingly obsessed with Batman as the story of Arkham Origins continued. Though originally viewing him as a "tiny little distraction" he slowly becomes more focused on the vigilante especially after he saved him from his death on top of Gotham Royal Hotel until he admitted to his psychiatrist that it was destiny that he and Batman met the day. He also ordered the freed Blackgate prisoners to leave him alive, which was odd considering he showed no concern over Batman living or dying beforehand. After being defeated during the Blackgate Riots, he was seen laughing insanely all the while saying "this is going to be fun" indicating their lifelong battle has finally begun and would not end until one of them died
The Joker's emotions were impossible to read, one of his own henchman even commented on how the Joker's mindset could change so easily from being maniacal and humorous to being a serious, calculative mastermind. He was capable of being calm and rational yet this broke in an instant and he reverted to his hysteric state, literally laughing until he was near the brink of tears. Joker also had a volatile temper and whenever it arose it was almost impossible to realize, however, he did come close to having a breakdown when Batman had set his plans in array during the siege of Arkham.
He seems to have developed a symbolic connection towards Arkham Asylum. Despite it being the place of his incarceration Joker considers it a "home away from home" which he used as a way to add insult to injury to the politicians who locked him away there. It was also the same place he chose to put Jason Todd under brutal torture however this was most likely to emotionally attack Batman as he was the man who incarcerated him in said asylum.
After indirectly destroying his own cure, Joker gloated over Batman, showing arrogance and overconfidence in his final moments as he knew he was going to save him despite the terrible things he's done. Though his slow death had finally caught up with he was able to find humor and ultimately got the last laugh on his archenemy.
Despite his death, Joker returned nine months later. He was able to send his contaminated blood to numerous hospitals which was overlooked and infected five people (Henry Adams, Christina Bell, Albert King, Johnny Charisma and Batman) over time his personality manifested in these five people, and they began to resemble him in appearance and personality. As the manifestation worsened over the brutal night, Joker began to realise though the two were opposites in life, in death he came to the conclusion that the two were "made for each other" and with his possessed body he would become the "full package". Simultaneously, Batman became affected by this Joker-virus, which is shown in how he become more ruthless in pursuit of his goals such as threatening to crush a man's head with the Batmobile if he didn't tell him what he wanted or lying to Robin about Barbara being safe when she was actually 'killed' by Scarecrow, then locking him in a cell so Tim doesn't end up like Jason. Though it appeared he achieved the ultimate victory over Batman, when he was exposed to Scarecrow's toxin for the first time in his life, Joker realizes and experiences his greatest fear; the reality of being dead and forgotten by all of Gothams inhabitants, including Harley. Ultimately, this fear is what caused him to be overpowered and defeated by his greatest enemy.
The Joker's appearance was that of a very tall and very thin man with bright green eyes, a long sharp chin, a pointy nose and an unusually wide smile. He was identified by his white skin, green hair and red lips, which made him look like a clown, though it seemed that he had painted his lips to give himself a clown smile in order to make his smile even wider than it already was.
Arkham Asylum
In Arkham Asylum, Joker was dressed in his trademark purple tailcoat and white gloves, with a yellow buttoned shirt and a green bow tie, with a flower attached to his tailcoat jacket, the tailcoat itself had a few rips on the jacket's shoulders and didn't seem to have been fixed or washed for quite some time. Also, he had a wide widow's peak, which possibly showed a receding hairline. Joker also wore dress shoes and matching purple pants with a few stitched patches in a crude attempt to repair possible tears in the pants. After overdosing himself on Titan, Joker's appearance drastically changed; like most of the thugs that he injected Titan into, he grew in size and muscle. However, the physical change seemed more grotesque for him, as his spine jutted out far more than the others, as well as his shoulder blades and ribs broke through his skin, which was covered in boils and veins, and his hair also changed into a mohawk while on Titan.
Arkham City
Arkham City showed that the amount of Titan that Joker used was killing him, and when Batman first encountered Joker in Arkham City at the Steel Mill, it's shown that his face had started to develop boils and rashes as well as him looking very sick, with Joker's tailcoat being much darker in color. By the time Batman faced Joker again later on, his condition took a turn for the worst; with his face being completely covered in heavy rashes and thick veins, which nearly covered most of his white skin and stopped Joker from making his lips red, as shown in the Steel Mill Funhouse when he tried applying lipstick onto his ruined face. He was also shown missing patches of his green hair, and showed some mild bald patches on his head. By the time he died, Joker's face was now completely covered in a huge rash and thick veins, and his trademark white face was completely gone.
Arkham Origins
Arkham Origins showed a much younger Joker in the prime of his youth, with a full head of hair and a younger looking appearance overall, along with a thicker and messier painted smile on his face. Instead of his purple suit, the Joker was shown wearing the clothes that he wore as the Red Hood, which consisted of a white shirt, dark purple trench coat that had a light red inside, green waistcoat with bloodstains, grey trousers and dress shoes, his face also showed very mild patches of human pigmentation on his white face, which indicated that his transformation from Red Hood into the Joker had recently happened, and, as seen in the previous games, the rest of his skin did eventually turn completely white. Before he revealed himself to Batman in the Vault at the Gotham Merchant's Bank, Joker was disguised as Black Mask, and wore his white suit and trademark mask.
Arkham Knight
Arkham Knight first showed Joker during his cremation, and it could be seen that his face had returned to normal after his death, with mild boils and rashes on his face. When Batman saw the Joker hallucination, he appeared to the Dark Knight wearing his Arkham Asylum purple tailcoat rather than the darker tailcoat he died in in Arkham City, all while his face appeared to Batman in the early stages of the Titan infection. As the night went on, and he took more control over Batman's mind, Joker's appearance began to heal. By the end of Scarecrow's reign of terror, he appeared as a healthy Joker once again, having gained control of Bruce's mind after he forced him to mentally snap his neck, which went against his moral code and everything he stood for. When Batman first started seeing visions of Joker shooting Barbara, he was shown wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, a hat, shoes, and sunglasses. Years before the Arkham Riots, Joker was seen wearing a carnival master's suit, which closely resembled his purple tailcoat, with a top hat. He wore this when he kidnapped Commissioner Gordon in order to lure Batgirl to his new lair at the Seagate Amusement Park in the DLC: Batgirl: A Matter of Family.
- Giovanni Luchese: Shot in the heart while sitting in a chair.
- Tiffany Ambrose: Forced Black Mask to shoot and kill her.
- Gillian B. Loeb: Placed him into an Gas Chamber in Blackgate to gas him to death.
- Unnamed Bank Manager: Used laughing gas on her to kill her.
- Multiple Employees at Gotham Merchant's Bank: Killed in various ways.
- Electrocutioner: Kicked him out of the Royal Hotel penthouse's windows 30 floors down.
- Multiple Black Mask goons: Killed in various ways.
- Multiple Blackgate staff on March riot: Killed in various ways.
- Two unnamed Joker thugs: Shot them.
- Two Arkham Asylum guards: Killed via snapping his neck, and then shooting the other before changing into his regular outfit.
- Katie Burke: Manipulated Dr. Penelope Young into overdosing her anti-cancer pills and making her cancer even worse.
- Edward Burke: Manipulated him into taking "suicide pills" laced with Joker venom.
- Paulie: Various conflicting accounts of the motive or how exactly he was killed, though it was generally agreed upon that he was shot and then cast down to the Gotham Bay.
- Multiple kindergarten children: Murdered and mutilated, possibly to provoke Jason Todd.
- Hundreds of Gotham Citizens: Killed when Joker blew up firecrakers laced with Joker toxin in celebration of the 4th of July.
- Various Arkham Asylum's staff: In various ways such as laughing gas.
- Aaron Cash's son: Killed with mysterious poison.
- Frank Boles: Killed him in an unknown way.
- Dr. Penelope Young: Sneaked bombs into the Warden's Office which she opened and exploded.
- Razor: While he was working on one of the gargoyles, Joker blew it up to kill him for absolutely no reason.
- Arkham City doctors: Killed for failing to cure him.
- Talia al Ghul: Shot her in the back with a firearm.
- Joker also killed countless people off screen.
Arkham Asylum
A special download for Arkham Asylum exclusive to the PlayStation 3 allowed players to take control of the Joker. He had his own attacks and challenge maps in which he must fend off Arkham's security guards trying to apprehend him. During combat, Joker employed a spray can of his lethal laughing gas, a revolver handgun, and his joy buzzer as special attacks. Joker used his impressive hand-to-hand abilities to punch, slap, kick, and poke out eyes. During stealth missions where Joker must dispose of Arkham's security on patrol, he could use a pair of glasses called specs to see through walls and identify guards, similarly to Detective mode, though he can't move while using them. The Joker also fights specific characters, including guards Aaron Cash, Henry Smith, Eddie Burlow, Zach Franklin, William North, and Louie Green, as well as Commissioner Gordon. The challenge maps were divided into melee and stealth challenges. The melee challenges pitted Joker in an arena-like room to face off against a number of security guards who came in to face the Clown Prince of Crime in groups. The stealth challenges were when the Joker must defeat all the Arkham guards without being detected in a large area of Arkham Asylum complete with nooks and crannies for the Joker to hide in. He also had Joker Teeth that exploded, destroyed walls and killed enemies.
Arkham Origins Multiplayer
In Arkham Origins Online, Joker was a playable character, by activating the marked door by the Joker's Elites, which allowed the player to take control of him. Due to Joker's unique characteristic, he had the potential to turn the battle in his favor making him an ideal character to have in combat, and very effective in killing Bane's Elites & Heroes. In combat, Joker had no special abilities: he's marked, his health bar does not regenerate, & he did not respawn after being defeated. But he had unlimited sprinting, had opposing Elite's marked, melee from Elites & Heroes was not very effective, a melee joy buzzer that effectively killed both Elites and Heroes, and a larger amount of health compared to the Elites and Heroes to compensate his weakness. Joker's primary weapon was his Ace of Spades: it dealt a large amount of damage which could kill two Elites at the same time and could ricochet through corners allowing to kill an Elite taking cover. However, it had a powerful recoil and reloading was quite time consuming. Joker's secondary weapon was his King of Hearts: it had a long range and did splash damage which launched a volley of grenades, was very effective against a group of Elites and also against the Heroes taking cover in vantage points or from long distance, but it did need reloading after each shooting.
Psychological Profile
Real Name: Unknown
GCPD Profile
Dr. Penelope Young
My most challenging patient at Arkham. The Joker's derangement defies easy class. His rapidly changing mood swings hint at borderline personality disorder, but he has no trace of associated identity problems. He also displays signs of deep narcissism, but nonetheless he has a well-developed sense of others, as his ability to manipulate everyone from orderlies to doctors in Arkham is extraordinarily well-developed; he also shows all the signs of a highly functioning sufferer of antisocial personality. At times I actually wonder if he is actually insane at all.
Additional notes
His criminal record makes clear that he is an unrepentant homicidal maniac.
He is extremely manipulative; the file detailing Harley Quinn's associations with him is fascinating reading. It's unfortunate I was not on staff at the time to witness his seduction of her firsthand.
His past is unknown, and his answers to me about it are wildly inconsistent and frequently fantastical.
Dr. Hugo Strange
Dr. Hugo Strange: Side Note This self-styled criminal Clown Prince of Crime remains as volatile and violent as ever. His showdown with Batman in Arkham Asylum has left him humiliated, angry and thirsty for revenge. Some form of disease is spreading over the Joker, ravaging his face and body. He has repeatedly refused to be treated by anyone except his special 'nurse' Harley Quinn.
The Joker came to Arkham City laughing himself silly -- what's so funny about this place?
~ Dr. Hugo Strange
- Unrepentant homicidal maniac, albeit without a precise psychological diagnosis
- Surprisingly strong hand-to-hand combatant
- His past was unknown; conflicting, unconfirmed reports stated that he was a failed comedian, a petty thief, and a broken family man
- Employed various deadly weapons, often based on party-gag items
- Frequently used a toxin that stretched victim's face's into a Joker-like grin and caused death
- Unbelievable escapist and stronger endurance than a normal human being
- His sense of humor could be credited to what he perceived to be wrong with the world around him, as he was often seen laughing at the pointlessly terrible and truly wrong. This gave an indication as to his true feelings on the matter as his laughter was seen as hollow at times. For instance, Joker commented on finding Arkham City funny, even though a normal human being would consider it an abomination. Joker only found humor in what was wrong with humanity and pointed it out, highlighting it before attempting to either broaden the chaos around it or simply destroy it himself, often doing both in the process.
- Skilled chemist and extremely skilled strategist.
- Actor/impersonator.
- Took absolutely no value for money, power, anyone besides Batman, and even his own life, which made him impossible to intimidate, interrogate, bargain with, or persuade.
- Incredible tolerance for physical pain, which made fights with him unusually long.
- Above-average intellect.
Patient Interviews
Batman's Profile of The Joker
"I prepared for muggers, killers, thieves. Criminals, increasingly extreme in their methods and personality. But I never imagined someone like "The Joker". There is no information on him in any criminal database. As far as records go, it's as if he stepped out of thin air. He appears to be a highly resourceful psychopath with a sadistic intelligence, who delights in causing chaos, destruction and human suffering. Skilled with explosives and firearms. He displays personality traits consistent with criminal insanity, though his mental instability did not hinder his ability to infiltrate and take over Black Mask's criminal organization. His capacity for wanton destruction makes him a threat to the entire city. He must be stopped."[1]
Extortion File
Batman: Arkham Origins
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
Batman: Assault on Arkham
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Arkham Knight
Behind the Scenes
- In Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City', and Batman: Arkham Knight, the Joker was voiced by Mark Hamill, who previously voiced the character in various other related mediums, most notably the DC Animated Universe.
- In Batman: Arkham Origins, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, and Batman: Assault on Arkham, the Joker was voiced by Troy Baker.
- In the first Catwoman Mission, a portrait could be found with the inscription: "Cain & Abel - The Duality of Man". That was a reference to Two-Face, and to the end of the game where Cain and Abel's pose was similar to how Batman was carrying the dead Joker. That also may have been a resemblance to Adam and Eve's sons, Cain and Abel.
- When unlocked, Concept Art for "The Death of the Joker" showed Batman carrying the Joker's body, which strongly resembled the iconic scene of Batman holding Jason Todd's body in "A Death In The Family."
- When coming up with the plot of Arkham City, Rocksteady decided early on that the Joker would die. Warner Bros. and Paul Dini did not oppose the decision, although they had two conditions: one, the Joker's death could not be done for shock value (that was, his death could not have happened without warning, but have a precedent); and two, it had to be made clear that Batman was in no way responsible for Joker's death, as the hero would not intentionally kill someone.They also came up with the idea that Joker would poison Batman with the same affiliation that he had in order to show how the two diametrically opposed characters would interact in pursuit of a shared goal.
- In Arkham Asylum/City/Knight, Joker was voiced in by Mark Hamill, who previously voiced the character in Batman: The Animated Series and other DCAU related shows and video games. However, in Arkham Origins and the Direct-to-Video film Assault on Arkham, he was voiced by Troy Baker in a similar style to Hamill's "cheerfully deranged" portrayal. Baker voiced other characters in the Arkham Universe such as Tim Drake's Robin and Two-Face in Batman: Arkham City, and ironically, Jason Todd/The Arkham Knight in Batman: Arkham Knight.
- Joker was one of the few villains to appear in all of the Arkham games just like Harley Quinn, the Riddler, and Killer Croc.
- Joker was also one of the many villains to die like Electrocutioner, Hugo Strange, Talia al Ghul, Clayface (presumably), Ra's al Ghul, and Poison Ivy.
- Joker was the first playable villain in a DLC. The following games continued the trend: Catwoman (Arkham City), Deathstroke (Arkham Origins), and Harley Quinn (Arkham Knight).
- Joker was also the first playable character that killed his opponents, followed by Red Hood and possibly Harley, who were both playable in Batman: Arkham Knight.
- Joker was the only villain to appear in a poster on his own AND with Batman for Asylum and City.
- In Arkham Origins, Joker was listed to be 6ft 1in, while in City and Asylum, he wa 6ft. His weight was also 165lbs in Origins, not 160lbs in the previous games. This, combined with his widow's peek and possibly-receeding hairline, seemed to imply the Joker was possibly old enough for his body-mass index to gradually be decreasing with age.
- In Arkham Asylum, Joker would usually crack wise when his henchmen were taken out, but he was much more serious when that happened in Arkham City. That only happened when Joker was being impersonated by Clayface, which was another clue to the trick.
- The Joker had multiple different Character Trophies in each game. In Asylum, there was regular Joker and Titan-Joker. In City, there was Sick Joker and Clayface Joker. In Origins, there was Regular Joker and Red Hood. In Arkham Knight, there was Regular Joker, Sick-Joker, and Young Joker.
- Despite being scrawny to the point of anorexia, when it came to fighting Batman, Joker could take almost twice the amount of physical pain of his thugs. That may have had something to do with the chemicals that were flowing through Joker's blood, which possibly eliminated his basic pain factor. It's also possible that the bleaching of his skin was so excruciatingly painful at first that he built up a tolerance to all but the worst injuries.
- Joker's age was unknown, but due to his face wrinkles and hair loss, it could be assumed that Joker was at least around 10, maybe even 20 years older than Batman. However, these could have been caused by his acid bath, and due to his physical shape, he was likely Batman's age. Also, In virtually all continuities, when Joker fell into the acid as the Red Hood, he was a young man, likely in his early 30s as he had already graduated college and grad school, which was evident by his chemical expertise, and as this happened in Origins when Batman was roughly 30 years old, he and Batman were roughly the same age.
- The Arkham version of the Joker seems to be a bit of a music buff:
- When Batman confronted Joker in the penthouse of the Gotham Royal Hotel, TV sets behind him were playing the Looney Toons short: "Rabbit of Seville" with the Barber of Seville also playing in the background.
- In one of the game over scenes for Arkham Origins, Joker sung his own version of "Ding-Dong, The Witch is Dead" from The Wizard of Oz.
- During his therapy session with Harley Quinn, the background music of the Comedy Club brawl was from The Thieving Magpie, which alluded to A Clockwork Orange. The theme played during a similar scene with several escaped inmates fighting people in an abandoned theater.
- During the credits for Arkham City, Batman received one last pre-recorded message from Joker's cellphone: a recording of the Clown Prince of Crime singing Only You (And You Alone) by The Platters. This was referred to in Arkham Knight, as the song was playing in the background in the room where Joker 'killed' Two-Face.
- The credits for Arkham Origins homage this: as Joker was locked back in his cell at Blackgate Prison, he sung Cold, Cold Heart by Hank Williams.
- Interestingly, in both instances, the Joker was singing love songs, apparently to his adversary.
- Although not sung by Joker himself, the scene in which Joker was cremated in the opening to Batman: Arkham Knight had the Frank Sinatra song: I've Got You Under My Skin playing in the background.
- In Batman's nightmare of Joker possessing his mind and murdering all of Gotham's villains, Only You can be heard playing through an old record player. However if you shot at it, the music stopped playing.
- In both The Road to Arkham and the comic prequel to Arkham City, Joker was shown yelling "Are we there yet?" repeatedly, and both times led to him being harmed afterwards (in the former, Batman punched him in the face hard enough to leave him groaning without taking his eyes off the wheel, and in the latter, the Arkham Asylum personnel proceeded to inflict torture on Joker in revenge for his killing 103 personnel during the events of Arkham Asylum).
- Unlike most incarnations, the Arkham Joker's red lips seem to be painted on in order to give himself his trademark smile, as shown by the thicker and messier smile of Origins compared to the cleaner and thinner smile of Asylum. Arkham City showed Joker applying lipstick on himself in order to get his lips red, though at the time he was suffering heavily from the Titan infection that had ravaged his face. However, Arkham Origins showed that he had red lips after falling into the chemicals that changed him into The Joker. Assault on Arkham showed Joker without his red lips for most of the film while in his prison uniform in his cell in Extreme Incarceration at the Penitentiary.
- For many fans it seems that Joker's voice actor, Mark Hamill, was destined to play the infamous clown as the last three letters of his first name, and the first three letters of his last name, eerily and coincidentally spell out Arkham (mARK HAMill).
- Joker was the only playable character in the series who took fall damage if he fell from too great a height.
- Thanks to the internet and various images only needing minor editing to make the actor look like him, the Arkham version of Joker bares a surprising resemblance to actor William Defoe without the green hair, white skin and red lips.
- In Arkham City, Harley Quinn states: "[Joker]'s not feeling himself...well, he was earlier, but that's not what I meant." This quote implies that Joker may have had a habit of masturbation.
Batman: Assault on Arkham
- At one point while ranting about Harley Quinn supposedly abandoning him in favor of Deadshot, Joker mentioned that he'll "make five more just like [Harley Quinn]", which alluded to his revelation that he had prior Harley Quinns' before the current one and managed to murder them in Harley Quinn's arc in the crossover storyline: Death of the Family.
- Joker's recognition of Deadshot and having worked with him in the past was most likely a reference to his hiring of the assassin in Batman: Arkham Origins.
- Two references to some of Joker's plots in different mediums were made when Harley Quinn was searching the Evidence Locker for her mallet: A clown mask and a fish with a grin, which referred to his robbery of Gotham National Bank in The Dark Knight and the events of the episode, The Laughing Fish from Batman: The Animated Series.
- In the storyboards for the scene where Harley was trying to shoot at the Joker included in the behind-the-scenes featurette, Joker said a slightly different line from the final version. In the storyboards, Joker said: "Women! Can't live with them, can't kick them out of a moving car without them getting steamed!" In the final release, Joker said: "Women! Am I right, officer? Can't live with them, can't kick them out of a moving car!"
- After Joker set off a cache of one of the Arkham guards' grenades and while approaching to steal his gun to kill him before "changing into something more comfortable," as well as when encountering the Suicide Squad near the laundry chute, he briefly whistled the version of "Jingle Bells" from the BTAS episode: "Christmas with the Joker."
- When discovering that the "Batman" who had just died was actually Black Spider, Joker said: "Denzel! What have they done to you?", which referred to the actor, Denzel Washington.
Arkham Asylum
- If you kept constantly visiting the Visitor Center, Joker talked to Batman as if Batman was visiting for a therapy appointment. See here
- When visiting the Visitor Center, after the Joker finished talking to you, turn the camera around and after a few seconds turn it back and you noticed how the Joker "mannequin's" arms change positions. showing that the mannequin is actually Joker.
- At the time, Joker disappearing into Extreme Isolation atop the cell which contained the TITAN thug meant nothing. However, due to the events near the end of Arkham Knight, that scene foreshadows Joker's ultimate fate of being sealed away in the darkest corner of Batman's mind forever.
- Unlike other henchmen infected with the Titan serum, Joker keeps his mental state and can speak, as opposed to simply roaring. This is because he was already extremely violent, murderous, sadistic and insane and Titan had no effect on his mentality.
- During his take over of the Medical Facility, one of several statements the Joker made throughout the Asylum's P.A. system was "Paging Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard!". That was a reference to the classic Three Stooges episode Men In Black, where the Stooges played incompetent doctors who worked at a hospital.
- In Dr. Young's Notes, Joker may have looked at them, but he only put his signature around himself only, not even Harley. Yet, there was a Joker smile on the Tweedledee and Tweedledum page, as the Tweeds regularly hired themselves out to Joker.
- Of all the minor tweaks to his appearance, the Joker had been given a make-up based smile to make it look like he's always smiling. That was most likely inspired by Caesar Romero's portrayal of the character, who sported the same artificial smile.
- Unlike the other inmates, Joker didn't appear to have an identifiable or decorated cell in Arkham Asylum. The only cell that could possibly be his was one found in the Penitentiary, because on the wall someone had written "Welcome to my humble abode". Alternatively, he could have been kept in the "Extreme Isolation" area of the Asylum, which was the one place that the player could not explore.
- Joker was briefly playable during the third Scarecrow encounter. This was the only time that he was available to play for PC or Xbox users as his Challenge Pack DLC was a Playstation 3 exclusive, most likely due to Warner Bros/DC's business deal with Sony at the time. Joker's only gameplay during this segment was walking.
- After Joker "killed" Batman during the third Scarecrow encounter by shooting him at point blank range, the game recommended "using the middle stick" to avoid his gunfire.
- It was revealed that some time before the events of the game, Warden Quincy Sharp entered Joker's cell and tried to kill him, only to be stopped in his tracks by sheer terror, possibly a result of Scarecrow's Fear Gas or Hugo Strange's manipulations. Precisely why Joker never revealed Sharp's madness to anyone after the incident was not clear, though he might have simply found it more amusing not to.
- It should be noted however, even if he did reveal Sharp's madness to someone, it is likely he would not have been taken seriously, given his insanity and various schemes would cause him to be viewed as unreliable or just attempt to cause trouble.
- The unlockable Patient Interview Tapes for Harley Quinn borrowed heavily from Bruce Timm and Paul Dinni's Mad Love story, which acted as the Animated Series origin for the character. Her ending line, "Say hello to your new and improved Harley Quinn!" was a direct quote from the story.
- Although these tapes acted as the first meeting between the infamous duo, Arkham Origins retconned it into being technically their second.
- The throne of mannequins, dolls and plastic toys Joker sits on just before the finale is likely a homage to the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke where Joker tormented Gordon while sitting on a throne similar to the one used in Batman: Arkham Asylum.
- Asylum was not the first time the Joker had turned to Bane style steroids to improve his act. The idea for his final boss state may have been inspired by Brawn, an episode from the third season of The Batman cartoon show, where that version of the character stole Bane's Venom injector to menace Gotham.
- Joker's Challenge Maps possibly showed how he made his way through the Asylum during the events of Arkham Asylum. However, as he could kill both Aaron Cash and James Gordon during combat, the reality of these events was questionable.
Arkham City
- When Joker won the VGA 2011 Rewards, he was holding a file with the name Batman: Arkham World. He then dropped it: "Whoops, Spoilers".
- The Joker's death in Arkham City was considered, by many Batman fans, to be one of the most shocking moments in video game history.
- In an alternate ending to Arkham City that played if Catwoman decided not to save Batman, a disturbing and panicked radio frequency would be broadcast by Oracle. She pleaded for anyone who could hear her to send help as Joker and his forces had completely destroyed Gotham and murdered nearly everyone, including Batman and her father, and ended by stating that Joker had won. During this ending, a rewound, sped-up message could be heard of the Joker, saying "Thank you for the entertainment, Bats" if the message was slowed down and fast forwarded.
- In the Joker's Carnival Challenge Map, the Joker could be seen watching the fight and joined in when the player reached a x100 hit combo.
- Joker would also act confused by the presence of Robin, which referenced Jason Todd: "Didn't I already kill you?"
- The box of tricks found in the Steel Mill's Boiler Room, that was needed to solve the Riddler's Revenge challenge contained Joker's X-ray spectacles from his Asylum DLC and a grinning Joker fish, a reference to the classic two part Detective Comics #475-#476 story The Laughing Fish! and The Sign of the Joker! by Steve Englehart, as well as the DC Animated Universe adaptation of the story, "The Laughing Fish", where Joker poisoned Gotham City fish to bear his distinctive grin so he could mass market his own brand of fish products.
- Initially, the Arkham City End Game story (a 6-part arc released as part of the Arkham Unhinged series) revealed that after his death, Joker had one final plan to blow up the walls of Arkham City, which was triggered by a posthumous message that Batman recovered during his mission to rescue the GCPD officers from Harley Quinn. Eventually, Batman managed to foil his plan, and he and Gordon arrived to the decision of cremating Joker's body. The Arkham Knight prequel comics told a similar version of the story, with Joker's final plan taking place before Harley Quinn's Revenge, rather than after, and also with the Arkham Knight involved.
- During Harley Quinn's Revenge, several posters for Cadmus Labs could be seen. Cadmus was a science lab in the DC universe that was infamous for cloning experiments. The posters may have indicated a way that Harley was considering to bring her "Puddin'" back or simply a red herring for fans to speculate about a possible resurrection.
- The appearance of Sick Joker in the game was completely different to the reveal trailer for Arkham City. In the trailer, Joker's appearance was far less severe with a more receding hairline and a more realistic sickly look, compared to how he eventually looked at the end of of the game.
- Throughout the game there were three times where the major plot twist with Clayface acting as Joker was subtly revealed.
- The first was when Harley talks about how Joker looked 'perfect' before going on to say it wasn't really him. While this can be dismissed during the first playthrough as playful banter, this little bit actually reveals the plot twist very early on.
- The second was during 'Joker's speech in the Steel Mill, at one point the camera shook and the cameraman was heard coughing. As Joker at that point was being impersonated by Clayface, that meant that the cameraman who was heard coughing was the real Joker.
- The third was the most obvious one if the player knew what to do: during the fight with Joker in the Steel Mill activating Detective Mode showed that Joker didn't have a skeleton, the only other character not to have one was Clayface, which revealed, very clearly to the player, that the Joker fought at the Steel Mill was a fake.
- When Joker (or rather, his body double Clayface) gave his speech about how he was back where he mentioned that he wouldn't do that since he didn't wish to ruin things, said as one of his reasons for not revealing it as an example: "Imagine your favorite show. You've been through it all. The ups, the downs, the crazy coincidences. And then, BANG! They tell you what it's all about. Would you be happy? Does it make sense? How come it all ended in a church?". That was a reference to the TV Drama series Lost, which writer Paul Dini had a hand in creating.
- Ironically, regarding Joker's question about how come the series ended in a church, Batman: Arkham Origins had the final confrontation with the Joker occur in the Prison Chapel at Blackgate.
Arkham Origins
- The Joker's theme song in Arkham Origins was a very dark rendition of "Carol of the Bells."
- Joker's references to "one bad day" and killing a real estate agent to acquire a themepark came from Alan Moore's The Killing Joke.
- Ironically, in Batman: Arkham City, the origin story that Joker told Hugo Strange (which could be heard in his Interview Tapes) was directly from the same graphic novel.
- In Arkham Origins, during the failed comedian flashback, all of the Joker's combat moves were lifted directly from Arkham Asylum including his strutting walk. He also borrowed a few takedowns from Nightwing and used Batman's beatdown.
- In Origins, Joker's biography was the only one to be personally written by Batman.
- It was revealed in Arkham Origins that most of the Joker's henchmen were originally mobsters in Black Mask's gang, before the Joker took over his operations. Listening in on conversations between the gangsters also revealed that many of them were dissatisfied with Black Mask under-paying and dispatching them, and preferred Joker's chaotic way of doing things.
- The in-universe existence of Batman Smells seemed to come from one of Joker's P.A. announcements during the second Blackgate Riot: "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Gotham's quite a mess! Blackgate's mine and you're out of time, which means you'll soon be dead!" A Blackgate escapee sung it later on, to which Batman simply responded with an annoyed "No." before he knocked him out.
- The monstrous version of Batman, seen from Joker's P.O.V. during his flashback and final confrontation with the hero, was the 'Nightmare Batman', an alternative skin that was initially going to be unlockable after completing the Worst Nightmare challenges in Arkham Origins. The skin could not be incorporated into the finished game in time for release and the version seen in the cutscenes and trophy gallery were most likely pre-renders, now the only traces of it in the entire game.
- Joker was playable in an online multi-player mode and very briefly in the Story mode in Batman: Arkham Origins, which was the second time that he had been playable since Arkham Asylum.
- The Joker's biography in Arkham Origins made a reference to Batman's thoughts in: The Man Who Laughs.
- Joker's Character Trophy showed that his wrists weren't bleached white and had a normal pigmentation to them, while that could have been seen as just a developer oversight. It should be noted that there were very small traces of human toned pigmentation on Joker's face, which possibly indicated (along with the newspaper articles of Red Hood in the Batcave) that Red Hood's encounter with Batman and his transformation into the Joker had only recently happened, and that slowly, the rest of his skin started to turn white.
- While wearing Black Mask's outfit, sans mask, Joker bears a strong resemblance to his incarnation from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.
Arkham Knight
- In New Game Plus, the opening sequence where the Joker was cremated ended with the Joker suddenly waking up and screaming in pain before proceeding to lie back down and laugh all the way to oblivion, with him then mockingly narrating the first line of Commissioner Gordon's speech.
- In the opening, the name of the retort used to cremate the Joker was "Robinson" alluding to Joker's original artist and one of his co-creators, Jerry Robinson.
- Gordon considered Joker to be an "evil bastard".
- Joker's X-ray specs, his personal handgun, a set of explosive Joker Teeth and the dart gun which Joker used to inject Titan in his body after failing to take over Arkham Asylum could be seen in a display case in the Evidence Room at the GCPD Lockup.
- At the end of the game, when Batman finally confronted Joker inside his head, it was revealed and shown by Batman that Joker was afraid of not being remembered.
- Joker, as well as his demise, was also alluded to by Red Hood in the Red Hood Story Pack DLC, where he told Black Mask after he kicked him out a window to his death to say 'hi' to Joker for him.
- Joker was also alluded to twice in the Scarecrow Nightmare Challenges DLC, both by Scarecrow: The first allusion had him congratulating Batman on the rumors of creating the Joker, and expressed it to be a waste that he couldn't keep him alive (which implied that he liked Joker for his causing a significant amount of fear among Gotham), and the second had him telling Batman how he thought, contrary to Batman's claims, that Joker's death was deliberately ensured by the Dark Knight.
- After being infected with Fear Toxin, which caused Batman to hallucinate Joker, billboards and posters would sometimes portray Joker and Batman in surreal imagery, with lingering laughter in the background.
- One of Joker's Game Over sequences was a reference to the Game Overs in the Metal Gear Solid series.
- Enemy conversations revealed that Joker had once attempted to run for President of the United States, complete with his own TV spots. The militia also remarked that it was unclear how he even got onto the ballot.
- Throughout the game, Joker shifted between his healthy appearance from Asylum and his sickly, scarred face in City, though his sick appearance got more play due to a bit of subtle storytelling. In the first hallucination, over half of Joker's face had Titan scarring, his suit was ratty and washed out, and even his lapel flower was wilted, roughly as bad as he looked at the time of his death. As the game progressed, and Batman was exposed to more toxin, Joker's appearance improved, his suit gaining more color and his scarring becoming less severe. By the truck sequence, he looked slightly better than he did in his first City appearance, and once Scarecrow hit Batman with the last dose of toxin while strapped to the gurney, Joker's makeup was perfect and his suit looked newly made. That reflected how much stronger the Joker persona was growing as Batman's willpower was broken down, but it also showed Batman letting go of the guilt that he felt for not being able to save the Clown Prince of Crime. In a backwards way, the Joker persona and his constant commentary was partially Batman reminding himself of what the Joker really was, and realigned his memory of the Joker from the man he couldn't save to a pure, impartial view of a murderer and monster that flat-out didn't want to be redeemed, and who could only be stopped in death. Once Batman had freed himself of the guilt, and remembered the Joker that he had spent years fighting instead of the Joker that he spent one night trying to save, he was able to capitalize on the clown's fear of being forgotten to reduce him to nothing but that memory, an untarnished image of the Joker, who was finally locked away forever.
- The hallucination where the Joker's neck got snapped by Batman's hands was similar to his final fate in The Dark Knight Returns.
- Joker's consciousness surviving and taking over his foe's knowledge and resources was done in "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker". He took over the body of Tim Drake, and used his skills as an engineer to create a satellite weapon, before he was defeated by the new Batman, Terry McGinnis. Similarly, Joker also had a weakness that Batman ultimately exploited to take him down once and for all (in the film, Joker's irritation that he never got Batman to laugh, which the new Batman, Terry McGinnis, exploited by mocking Joker; in Arkham Knight, his fear of being forgotten, which Batman exploited by exposing himself and Joker to a full dose of fear gas and then locking him away into a central part of his consciousness doomed to be forgotten). Nevertheless, there were several differences. The first was that instead of a blood transfusion, it was a microchip. Second, a significant amount of time had passed and Joker had not been forgotten - if anything, the series and film portrayed Joker's legacy lasting as long as Batman's own, with an entire gang-faction of criminals being founded in the Clown Prince's honor; "The Jokerz". Ironically, both versions of the Joker were voiced by Mark Hamill.
- The song Joker sang in place of Johnny Charisma "The Asylum Blues" was a reference to Joker's relationship with Batman and the events that led to Arkham Knight.
- Arkham Knight was the third time the Joker was a playable character in the series; though he was only playable near the end of the game, and could only walk around, shoot, and briefly use the Jokermobile.
- The idea of Joker appearing as a hallucination due to Scarecrow's Fear Toxin was planned in the film, Batman Triumphant. Ironically, Arkham Knight had a similar plot to what was known, with Joker returning as a ghost (rather than a hallucination as seen in Arkham Knight), Scarecrow as the main antagonist, and Harley's prominent role. Whether or not it was a coincidence or Rocksteady used it as inspiration, was unknown.
- At one point during the Cloudburst Mission, Joker, when trying to convince Batman to leave the city to its fate, stated that Gotham City was "falling faster than the Flying Graysons on Take-Your-Kid-To-Work Day!", which indirectly alluded to the death of Nightwing's secret identity, Dick Grayson's parents during a circus performance via the mob boss Tony Zucco sabotaging their acrobat ropes. Ironically, Mark Hamill, Joker's voice actor in the game, voiced Tony Zucco in The Batman.
- In the A Matter of Family DLC, Joker was seen wearing a master of ceremonies top hat,which was fitting for his technically owning an amusement park during the events of the game.
- When commentating on the enemies trying to fight Batgirl and Robin in the beginning of the DLC, he shouted: "Where's Gordy?!" in much the same manner as the announcer yelling: "Here's Johnny" in the beginning of the Johnny Carson show.
- Coincidentally, Jack Nicholson, the actor for the version of the Joker in the 1989 Batman film, had played the father in The Shining, who said a darker version of the above opening catchphrase when chopping down a door with an axe with murderous intent toward his family.
- Sometimes, Joker would refer to Batgirl as "Bat-Fake", which was the insult that he used on Terry McGinnis in the movie, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Coincidentally, both Return of the Joker and A Matter of Family had Batman being replaced by Terry and Batgirl, respectively (although the latter was temporary while the former was permanent).
- In the sequence when Joker took over Batman's mind, at one point, the screen went black. Turning Joker's flashlight on would put you in front of the Concept Art of Joker's death in Arkham City, in which he said: "Ah, memories".
- Using Photo Mode during the scene where Joker showed Jason Todd the Batman and Robin picture would actually reveal it to be a picture of when Batman and current Robin, Tim Drake, meet once during the events of Arkham City. The picture in question showed them after Robin arrived to help Batman after being ganged up on by the League of Assassin ninjas, and before Batman went to search for Ra's al Ghul.
- The Joker appeared to break the fourth wall. Sometimes, while on a building, the Joker would mention that he had figured out who the Arkham Knight was and mentioned several unlikely candidates, with an odd explanation behind how they could be the Knight. That could be a subtle jab directed at individuals who attempted to figure out the Arkham Knight's identity with ridiculous ideas and concepts prior to the game's release, like Quincy Sharp being the Arkham Knight for example.
- Every time the hallucination of the Joker talked, faint Joker laughter was heard.
- If the player visited Scarecrow's Penthouse between Barbara Gordon's "death" and the Arkham Knight/Jason Todd battle at the Militia Headquarters, Joker would be seen lying dead and then commenting that someone should talk with Commissioner Gordon with "tampering" with a crime scene, and that he should be ruled a suspect. That was a foreshadowing of the plot twist where Barbara Gordon was actually alive and that Jim Gordon was pressured into working with Scarecrow to ensure her safety.
- Similarly, during the scene where Barbara Gordon "commits suicide", Joker would be seen moving her gun closer to her slightly, which hinted that the scene was not actually real.
- After locking a villain in the cell at the GCPD Lockup, Joker made a comment about them. He also made a comment after talking to the villain for the first time after they were locked up. The Joker however will not appear and speak of The Season of Infamy villains. In fact Joker does not appear at all when on a side mission for The Season of Infamy, indicating it takes place after Scarecrow is apprehended by Batman. However, this may have been an oversight by the programmers, or they simply couldn't think or anything that Joker would say to the villains of the Season of Infamy, and thus didn't attempt to do so.
- It was a surprise for many players to hear the Joker being voiced by Mark Hamill again, as he hadn't voiced the character since 2011's Arkham City, and he only said that he'd come back if an adaptation of The Killing Joke were ever made. Though many did assume that Joker would make an appearance as a short Fear Toxin hallucination in the game, many never expected the hallucination to be one of the main characters in the game as well as voiced by Mark Hamill once more.
- In the Batgirl DLC "A Matter In The Family", Joker took over the amusement park when he met Edward Burke, the man who the built the amusement park for his 5 year old daughter. After the death of Burke's daughter, Burke died when he tried pills that had Joker Toxin that poisoned him. It was reference to the comic "The Killing Joke" that Joker killed the amusement park owner with a poison grin pin on his hand when they shook hands on the deal.
- Joker implied, during his many comments, that one of the reasons why Batman had decided to outfit the new Batmobile with a more extensive arsenal was because of the villain's consciousness subtly influencing him. While Batman never designed the weapons to react lethally and simply wanted to be better prepared for the inevitable war that was to break out in Gotham, Joker may have had a hand in the vehicle's designs.
External Links
- The Joker on the DC Comics Wiki