Renowned as Batman's greatest enemy,
Personality in 2008; he conceived the Joker as an exotic, enduring archvillain who could repeatedly challenge Batman The Joker's main characteristic is his apparent insanity, although he is not described as having any particular psychological disorder. Like a psychopath, he lacks empathy, a conscience, and concern over right and wrong. In
Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, the Joker is described as capable of processing outside sensory information only by adapting to it. This enables him to create a new personality every day (depending on what would benefit him) and explains why, at different times, he is a mischievous clown or a psychopathic killer. In "The Clown at Midnight" (
Batman #663 (April 2007)), the Joker enters a meditative state where he evaluates his previous selves to consciously create a new personality, effectively modifying himself for his needs.
The Killing Joke (in which the Joker is the
unreliable narrator) explains the roots of his insanity as "one bad day": losing his wife and unborn child and being disfigured by chemicals, paralleling Batman's origin in the loss of his parents. He tries (and fails) to prove that anyone can become like him after one bad day by torturing Commissioner Gordon, physically and psychologically. Batman offers to rehabilitate his foe; the Joker apologetically declines, believing it too late for him to be saved. Other interpretations show that the Joker is fully aware of how his actions affect others and that his insanity as merely an act. Comics scholar
Peter Coogan describes the Joker as trying to reshape reality to fit himself by imposing his face on his victims (and fish) in an attempt to make the world comprehensible by creating a twisted parody of himself. Englehart's "The Laughing Fish" demonstrates the character's illogical nature: trying to copyright fish that bear his face, and not understanding why threatening the copyright clerk cannot produce the desired result. The Joker is alternatively depicted as sexual and
asexual. In
The Dark Knight Returns and
Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, the Joker is seductive toward Batman; it is uncertain if their relationship has
homoerotic undertones or if the Joker is simply trying to manipulate his nemesis. Frank Miller interpreted the character as fixated on death and uninterested in sexual relationships, while Robinson believed that the Joker is capable of a romantic relationship. His relationship with Harley Quinn is abusively paradoxical; although the Joker keeps her at his side, he heedlessly harms her (for example, throwing her out a window without seeing if she survives). Harley loves him, but the Joker does not reciprocate her feelings, chiding her for distracting him from other plans. Snyder's "Death of the Family" describes the Joker as in love with Batman, although not in a traditionally romantic way. The Joker believes that Batman has not killed him because he makes Batman better and he loves the villain for that.
Batman comic book writer
Peter Tomasi concurred, stating that the Joker's main goal is to make Batman the best that he can be. The Joker and Batman represent opposites: the extroverted Joker wears colorful clothing and embraces chaos, while the introverted, monochromatic Batman represents order and discipline. The Joker is often depicted as defining his existence through his conflict with Batman. In 1994's "Going Sane", the villain tries to lead a normal life after Batman's (apparent) death, only to become his old self again when Batman reappears; in "Emperor Joker", an apparently omnipotent Joker cannot destroy Batman without undoing himself. Since the Joker is simply "the Joker", he believes that Batman is "Batman" (with or without the costume) and has no interest in what is behind Batman's mask, ignoring opportunities to learn Batman's secret identity. Given the opportunity to kill Batman, the villain demurs; he believes that without their game, winning is pointless. The character has no desire for typical criminal goals like money or power; his criminality is designed only to continue his game with Batman. The Joker is portrayed as having no fear; when fellow supervillain
Scarecrow doses him with fear toxin in
Knightfall (1993), the Joker merely laughs and says "Boo!" The villain has been temporarily rendered sane by several means, including
telepathic manipulation by the
Martian Manhunter and being resurrected in a Lazarus Pit (an experience typically inducing temporary insanity in the subject). At these moments, the Joker is depicted as expressing remorse for his crimes; however, during a medically induced period of partial sanity in
Batman: Cacophony, he tells Batman, "I don't hate you 'cause I'm crazy. I'm crazy 'cause I hate you," and confirms that he will only stop killing when Batman is dead.
Skills and equipment The Joker has no inherent superhuman abilities. He commits crimes with a variety of weaponized thematic props such as a deck of razor-tipped playing cards, rolling marbles,
jack-in-the-boxes with unpleasant surprises and exploding cigars capable of leveling a building. The flower in his lapel sprays acid, and his hand often holds a lethal joy buzzer conducting a million volts of electricity, although both items were introduced in 1952 as harmless joke items. However, his chemical genius provides his most-notable weapon: "
Joker venom", a liquid or gaseous toxin that sends its targets into fits of uncontrollable laughter; higher doses can lead to paralysis, coma or death, leaving its victim with a ghoulish, pained rictus grin. The Joker has used venom since his debut; only he knows the formula, and is shown to be gifted enough to manufacture the toxin from ordinary household chemicals. Another version of the venom (used in
Joker: Last Laugh) makes its victims resemble the Joker, susceptible to his orders. The villain is immune to venom and most poisons; in
Batman #663 (April 2007), Morrison writes that being "an avid consumer of his own chemical experiments, the Joker's immunity to poison concoctions that might kill another man in an instant has been developed over years of dedicated abuse." The character's arsenal is inspired by his nemesis' weaponry, such as
batarangs. In "The Joker's Utility Belt" (1952), he mimicked
Batman's utility belt with non-lethal items, such as Mexican jumping beans and sneezing powder. In 1942's "The Joker Follows Suit", the villain built his versions of the
Batplane and
Batmobile, the Jokergyro and Jokermobile (the latter with a large Joker face on its hood), and created a Joker-signal with which criminals could summon him for their heists. The Jokermobile lasted for several decades, evolving with the Batmobile. His technical genius is not limited by practicality, allowing him to hijack Gotham's television airwaves to issue threats, transform buildings into death traps, launch a gas attack on the city and rain poisoned glass shards on its citizens from an airship. The Joker is portrayed as skilled in
melee combat, from his initial appearances when he defeats Batman in a sword fight (nearly killing him), and others when he overwhelms Batman but declines to kill him. He is talented with firearms, although even his guns are theatrical; his long-barreled revolver often releases a flag reading "Bang", and a second trigger-pull launches the flag to skewer its target. Although formidable in combat, the Joker's chief asset is his mind.
Relationships The Joker's unpredictable, homicidal nature makes him one of the most feared supervillains in the DC Universe; the
Trickster says in the 1995 miniseries
Underworld Unleashed, "When super-villains want to scare each other, they tell Joker stories." Gotham's villains also feel threatened by the character; depending on the circumstances, he is as likely to fight with his rivals for control of the city as he is to join them for an entertaining outcome. The Joker interacts with other supervillains who oppose Batman, whether he is on the streets or in Arkham Asylum. He has collaborated with criminals like the
Penguin, the
Riddler, and
Two-Face, although these partnerships rarely end well due to the Joker's desire for unbridled chaos, and he uses his stature to lead others (such as
Killer Croc and the
Scarecrow). The Joker's greatest rival is
Lex Luthor, the smartest man in the world and Superman's archenemy. Although the villains have a friendly partnership in 1950's ''World's Finest Comics'' #88, later unions emphasized their mutual hostility and clashing egos. Despite his tendency to kill subordinates on a whim, the Joker has no difficulty attracting henchmen with a seemingly infinite cash supply and intimidation; they are too afraid of their employer to refuse his demands that they wear red clown noses or laugh at his macabre jokes. Even with his unpredictability and lack of superhuman powers, the 2007 limited series
Salvation Run sees hundreds of villains fall under his spell because they are more afraid of him than Lex Luthor.
Batman #186 (1966) introduced the Joker's first sidekick: the one-shot character Gaggy Gagsworthy, who is short and dressed like a clown; the character was later resurrected as an enemy of his replacement, Harley Quinn. Introduced in
Batman: The Animated Series, Quinn is the Joker's former Arkham psychiatrist who develops an obsessive infatuation with him and dons a red-and-black
harlequin costume to join him as his sidekick and on-off girlfriend. They have a classic
abusive relationship; even though the Joker constantly insults, hurts, and even tries to kill Harley, she always returns to him, convinced that he loves her. The Joker is sometimes shown to keep
laughing hyenas as pets; this trait was introduced in the 1977 animated series
The New Adventures of Batman. A 1976 issue of
Batman Family introduced
Duela Dent as the Joker's daughter, though her parentage claim was later proven to be false. Although his chief obsession is Batman, the character has occasionally ventured outside Gotham City to fight Batman's superhero allies. In "To Laugh and Die in Metropolis" (1987) the character kidnaps
Lois Lane, distracting Superman with a nuclear weapon. The story is notable for the Joker taking on a (relative) god and the ease with which Superman defeats him—it took only 17 pages. Asked why he came to Metropolis, the Joker replies simply: "Oh Superman, why not?" In 1995, the Joker fought his third major DC hero:
Wonder Woman, who drew on the Greek god of trickery to temper the Joker's humor and shatter his confidence. The character has joined supervillain groups like the Injustice Gang and the Injustice League to take on superhero groups like the Justice League. ==Literary analysis==