Voiced By: Mark Hamill
First Appearance: “Christmas With The Joker”
Position: Insane
Bio: Next to nothing is known about Batman’s greatest enemy, except that he operated as an enforcer/hitman for various crime bosses before becoming the “Clown Prince of Crime.” The Joker first encountered Batman during a botched robbery at the Ace Chemical Factory. He escaped by leaping into a drainage vat of chemical waste, but later discovered the toxins bleached his skin chalk white, dyed his hair fluorescent green, and stretched his lips into a hideous, permanent red grin. It’s not hard to understand why such a transformation snapped his already unstable mind. The Joker’s methods are simple: gain pleasure in breaking every law and moral stature known to man. More importantly, he makes the crime funnier by playing a game of cat and mouse with Batman. Joker views every crime, infliction of pain, and murder as the ultimate joke — mocking Batman. Joker’s trademarks are his razor sharp playing cards and the laughing gas Smilex, a chemical that infects his victims with the same ghastly grin as his own. Extremely intelligent despite his lunacy, the Joker often accesses information within Gotham City that should only be available to government officials and the police. His only real motive is bringing Batman as close to the edge as possible. Joker strives to outdo Gotham’s other villains as well, for if they have the honor of doing Batman in then he has no purpose. To The Joker Gotham is merely a stage on which he performs.
Bio (Cartoon Network): Batman’s arch-nemesis, The Joker is the worst kind of evil villain. Not only is he smart, devilish and cunning… he’s also stark-raving mad! It was an unplanned encounter with a vat of chemicals that turned the Joker’s skin chalk-white and his hair bright green. Wouldn’t that send just about anyone over the edge? The accident also affixed The Joker’s mug with a permanent clownish grin. No wonder he is regarded as “The Clown Prince of Crime.” The Joker has been known to commit everything from kidnapping to murder to robbery, but his general strategy is to cause as much mayhem as possible.
And he will stop at nothing if he sees an opportunity to play a fatal joke on Batman. The Joker has developed a number of deadly devices and weapons, but he is perhaps best known for the invention of Smilex, a poisonous chemical gas that freezes a Joker-grin on the faces of its victims. Truly a ghastly concoction. Batman would like nothing more than to lock The Joker in Arkham Asylum, the creepy Gotham mental institution, and throw away the key. But that’s the last thing on The Joker’s fractured mind. The Joker relies on the aid of Harley Quinn, his lovely but lethal assistant, to plan and execute his twisted plots and schemes.
For more, refer to the The New Batman Adventures bio.
For more, refer to the Justice League bio.
For more, refer to the Batman Beyond bio.
Bonus: Paul Dini reflected on the The Joker’s media appearances in a special write-up for the recent The Joker 80th anniversary comic collection.
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