THE JOKER
The Joker is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain widely considered to be Batman'sarchenemy. He was first introduced in Batman #1 (Spring 1940) and has remained consistently popular since then.
The Joker, whose real name is unknown in most adaptations (he is known simply as Jack in "The Killing Joke"), is a master criminal with a clown-like appearance. Initially portrayed as a violent sociopath who murders people for his own amusement, the Joker, later in the 1940s, began to be written as a goofy trickster-thief. That characterization continued through the late-1950s and 1960s before the character became again depicted as a vicious, psychopathic killer. The Joker has been responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle) and the murders of Jason Todd (the second Robin) and Jim Gordon's second wife Sarah Essen.
Interpretations of the Joker in other media include Cesar Romero's in the 1960s Batman television series, Jack Nicholson's in Tim Burton's Batman (1989 film), and Mark Hamill's in Batman: The Animated Series and other DC Animated Universe shows. Wizard magazine listed him the #1 villian of all time in 2006. As played by Nicholson, The Joker ranks #45 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 50 film villains of all time. Heath Ledger signed to play the Joker in July 2006, for director Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight.
Analysis on Criminal Insanity
From the Joker's first appearance in Batman #1, he has been willing (and eager) to wreak as much havoc as possible upon innocent people in order to claim the mantle of Gotham City's greatest criminal mastermind. Throughout his decades-long war with Batman, he has committed crimes both whimsical and inhumanly brutal, all with a logic and reasoning that, in Batman's words, "make sense to him alone."
The Joker commits crimes with countless "comedic" weapons (such as razor-sharp playing cards, acid-spewing flowers, cyanide pies, and lethally electric joy buzzers) and Joker venom, a deadly poison that infects his victims with a ghoulish rictus grin as they die while laughing uncontrollably. This venom, which the Joker is immune to, comes in many forms, from gas to darts to liquid poison, and has been his primary calling card from his first appearance till the present. The Joker is also very skilled in the fields of chemistry, genetics, and nuclear engineering; he is shown to be very computer literate.
Joker's skills in hand-to-hand combat vary considerably depending on the writer. Some writers have shown Joker to be quite the skilled fighter, capable even of holding his own against Batman in a fight. Other writers prefer portraying Joker as being physically frail to the point that he can be defeated with a single punch. He is however consistently described as agile.
The Joker has cheated death numerous times, even in seemingly inescapable and lethal situations. Though he has been seen caught in explosions, been shot repeatedly, dropped from heights, electrocuted, etc, the Joker always manages to return fully alive and unscathed to wreak havoc again.
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Portrayals in live films
The 1989 Batman film, directed by Tim Burton, offered a somewhat different origin for the Joker, portrayed by Jack Nicholson, and at the same time made him part of Batman's origin (being the crook who killed Bruce Wayne's parents). The Joker's real name in the movie is Jack Napier, the narcissistic right-hand man of Boss Carl Grissom Following his disfigurement, the Joker kills Grissom, takes over the gangster's empire, engaging in a violent, chaotic crime spree, the motive being to "outdo" Batman, who he feels was getting too much press. The name Jack Napier is a quadruple pun, on the word "jackanapes"; and the historic criminal Jack the Ripper; possibly a reference to a Spanish term for playing cards, "naipes"; and also the surname of actor Alan Napier, who had played Alfred in the 1960s series.
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A Joker playing card is shown at the end of Batman Begins, where it had been used as a calling card by a costumed criminal who was not explicitly named.
The Joker (portrayed by Heath Ledger) appears as the main villain in The Dark Knight. He possesses no origin story or clearly defined past; his clown like appearance is the result of make-up and Glasgow smile-like scars. He offers two different accounts of how he came to possess the scars (child abuse and self-mutilation), but it is not known whether either one is true or if he merely made up these stories. The Joker is also responsible for the origin of Harvey Dent's fall from grace and transformation into Two-Face.
Though a unique portrayal, this Joker interpretation maintains much of his comic personality, such as his refusal to kill Batman. His philosophy that people are all insane and Two-face's origin story in the film mirror the themes and plot of The Killing Joke, as well as his unreliable memory. Heath Ledger described the Joker as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy".
Ledger has been greatly praised for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight, which was released on 24 July 2008 in the United Kingdom. Sadly, Ledger's unexpected death on 22nd January 2008 (from a supposed drugs overdose) meant that he was unable to receive this almost unanimous praise. He is now being considered for a posthumous Oscar for his role, an honor never before granted to a comic book adaptation.
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