THE REAL ORIGIN OF THE JOKER REVEALED

 

                                                  THE JOKER (ORIGINS)

                The Joker, Batman’s arch nemesis and ,in my opinion, one of the greatest villains ever. But where did he come from and how did he get to be the psychopathic  killer he turned out to be.  What level of inner demons could drive a human to kill other humans just for his own pleasure and amusement. In this blog post, we’re going to finally look at the proper origin story of the Joker.

              

  

 

 

                Ok, I admit the title was probably just click bait😅as no one can fully verify which of the many stories is actually his true background story. The Joker in the comics usually alters his story to match the person he was telling it (to prey on their minds and make them feel more pity or guilt as the case may be). But we’re going to do some detective work here and narrow our options down to the actual events that lead to the creation of the Joker.

                First off the Joker’s real name is Jack Napier as opposed to Arthur Fleck portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix’s 2019 Joker. Joker’s first ever appearance was in the first Batman comic issue sometime in 1940. But then he was just a psycho criminal without any background story. It wasn’t until 1951 when the first “origin story ” of the joker was released (Detective comics #168). According to it, Joker was a normal criminal who took on  the red hood alias to commit crimes. He was eventually hunted down by the Batman and he jumped into a pool of acid (to escape) which gave him his signature look and resemblance to the joker playing card.

                                      

                In another origin story based on the 1988 Batman: Killing the Joke issue (which is similar to Joaquin’s 2019 portrayal of the Joker), the Joker was an employee in a chemist plant who ventured into stand up comedy  but was a terrible comedian (even though his wife swears he’s funny). Without money and with a baby on the way he decided to help criminals rob his former work place. His wife dies in a house accident, things go wrong at the heist, his cohorts are killed and in order to escape he jumps into a nearby lake. Unfortunately, illegal chemicals had been dumped in the lake and he comes out with red lips, green hair and pale skin.

                 

 In Tim Burton’s movie Batman put forth that the Joker was originally gangster Jack Napier, a vain sociopath with an interest in chemistry and art who also, it turns out, killed Bruce Wayne’s parents. An encounter with Batman at Ace Chemicals leads to his bleached skin, but it’s a wound he suffers during a battle with the Dark Knight (along with back alley surgery) that results in him having a permanent smile. Viewing the experience as a rebirth, he decides to rebrand himself as a homicidal performance artist who will destroy Gotham across the board. He blames Batman for his creation, but the whole parent-murder thing makes the reverse is true as well.

 

 

So there you have it. Some of the most popular Joker origin stories. Whether he was a failed comedian or just a regular lab worker what is important is the Joker became one of the greatest villains ever.