Joker

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Joker (小丑)
Alias(es)	Jack; Red Hood; “Uncle Jack”; Clown Prince of Crime 47 63 64 178
Species/Race	Human in the cases of Jack and Jeremiah Arkham; a Hell-associated Joker also manifests in a charred, supernatural form 133 178
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Clown-masked gangs and the Joker Gang; occasionally acts alone 137 141 161
Occupation/Role	Terrorist, murderer, hostage-taker, criminal showman, and recurring enemy of Batman and Gotham’s police 88 97 137
Known Incarnations	Jack — the original Joker; Jeremiah Arkham — transformed into a new Joker through Simon Hurt’s Madness Factor; Mase Curtis — a traumatized imitator who adopts the Joker persona 64 133 140 160
Status	Uncertain. The original Joker is presumed dead more than once yet repeatedly reappears; Jeremiah is confined in Arkham during his documented incarceration; another aged Joker later operates outside Gotham 98 133 173 387
First Appearance	Mentioned during the Sarah Essen hostage incident 47; Jack’s origin is revealed 63 64

Background & History

Jack and the Red Hood

Before becoming the Joker, Jack worked as a laboratory assistant at ACE Chemicals. He quit to pursue comedy, regretted the decision when he could no longer provide for his wife Jenny, and agreed to guide robbers through the closed chemical plant while wearing a Red Hood to conceal his identity. 63

Jenny was electrocuted by faulty wiring shortly before the robbery. Grief and desperation drove Jack to continue with the heist; when police and Batman intervened, he fell into a chemical-waste pool. He survived disfigured and mentally altered, beginning his transformation into the Joker. 64

First Reign of Terror

The Joker’s first major rampage includes hijacking a ransom vehicle, triggering roadside explosions, and causing heavy police and civilian casualties. He treats the destruction as entertainment rather than a means to profit. 88

He later lures Gordon’s rapid-response teams into a warehouse trap that kills ten officers, kidnaps Bikadina, and stages her beside stolen money on an unfinished high-rise. Batman interrupts the planned burning and rescues her. 89 90

After evading a sewage-treatment-plant trap with a decoy tanker and explosive doll, the Joker kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and broadcasts him live from a rooftop. Miao Mu defeats him in a violent struggle; Joker falls from the rooftop and is presumed dead. 96 97 98

Corpse, Return, and Successors

Joker’s body is stored in Arkham Asylum’s underground morgue, where Hugo Strange studies it. 100 105

Despite this, Joker later appears alive in Arkham’s laboratory, tortures Jeremiah Arkham, removes his face, and watches Batman through surveillance footage. Hugo Strange seemingly kills him, but Joker recovers and severely injures Strange with a crowbar. 131 132

Following another apparent death, Simon Hurt extracts a Madness Factor from Joker’s corpse and injects it into the mutilated Jeremiah Arkham. Jeremiah emerges from Arkham’s explosion as a new Joker. 133

Mase Curtis, a man psychologically ruined by Joker’s earlier abuse, separately adopts a Joker mask, makeup, weapons, and the name “Joker.” His imitation demonstrates the identity’s ability to spread through trauma and obsession. 98 140 160

Television Station Crisis and Arkham Imprisonment

A Joker and his clown gang seize Gotham TV, massacre visitors, take hostages, and turn the station into a live game show. The hostages are forced into arbitrary “performances,” with death as the penalty for failure. 137 138 139

Jason Todd attacks Joker inside the studio before Batman arrives and subdues him. 141

The captured Joker is transferred to Arkham Asylum and identified as Jeremiah Arkham. He arrives injured, in a straitjacket and wheelchair, and later has his hair shaved and teeth forcibly removed by Miao Mu’s staff. 173 174

Hell and Gotham

A Hell-associated Joker confronts Miao Mu after he is drawn through a shattered mirror. This Joker calls himself “Mr. Joker” or “Uncle Jack,” appears as a burned corpse-like figure, and claims that they are in Hell. 178

Joker later bargains with Miao Mu: in exchange for help escaping, he provides memories and intelligence about Hell’s invasion of Gotham. Although still chaotic and untrustworthy, he opposes turning Gotham into a dull extension of Hell and is willing to cooperate against outside demonic forces. 179 209

Later Activities

A visibly older Joker infiltrates a Gotham Bank robbery as a school-bus driver, murders the surviving Joker-costumed robbers, and escapes with their stolen money among a convoy of buses carrying students. 383

At an old castle, Jason Todd and Dick Grayson confront this Joker after he crashes the bus. He uses electrified gloves and a fake grenade to terrorize them before Nashton releases green gas around the scene. 387

Appearance

Joker’s appearance changes with his incarnation, injuries, and circumstances, but his clown-like features remain central to the identity. 133 173 387

• Pale or makeup-whitened face, crimson lips, dark-green hair, and a manic smile 383 387
• Scars around the face and at both corners of the mouth, visible when he is without makeup 173
• Purple pinstriped suits; he also wears deliberately oversized suits for theatrical effect 97 144
• Shaved bald and left toothless during his Arkham confinement 174
• In Hell, appears burned black, with scorched clothing seemingly fused to his flesh 178
• Later appears to have aged by roughly ten to twenty years from Jason Todd’s prior encounter 387

Personality

Joker treats cruelty as performance. He is most interested in forcing people with principles to betray those principles, believing that psychological collapse is more meaningful than simply killing an opponent. His hostage scenarios turn survival into a moral test designed to break the victim. 47

He is sadistic, impulsive, and theatrically polite at the worst possible moments. He apologizes to victims, demands smiles, and kills his own followers when they disrupt his preferred “show.” 95 138

Joker is intensely possessive of his identity. A television impersonator provokes him into immediate rage, and he regards Batman as a personal “diamond” whose role in their game must not be taken by anyone else. 95 131

Despite his hostility toward Gotham, the Hell-associated Joker considers the city his home and resists outside forces that would absorb it into Hell. His concern is not altruistic: he fears Gotham becoming boring. 173 179 209

Abilities & Skills

Psychological Terror and Manipulation

Joker engineers situations that force victims into fear, humiliation, or impossible choices.

• Presented Officer Sarah Essen with a choice between arresting him and allowing babies to die, or taking her own life to save them. 47
• Uses live television broadcasts to make public spectacles of Gordon, hostages, and their fear. 97 137
• Forces hostages to laugh, perform, or participate in deadly games under threat of execution. 137 139
• His abuse leaves lasting trauma; Mase Curtis eventually adopts the Joker identity after being broken by it. 98 140

Deception and Escape Tactics

Joker regularly turns police operations and apparent captures into distractions.

• Used a Red Hood during the ACE Chemicals robbery to conceal Jack’s identity. 63 64
• Sent a burning tanker and a bomb-vest decoy into the sewage-treatment-plant trap while entering separately disguised as a hostage. 96
• Uses joke weapons, including a streamers-firing revolver and a fake grenade, to make opponents hesitate. 98 387
• Posed as a school-bus driver to escape a bank robbery among a convoy of legitimate buses. 383

Improvised Weapons and Traps

Joker favors weapons that combine real danger with humiliating punchlines.

• Uses firearms, knives, axes, forks, crowbars, glass marbles, and submachine guns in close combat. 89 98 132 161
• Employs explosive dolls, acid-spraying props, hidden bombs, and electrically charged gloves. 96 98 387
• Can turn an environment into a death trap, including warehouse ambushes, rigged stairwells, bombed entrances, and rooftop hostage sites. 89 97 167

Endurance and Unpredictable Survival

Joker can withstand severe physical punishment and remains dangerous even when badly injured.

• Continues fighting after repeated blows from Batman, Miao Mu, Jason, and Dick. 90 98 141 387
• Shows little visible pain while his teeth are removed and treats the procedure as another joke. 174
• His deaths and returns are anomalous: a corpse is held at Arkham, yet Joker later returns; Hurt’s Madness Factor also creates Jeremiah as a new Joker. 100 131 133
• A later Joker vanishes through a magic circle after attempting to kill both himself and Batman. 167

Hell-Associated Manifestation

The Joker encountered in Hell displays abilities beyond those of his ordinary incarnations.

• Instantly appears before Miao Mu and overpowers him in Hell, where ordinary death is said to be impossible. 178
• Leaves Miao Mu with Joker’s memories and a wrist brand that enables communication. 179
• Emerges from a Hell rift amid green smoke in a charred form. 210 211

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Red Hood — Bucket-shaped reflective hood used by Jack during the ACE Chemicals robbery. 63 64
• Revolvers and submachine guns — Used for executions, indiscriminate fire, and hostage control. 89 138 161
• Joker dolls — Used as explosive or acid-delivery devices; one doll also manifests during the Hell incident. 96 98 178
• Glass marbles — Scattered to trip opponents during close combat. 98
• Electrified gloves — Deliver a disabling electrical shock through concealed electrodes. 387
• Explosives and false explosives — Includes bomb traps, a detonated entrance charge, bomb-vest pranks, and a bluff grenade. 96 167 387
• Fear gas — Briefly stolen from Batman during the Arkham conflict. 133

Relationships

• Jenny — Jack’s wife; her accidental death is the immediate tragedy that pushes him into the ACE Chemicals robbery. 63 64
• Batman — Joker’s defining adversary. Joker repeatedly provokes him, avoids simply killing him, and seeks to corrupt or emotionally break him instead. 47 89 90 141 167
• Miao Mu — Defeats Joker during the rooftop broadcast crisis; later becomes his unwilling partner against Hell’s threat to Gotham. 98 179
• James Gordon — Frequent target of Joker’s public cruelty, including abduction and televised humiliation. 89 97
• Jeremiah Arkham — Tortured and mutilated by the returned Joker before Simon Hurt turns him into a new Joker. 131 133
• Simon Hurt — Extracts the Madness Factor from Joker’s corpse and uses it to transform Jeremiah; later treats Jeremiah in Arkham. 133 174
• Hugo Strange — Studies Joker’s corpse, is mocked and attacked after Joker’s return, and is later kept alive as a captive exhibit. 100 132 140
• Mase Curtis — A victim traumatized by Joker who becomes a self-styled Joker imitator. 98 140 160
• Jason Todd — Defies Joker during the Gotham TV hostage crisis and later fights him alongside Dick Grayson. 141 387
• Kate Kane — Auction hostage repeatedly used by Joker to force Batman into impossible decisions. 161 167
• Bikadina — Kidnapped, made up as a clown, and nearly burned alive atop Falcone’s unfinished high-rise. 89 90

Notable Quotes

“Hey, buddy, smile. Why so serious?” 95

“Hello, Gotham!” 97

“This place... is my home...” 173