Things You Didn't Know About The Joker

The Joker is definitely one of the most popular characters in DC. But it is no secret that most people do not really know much about the villain apart from his usual relationship with Batman. Even the writers tend to deviate from the origins of the villain in order to keep his mysterious appeal. Although, thanks to the recent release of the new comic book, Batman: White Knight, we now know a bit more than we knew about the Joker.

**SPOILER ALERT
THIS POST CONTAINS POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR THE COMIC BOOK BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT. IF YOU DO NOT WANT IT SPOILT, SAVE/BOOKMARK THE POST AND COME BACK TO IT LATER.

1. HIS REAL NAME

Most people do not know the real name of the Joker. Although, there is reason to believe that his name might be Jack Napier but there is not really much proof to back that up. In the White Knight storyline, when the Joker had become sane, he made people to start calling him Jack Napier, instead of Joker. We have not really heard people call him his real name so there was no guarantee that that is really his name, but since that is the name he was called when he had become sane, it is safe to assume that that is his real name: Jack Napier. That proves that that is also his name in the comics.

2. HIS ORIGIN

 

Due to the recurring reboots and re-imagining of the characters in the DC universe, many of their characters do not have a definite origin story. The Joker, on the other hand, is one of those characters who didn't even have an origin story before then. Now his backstory has been finally cleared.

He was raised in a farm, but he had heard a lot of good things about Gotham so he ran away. When he got to Gotham, he discovered that he it was just as boring as his farm. So he tried to spice it up by becoming a comedian but discovered he couldn't really make people in a city as numb as Gotham laugh. Then, he tried something else, terror, he adopted a life of crime just to spice things up in Gotham. But then, Batman came along and did what he had been trying to do all this while - he woke the city up. He made it his life mission to really know the Dark Knight. He decided to get close to him, even as his nemesis in order to know him like no one else really did. And that is how we got the psychopath killer/crimemaster we all know and love, the Joker.

3. WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM

We would just assume that the Joker is just a mad man with psychopathic tendencies but what we really don't know is what is really wrong with him. In other words, his condition in the terms a doctor would use.
In the words of Harley Quinn, (she is a psychiatrist) he is a narcissist who suffers from dysthymia and a schizoid personality disorder, likely made worse by chemical imbalance. To dumb it down for both of us, he is full of ego and pride and suffers from depression and a personality disorder. Plus the vat of chemicals he had fell into only made it worse. 


4. HE IS A GENIUS

He might not be as smart as or Lex Luthor, but he is definitely way smarter than most people. The Arkham doctors had taken CAT scans and IQ tests in order to test his sanity, and to everyone's surprise, not only did he ace the tests and proved he I very sane, it also showed that he is a genius. They even said that he had scored higher than average genius levels in his IQ test.
He has even manipulated the citizens of Gotham to turn their backs on Batman and elect him as councilman. He had filed charges against the Gotham city police department, Batman and Gotham city and won. He even acknowledged that his high intellect was greatly hindered by the Joker's insanity. You gotta be really smart if you make the Joker legally free of all charges against the state. 


5. HE MAY HAVE NOT KILLED JASON TODD

One of the worst things the Joker has done to Batman was the time he had killed the second robin now known as the Red Hood, Jason Todd. Fans had voted him to die, so the writers used the Joker as a tool for the young boy's demise. 
The Joker had captured him and tortured him to tell him who Batman really was. Jason, being the kind of guy he is, didn't say anything so he beat the boy half to death until Harley intervened, she tried to help Jason by giving him medical care but the Joker didn't let her. He told her he was doing it because he was jealous the boy was closer to Batman than he was. After much torture, before Jason was about to die, he caved and said to the Joker, "I wish I never met Bruce Wayne." Then, the Joker let him go, he probably died while running away.


6. HE REALLY LOVES HARLEY QUINN

The Joker's and Harley's relationship is filled with neglect, violence and I totally one-sided. But it was revealed that deep down, he really cares and appreciated her for tolerating him all these years. He said he never told her he loved her back because he knew she loved him so much that he took advantage of her in order to have power over her.

After he regained his sanity, the first thing he did after getting out of jail was propose to her. He even called her "pudding".


7. WHY HARLEY LOVES HIM

If you think about it, it's pretty weird that a psychiatrist would fall madly in love with one of the most demented people on Earth. It's even weirder that Harley fell in love with tne Joker when she was supposed to be trying to treat him.
When he asked her why she still kept loving him all these years she said to him , "you were easy to fall in love with. The most exciting man I ever met. I never felt like a criminal. I just felt free. I didn't care." With that, I guess it not hard to fall in love with him or maybe Harley had problems of her own.


8. THE OTHER HARLEY

Like I said earlier, it's probably not that hard to fall in love with someone like him because someone else had fell in love with him although the feeling was not mutual. Her name was Marian Drews. She worked in a bank where the Joker had robbed. The Joker made her to help him rob the bank. Half way through, he started calling her Harley. So She did the same thing any other low self-esteem lunatic would do. She actually became Harley Quinn when she saw how much he didn't hurt her like a criminal would. 
To be fair, she was in a very bad place when the Joker had robbed the bank she worked at. She would usually cut herself whenever she was feeling blue. At that time, her boyfriend had just left her and she cut herself to see how many customers it would take before she bled out. Well, I guess that means Joker has a thing for psychotic girls. 

She even reinvented herself as the Neo-Joker when the real Harley returned.

9. HE CAN HELP GOTHAM CITY BECOME BETTER

One of the things I learnt from the Batman: White Knight storyline was basically how much good a sane version of the Joker could do for Gotham. He has always known this. He even had pills that he would take if he ever wanted to become sane. And when he did become sane, he did just that; made Gotham better than it ever was, better than Batman could ever make it. 
He revealed the corrupt millionaires of Gotham who were making money out of the slums where Batman usually fights his villains. This is something even Bruce didn't know about. He put Batman in jail and made Nightwing and Batgirl join the police thereby curing the city of vigilantism. In a few years of sanity, Joker made Gotham the place Bruce always wants it to be but knew he could never make it so. That must take some serious levels of intelligence.


Well that's our list. Hope you enjoyed it, if you did, let me know in the comments below. If you didn't, tell me why in the comments below. Is there any other facts you know of about the Joker? Let me know in the comments below. Be sure to help me share the post to your various social media platforms. 
Don't forget to check out my next post to find out the best superhero movies of 2018.

Thank you for reading.