Joker

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Usual appearance: A pale, sickly face, green hair, a purple suit, and a conspicuous, deranged grin 2 3.
• Titan-enhanced appearance: Bulging, knotted muscles. After Batman’s assault, his green hair is disheveled and his face is severely swollen 105.

Personality

Joker is casually murderous, treating violence as entertainment. During the Gotham Bank robbery, he repeatedly shoots cowering security personnel and the lobby manager while laughing. Later, he tests a newly acquired pistol by killing the henchman who has just freed him from Arkham 3 60.

His fixation on Batman outweighs money, loyalty, and personal safety. Being robbed enrages him chiefly because Batman witnessed the humiliation; Harley notes that he had accepted an earlier robbery by Riddler without comparable anger. He also refuses to hear Batman’s civilian identity from Lynn, believing that the mystery sustains their game 3 4 5.

Beneath his theatrical confidence is a fear of being forgotten. When Bane captures Batman, Joker worries that Gotham will remember only the defeated hero and his conqueror. He consequently rushes to rescue Batman, insisting that nobody else has the right to defeat him 76.

Joker treats Harley Quinn as property rather than an equal. Although he resents her attachment to Lynn, he calls her replaceable and claims that three earlier women died for him. He describes winning their devotion through manipulation and regards Harley as another disposable creation 47 48 49 77.

Abilities & Skills

Laughing Gas Virus

Joker develops a laughing gas virus that induces uncontrollable laughter and mental instability 49.

• Ordinary victims: Generally laugh themselves to death 49.
• Strong-willed victims: Are driven mad instead 49.
• Delivery: He carries syringes and attempts to inject Lynn at close range; Lynn counters with Bullet Time before the needle reaches his neck 49.
• Harley’s infection: Joker admits injecting Harley after she becomes the Batman Who Laughs Hulk, but says he does not know why she transformed into that particular monster 51.

Firearms

• Uses two pistols to shoot bank personnel during the Gotham Bank robbery 3.
• Fires a pistol at the airship ceiling to disprove Lynn’s claim that it is unloaded 48.
• His confidence can be disrupted: Lynn’s Yan Shuangying Character Card makes him hesitate despite having personally checked his ammunition 48.
• During the attempt to rescue Batman from Bane, his pistol runs empty, forcing him to throw it at Harley and retreat 77.

Manipulation & Gang Leadership

• Commands armed followers capable of mounting bank robberies, defending a headquarters, and deploying heavy machine guns aboard an airship 3 4 48.
• Claims to have manipulated several women into loving him and pledging their loyalty 49.
• Releases Arkham’s inmates to occupy Batman while he pursues Superman in Metropolis 60.

Titan Venom Enhancement

• Titan Venom enlarges his musculature and makes him dangerous enough for Superman to warn Batman against confronting him and Bane alone 102 105.
• The enhancement does not make him Batman’s equal: Titan-enhanced Batman pins him down and beats him until he cannot resist 103.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Pistols — His recurring weapons; Lynn steals one during the airship robbery 3 49.
• Crowbar — Carried alongside a gun when confronting Harley and Lynn aboard the airship 47.
• Dagger — Among the valuables he surrenders to Lynn 49.
• Laughing gas syringes — Carries a concealed spare even after appearing to empty his pockets; Lynn confiscates the virus and pistol 49.
• Titan Venom — Uses the drug to enhance himself during the Crime Syndicate conflict 102.
• Stolen nuclear bomb — Steals a nuclear weapon from Florida, but Batman takes it from him and repurposes it as a last-resort measure against Bane’s alliance 74.

Relationships

• Batman / Bruce Wayne — Longtime adversary and the focus of Joker’s possessive obsession. Batman repeatedly captures him, but also saves him from sulfuric acid and carries him through the collapsing airship. Joker later attempts to rescue Batman from Bane 2 50 51 76.
• Harley Quinn — Former girlfriend and subordinate. She leaves after concluding that his real interest is Batman, then repeatedly attacks him as a member of Lynn’s Bat Gang. Joker continues to regard her as his property despite their separation 39 47 77 106.
• Lynn — Recurring robber and eventual killer. Joker blames him for stealing both his money and Harley; Lynn repeatedly defeats and humiliates him before confirming his death 3 48 49 106.
• Riddler — Previously robs Joker, then becomes his partner in a scheme to terrorize Gotham. Their cooperation does not prevent Joker from being caught in Riddler’s acid trap 4 46 49 50.
• Superman — Intended murder target after Lynn names him as Batman’s lifelong archenemy. Joker travels to Metropolis to remove this perceived rival, but abandons the effort when Bane captures Batman 57 60 76.
• Bane — Initially rejects Bane’s proposed criminal alliance and later opposes him for defeating Batman. Subsequently belongs to the Crime Syndicate alongside him 76 102.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Gotham Bank Robbery

Joker leads the Gotham Bank robbery while Batman watches from the ceiling. Lynn, who has infiltrated the Joker Gang, distracts him with Batman’s presence, throws a corpse onto him, and escapes with $100,000 of the stolen money. Joker vows revenge because Batman witnessed his humiliation 2 3.

Lynn soon returns to the gang’s abandoned-factory headquarters. Joker orders his men to fire, then halts the attack when Lynn offers supposed compromising information about Batman. Distracted by Lynn’s photographs and invented “Bat Gang” story, Joker is robbed again and captured by Batman. After an unsuccessful pursuit of Lynn, Batman takes him toward Arkham 4 5 7.

Riddler Partnership and Airship Battle

Following another escape from Arkham, Joker cooperates with Riddler to spread panic through Gotham. Lynn brings the Bat Gang aboard their airship to rob them both 43 46 47.

Lynn exploits Joker’s uncertainty over his pistol, beats him, and takes his valuables. Joker’s concealed syringe attack fails, and both men fall into separate enclosures suspended above concentrated sulfuric acid. Harley demands Lynn’s release; Joker responds by declaring her disposable 48 49.

Lynn opens Joker’s enclosure and drops him toward the acid, but Batman catches him. When the infected Harley becomes the Batman Who Laughs Hulk and wrecks the airship, Batman continues protecting Joker while questioning him about the virus 50 51.

Arkham Escape and Metropolis

Back in Arkham, Joker becomes jealous when Batman admits that he cannot stop Lynn from carrying out his threats. Lynn aggravates him further by naming Superman—not Joker—as Batman’s lifelong archenemy 57.

During a prison break, Joker kills his rescuer, shoots two guards, and opens every cell. He intends the mass escape to distract Batman while he goes to Metropolis to kill Superman 60.

Attempt to Rescue Batman

While watching the Daily Planet from a rooftop, Joker sees Bane’s broadcast of Batman’s capture. Fearing that Bane will replace him in Gotham’s memory, he returns immediately and attempts a rescue alongside Batgirl 76.

Mr. Zsasz forces Joker onto the defensive. When the Bat Gang arrives, Harley attacks Joker as well; his gun runs empty, and he retreats toward Bruce Wayne. Harley continues beating him after Lynn defeats Bane and Scarecrow 76 77 78.

Crime Syndicate and Death

Joker later joins the Crime Syndicate and uses Titan Venom. Robin is captured while fighting him, prompting Batman to enter the organization’s underground base beneath Arkham alone. Overwhelmed by its forces, Batman injects Titan Venom himself and savagely defeats Joker and Bane 102 103.

Harley, Talia, and Cheshire find the badly injured villains in the base. During the final confrontation, Harley repeatedly strikes Joker with a metal rod. After Arkham collapses, news reports list Joker and other criminals as missing or injured, but Lynn subsequently confirms that he killed them 105 106.