The Batman villain that everyone really knows is probably the Joker. Whether in movies, games, or comics, the Clown Prince of Crime always makes an impression. But there is more to his origin and story than one might think.
Batman first appeared in May 1939 in Detective Comics No. 27. The character, created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, received his own comic series a year later. In spring 1940, Batman No. 1 was released. There, the superhero, along with Robin, who made his first appearance in Detective Comics No. 38, fought against the Joker.
The Joker was different from the gangsters and everyday villains Batman encountered at that time. His first design had a particular source of inspiration: a silent film by a German director.
The Man Who Laughs
What was the first design of the Joker based on? It is not entirely clear who really invented
the Joker. Jerry Robinson, an assistant to the artist Bob Kane, repeatedly stated that he invented him, including in a YouTube video by the Los Angeles Times.
However, in 1994, Bob Kane explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that Robinson had nothing to do with the creation, and that they only used a playing card he had brought along. In the interview, Kane mentions a cinematic inspiration for the Joker’s design.
In 1928, the silent film The Man Who Laughs (Der Mann, der lacht) by German director Paul Leni was released. There, Conrad Veidt played the lead role of Gwynplaine. In the film, the character is punished with a surgical operation: he can only grin madly and make no other face.
During his first appearance, the Joker presents himself in his iconic purple suit and shows himself as a ruthless criminal who always has a smile on his face. Robin even points this out during the character’s supposed death: Even in death, he still grins!
You can see a comparison between Joker’s first appearance and Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs here:
In a guest contribution on awardsfocus.com, film producer Michael Uslan, who has been involved in several Batman and DC projects, talks about the creation of the Joker. He explains that the Joker was meant to be the antithesis to Batman:
Ironically, the Joker wore the mask of the happy carnival, like in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”, hiding the bubbling horror and evil that lurked beneath the surface. But Batman, the symbol of good, was disguised in the dark, monstrous mask of a bat.
Michael Uslan on the idea behind the Joker
With one appearance, it was inevitable, and the Joker became the most popular Batman villain of all time, becoming an important figure in pop culture as well. However, even in the comics themselves, the Joker holds a special role among Batman’s foes.
The Game with the Backstory
How did the Joker come about within the Batman universe? There is no concrete, definitive answer to this. When you look at Batman’s villains, many of them are broken souls who became what they are due to tragic events. Take Two-Face, for example, who initially wanted to serve justice.
In his first appearance in 1940, the Joker had no backstory. Over time, various ones were created for him, which differ from each other and were never as consistent as with other characters.
In 1951, Detective Comics No. 168 was published. There, Bill Finger gave the Joker his first origin story. He was once the villain Red Hood, who fell into a chemical vat while escaping from Batman. This also inspired Tim Burton in his Batman film from 1989. There, the criminal Jack Napier, played by Jack Nicholson, becomes the Joker.
A particular comic regarding the Joker is the one-shot Batman: The Killing Joke by legendary author Alan Moore. In this, the Joker was once a lab assistant who quit to become a comedian. However, he could not afford to support his pregnant wife. Out of desperation and financial strain, he participated in a robbery. Before the robbery, he learns that his wife is dead.
He receives the Red Hood mask from the criminals, and when Batman shows up, he jumps into a chemical vat, which turns him into the Joker (via DC Database). The tragic elements from The Killing Joke can be found in the film Joker from 2019, in which Joaquin Phoenix plays the character.
Within the comic story, the Joker received countless backstories, sometimes tragic, sometimes mystical, sometimes completely absurd. However, Alan Moore already played with this in The Killing Joke. There, the Joker says: If I must have a past, I’d prefer it to be multiple choice.
The Joker is more than a criminal; he is a curse.
The Joker is Not a Human, He is Gotham’s Ulcer
What is
the Joker in the Batman universe? Unlike his backstory, one can be quite certain about his goal: Batman. He is obsessed with the hero. Real goals, such as building a crime syndicate or having power and money, usually do not interest him. As mentioned before, he is supposed to be the antithesis to Batman. And he represents that.
Batman symbolizes hope. Everything was taken from him, yet he does not turn his back on the city; he wants to save it. The Joker is the opposite. He has existed since Batman became active and is personified chaos. He is the ulcer that will fight against Batman and his mission until the end. He is the dark side of the city. In his trilogy, Nolan also played with this idea.
Therefore, the Joker mostly does not care about killing Batman. He would then have no purpose anymore. He wants to break Batman, to give him the One Bad Day
that destroys him. This is also Batman’s biggest conflict. He does not want to kill the Joker, no matter how terrible things he does, like torturing his sidekick.
In Batman: Death in the Family (via YouTube), it is even shown that he becomes a normal guy after Batman dies.
The Joker will probably always remain one of the most well-known villains in the world. He can be interpreted in many ways, and in the future, writers in movies, games, and comics will use many approaches to portray the Clown Prince. However, the Joker is not the only interesting Batman villain: 7 villains of Batman who should finally get a big screen appearance instead of the Joker
