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When it comes to visual designs , DC Comics’iconic Batman villain , Joker , has one of the most well - regarded face of all time , yet his wildest costume was one that was actuallycensoredby DC , and for an odd reason at that . as luck would have it , some fate of this usurious facial expression was kept , but the original estimation of having Joker dressed like Madonna in a cone bandeau was never take in .
ab initio a design that was supposed to seem in 1989 ’s seminal Batman graphic novel , Arkham Asylum : A Serious House on Serious Earth , by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean , DC had some hangups in regards to a costume intended to take inspiration frompop - star whizz Madonna . halt from the fabled amusing mind of Grant Morrison , the idea of this costume came from a preliminary version of their script and contrasted Batman ’s simple macho image against a more fluid Joker as the Dark Knight commence a harrowing journey through the depth of Arkham Asylum .
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Being a decidedly inspired and controversial choice for a baddie who ’s always reinvent his nefarious mind and overly theatrical criminal tendencies , wanting Joker to appear as if he were ripped straight out of a 1980s music video actually is n’t the weird part of thiscostume - tie in story . In fact , the decision to finally scrap most of what was pitched for his look was due to the release of the 1989 film , Batman , and the approaching movie version of the Clown Prince of Crime , played by the one and only Jack Nicholson , as revealed in Grant Morrison’sSupergods : Our World in the Age of the Superhero .
Joker ’s intendedArkham Asylumcostume was one that Morrison crowd hard for but in the end was only able to salve a small piece of . Revealed in a handful of interviews in the years since , as well as inSupergods , Grant Morrisonsays that,“The first shock came when I was distinguish that the book had been strike down . Eager to embrace influences from Cabaret to the Theater of Cruelty , the Joker was to have been dress in the conical bra worn by Madonna for her “ Open Your Heart ” picture . ”
Morrison continues,“Warner Bros. object to my enactment on the grounds that it would encourage the widespread impression that Jack Nicholson , the feted actor lined up to encounter the Joker in an upcoming$40 million Batman movie , was a transvestite,”the reason for DC obviously passing on Morrison ’s wishes was an rummy one , as a more family well-disposed movie influenced what still stay one of the Dark Knight ’s darkest story . Writing a“long , impassioned letter”Morrison“managed to keep the Joker in high heels at least”a lowly victory for a Godhead who has proven their magnificence clock time and meter again , peculiarly where Batman and his arch - nemesis are concerned .
So while Morrison was able-bodied to relieve a midget piece of this outrageous costume idea , being ineffective to dress Joker up like Madonna is an odd censoring choice , but one that can apparently be trace back to the older conundrum of balancing originative freedom against commercial concerns . Warner Bros. might have allegedly been scared by the thought ofJokersporting some stylishly feminine habiliment , but that does n’t mean he would n’t have overstretch it off with simpleness , all the while dragging Batman through hell .
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Source : Supergods : Our World in the Age of the Superhero
