Joker (Earth-Nolan)

From DC Database

The Joker

Gallery

Real Name

Unknown

Current Alias

The Joker

Identity

Secret

Alignment

Bad

Affiliation

Gotham City crime lords

Universe

Earth-Nolan

Base Of Operations

Gotham City

Characteristics

Gender

Male

Eyes

Brown

Hair

Green, (dyed)

Unusual Features

Scar on mouth

Status

Citizenship

American

Marital Status

Single

Occupation

Professional criminal

Origin

Origin

Creators

Christopher Nolan

First appearance

The Dark Knight

History

The origins of the Joker are not fully explained in The Dark Knight. However, throughout the movie, the Joker tells others of how he acquired the scars present around his mouth. He repeats two stories. The first is to the crime lord Gambol is about is his father being a drunk and abusing his mother. The Joker states that one night his father starts abusing his mother as he, a young boy, sits in the corner watching in terror. His father sees him cowering and asks "Why So Serious?", which turns to be one of the Joker's trademark lines. After his father says this to him he cuts the young, soon to be Joker's face in the shape of a smile so he would never look so serious. An alternate version of the tale is one he tells to Rachel Dawes, about his wife getting cut up but could not go under surgery due to the expenses. In turn he takes a razor blade and cut his mouth to prove to her that he doesn't care about scars, and that he just wants to see her smile again. He then states that she hated the sight of him and no matter how much he missed her, he was always smiling. He prepares to tell Batman the story behind his scars, but Batman incapacitates him before he has the opportunity. Given the Joker's obvious mania, neither version of the origin can be considered reliable.

At the beginning of the movie, the Joker sends a group of thieves to rob a mafia bank - and also ordered each one to kill one another until his arrival on a school bus. After killing the last of his minions and scaring the bank manager with a smoke grenade, the Joker leaves with the money. The mobsters first think of the Joker as an enemy of theirs, but then he arrives at their meeting and offers to kill Batman for pay. They agree after the hero captures their Chinese accountant, Lau.

The Joker then kills a Batman impersonator and leaves with his body a tape telling all of Gotham that if the Batman does not turn himself in to the police, more people will die each day. When the Joker begins killing public officials, including Commissioner Loeb and the judge presiding over the mob trials, (and an attempt to kill Mayor Garcia, that ends up injuring Lieutenant Gordon) Wayne decides to turn himself in. Before he can do so, district attorney Harvey Dent announces that he is Batman, to draw the Joker out of hiding. The Joker then tries to kill Dent as the police is dragging him away, but Gordon and Batman intervene and arrest him.

Batman interrogates the Joker, who reveals that Dawes and Dent have been taken to opposite sides of the city, far enough apart that Batman does not have time to save both of them, and placed in warehouses rigged with explosives. Batman speeds off to save Dawes, while Gordon and the police head after Dent. However, the Joker has switched the locations, sending Batman after Dent and Gordon after Dawes. With the help of a bomb planted at the police station, the Joker escapes with Lau in tow.

After escaping, the Joker threatens to blow up a Gotham Hospital if one of Bruce Wayne's employees, Coleman Reese (who supposedly knows Batman's true identity) isn't killed. This causes all the hospitals of Gotham to be evacuated, allowing the Joker to infiltrate the Gotham General Hospital to speak with Dent, who was disfigured with severe burns to the left side of his face and driven to madness over the loss of Dawes. The Joker frees Dent from the hospital and convinces him to exact revenge on the cops, mobsters, Gordon, and Batman. After both leave, the Joker blows up the hospital.

The Joker then declares that he will rule the streets and that anyone left in Gotham at nightfall will be subject to his rule. He states that if order is to be in Gotham Batman must die. Eventually the city attempts to leave, although, all road ways and bridges have been cut off. However, two ferries remain and each one becomes full. One carries criminals from Arkham and other prisons and the other, regular citizens. The Joker plants explosives on the two ferries of evacuees and gives the passengers on board the chance to destroy the opposing vessel, in order to save their own lives. Using the help of his ‘sonar-vision’ and Lucius Fox, Batman tracks the Joker to an uncompleted skyscraper. Batman takes down the henchmen, disguised as hostages, and takes down the SWAT team from killing the innocent citizens, forced to dress like henchmen. The hero then comes to the Joker, who sends Rottweiler dogs at him, and hits Batman with a steel pipe. Attempting to block, yet getting overpowered by the steel pipe, the Joker manages to subdue Batman but eventually, is caught off guard when Batman projects the steel spikes off his gauntlet at the Joker causing him to release his grip on Batman. Then being thrown over the edge of the building, yet saved by Batman’s grappling wire, the Joker hangs upside down as Batman prevents the Joker from blowing up the ferries when both vessels' occupants decide they would rather not sacrifice the lives of the passengers in the other vessel for their own. Remaining upside down, the Joker acknowledges that Batman really is incorruptible, but that Dent was not, and that he has unleashed Harvey's madness upon the city. The Joker is never shown later, but he is presumably taken to Arkham Asylum by the police.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

No superhuman powers

Abilities

Handles well weaponry, explosives and criminal plans.

Strength level

Ordinary

Weaknesses

None

Paraphernalia

Equipment: Custom clothes with his preferred choice of knives, guns, and other various, high end, exotic military hardware and weponary
Transportation: Various stolen vehicles.
Weapons: Various bladed weapons, usually knives, though he has also been show to be deadly with a pencil as well. The Joker also employs a few crudely made explosives and specially designed hand grenades.

Notes

• This version of the Joker appears in the 2008 Warner Bros. film The Dark Knight and is portrayed by the late actor Heath Ledger. This iteration of the character is purported to be the darkest version of the Joker to date. Heath Ledger is the third actor to bring the character of the Joker to the big screen. The first was Caesar Romero in the 1966 film Batman. Jack Nicholson played the character in the 1989 film. Ledger's Joker made a behind-the-scenes appearance at the close of 2005's Batman Begins. At Gotham City Police Headquarters, Lieutenant Gordon commented that with the appearance of a caped vigilante such as Batman, it stands to reason that Gotham's criminals would develop a "taste for the theatrical". With that, he handed Batman a Joker playing card that was recovered from a crime scene.

• Unlike all other versions of the Joker (both in print and theatrical), Ledger's incarnation is the only Joker who is specifically known to wear makeup to create his identity as the Joker. He adopts the makeup as his "natural" face, and refuses to clean off and reapply the clown makeup in successive scenes which causes the material to continually decay and gives him a more unkempt appearance as the film continues on. There is only one scene where the Joker can be seen without any makeup. During the memorial service for Commissioner Loeb, the Joker masquerades as a police officer in an effort to assassinate Mayor Anthony Garcia.

• Another unusual aspect of this version of the Joker is that the he seems to be able to hold his own in a fight against Batman. During their first confrontation, the Joker manages to lay a few hits upon Batman. However, this unexpected prowess is most likely due to the fact that the Joker is able to catch Batman by surprise by extracting a small knife from the toe of his shoe. During the Joker and Batman's final confrontation, the Joker becomes extremely provoked by Batman and manages to beat down and subdue him. The Joker beats Batman so hard, using fists and a steel pipe that he causes Batman's sonar-vision to malfunction, temporarily blinding him, and giving the Joker an even greater advantage.
  

Trivia

• The Joker was Heath Ledger's final completed performance, having done all his work on the movie shortly before his death in January 2008. (he was working on another movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, at the time of his death)

• The Dark Knight's viral marketing was initially centered on the Joker, with news on the movie released in http://WhySoSerious.com . This changed after Ledger's death, with Harvey Dent becoming the new focus.

See Also

• Discuss Joker (Earth-Nolan) on the forums
• Appearances of Joker (Earth-Nolan) (Chronological)
• Appearances of Joker (Earth-Nolan) (Alphabetical)
• Character Gallery: Joker (Earth-Nolan)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Joker (Earth-Nolan)
• Quotations by Joker (Earth-Nolan)

Recommended Reading

• None.

Links and References

• at Wikipedia.org
  
• WhySoSerious.com
  

Footnotes

Batman Villain(s) This character, team or organization, is or was primarily an enemy of the Batman, or members of the Batman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."