Profile of the Joker

Real Name: Unknown 

Location: Gotham City

First Appearance: Batman #1 (1940)

Created By: Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson

Powers

The Joker has no known superpowers. He is extremely intelligent and has a firm grasp of chemical engineering and weapon design, which he uses to create various instruments of terror, death, and criminal hilarity, if only to the Joker. He is responsible for countless deaths and is a highly dangerous individual.

His mental state is completely unstable, and he is a regular in Arkham Asylum. The Joker will at one time be mischievous and funny, but at other times be violent, brutal, and cruel.

Team Affiliations

Injustice Gang and the Injustice League

Currently Status

The Joker can currently be seen in the Batman family of comic books. He can also be seen in other DC titles as well.

Interesting Fact

The Joker has no truly identifiable origin story. He has told many different origins, from being the Red Hood to a coerced chemical engineer in a robbery gone bad to just “Jack.” The Joker recreates himself so often that his true identity may never be known.

Origin

It can be argued that the Joker is Batman’s greatest enemy. He isn’t as smart as Ra’s Al Ghul, as strong as Bane, or as conniving as The Penguin, but maybe it is his completely random behavior and chilling ruthlessness that Batman has trouble dealing with. The Joker seems to live for causing havoc and delights at making Batman squirm.

His origin is a mystery, maybe even to the Joker himself. He has told no less than three different versions of it. It seems that he recreates himself as often as there are days. Whether his true identity will be revealed is still a mystery.

The Joker has skills in chemical engineering and weapon design that he uses to create deadly combinations that kill, maim, and torture his victims. He is responsible for the deaths of many people and has contributed to the mental breakdown of others as well, as was the case with Harleen Quinzel, a psychiatrist at the mental hospital Arkham Asylum where the Joker has been a frequent resident. He made her fall in love with him and got her to help him escape, and then drove her over the edge. She has recreated herself as Harley Quinn and has become an accomplice and lover to the Joker.

Being Batman’s archenemy, the Joker has chosen not just Batman, but his friends and teammates to attack as well. He killed Jason Todd, also known as Robin, who was the second to pick up that mantle. He shot and paralyzed Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Jim Gordon’s daughter and was also responsible for the death of Jim’s wife, Sarah. The Joker lives to bring havoc to the world and his favorite person to torture has usually been Batman.

Even though it would be easier to kill the Joker, Batman has chosen to take a higher road, never taking it into his own hands to end the tyranny of the Joker, but taking him time and again to Arkham Asylum, hoping that one day, the Joker will be cured of his murderous impulses.