Batman and The Joker are probably the two most iconic comic book arch-nemeses of all time, but what's really going on between the Clown and the Caped Crusader?
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00:00Batman and the Joker are probably the two most iconic comic book arch-nemeses of all
00:05time, but what's really going on between the clown and the caped crusader?
00:09If you're wondering how the Joker became so twisted, it's possible that Batman may be
00:13partly to blame.
00:14Depending on whether or not you believe the version of the Joker's backstory shown in
00:17Batman the Killing Joke, Batman was chasing him when he fell into that fateful vat of
00:21chemicals.
00:22Batman's 1989 cinematic story plays out similarly.
00:25In a less literal sense, Batman's approach to crime-fighting may have planted the seeds
00:29for the Joker.
00:30At the end of Batman Begins, Jim Gordon warns Batman that by taking up the cowl, he may
00:34have only escalated Gotham's crime situation.
00:37If we start carrying semi-automatics, they buy automatics.
00:42We start wearing Kevlar, they buy armor-piercing rounds."
00:46And Gordon points out that as soon as Batman started fighting crime in costume, the Joker
00:50began imitating his same theatrical style.
00:53Of course, other fans argue that the Joker would exist with or without Batman, like in
00:57the 2019 movie Joker, in which Arthur Fleck becomes Joker even though Batman doesn't exist
01:02yet.
01:03If Batman doesn't make him fall into the metaphorical vat, it would be someone else.
01:06It might be more accurate to say that Gotham's crime, corruption, and inhumanity create the
01:10Joker, just as these same conditions orphan Bruce Wayne and create Batman.
01:15No matter how many times the Joker escapes Arkham Asylum, Batman will never kill him.
01:19In fact, Batman has even saved Joker's life countless times, because he doesn't want the
01:23Joker's blood on his hands.
01:24Preserving life is a rule that most modern versions of Batman must follow, and the rule
01:28that separates him from the criminals he catches.
01:31Batman knows that stooping to the Joker's level would mean giving his archenemy exactly
01:35what he wants.
01:36More importantly, Batman is afraid of what he might do if he breaks his own code.
01:39He's convinced that this rule is the only thing that keeps him from unleashing his savage
01:43side.
01:44The short comic, Scars from Gotham Nights 8, offers another possible explanation for
01:48why he always lets the Joker live.
01:50As he tells Mr. Zaz,
01:51"'Do you want to know what power is?
01:53Real power?
01:54It's not ending a life.
01:55It's saving it.
01:56It's looking in someone's eyes and seeing that spark of recognition, that instant they
01:59realize something they'll never forget.
02:01They owe you.'"
02:02This could either mean that Batman feels that showing mercy is its own reward, or it could
02:06mean he gets a creepy sort of kick knowing that the Joker owes him his life.
02:09Mass murder
02:10Although he has no qualms about mass murder, the Joker has no intention of killing Batman.
02:15In The Dark Knight, the Joker says as much.
02:17"'I don't want to kill you.
02:19What would I do without you?'
02:20Everything the Joker does is to provoke Batman, and with Batman dead, the game would be over.
02:25There's no one else powerful or obsessive enough to be his nemesis."
02:28And though he'll never admit it, Batman needs the Joker, too.
02:31The Joker serves as a constant reminder of why he fights, and marks the line that Batman
02:35dare not cross.
02:36Batman uses the Joker as an excuse to keep up his vigilante lifestyle, because he wouldn't
02:40know what to do with himself otherwise.
02:42Robert Pattinson, who portrayed the caped crusader in The Batman, insisted in an interview
02:46with GQ that, for Batman, fighting crime is almost like a drug addiction, and without
02:51the Clown Prince of Crime, he could no longer get his fix.
02:54The Joker sums it up perfectly in Batman number 663, in a story called The Clown at Midnight,
02:59saying,
03:00"'You can't kill me without becoming like me.
03:02I can't kill you without losing the only human being who can keep up with me.
03:06Isn't it ironic?'
03:08Although it varies from storyline to storyline, there's plenty of undeniable evidence that
03:12the Joker is in love with Batman.
03:14He constantly makes sexually charged remarks in his banter with Batman in the comics, notably
03:18grabbing Batman's butt in the Grant Morrison comic Arkham Asylum, A Serious House on Serious
03:23Earth.
03:24"'You complete me.'"
03:27In 2013's Catwoman 14, Catwoman guesses that the Joker loves Batman, and the Joker openly
03:32acknowledges it.
03:33Meanwhile, Harley Quinn has realized on numerous occasions why the Joker never seems to return
03:38her feelings, because Joker's one true love is Batman.
03:41The movie adaptation that most directly acknowledges this is a PG-rated Lego Batman movie.
03:46Although the movie never officially says that Joker has a crush on Batman, the idea is sprinkled
03:50throughout the movie, from Joker's jealousy of Superman to the way he applies a fresh
03:54coat of lipstick before speaking with his nemesis.
03:57When Joker and Batman face each other at the end of the movie, it's clear what they really
04:01mean.
04:02"'I hate you, Joker.'
04:03"'I hate you, too.'
04:04"'I hate you more.'
04:05"'I hate you the most.'"
04:08You'd be surprised how often the Caped Crusader and the Clown Prince of Crime have teamed
04:12up.
04:13For instance, in 2001's Justice League's The Justice League of Arkham, Batman decides to
04:17break Joker and some other supervillains out of Arkham Asylum to enlist their help.
04:21The video game Batman the Telltale Series introduces John Doe, the man who will become
04:25the Joker, and the game features him and Batman fighting side by side.
04:29In Batman Europa, these arch-enemies form a grudging alliance after they're both infected
04:34with the Colossus virus, and traverse Europe in search of a cure.
04:37The cure, they discover, is hidden in each other's blood all along, a revelation neither
04:41one seems pleased about.
04:43Perhaps most memorably, Batman and the Joker work together in the video game Arkham City.
04:47Once again, it's the lethal virus that brings them together.
04:50When the Joker becomes infected with the Titan disease and successfully transmits the virus
04:54to Batman, the Caped Crusader has no choice but to find a cure for both of them.
04:58He does, but not in time to save the Joker.
05:00You can tell Batman is shaken by this, because he carries the Joker's lifeless body the same
05:05way he carried Robin's body in A Death in the Family.
05:08The Joker absolutely loathes Robin.
05:10Nothing better exemplifies the Joker's hatred of Robin than when he brutally kills Jason
05:14Todd in A Death in the Family.
05:16In later storylines, when Jason comes back from the dead and begins fighting crime as
05:20the Red Hood, the Joker is infuriated, not just because the Joker previously wore the
05:24mantle of the Red Hood, but also because the Joker hoped torturing Jason would scar him
05:29forever.
05:30Instead, the Red Hood is a living, breathing reminder that the Joker failed to break Robin.
05:34Because of all the Robins, it's Tim Drake he loathes the most.
05:36In Robin 85, the Joker complains to his therapist about the various boys who wore the mantle
05:42of Robin, insisting that Tim is insufferable.
05:44Tim is the only one who can foil the Joker's plans without any help from Batman.
05:48Naturally, the Joker doesn't want that, since the whole point of his plans is so that he
05:52can cross swords with Batman himself.
05:54Joker also tortures Tim in unspeakably cruel ways in Batman Beyond Return of the Joker,
05:58kidnapping the young protege and twisting him into a junior version of himself before
06:02permanently damaging his mind in other ways.
06:05And it's Tim who ultimately ends the Joker's life in that movie as well, perhaps making
06:09Tim Joker's most dangerous foe.
06:12Alan Moore, author of the classic comic book The Killing Joke, once told CBR,
06:15"...Batman and the Joker are mirror images of each other.
06:18It's easy to see why.
06:19Batman and the Joker are also able to anticipate each other's moves so often because they think
06:23so much alike."
06:24Both Batman and the Joker's romantic relationships are in shambles as well for the exact same
06:29reason.
06:30Batman and Harley realize the same thing about their lovers.
06:33They both take second place after the archnemesis' obsession with one another.
06:37Both are shaped by a traumatic event that completely transforms their worldview, even
06:41if the Joker is coy about which version of his backstory is actually true.
06:44In The Killing Joke, the Joker tells Batman,
06:46"...there's no difference between me and everyone else.
06:49All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy."
06:53He insinuates that Batman's one bad day, the death of his parents, may have already pushed
06:57him over the brink.
06:58Assuming that this comic ends with Batman and the Joker both laughing at the same joke,
07:01it's clear the line that separates them is thin indeed.
07:05Is the Joker one of a number of characters who know Batman's secret identity?
07:08It certainly seems like he would be smart enough to connect the dots.
07:11In 2013's Death of the Family, the Joker breaks into Wayne Manor and attacks Alfred.
07:16How else could he know this would hurt Batman unless he knew that Batman was Bruce Wayne?
07:20Later, Batman speculates that the Joker may have known ever since their first battle.
07:24The Caped Crusader recalls that after that initial confrontation, he found the Joker's
07:27calling card in the Batcave.
07:29And if the Joker had been there, then he could have easily discovered it was connected to
07:32Wayne Manor.
07:33It's equally likely that he has no idea.
07:35In Night Terrors, the Joker, the Clown, is trapped in a nightmare where Batman dies and
07:39he has nobody left to fight.
07:41In this nightmare, the Joker keeps Batman's corpse in his closet.
07:44But Bruce Wayne is still alive, because as far as the Joker is concerned, Bruce and Batman
07:49are two separate people.
07:50Throughout comics history, Batman has done some pretty bizarre things to keep his identity
07:54secret.
07:55What's even more bizarre is that the Joker has repeatedly tried to protect this secret
07:58as well.
07:59For instance, in the video game Arkham City, he stops Harley Quinn from lifting the mask.
08:03No one's who you think they are, my dear.
08:07Why spoil the fun?
08:08Meanwhile, in the TV series Harley Quinn, the Scarecrow actually does unmask Batman,
08:13hoping to impress the Joker.
08:14Instead, the Joker is outraged and starts to sink into depression, knowing that his
08:18relationship with Batman will never be the same again.
08:20Half the fun of our relationship was the mystery!
08:24Even when he knows who Batman is, the Joker would never expose his secret to the world.
08:28Time and time again, the Joker has taken great lengths to prevent anyone from knowing Batman's
08:32secret identity.
08:33In the 2004 animated series, the Batman supervillains Rath and Scorn threaten to expose Batman's
08:39secret identity, but the Joker uses gas to make sure they stay silent.
08:44And in Batman 3 Jokers issue 3, one version of the Joker announces that he knows Batman's
08:49secret identity, and that he will take that secret with him to the grave.
08:52For the Joker, Batman is far more fun when he's anonymous.
08:56While Batman can't bring himself to kill the Joker, the Joker wants desperately to see
09:00Batman cross that line, even if he pays with his own life.
09:03Just look at the iconic scene from The Dark Knight where Batman and the Joker play a game
09:06of chicken.
09:07As Batman charges the Joker head-on in his motorcycle, Joker stands his ground, daring
09:12Batman to go all the way.
09:13Come on, come on, I want you to do it, I want you to do it, come on, hit me, come on, hit
09:19me!"
09:20But Batman can't do it, and the Joker is visibly disappointed.
09:22When the Joker can't make Batman kill him, he settles for the next best thing, killing
09:26himself.
09:27In the comic The Dark Knight Returns, Batman captures the Joker, but not before paralyzing
09:31him from the neck down.
09:32The Joker is incredulous that Batman won't just finish the job and put an end to the
09:36clown prince of crime once and for all, so he twists his own neck in a way that proves
09:40fatal, robbing Batman of the choice and conveniently framing Batman for his murder.
09:45This isn't the first or last time that the Joker dies in the comics or on screen, but
09:49it's arguably the most haunting, because it shows the Joker can win even in death.
09:54Several stories have explored what Batman and the Joker would do without one another.
09:57After the Joker dies in the video game Arkham City, its sequel Arkham Knight shows that
10:01Batman is still haunted by hallucinations of his nemesis.
10:05Batman can only escape the Joker's influence once he locks up the Joker inside his mind.
10:09On the flip side, Joker would have no purpose without Batman.
10:12In the short comic Kill the Batman from The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-page super-spectacular,
10:17the Joker watches all of Gotham City come together at Batman's funeral, realizing that
10:21he's deprived himself of his greatest enemy.
10:24He does the next logical thing and gets the job at the DMV.
10:27Likewise, night terrorist the Joker imagines a scenario in which Batman dies in the most
10:31anticlimactic way possible, and the Joker can't even take credit for it.
10:35The clown prince of crime takes a desk job and tries to find a new purpose in his life,
10:39but he can't let go, eventually donning the costume himself to fight crime in his own
10:43way.
10:44In an arc called Going Sane, beginning in Legends of the Dark Knight number 65, the
10:48Joker mistakenly believes Batman is dead.
10:51Seeing no reason to keep up his life of crime, he instead pursues a normal existence, with
10:55Batman out of the picture.
10:56The Joker finds love and might actually be reformed.
10:59Only when Batman returns does the Joker re-emerge, because of course, one can't exist without
11:03the other.