What's the real story behind the Joker ?
The true story of the Joker has never been clearly established, as comic books offer several contradictory versions. The best-known, in Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, describes the Joker as a failed comedian who, after a series of personal failures, agrees to take part in a robbery under the mask of the Red Hood. During his confrontation with Batman, he falls into a vat of chemicals that alters his appearance and triggers his mental transformation into madness. However, the Joker admits that his memories are confused, casting doubt on the accuracy of this version.
Where does the Joker come from in the comics ?
The Joker made his first appearance in Batman #1 in 1940. He is introduced as an offbeat criminal, a hard-to-predict crime lord who directly challenges his favorite enemy Batman. Created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, the character was inspired by the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs. From the outset, the Joker has embodied madness and danger, distinguishing himself from other criminals with his sinister laugh and clownish face.
In this perpetual battle between Batman and the Joker, they form the perfect Yin and Yan, one defending order and justice, the other opposing them by creating chaos and absurdity.
The Killing Joke (1988)
One of the most famous versions is that presented in Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, often considered the most popular origin story of the Joker. In this story, the Joker is portrayed as an ordinary man, a failed comedian struggling to support his pregnant wife. Driven into poverty, he agrees to take part in a robbery as “Red Hood”, a masked criminal. However, the robbery goes wrong, Batman intervenes, and in his escape, the character falls into a vat of chemicals. The chemicals bleach his skin white, dye his hair green and give him a permanent smile. Physically deformed and mentally broken by these events, he becomes the Joker.
However, this version is itself challenged within the story. The Joker admits that his memories are confused, saying:
"Sometimes I remember things one way, sometimes another. If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice."
This underlines the idea that even this version could be only a partial or inaccurate view of his true origins.
The Red Hood
In many stories from the 1950s and 1960s, the Joker is linked to the character of the “Red Hood”, a masked criminal. In this version, he is an anonymous gangster who operated under this pseudonym before meeting Batman.
While trying to escape after a robbery, he falls into a vat of chemical acid in a factory, which deforms his face and gives him his characteristic appearance. After this incident, he sinks into madness and becomes the Joker. This version is often used as the basis for several comics, but is often vague about his origins before he became the Red Hood.
The New 52 (2011) and Rebirth (2016)
With reboots like The New 52 and DC Rebirth, the Joker's origins have become even more uncertain. In The New 52, the Joker is shown as a completely unpredictable psychopath, and there's no serious attempt to rewrite his origins in detail. In Scott Snyder's Endgame arc, it's even suggested that the Joker could be an immortal entity that has existed for centuries, although this remains ambiguous and could be another of his psychological manipulations. He could be interpreted as a generational symbol that synthesizes the social ills of their time.
In DC Rebirth, a revelation is made: there are potentially three different Jokers, each having marked different periods of the character's criminal career. This arc, explored in greater depth in Batman: Three Jokers (2020), further complicates the question of origins by insinuating that the Joker is not a single individual, but several criminals adopting the same identity.
Why are the Joker's origins so uncertain ?
Different interpretations of the Joker 's origins add to his mystery, and serve to nuance his madness. In The Killing Joke, written by Alan Moore, he is presented as a failed actor who falls into a vat of chemicals. However, even this story is not definitive, as the Joker himself admits that his memories are hazy. This ambiguity, intended by the authors, keeps the character flexible and adaptable to new interpretations.
Different versions of the character can exist, like that of Joaquin Phoenix or Heath Ledger, each adapted to the era, or to the vision of the director or screenwriter. Whether he's a man broken by society (played by Arthur Fleck) or a calculating criminal mastermind, the Joker remains a mirror of the anxieties and social misery of his time, and his story can be rewritten in any era.
What is the story behind the film Joker ?
The story of Arthur Fleck
The 2019 Joker movie , directed by Todd Phillips, tells the story ofArthur Fleck, a mentally ill man who dreams of becoming a stand-up comedian. Rejected by society and repeatedly humiliated, he gradually slips into madness. The film explores Arthur's transformation into the Joker, a symbol of chaos and rebellion in a Gotham plunged into social disorder. This modern interpretation tackles themes of marginalization, mental illness and social injustice.
In this film, high society, represented by figures like Thomas Wayne, embodies anelite out of touch with the realities of the poorest. Wayne, an influential billionaire and potential mayor of Gotham, sees the poor as clowns, reducing their plight to a mere caricature. This attitude symbolizes an elite that deliberately ignores the suffering of the masses and continues to prosper in a system that benefits them. Meanwhile, the underprivileged like Arthur Fleck find themselves cut off from essential services, including psychiatric care, driven to violence by a hostile environment that constantly rejects them.
The film depicts the rise of a social revolt, in which the underprivileged classes rise up against those they perceive to be responsible for their misery. This revolt, triggered by the violent actions of the Joker at the end of the film, illustrates how the gap between rich and poor has led to an explosive society, where those at the top of the system live in a bubble of privilege, oblivious or indifferent to the suffering of the weakest. Joker denounces the willful blindness of the elites, and the dramatic consequences of inaction in the face of social inequality.
The Joker's laugh
Arthur Fleck's character suffers from a condition called pathological laughter, a real-life neurological disease that causes uncontrolled, inappropriate laughter. This laughter often occurs at times of stress, anxiety or discomfort. It's out of his control and doesn't correspond to his real emotions. Arthur even hands out cards explaining this condition when he laughs inappropriately. Joaquin Phoenix has explained in interviews that he has developed three types of laughter for his character:
- - The laugh of suffering: This is the kind that occurs in spite of himself, and causes him great psychological pain. It is often accompanied by tears or signs of discomfort.
- - Conscious laughter: This occurs when Arthur begins to embrace his transformation into the Joker, a more genuine, deliberate laugh linked to his new sense of freedom.
- - Forced laughter: This is a laugh he uses to try to blend in with society, for example when he wants to fit in or appear normal. It appears mainly in the early parts of the film.
Laughter becomes a burden for Arthur, as it further marginalizes him. He often laughs in situations where he feels uncomfortable or vulnerable, increasing the social unease around him. This illness is a reflection of his isolation and inability to connect with the world around him.
Arkham Asylum
At the end of the film, Arthur Fleck, now fully the Joker, is seen dancing in a corridor of what appears to be Arkham State Hospital (equivalent to Arkham Asylum). This scene shows Arthur, after being captured by the police, as an in-patient at Arkham, suggesting that he is now recognized as criminally insane. His transformation into the Joker is complete, and his internment at Arkham concludes his final alienation from society.
In the film Joker: Folie à Deux, Harley Quinn (played by Lady Gaga) is not introduced as a psychiatrist at Arkham, but rather as a patient, which doesn't follow the usual plot at all. Moreover, this is one of the worst Warner Bros. films, with the feeling that a musical was thrown in at all costs because Lady Gaga's presence had to be justified.
Why does the Joker go mad ?
The Joker is often portrayed as a character whose madness is the result of a combination of factors. Versions differ, but some recurring elements include personal trauma, abuse or social exclusion.
In The Killing Joke, he is portrayed as an ordinary man pushed to the edge by a series of tragedies. The 2019 film adds to this vision by highlighting theisolation and lack of support Arthur Fleck suffers, showing how these factors drive him to adopt chaos and madness as a way of life.
In the film starring Heath Ledger, he makes it clear that he needs Batman to exist, as madness can only be defined in the presence of moral benchmarks. These moral criteria are pushed to the absurd, and this is what has sickened the world of Gotham City.
How did Heath Ledger commit suicide ?
Heath Ledger, the actor who played the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), died of an accidental drug overdose on January 22, 2008. The circumstances surrounding his death fueled speculation, with some claiming that his role as Batman 's arch-enemy had affected his mental health. It must be said that his performance was exemplary, and so well mastered that he is one of the finest actors ever to play the Joker.
According to the official coroner's report, Ledger died of acute intoxication due to a mixture of prescription drugs, including antidepressants, anxiolytics (such as Valium and Xanax), sleeping pills (Ambien) and painkillers (Oxycodone and Hydrocodone). The inquest concluded that his death was accidental, attributed to a wrong combination of substances, and not an intentional suicide.
He suffered from insomnia and work-related stress. Some believe that his intense role in The Dark Knight, where he played the Joker, contributed to his psychological difficulties and sleep disorders, although there is no direct evidence that this played a major role in his death. It's all speculation, and we'll never know the answer to the death of one of the greatest actors ever to play the Joker.
Is the Joker really evil ?
The 2019 film presents the Joker as a symbol of social frustration and marginalization. Through Arthur Fleck, the film explores the effects of neglect and rejection on a vulnerable individual, making a pitiful point about the dysfunction of our times. The character becomes a spokesman for the disenfranchised, using chaos to express his anger at a system that has abandoned him and so many others.
The Joker 's durability in popular culture is linked to popular revolt. He represents pure chaos, but also suffering and the quest for meaning in an absurd world governed by norms: paradoxical, isn't it? It's clear that the relationship between Batman and the Joker isn't as Manichean as one might first think.
This mix of traits makes him as appealing to writers as he is to audiences, guaranteeing his status as a timeless icon. The Joker embodies human duality with his antithesis Batman: madness and lucidity, order and chaos, good and evil.
By the MySuperSuit team.