“Joker Frenzy”
Welcome to the column where I talk about the comic book villain the world is buzzing about at the moment.
The one and only Joker.
Love him or hate him, he is the it topic right now and rightfully so. With a splendid film from director Todd Philips starring actor Joaquin Phoenix out now, Joker represents the first comic book villain to get a solo big screen treatment. It is a major victory for the Clown Prince of Crime.
Now, let’s look at five instances where the Joker proved to be too much to handle for our heroes. Now, presenting five of the greatest victories ever achieved by the Joker.
5) Emperor Joker
Omnipotent Joker. The possibility by itself is frightening. The Joker has created more than enough carnage on his own, but when he tricks Mr. Mxyzptlk into giving up his powers, Joker becomes nigh omnipotent. He promptly gets on with giving Batman his due and making sure that there is nobody left to stop him. While Superman does eventually find a way to stop his antics, the terror raised by the Joker could have been much worse.
4) The Killing Joke
Whether the Joker knows Bruce Wayne is Batman has always been under debate. However, he never cares about Bruce, only the Dark Knight interests him. One of the closest allies of the Dark Knight is Police Commissioner James “Jim” Gordon. In the Killing Joke, the Joker effectively traumatizes and destroys three major batfam members; he puts Batgirl out of commission; he tortures the Commissioner; and he pushes Batman to his limit. The scars from this event are still prevalent in the DCU.
3) Death Of The Family
As the bat family grew, Joker had to deal with excessive nuisances in his game with Batman. Coming to the conclusion they make Batman weak, he graciously takes it upon himself to take care of the batfam. This event caused a major conflict within the batfam, creating a chaos that resulted in each member going their different ways
2) The Joker Kills Jason Todd In Death In The Family
Possibly the most famous Joker victory. The Joker has always wanted to push Batman to his limit and this was one of the few times he ever became close to his goal. Torturing the young Jason Todd Robin and blowing him up cemented the Joker as the Batman’s arch enemy. This event caused major reverberations amongst the super-hero community and hurt Batman in a way only few others have managed to do so.
1) The Joker Infects Batman
If you ask me, this represents the Joker’s finest moment. In some ways, the Joker has always wanted to push Batman into making the decision to kill him. When he does achieve that, he dies in peace and makes sure that Batman carries on in his name. It shows how Joker wants to effectively destroy the symbol that Batman represents and twist into something as sinister as he is.
The Joker has gone on several reigns of terror and every one of them has resulted in the loss of innocent lives and been a cause of concern for the batfam. He may stop someday but to think that would be quite unrealistic, won’t it?
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