The Joker (DC animated universe)
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| The Joker
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| Bob Kane Bill Finger |
The Joker (Jack Napier), a DC Comics supervillain and enemy of Batman, consistently appeared in Batman: The Animated Series, and several of the related series created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, played by Mark Hamill.
Contents |
[edit] Appearances
- Christmas With the Joker
- The Last Laugh
- Be a Clown
- Joker's Favor
- The Laughing Fish
- The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne
- Joker's Wild
- Almost Got 'Im
- The Man Who Killed Batman
- Harley and Ivy
- Trial
- Harlequinade
- Make 'Em Laugh
- Holiday Knights
- Joker's Millions
- Old Wounds
- Legends of the Dark Knight
- Mad Love
- Beware the Creeper
- The World's Finest, part I
- The World's Finest, part II
- The World's Finest, part III
- The Big Leagues (Static Shock)
- Injustice for All, part I (Justice League
- Injustice for All, part II (Justice League
- Wild Card, part I (Justice League
- Wild Card, part II (Justice League
[edit] Movies
[edit] Cameos
- The Forgotten
- Fear of Victory
- Dreams in Darkness
- Fire from Olympus
- Only a Dream
- Hereafter (Justice League)
- The Once and Future Thing, part II: Time Warped (Justice League Unlimited)
[edit] DC animated universe history
In Batman: The Animated Series, the Joker made the most appearances of any villain in Batman's rogues' gallery, helping solidify his presence as the Batman's arch-foe (situation repeated in The Batman. The relationship between Batman and Joker in the animated universe is one of a constant back-and-forth as to who is really angering the other. Often, it is the Joker that aggravates Batman, with the Joker thrilling at Batman's glowering in-appreciation of his "comedy".
As in the 1989 Batman film, in Batman: The Animated Series - as seen in Beware the Creeper and the spin-off movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm - the Joker is portrayed as Jack Napier, a former anonymous hitman for the mafia (only in this case a gang consisting of Sal Valestra, Chuckie Sol and Buzz Bronski) with ties to the Carl Beaumont family, later the one who killed Carl Beaumont.
As in the Alan Moore graphic novel, The Killing Joke, the Joker gets his look from an accident involving Batman in the Ace Waste Disposal Plant, but like in Tim Burton's live action movie, he was not wearing any disguise when he made his fateful attempt to rob the plant. In the series, the Joker recalls that Batman "intentionally" pushed him into the chemicals.
Unlike the 1989 movie, however, no attempt has been made to connect him with the death of Bruce Wayne's parents. In For the Man who Has Everything, it is revealed that Batman thinks the murderer is a goon named Joe Chill in the credits.
Other times the victims naively decide to put themselves in his path (Be a Clown, Joker's Wild), but the result is always the same. In Almost Got 'Im after bragging to his insane peers and Poker mates how he almost killed Batman on national TV, he reveals he kidnapped Catwoman as a consolation price and he had Harley Quinn ready to literally make her cat food.
The only characters that seem to be somewhat safe from his deadly jokes seem to be most his henchmen, his Arkham peers, the Penguin, some super villains like his Injustice Gang teammates, and Harley Quinn, who despite all the warnings from Batman never becomes a murder victim of the Joker (she even survives him by more than forty years). Besides the Injustice Gang, he teams up with the Penguin and Two-Face in The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne (yet another Englehart story) and with eight of his Arkham inmates in Trial
In The New Batman Adventures episode Joker's Millions, the audience gets to see another side of of the villain. After struggling for money (situation referenced since The World's Finnest), loosing his gang, Harley and finally even his apartment, he inherits the money of his hated rival, the mobster known as King Barlowe. The Joker is so relived about his situation, that he decides to go straight. So much that in the end, as he discovers his deceased enemy tricked him, he decides to make a hit characteristic of his modus operandi to keep his economical status and life style without being caught. When he is finally caught and send back to Arkham, Harley Quinn is awaiting him in the police van and furious because he used his money to get a more voluptuous assistant instead of trying to free her, she starts beating him, in yet anther unlikely situation.
The episode Legends of the Dark Knight also features the Joker, as imagined by a kid. The story was inspired by the Dick Sprang comics of the 1950s. This Joker was voiced by comedian Michael McKean (Spinal Tap, Saturday Night Live).
This DC animated Universe version of the Joker also appears in the Static Shock episode The Big Leagues, in which the Joker traveled to Dakota, home of Static, to recruit a few bang babies for assistance in battling Batman, Robin, and they managed to caught them, but in the end, Static defeated Joker, and he was taken back to Arkham Asylum.
Through out the series, the Joker shows a constant soft spot for classic comedy. among his favorite themes are stand-up comedy, prop comedy, clown comedy, Johny Carson, The Three Stooges, The Marx brothers, Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes. All of his plans are elaborated, themed and end up in a sick ironic twist. Unlike the Penguin who would rather just get rid of Batman, all the Joker's attempts to kill him have to be a the result of a brilliant plan designed all by himself as described. In Mad Love Harley bested him in achieving so and delivered Batman to him admitting he can't escape, but the Joker beat her and frees Batman in order to achieve the same some time on his own (similar reaction to the one he had when Sidney "Sid the Sqwid" Debries thought he killed Batman).
[edit] Justice League
In the Justice League episode Injustice for All, the Joker becomes a member of the Injustice Gang after Copperhead was arrested. The super-villainous team benefits from his knowledge of Batman's behavior and he gained another shot at his nemesis.
In the episode Wild Cards, the Joker places a series of bombs all over Las Vegas, and the Justice League has less than 30 minutes to defuse while they were watched on TV all over the country in a reality show fashion. However, he sends the Royal Flush Gang (Ace, Ten, Jack, Queen, and King) to stop the League to make things more interesting. When all but one of the Royal Flush Gang were defeated and all of the bombs were disposed of, the Joker revealed his true plan: to use Ace's powers to drive people crazy just by looking at them. Batman fools Harley Quinn into leading him to the Joker's location making her believe he was cheating her with Ace. After beating Harley, Batman arrives. During the fight Batman pulls the headband that controlled Ace's powers from Joker's coat. Ace, feeling angry and betrayed by Joker, used her powers on him, and the Joker went into a catatonic state.
[edit] Dead in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
The Joker is the main villain of the animated film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, in which he returns to Gotham after 40 years, during which he was believed to be dead. The Joker wreaks havoc on the futuristic Gotham leaving its residents terrified, well aware of his legend. It is eventually revealed that the original Joker did die 40 years ago, and that the Joker threatening the city is actually Tim Drake (the second Robin in the "Animated Series" continuity), whose body was being possessed by the Joker's memories and physical appearance due to an implanted chip encoded with his DNA during the time Drake was held captive and tortured. The Joker is eventually killed for good when Terry McGinnis uses the Joker's own electrocuting joy buzzer to overload and destroy the chip removing its hold over Drake.
[edit] Design
Along with the Scarecrow, the Joker was the Batman villain that went through the most redesigns. Others like the Penguin and Catwoman went through a similar process, but at the end only two designs were featured on TV. Putting aside their Jonathan Crane and Jack Napier looks, the Joker and the Scarecrow were consecutively featured with three different looks on TV.
The Joker started using the exact same outfit he uses in the comics and has the popular long head complexion of the comics from the silver age and current continuity, only with darker hair and no eyebrows, making him somewhat creepier. For The New Batman Adventures his outfit changed to look more like a ringmaster, lost the vest and the lipstick and his eyeballs were made black with white eyes. No explanation for this change was ever made, making it clear that it's just a new artistic interpretation.
In the Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker direct to DVD movie, the artistic interpretation of the character was changed once again (Batman aside, he is so far the only character from The New Batman Adventures to be redesigned one more time). This is the design that was later featured in Justice League.
[edit] Action figures
[edit] Gang
Through out all of his appearances in the DC animated Universe, The Joker's gangs have been a hallmark of the character. Sometimes he is surrounded by common thugs like in The Last Laugh or in Joker's Millions but he is often seen among characters almost as peculiar and bizarre as himself.
[edit] Harley Quinn
[edit] Lou and Bud
[edit] Henshaw and Rocco
Henshaw and Rocco are among the most recurring henchmen in Batman: The Animated Series. They are a couple of look alike fat men who wear the same suit with different color vests and bow-ties and have different hair color. They look like a more relaxed and less insane version of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, who once or twice have henched for the Joker in the comics.
Henshay and Rocco first appear in The Laughing Fish and become the Joker’s regular henchmen for the rest of the first season (Joker's Favor, Harley & Ivy) with the notable exception of The Man Who Killed Batman. Later, they come back for a flashback in The New Batman Adventures (the third season) episode Old Wounds with the same design to create a more accurate Batman: The Animated Series "old times" feeling.
In Harley and Ivy the showed tendency to laugh at inappropriate and inconvenient moments for themselves, finding funnier Harley's jokes than those of the Joker.
They appeared a total of four episodes and were voiced by Neil Ross, Townsend Coleman and Robert Costanzo (who also voices Harvey Bullock.[edit] Moe, Lar and Cur
Moe, Lar and Cur were also among the most featured henchmen in the series. Although nameless, they started henching for the Joker in Harlequinade looking as three bulky men with black mime outfits and make up and stick around for the rest of the series, taking the place of Rocco and Henshaw. Unlike them, the trio seem to be unconditional followers of the Joker.
For The New Batman Adventures they were redesigned with hairstyles that honor the original Three Stooges. They barely talk, but when they do they act in a similar way to the comedians they are honoring with their appearance.[edit] The Jokerz
[edit] Captain Clown
A robot featured in The Last Laugh. He serves as a sailor and bodyguard for the Joker and gives some fight to the Batman, but he eventually manages to destroy the robot angering the Joker. It is unknown how does the Joker gets this android.
At the time the Joker also has a submarine and two other minions with the appearance of regular street goons.[edit] Faker Harley, Ernie and the Joker's Lawyer
In Joker's Millions, after the Joker loosed his entire gang, ending in absolute bankruptcy and Harley was send to Arkham, he inherits King Barlowe's money and gathers a new gang. Ernie (left picture) was among them. His most remarkable action was posing as the Joker in the Iceberg Lounge, but Batman caught him quickly. He was voiced by Sam McMurray.
In the same episode, instead of trying to release or free the original Harley, the Joker started auditions to hire a new one. Several ugly women (and a guy who looked like Paul Dini) attended the audition and were rejected until an astonishingly gorgeous and voluptuous bimbo with no brains got the job. Her comments were incredibly annoying and she was completely useless. After the Joker got caught at the end of the episode, the original Harley awaited him in the police truck to beat him. She was voiced by Maggie Wheeler.
The Joker's lawyer in this episode looks and acts like Johnnie Cochran, O. J. Simpson's opportunist defender or Jackie Chilles, the equivalent parody character of Seinfeld. He not only plays the devil's advocate but benefits from it. This character returns in Over the Edge, now representing the Mad Hatter, Harley, Scarface / the Ventriloquist and the Riddler, who are suing Batman in the agitation of the Batgirl incident. He was voiced by John Garry.
[edit] Lairs
In Christmas With the Joker he uses the Laffco Toys factory as his base of operations and the Gotham City Observatory as his actual hideout. In the The Last Laugh, he uses a submarine as his headquarters and in Be a Clown he uses a closed amusement park.
However his most steady lair is the one featured in The Man Who Killed Batman or Harley and Ivy. It is where his hyenas, Bud and Lou are introduced and it has a throne framed by a big colored sculpture of his own head and hands holding some cards, and as revealed in Harlequinade, it also has a TV wall showing footage of spying cameras placed in key places of Gotham City (as in the movie Sliver and The Simpsons episode Burn's Heir).
The Ace Waste Disposal Plant is a recurring place for his crimes. That's where he was transformed and seven years later, in Beware the Creeper, he attempts to kill Jack Ryder, accidentally transforming him into the Creeper. It was also there the attempts to kill [[Syney Sid the Sqwid Debree|Syney Sid the Sqwid Debree]] in The Man Who Killed Batman.[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The World's Finest, a site with a complete guide to the DC animated universe. It's the source of a great deal of the related images in Pop-Cult Guides.
- The Joker at DCAUResource.com
- The Animated Batman, an Unofficial Guide, a site with a complete guide to Bruce Timm's Batman. It's the source of a great deal of the related images in Pop-Cult Guides.
