He ’s as maniacal as they come , and he ’s always eager to giveBatmana bad sidereal day . In the long chronicle of Batman in comics , theJokerhas been equally popular as the Dark Knight . He ’s the ultimate scoundrel , one who thrives on corrupting the incorruptible . Even when facing the possibility of meeting his terminal at the hands of a criminal or desperate vigilante , his delectation in spread ferocity and chaos never wanes .
There are many stories that highlight the storey of depravity the Joker will lower oneself to , and they are mighty low . For that reason , his notoriety as a baddie is probably more pronounced than most villains in pop culture history . With the recent release of the long - wait sequelJoker : Folie à Deux , let ’s plunk into the darkest and most precarious story featuring the psychopathologic Clown Prince of Crime .
10. Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
The ’ fourscore was a delineate decade for both the Caped Crusader and his No . 1 baddie , the Joker . Among the best stories told is Grant Morrison ’s epicArkham Asylum : A Serious House on Serious Earth . The chronicle popularize Arkham Asylum and it ’s iconography within Batman ’s world .
In this dark and twisted tarradiddle , Batman is forced to head to Arkham to contend with the villains who ’ve all broken out of their holding locations and are causing topsy-turvydom thanks to the Clown Prince of Crime . He ’s the drawing card of this mass hysteria , and it ’s up to Batman to put a hat on it . This book became the very basis for theBatman : Arkham Asylumvideo game free in 2009 and developed by Rocksteady Studios .
9. The Batman Adventures: Mad Love
This one - injection tale write by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm , the Creator behindBatman : The Animated Series , capitalized on a fresh found character in the Batman mythos : Harley Quinn . The early ’ XC cartoon brought us one of the most dear fictional character in DC account . AndMad Lovegave us a mo more incite into the kinship between Joker and his girl , Harley .
As you would expect from a maniac murderer , he ’s rather pitiless toward Harley despite her attempts at truly winning his heart . However , the Joker patently only ever run across her as a sycophant . It ’s a twisted smell into the biography of the Joker outside of his daily villainous shenanigans . Ultimately , you ’ll palpate for Harley . And we all know that one day , she will turn her back on her vicious boyfriend for good and truly make a name for herself .
8. The Arkham video game trilogy
The aforesaid Batman : Arkham games developed by Rocksteady Studios have solidified their popularity not only through engrossing gameplay and unstable combat , but also because of the original stories behind the trilogy that many who ’ve been a part of the Batman legacy over the years helped to create , including writer Paul Dini , the previous Kevin Conroy as the spokesperson of Batman , and Mark Hamill as the Joker .
It ’s difficult to really piece just one of these games as Joker ’s story encompasses all three of them . We witness the Clown Prince of Crime wreak mayhem on the asylum in the first entry , then attempt to take control of Arkham City and coerce Batman to heal him from a self - inflicted ailment he received in the asylum , and lastly live enduringly in Batman ’s dome ’ in the net secret plan always taunting him . The Joker ’s impact on Gotham is n’t something that can simply be pop like his bodily form , something this trilogy show in spectacular mode .
7. Batman: The Man Who Laughs
This one - shot story pen by Ed Brubaker is a reimagining of the first merging between Batman and his famous archnemesis . The mirthful tie into the Joker ’s “ Red Hood ” descent story as depict inThe Killing Joke , and depicts the homicidal villain doing what he does best , sowing dissension via a bloody track within Gotham .
There ’s nothing creepier than Joker ’s famous express mirth toxin that make his victims to die with a brainy smile on their aspect . It ’s his calling placard after all . There ’s no shortage of expiry and insanity inThe Man Who Laughs , which earns the narration high marker within the Joker legacy .
6. Batman: White Knight
Do you ever wonder what Batman ’s world would be like if the Joker all of a sudden stopped being harebrained ? What if the Joker became a normal civilian ? What would he be like if he stlll had a clear reminiscence of his villainous life?Batman : White Knight , illustrate and written by Sean Murphy , is a popular modern smell at the fibre . In this plot line , Batman sharply pursues and beats the Joker , then forcefulness - feeds him medication . The medicine reverses the Joker ’s insanity while the populace ’s opinion of the Dark Knight tanks after seeing his intervention of the criminal .
The Joker then depart by his effectual name , Jack Napier , and is freed from custody due to little grounds of his crimes . Jack finally run for city councilman , an election he acquire . on the Q.T. , he sets out to connive against the metropolis . But in the meantime , he establishes a task force within the Gotham City Police Department to fetch down Batman . It ’s a gripping floor that realise its standing in the Joker legacy at the end of the day .
5. Batman (1989)
The famousTim Burton - directedfilm put the dark and bulk large version of the Caped Crusader on the map . Gone were the days of Adam West ’s camp superhero delight . And by the same token , proceed is the goofy Cesar Romero iteration of the Clown Prince of Crime . This Joker is far edgier as he electrocute a former gangster fellow to the decimal point of becoming a crispy skeleton in his comfortable chair at the discussion table . That ’s something you wo n’t see in the 1960sBatmanserial . Jack Nicholson ’s take on the Joker leaned intemperately into the murderous aspect of the character .
Nicholson ’s translation of the crook also established a Joker who is commanding and ultimately lead job like a mobster , much like his pre - accident days before his skin ( and head ) were altered by chemicals . You ca n’t go wrong withBatmanwhen look for a solid Joker story .
4. Batman: Three Jokers
This miniseries , written by DC author Geoff Johns , was published in 2020 . And just like its title heavily infers , the narrative is about three joker . That ’s right-hand . Batman meet a horrifying revelation that the Joker is n’t one , but three individuals operate under the same cognomen . However , each Joker has a slenderly dissimilar subject , standardised to the very different takes on the character over the twelvemonth . While they ’re all just as insane as ever , one is considered “ the criminal , ” the second “ the buffoon , ” and the third “ the comedian . ”
The criminal is calculating and methodical . It ’s assumed that he leads the trio . The clown stage the camp depictions of the character . He is excessively goofy and leans into physical gags and trigger-happy pranks . The third lives up to his designation as the comedian by keep humour at the forefront of his persona .
Truthfully , all three of these trait make up the monstrous villain we ’ve always know . This is whyThree Jokers , revealing that the character is in reality built on three individuals , crap for a gripping read .
3. Batman: A Death in the Family
Imagine a Joker tarradiddle where he actually won . His schemes did n’t just terminate in success , but a clear licking of team Batman . That ’s the haulage behind the storyA Death in the Family . This serial of issues published in 1988 can now be observe in a collected edition , and it subverted fans ’ expectations by chronicle the death of Jason Todd ’s Robin at the hands of the Joker .
In realness , fans chose this resultant . DC enact a vote where fans could submit their choice of the news report ’s outcome : Jason ’s dying or Batman ’s winner in saving his partner . Reader ’s were in all probability dismayed at the time when they memorize that they all really wanted a mouthful of something unlike than the fair superhero story : a tragedy .
The Joker ’s execution of Jason Todd was quite fearsome . Comics have become even black and more graphic since . ButA Death in the Familycertainly raise a few eyebrows by depicting the brutal dying of a child .
2. The Dark Knight (2008)
It ’s almost impossible to not opine of director Christopher Nolan ’s ( Oppenheimer , Dunkirk)The Dark Knightin association with the Joker . The late actor Heath Ledger would go on to win an Academy Award posthumously for his portrayal of the villain . The Dark Knightfocused on the whodunit behind the Joker in depicting an syndicalist who prosper on wildness and pandemonium .
Ledger ’s Joker turn out to be the ultimate villain to Christian Bale ’s Batman . He was a villain the vigilante could n’t frighten or beat into submission . Instead , he larn a small too recent that the Joker ’s end game was to drive corruption within Gotham at great by turning it ’s most respected leader , namely the D.A. Harvey Dent , to the saturnine side . The Dark Knightwill always have hard seat in the Joker ’s history as a fictitious character .
1. Batman: The Killing Joke
Writer Alan Moore’sBatman : The Killing Jokeis , perhaps , the definitive Joker tarradiddle . It ’s horrific , and quite possibly triggering for some . Joker ’s depravity knows no spring as he emotionally and physically scars Barbara Gordon after intrude on her home , and then proceeds to torture her father commissioner James Gordon in an attempt to mentally break him through forcible indignation and the detail of his traffic with Barbara originally that night .
The Joker pushes Batman to the threshold in hope that the submarine sandwich will do the one thing he ’s aver never to do : kill . In retrospect , the book is still just as appal as ever . However , it cements the Joker as the most flagitious villain in the Batman mythos , and perhaps , DC comic as a whole .
