- "Batman brought out all the crazies in Gotham. If it weren't for him, there wouldn't have been a Joker!"
- —Jacob Kane[src]
Jack Napier[1] (died 2015[2]), better known as the Joker, was an infamous psychopathic criminal from Gotham City who terrorized the city for years and was responsible for countless attacks, including the Kane family car accident. Eventually, after years of the Joker murdering civilians, Batman snapped and killed him, though most people are unaware of this, instead believing he is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum. He is considered to be Batman’s greatest enemy. Being among the most notorious criminals ever, he left a huge mark on the world in general and Gotham City in particular; he was portrayed in pop culture by the actor Heath Ledger and even referenced by Cisco Ramon.
Contents
Biography
Original multiverse
Early life
Jack Napier was a mysterious criminal who was, for some time, best known by his alias, "the Joker". He was an enemy to the similarly half-mythical Gotham City protector, Batman.[3][1]
Kane family car accident
The Joker chases the Kane family car.
On January 26, 2003,[4] Joker hijacked a bus with 34 schoolchildren and ended up ramming the Kane family's car, leaving it dangling on the edge of the bridge. He was pursued by Batman, who secured the car with his grappling hooks. Batman then saved the schoolchildren and defeated Joker. However, the Kanes' car loosened from the hooks due to an engineering mishap and fell into the river, leading to the deaths of Gabi and apparently Beth Kane. Joker was captured and tried the following month.[3]
Imprisonment
Joker was later brought to justice, prosecuted by assistant district attorney Angus Stanton, and sent to Arkham Asylum. His identity was revealed to be Jack Napier.[1]
New multiverse
Criminal activity
Jack Napier's fake painting.
At some point, Jack Napier broke into the house of a man who owned a painting which held the location of the island Coryana. Napier killed the man and used his intestines as materials to cover the painting with his own “work”.[5]
Death
- "I broke Batman's code."
"You think you're the only one? Ever wonder why the Joker hasn't reared his head in five years? He's not in Arkham, Kate. Both you and Bruce stared into the abyss. The question is... how long are you gonna let it stare back at you?" - —Kate Kane and Luke Fox[src]
In 2015, the Joker was finally killed by Batman, although it is widely believed that he remains locked up in Arkham Asylum.[2]
Legacy
Joker is remembered as one of the worst criminals to have plagued Gotham, as well as one of Batman's most noteworthy unhinged adversaries. He was at some point portrayed by Heath Ledger in a fictionalized form of some sort. Cisco Ramon compared Heath Ledger's Joker to Zoom, claiming that the maniacal speedster made Ledger’s Joker "look like Santa Claus".[6]
Joker's death (as described by Luke Fox) seemed to have had a profound impact on Batman, who apparently broke his moral code upon killing him. Due to this experience, Batman disappeared into a possible retirement, remaining out of Gotham ever since.[2]
In 2020, after Alice released all the inmates from Arkham and sent them to wreak chaos and havoc across Gotham, Jacob Kane began to compare his daughter to Joker, as she was fixated on Batwoman the same way Joker had fixated on Batman.[7]
Jacob laughed in disbelief and said that he was the Joker when Alice told him that Kate was Batwoman until he realized Alice was telling the truth when he turned on the Bat-Signal.[8]
Kate took a photo in her phone of a painting that Jack had made because it had a subliminal reference to Safiyah Sohail; while investigating Kate's phone, Jacob found the photo and asked Sophie Moore about its significance.[9] Later, Jacob sent Agent Whelan to find the original painting.[10]
Abilities
- Artist: The Joker was a skilled painter.
Appearances
Batwoman
Season 1
Season 2
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The Chronicles of Cisco
- Post 27 (mentioned)
Behind the scenes
- In the DC Comics, the Joker is the nemesis of Batman.
- In The Flash episode "Back to Normal" when Joe West, Cisco Ramon, and Barry Allen rescue Harry Wells, they find him being held by Griffin Grey at Ace Chemicals. In the comics, it's at Ace Chemicals where DC Comics' Joker fell into a vat of chemical products that turned him into the maniac he is.
- The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, was indeed a character in The Dark Knight, a film adaptation of DC's Batman mythos.
- Considering the Joker's later appearance in Batwoman, it can be assumed that Ledger portrayed the character in a documentary, or as a fictionalized version of him in a movie based on real events (considering that Batman himself is thought to be a myth by a number of characters in-universe; Oliver Queen being a one-such individual).[11]
- The name "Jack Napier" was used as both the real name or simply an alias for the Joker in many Batman projects, including the 1989 Batman film and Batman: The Animated Series.
- The name "Jack Napier" was intended to sound like the word "jackanapes".
- Jack Napier's paintings are a reference to his vandalism of various paintings in the 1989 Batman film.
- The Joker hijacking a school bus is a reference to the events in The Dark Knight where the Joker hijacked a bus after robbing a bank.
References
| Other versions of Jack Napier | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| To see other versions of this location, click the Earth name below for that Earth's counterpart of Joker. | ||||
| New multiverse | ||||
| Earth: Prime | ||||
| Original multiverse | ||||
| Earth: 1 • 89 • 96 • 203 | ||||
