Joker's Theme
THE JOKER (Jack Napier, among others)
Created By: Jerry Robinson, Bob Kane & Bill Finger
First Appearance: Batman #1 (Spring 1940)
Role: Batman's Arch-Foe, Crazy Villain, The Embodiment of Chaotic Evil
Mental Problems: Anger Issues, Finds Humor in Everything, Hatred, Obsessive-Compulsive, Tourette's Syndrome (laughter), Complete Lack of Morals, Obsession with Breaking Batman & Gordon, Bipolar Disorder (hell, just read a list of Wikipedia's mental disorders and throw darts at the screen. He's probably got whatever you hit)
Voice Actor: Mark Hamill
First Episode: "Christmas With The Joker"
Finest Moment: When defending himself from near-certain death against The Phantasm, Joker could have used the sharp knife, or the slab of salami. He chose the salami. AND IT WORKED.
PL 11 (163)
STRENGTH 2
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10
DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 3
AWARENESS 3
PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Acrobatics 3 (+7)
Athletics 6 (+8)
Close Combat (Improvised Weapons) 2 (+12)
Close Combat (Acid Flower) 1 (+11)
Deception 6 (+9)
Expertise (Criminal) 8 (+11)
Expertise (Science) 5 (+8)
Insight 3 (+6)
Intimidation 10 (+13)
Investigation 2 (+5)
Perception 4 (+7)
Sleight of Hand 5 (+10)
Stealth 4 (+8)
Technology 5 (+8)
Vehicles 4 (+9)
Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Beginner's Luck, Chokehold, Daze (Intimidation), Diehard, Equipment 13 (Joker Gear), Evasion, Fascinate (Intimidation), Fast Grab, Grab Finesse, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Improvised Weapons) 2, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Improvised Tools, Inventor, Last Stand, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Startle, Taunt
Powers:
"Crazy"
Immunity 1 (Joker Gas) [1]
Immunity 10 (Mental Effects) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [5]
"Sneak Attack" Enhanced Strength 2 (Flaws: Limited to Striking, Limited to When Opponent is Vulnerable) [1]
Equipment:
Any Assortment
"Gun" Blast 5 (10)
"Joker Gas" Affliction 11 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Area- 15ft. Cloud, Progressive +2) Linked to Weaken Stamina 4 (Extras: Area- 15ft. Cloud, Progressive +2) (55)
"Acid Flower" Damage 4 (Feats: Reach 2) (Extras: Secondary Effect) Linked to Weaken Toughness 2 (Feats: Reach 2) (14)
"Razor-Sharp Playing Cards" Blast 4 (Diminished Range -1) (7)
Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Improvised Weapon +12 (+4-5 Damage, DC 19-20)
Sneak Attack +9 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Sneak Attack w/ Weapons +12 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Gun +11 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Joker Gas +11 Area (+11 Affliction & +4 Weaken, DC 21 & 14)
Acid Flower +11 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +4
Defenses:
Dodge +11 (DC 21), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +3, Fortitude +6, Will +8
Complications:
Motivation (Greed, Fun, Chaos)
Obsession (Laughter & Jokes)
Obsession (Breaking People. ANY People)
Enemy/Rivalry/Obsession (Batman)
Total: Abilities: 66 / Skills: 68--34 / Advantages: 39 / Powers: 7 / Defenses: 17 (163)
-Jesus, just watch any Joker episode of
Batman: The Animated Series, and you'll get a near perfect example of what defines the character. He's funny and wacky, sure, and you can laugh at the guy, but that aspect of sheer, crazed mania is ALWAYS there, waiting to be unveiled, making him one of the scariest Jokers ever, as well. The role is designed purely for a giant ham (Jack Nicholson, Cesar Romero, Mark Hammill...), but a modern-day cynical scary-actor (Heath Ledger) can pull it off as well. But only in
B:TAS was he this level of pure, concentrated awesome.
-Most "Modern Jokers" go way too far into the "Serial Killer" range. Desperate one-upsmanship by hack writers had turned the comic book version into a completely-unacceptable recurring character, as they have him to more and more grotesque things to be the "Scary Joker" than is a self-parody that also has the horrendous side-effect of making Batman and every cop on the GCPD look like a bunch of hapless idiots who risk thousands of lives by letting him live. I mean, say what you will about Garth Ennis, but he knew not to leave these deeply-evil, awful characters alive for more than a Trade Paperback or two- the true abominations like D'Aronique, Jodie, and Gran'ma were always killed very quickly.
Y: The Last Man also features a smug, arrogant evil Amazon as one of the early villains, and makes her so unlikable she's ALSO wiped out in the first part of the tale. You can make a character as evil as the "forces a woman to eat the remains of her dead husband" Joker, sure, but you HAVE TO KILL HIM, because reasonable audiences won't accept something like that as a recurring menace.
-By contrast, this version of the Joker was a maniac AND very scary, but also more of a "typical villain". He wasn't a mass murderer or serial killer- it was important to note that in many episodes, he was just a simple thief (the "Captain Clown" episode has him gas all of Gotham... just so he can steal stuff), and he could walk into a room with other Bat-Rogues and not everyone would run for the hills. He'd want to murder Commissioner Gordon, sure... but he wouldn't carve him up or slaughter his children- he'd freeze him with a nerve agent and blow him up using a giant birthday cake. Like, he's dangerous and crazy, but he's not butchering people for no reason. So he was a bit of a standard-issue bad guy... except you'd see episodes where a guy tells him off for cutting him off in traffic, and "gets even" by ordering the man to do him a favor. And the man is so completely petrified (despite the Joker ACTING nice and friendly about it, in an important bit that makes it even scarier) that he changes his name and moves away from Gotham... only to have the Joker casually phone him up one day and call in his favor... which near kills the entire Gotham Police Department, AND the man. Like, he's scary as hell when he wants to be, but his gags are so humorous and bizarre that he's still an enjoyable part of the series.
-Other crazy things: he poisoned all the fish in Gotham Harbor with gross smiles just to be able to patent them (this is taken from an actual comic). He took money to put a hit out on The Phantasm, only to kill the guy who gave him the cash, just to lure the vigilante to the right place. And then his relationship with Harley, which starts off as a funny "Clown Villain and his Moll" routine, only to reveal the depths of Harley's mania for him, and the lack of care the Joker has for her (trying to murder Harley's new "gal-pal" and then VICIOUSLY slapping Harley for telling the wrong kind of joke ("if you have to EXPLAIN IT, it's not a joke!").
-In the later redesigns, the Joker ended up looking more cartoonish and weird, and it didn't really work- Bruce Timm has since regretted it- his black-eyed, lipless Joker just lacked the menace of the big red clown lips and yellowy eyes of the original concept. He was still an adequate nutjob, however.
Justice League would use him as well in a few episodes- a big one featured him joining Lex Luthor's Injustice Gang, pointing out that "I know how the Bat THINKS!", and actually proving himself correct, but sneaking up on the Dark Knight while he's spying on the villains. And of course, his ultimate send-off, when he arranges to free some "secret government facility" kids, turning them into a bunch of card-themed psychopaths. He even sets the mind-warping Ace into rendering thousands of people comatose at once, darkly noting "her powers don't work on me, because I'm ALREADY crazy". Ultimately, the day is only saved when Batman (of course) points out to Ace that the Joker kept her "kill-switch" activated in case she turned on him, causing her to silently lose her temper and DELIBERATELY warp his mind with a focused pulse- the comatose Joker is never seen again.
-The "final" version of the character is seen in a
Batman Beyond movie, where it's revealed that he was killed after trying to "Joker-ize" Tim Drake. A sobbing Drake was rescued, but immediately retired- years later, we'd discover an embittered Drake forced into "replicating" the Joker onto himself via a computer program, but Terry McGinnis, the new Batman, manages to stop him.
The Joker's Stats:
-So The Joker is much worse in combat than his arch-nemesis, The Batman (the Joker Gas is all that keeps him an even PL 11). so it still all comes down to the scheme. But The Joker's are always the best, involving the best henchman, the best traps, and the hardest-to-figure-out plan. He's got a swack of Advantages, tons of Skills (I dunno if he invents his own Gas & gadgets, but he's pretty good with them nonetheless), and his Joker Gas is extremely deadly. It can kill easily (part of why Bats ALWAYS has a breathing device handy) by Weakening Stamina, and it also Afflicts guys badly, leaving it's victims helpless and lying about, dying of the Weaken. It's extremely expensive, but hey, he's the arch-villain- he gets away with it.
-Joker's nowhere near as elite as the Bat-crew at fighting, but he's definitely no slouch. He'll smack you with SALAMI, thow sneaky razor-cards, etc., and he's definitely more dangerous than the common Mook in hand-to-hand. He's also crazily impossible to predict, even for a guy like Batman, and thus, Joker needs high to-hit, especially with Improvised Weapons (he can fight using Salami, and once hurt Batman pretty good with a giant wrench). Immunity also comes in handy from time to time (not really in the Bat-verse, but in JLU, it made him mostly immune to Ace's mental powers until she REALLY tried), and he's immune to his own gas.
About the Performer: Mark Hammill has had a very long career with all sorts of projects, but will pretty much always be known for the role he played when he was just starting out- Luke Skywalker in the "Star Wars" trilogy. He's good-natured about it, but it pretty well overshadows anything else an actor could hope to do, unless they were as good as Harrison Ford. It doesn't help that a rookie Mark was a noticeable "over-actor" during those movies ("NOOOOOOO! That's not true! That's IMPOSSIBLE!"), but it kind of fit the setting. But Luke was so overpowering that he found it difficult to be accepted into other roles- doing a "serious" role would be seen as "gimmicky", for example (he was disallowed performing his Broadway role in "Amadeus" to Tom Hulce, with one executive telling him "I don't want Luke Skywalker in this film"). This was the era in which appearing in a "Sci-Fi" movie kind of marked you as a certain kind of actor. Instead, Mark shifted to live theatre, developing "acting with your voice" skills that would serve him well in his later work, where he'd become one of the most notable and well-respected Voice Actors alive. His enhanced acting skills were quite notable in the new "Star Wars" films, in which he acts a hundred times better than he did in his late 20s.
-Hammill was "low-grade" enough to perform in the "Wing Commander" series of video gamse in the 1990s (doing some of the first Full-Motion Video in video-gaming- something that was thought of as the future of the industry at the time). His career got a major shot in the arm when he was a shockingly fantastic Joker in "Batman: The Animated Series". Here, he truly "got" the character- someone who was jovial, funny, and outgoing... but could turn on a dime and become INCREDIBLY dark and fearsome. The sinister way he'd growl out lines like "Her powers won't work on me, because I'm ALREADY crazy" was perfection, and he still has the best "Joker Laugh"- a truly manic, wailing cackle.
-Hammill's voiceover work would extend to countless shows, especially comic book-themed ones, playing the Hobgoblin, Gargoyle, Maximus, Klaw, Solomon Grundy, the Trickster (a role he played in live action in two versions of "The Flash" as well), and more. He's also going to be the new voice of Chucky in the upcoming "Child's Play" remake.
