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There is perhaps no great rivalry in comic books than betweenBatmanand the Joker . The two have been bitter enemy sinceBatman#1 in 1940 , and their war has played out all across the majuscule DC multiverse with terrible moment for a number of character reference in Gotham and beyond .
The two characters all define the other , with Batman ’s strict refusal to vote down as the phone number one ground why the Joker hold on as such a dangerous adversary . The Joker is nothing without Batman , a form of rules of order and justice who he consider somehow still occupies the same dark that he does in any macrocosm .
Updated on March 19th , 2022 by Darby Harn : The Joker is never far from Batman , as audiences discover in the final moment ofThe Batman . A new avatar of the fictitious character is teased , setting up future appearances in sequels to the movie and peradventure spinoff streaming serial ala The Penguin on HBO Max . The Joker is in the minds of many if not most comic book fansthe greatest Batman villain of all time , and their rivalry has taken many spectacular twists and turns in the many decades since their iconic first confrontation . Some of their most bitter moment have come in recent years , perhaps influence how the next chapter in their live - military action story will shape up .
For A Long Time, It Wasn’t A Rivalry
Though the Joker is deliberate Batman ’s outstanding villain and perhaps the enceinte villain in all of comics , their contention was all but suspended in the 60s . For four years between 1969 and 1973 , the character did n’t seem in Batman comics at all . This followed a stop through most of the 60s where he appear less and less .
His position as the good baddie in one of the great Rogues Galleries in all of comic books was re - established withBatman#251 . " The Joker ’s Five - Way Revenge " featured the return of a more sinister Joker , write by Denny O’Neill .
Clown Prince Of Darkness
Like Batman , the Joker has teetered back and forth between periods of shivery and silly . buff may not know that very early on , the rivalry between Batman and the Joker was very unsafe . The Clown Prince of Crime routinely killed people , either by shooting them or infect them with his Joker Venom , a forerunner of the toxin he ’d use in later incarnation .
During the course of instruction of his early appearances in the comic , he derail a wagon train with piles of the great unwashed on it and made repeated attempts to obliterate both Batman and Robin that would n’t seem out of position to modern lecturer .
Death Of The Joker
There are manygreat ancestry tarradiddle of the Joker in DC Comics , but his first yield was almost his last . In the second story he appears inBatman#1 from 1940 , the Joker is stabbed and appears to die on dialog box . That was in reality intended to be the end of the graphic symbol .
The type was salvaged by the editor of the seriesat the time , Whitney Ellsworth , who feel that the role had potential . Ellsworth ’s prescient decision allow an instantly iconic character to go on to become one of the most popular characters in democratic culture .
The Man Behind The Red Hood
Part of the grounds the rivalry is so toxic is that it began literally in a vat of toxic chemical substance . At least , it might have . One of the infinite origin narrative of the Joker involves Batman shoving or letting the Joker go down into these chemicals . The first version of this story look inDetective Comics#168 .
At the time , the Joker is a uncouth criminal in Gotham called the Red Hood . interpretation of this taradiddle would re-emerge in tardy iteration of DC Comics canon , along with various TV appearance and movies , but the Joker ’s true origin remains a mystery story to this day .
The Joker Kills Batman (And Brings Him Back)
One of the time the Joker proved he was an downright monster was when he killed Batman . This grisly end fare about when the Joker became Emperor Joker by acquiring the cosmic top executive of Mister Mxyzptlk .
The Joker capitalize on their contention by not just killing Batman once , but once every day for a very longsighted sentence and in the worst ways conceivable . Batman is only save by Superman , but the trauma of his experience is so neat that Batman ca n’t conduct with it . The Spectre transfers his anguish to Superman , who shoulder it for his friend and colleague .
Batman Saves The Joker
fan might expect Batman to be okay with any damage befalling the Joker after his experience , but he in reality saves the Joker from exit at the hand of Nightwing . When Dick Grayson beats the Joker to last after erroneously thinking that Tim Drake had been kill by the supervillain , Batman resuscitates him .
TheJoker : Last Laughmini - series takes an unexpected turn when Batman performs CPR on his opposition to check that Dick Grayson does n’t go down as a liquidator . It would n’t be the only time that Batman would keep Joker live .
Death of Jason Todd
The Joker ’s competition with Batman has ensue in devastating import for both . One of the most eventful moments of their competition occurred in " A Death of the Family , " one ofthe best Batman comics of the 1980swhere Joker vote out Jason Todd .
His slaying of the 2nd Robin was unimaginable in comic books before this period and would cast a long dark shadow over Batman and all of his adventures into the present Clarence Day , eternally altering his approach to relationships with friends and allies .
Under The Hood
Jason Todd ’s bestial murder at the hands of the Joker is one of the most shameful deaths in DC Comics history . It would make sentience that a revived Todd would gun for the Joker , but he likely did n’t carry Batman to stand his way .
Jason Todd accept on the Red Hood persona once link up with the Joker to drive Batman into a situation where he has to kill the Joker , but despite all the painful thing that have transpirate in their contention , Batman refuses to break in his computer code . He know if he did kill the Joker , it would n’t end there .
The Killing Joke
The Joker has been a monsterfrom the very beginning of his comic al-Qur’an life history , but one of the most monstrous consequence in his contention with Batman occurs inThe Killing Joke . In this late 80s graphical novel , the Joker shoots and paralyzes Barbara Gordon .
This story , write by fabled mirthful record writer Alan Moore and drawn by Brian Bolland , has had a wonderful influence on the comics and the movies , and Barbara most of all . Barbara Gordon would remain paralyzed for decade and become the hacker Oracle .
The White Knight
There are infinite reading of Batman and the Joker throughout the DC Comics multiverse , and their rivalry sometimes take on strange proportion . One of the strangest is inThe White Knightstoryline , where an coming upon between the two enemies ends with the Joker turn a young leaf after Batman ram him to take steal pills .
Their dynamic is ferment upside down when this rectify Joker cease up aline with the Gotham City Police Department to organise an anti - terrorism unit give to stopping vigilantes like Batman .
Flashpoint
The multiverse also gives fan the competition ’s most unique depiction . In the alternating world of theFlashpointcomic Bible event , Batman and Joker are husband and wife . This is because the two are in reality Thomas and Martha Wayne , the parents of Bruce Wayne , who in this story was killed by Joe Chill .
The death of her son drives Martha Wayne into folly and Thomas Wayne on a pursuit to avenge Bruce . Things end tragically when the Martha Joker dies by self-destruction after discovering that the proper timeline has her boy become Batman and the greatest enemy of the Joker .
Endgame
InThe Dark Knight , one of if notthe well Batman movie ever , the Joker tells Batman ' we ’ll be doing this for a long sentence . ' That may be more dead on target than anyone live in the comics . In the plot line " Endgame , " it seems that the Joker has really been awake for a prospicient prison term .
Worse than that , it seems that he could be immortal . Though it ’s never confirmed , this mind would explain the Joker ’s interminable escape from death ( including his original apparent death inBatman#1 from 1940 ) as well as his many substantive injuries , like having his face trim off .
The Joker’s Real Name
Despite decades of being blistering foe who have a go at it each other perhaps in effect than anyone else , Batman does n’t know Joker ’s true name . At least he did n’t until he sat in the Mobius Chair in " The Darkseid War " comic book storyline and learned the Joker ’s genuine name .
The name is keep back from the reader , but it stuns Batman . Despite the story appear in 2015 , the name still has n’t been revealed and is unconvincing to , as it might dispel the mystique of the part . It does advise that Joker is much close to Batman or Bruce Wayne perhaps than he had agnise .
The Truth Is Confused
In the same way that the Joker play with the trueness of his extraction , it ’s potential Batman is doing the same thing with their rivalry . InThe Three Jokersmini - serial form 2020 , Bruce Wayne let on that he had known Joker ’s true identity from a calendar week after he had first encountered him .
This is in direct conflict with what ’s present in the Mobius Chair incident as well as established canyon throughout DC Comics history , where Batman does n’t bang the truth . It could be the uncertain nature of DC canyon , or it could be that Batman ’s vision of their contention is as liquid as the Joker ’s .
No Man’s Land
A major comic leger storyline likely to have some heading on the future of The Batman sequels isNo Man ’s Land . Gotham is swamp at the ending of the movie , and in the comic leger plot line , a monolithic seism strikes the city which the Joker overwork .
His competition with Batman goes to newfangled heights when Joker exact control of a circumstances of the beleaguered metropolis . Jokerville becomes his personal realm . His unchecked magnate results in some of the most egregious and consequential moments in his farseeing war with Batman .
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