Post by Dawn on Feb 10, 2010 1:08:24 GMT -5
First Name:Jack
Last Name:Napier
Alias or Nick-name:The Joker,Clown Prince of Crime
Age:
Height/Weight:5'10"/ 185 lbs
Eyes:Green
Hair:Green
Persuasion: Evil
Powers/Weapons:The Joker commits crimes with countless "comedic" weapons (such as razor sharp playing cards, acid-spewing flowers, 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 (although some versions cause immediate death, without the painful laugh spasms beforehand.) This venom comes in many forms, from gas to darts to liquid poison, and has been his primary calling card from 1940 till the present. In the 1989 movie, it was dubbed "Smilex." The Joker is also very skilled in the field of chemistry, and is no slouch at hand-to-hand combat.
History:The definitive origin and actual name for the character was never established in the comics, although in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #50, a retelling of the Joker's origin (including revealing exactly who invented the gas that gives its victims the Joker's telltale grin), his cousin, Melvin Reipan, an idiot savant, presumably thinks his first name is Jack; Melvin calls the Joker "Cousin Ja-" before he cuts him off, saying that he's now "Cousin Joker."
As revealed in a 1951 story, the Joker was originally a criminal who called himself the "Red Hood." In an encounter with Batman, he jumped into a pool of chemicals to escape pursuit. The chemicals dyed his skin white, his lips red, and his hair green, giving him the appearance of a ghastly clown.
This origin was greatly expanded upon in the 1988 graphic novel, Batman: The Killing Joke written by Alan Moore. In that story, the Joker was an unnamed engineer who quit his job at a chemical company to become a stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperate to support his pregnant wife, he agreed to guide two criminals into the plant for a robbery. During the planning, the police came and informed him that his wife had just died in a household accident. Grief-stricken, the engineer tried to withdraw from the plan, but the criminals strong-armed him into keeping his commitment to them.
At the plant, the criminals made him don a special mask to become the infamous Red Hood. It gave his vision a red tint which caused his view of the plant to look like what is suggested to be hell; this may have magnified the impact of what occurs later. Unknown to the engineer, this was simply a way to implicate any accomplice as the mastermind of a crime to divert attention from themselves. Once inside, they almost immediately blundered into security personnel and a violent shootout and chase ensued. The criminals were gunned down and the engineer found himself confronted by Batman, who was investigating the disturbance.
In panicked desperation, the engineer fell into a toxic waste vat and was swept through a pipe leading to the outside. Outside, he discovered, to his horror, that the chemicals permanently stained his skin chalk white, his lips ruby red and his hair bright green. This turn of events, compounded by the man's misfortunes on that one day, drove him completely insane and resulted in the birth of the Joker.
The Joker emerges from the vat and goes insane, in a scene from The Killing Joke. Art by Brian Bolland.In a 2004 comic book (Batman: Gotham Knights #54), it was heavily implied that much of the above origin was in fact true (and that the Joker's first name was Jack), with details of it being backed up by a witness to the death of the Joker's wife. In this version, however, his wife was kidnapped and murdered by those same gangsters, in order to force his cooperation in the Red Hood robbery. The witness was none other than Edward Nigma, who would eventually become the Riddler.
In the short story "On a Beautiful Summer's Day, He Was" by Robert McCammon, featured in the anthology The Further Adventures of the Joker, the Joker is suggested to have been born a monster, not made one by bad luck. The story concerns him as a young boy who derives pleasure from killing small animals (considered the hallmark sign of a budding sociopath) and collecting their bones. The story notes that his father is also insane and, in a chilling scene, beats his mother while the boy listens through the wall, grinning. The end of the story has him graduating to murder, killing a neighborhood boy who discovers his makeshift graveyard. The story identifies the Joker's last name as Napier.
In "Best of All," another story in the anthology, the Joker murdered his abusive, alcoholic father as a child. His mother was revealed to be Batman's old friend and confidante Leslie Thompkins, which he revealed to Batman to torment him.
In both the 1989 movie and the animated series, however, the Joker was a hitman for the mob. In the movie, Bruce Wayne looks over Jack Napier's criminal record and reads that he was deemed a psychopath. For both these versions of the Joker, falling in the vat of chemicals did not make him insane; on the contrary, it only allowed him to find a way to vent all his insanity among those around him with incredible ease.
Any recountings of the Joker's origin are largely unreliable, however, as they are taken directly from his own memories, and as he himself puts it in The Killing Joke, "I'm not exactly sure what happened. Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!".It is often implied that the Joker was transformed both physically and mentally by the accident in the chemical plant. Batman: The Animated Series goes so far as to imply that exposing others to the same process will grant them similar powers; specifically, this occurs in the episode "Beware the Creeper," which created a new version of the DC Comics character The Creeper. In Elseworlds: Distant Fires, the Joker is rendered sane by a nuclear war which deprives all super beings of their powers (though contrarily, in Act of God, another Elseworlds storyline, a more mysterious yet widespread "de-powering" event takes place which leaves the Joker unaffected).
In an Alex Ross-penned story in Batman Black & White Volume 2, psychiatrists ponder that perhaps the Joker is sane and fakes insanity to keep himself out of prison. It is suggested that he is completely in control of himself but is a savage sadist, and uses his disfigurements as an excuse to terrify and murder his victims. Ironically, the doctor who came up with this theory was Harlene Quinzel, whom Joker later transformed into to his insane accomplice, Harley Quinn.
Comic character is from:Batman
Last Name:Napier
Alias or Nick-name:The Joker,Clown Prince of Crime
Age:
Height/Weight:5'10"/ 185 lbs
Eyes:Green
Hair:Green
Persuasion: Evil
Powers/Weapons:The Joker commits crimes with countless "comedic" weapons (such as razor sharp playing cards, acid-spewing flowers, 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 (although some versions cause immediate death, without the painful laugh spasms beforehand.) This venom comes in many forms, from gas to darts to liquid poison, and has been his primary calling card from 1940 till the present. In the 1989 movie, it was dubbed "Smilex." The Joker is also very skilled in the field of chemistry, and is no slouch at hand-to-hand combat.
History:The definitive origin and actual name for the character was never established in the comics, although in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #50, a retelling of the Joker's origin (including revealing exactly who invented the gas that gives its victims the Joker's telltale grin), his cousin, Melvin Reipan, an idiot savant, presumably thinks his first name is Jack; Melvin calls the Joker "Cousin Ja-" before he cuts him off, saying that he's now "Cousin Joker."
As revealed in a 1951 story, the Joker was originally a criminal who called himself the "Red Hood." In an encounter with Batman, he jumped into a pool of chemicals to escape pursuit. The chemicals dyed his skin white, his lips red, and his hair green, giving him the appearance of a ghastly clown.
This origin was greatly expanded upon in the 1988 graphic novel, Batman: The Killing Joke written by Alan Moore. In that story, the Joker was an unnamed engineer who quit his job at a chemical company to become a stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperate to support his pregnant wife, he agreed to guide two criminals into the plant for a robbery. During the planning, the police came and informed him that his wife had just died in a household accident. Grief-stricken, the engineer tried to withdraw from the plan, but the criminals strong-armed him into keeping his commitment to them.
At the plant, the criminals made him don a special mask to become the infamous Red Hood. It gave his vision a red tint which caused his view of the plant to look like what is suggested to be hell; this may have magnified the impact of what occurs later. Unknown to the engineer, this was simply a way to implicate any accomplice as the mastermind of a crime to divert attention from themselves. Once inside, they almost immediately blundered into security personnel and a violent shootout and chase ensued. The criminals were gunned down and the engineer found himself confronted by Batman, who was investigating the disturbance.
In panicked desperation, the engineer fell into a toxic waste vat and was swept through a pipe leading to the outside. Outside, he discovered, to his horror, that the chemicals permanently stained his skin chalk white, his lips ruby red and his hair bright green. This turn of events, compounded by the man's misfortunes on that one day, drove him completely insane and resulted in the birth of the Joker.
The Joker emerges from the vat and goes insane, in a scene from The Killing Joke. Art by Brian Bolland.In a 2004 comic book (Batman: Gotham Knights #54), it was heavily implied that much of the above origin was in fact true (and that the Joker's first name was Jack), with details of it being backed up by a witness to the death of the Joker's wife. In this version, however, his wife was kidnapped and murdered by those same gangsters, in order to force his cooperation in the Red Hood robbery. The witness was none other than Edward Nigma, who would eventually become the Riddler.
In the short story "On a Beautiful Summer's Day, He Was" by Robert McCammon, featured in the anthology The Further Adventures of the Joker, the Joker is suggested to have been born a monster, not made one by bad luck. The story concerns him as a young boy who derives pleasure from killing small animals (considered the hallmark sign of a budding sociopath) and collecting their bones. The story notes that his father is also insane and, in a chilling scene, beats his mother while the boy listens through the wall, grinning. The end of the story has him graduating to murder, killing a neighborhood boy who discovers his makeshift graveyard. The story identifies the Joker's last name as Napier.
In "Best of All," another story in the anthology, the Joker murdered his abusive, alcoholic father as a child. His mother was revealed to be Batman's old friend and confidante Leslie Thompkins, which he revealed to Batman to torment him.
In both the 1989 movie and the animated series, however, the Joker was a hitman for the mob. In the movie, Bruce Wayne looks over Jack Napier's criminal record and reads that he was deemed a psychopath. For both these versions of the Joker, falling in the vat of chemicals did not make him insane; on the contrary, it only allowed him to find a way to vent all his insanity among those around him with incredible ease.
Any recountings of the Joker's origin are largely unreliable, however, as they are taken directly from his own memories, and as he himself puts it in The Killing Joke, "I'm not exactly sure what happened. Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!".It is often implied that the Joker was transformed both physically and mentally by the accident in the chemical plant. Batman: The Animated Series goes so far as to imply that exposing others to the same process will grant them similar powers; specifically, this occurs in the episode "Beware the Creeper," which created a new version of the DC Comics character The Creeper. In Elseworlds: Distant Fires, the Joker is rendered sane by a nuclear war which deprives all super beings of their powers (though contrarily, in Act of God, another Elseworlds storyline, a more mysterious yet widespread "de-powering" event takes place which leaves the Joker unaffected).
In an Alex Ross-penned story in Batman Black & White Volume 2, psychiatrists ponder that perhaps the Joker is sane and fakes insanity to keep himself out of prison. It is suggested that he is completely in control of himself but is a savage sadist, and uses his disfigurements as an excuse to terrify and murder his victims. Ironically, the doctor who came up with this theory was Harlene Quinzel, whom Joker later transformed into to his insane accomplice, Harley Quinn.
Comic character is from:Batman
