<P> Though a number of backstories have been given , a definitive one has not yet been established for the Joker . An unreliable narrator , the character is uncertain of who he was before and how he became the Joker : `` Sometimes I remember it one way , sometimes another ... if I 'm going to have a past , I prefer it to be multiple choice ! '' A story about the Joker 's origin appeared in Detective Comics # 168 ( February 1951 ) , nearly a decade after the character 's debut . Here , the character is a laboratory worker who becomes the Red Hood ( a masked criminal ) to steal a million dollars from his employer and retire . He falls into a vat of chemical waste when his heist is thwarted by Batman , emerging with bleached white skin , red lips , green hair and a permanent grin . </P>
who was the joker before he went crazy
the character is uncertain of who he was before