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The Joker's past is unknown. Conflicting, unconfirmed reports state that he was a failed comedian, a petty thief, and a broken family man. He is an unrepentant homicidal maniac, albeit without a precise psychological diagnosis. His white skin, green hair, and blood-red lips belie the chaotic nature underlying his cartoonish appearance. The self-styled Clown Prince of Crime has no superpowers beyond a capacity for incredible violence and a skill at creating deadly mayhem. He frequently concocts elaborate schemes to entrap his arch nemesisBatman.
The Joker and his goons raided Gotham City Hall and took the Mayor hostage, tying him up and strapping a bomb to his chest. As the Joker taunted the Mayor, he expressed his displeasure that Batman hadn't shown up who ironically attacked moments later. The Joker tried to escape via a large parachute but was stopped by Batman, who proceeded to escort the Joker to Arkham Asylum.
In 2009 video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, in which Joker is the main antagonist. This version wears bandages wrapped around his shoes in place of his usual spats. In the game, he takes over Arkham in an elaborate trap set for Batman and spends most of the game watching Batman with the use of the Asylum security cameras, taunting him as he makes his way through the island. His ultimate goal, however, is to combine a more potent plant-venom hybrid called Titan with his army of thugs, which he manipulated the higher-ups into transferring to Arkham in order to create "an army of a thousand Banes". He then sends the recently released Bane, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Zsasz, and Harley to run interference alongside his thugs against Batman to slow him down. After foiling the other villains' agendas, Batman confronts the Titan-enhanced Joker atop Arkham which is televised across Arkham by Jack Ryder. The Joker also appears in Scarecrow's final hallucination, bringing Batman into Arkham Asylum and later shooting him point blank in the face. In the PlayStation 3 version of the game, players are able to actually play the Challenge Maps as the Joker, with thugs replaced by Arkham guards.
Six months following the events of Arkham Asylum, Quincy Sharp has been elected mayor of Gotham. At the same time, a criminal duo named T&T enhanced with Titan has been wreaking havoc, weakening Two-Face's criminal organization and crippling the man himself. The duo's crime spree ends with a suicide attack on the new Gotham City Hall - an act of terrorism that prompts the formation of Arkham City. Considering these events, and the motivations behind them, Batman theorizes that both the attacks and the mayor's initiative were orchestrated by someone else.
While preparation continues on Arkham City, Batman breaks into Quincy Sharp's mansion to investigate his plans. Confronted by non-lethal security measures, Batman realizes that he is being tested by Sharp's unseen master, and flees the mansion. At the same time, Joker is revealed to be dying as a result of complications from the Titan drug, with an estimated six months to live. Taking advantage of Joker's weakened state, several Arkham Guards try to kidnap and kill him. Hearing rumors of the plot, Harley Quinn takes the place of one of the guards, and rescues Joker. Harley and the Joker are thrown from their escape boat when Batman attempts to recapture them.Landing within the borders of the new asylum's construction zone, Joker declares himself and Harley the "mayor and mayoress" of Arkham City.
Disguising himself as career criminal Lester Kurtz, Batman investigates the gangs forming in the city. After passing tests from both supervillains, Batman signs up with both Joker and Penguin. Penguin sends "Kurtz" and several other criminals to steal guns from TYGER, the mercenary unit guarding the city.
The heist goes awry when the Joker's thugs interrupt, and Batman takes the opportunity to destroy the weapons with a grenade. Despite his failure, Penguin decides to let "Lester Kurtz" live so that he can lead a strike force against the Joker only to have him escape. Batman leaves Arkham City in a disguised Batboat, unaware that he is being watched. When he attempts to return, Batman is attacked and cornered by highly-trained TYGER units, meant specifically to match him move-to-move.
Nearly defeated, Batman is rescued by Catwoman, who is in Arkham to steal valuables and make strong allies (in this case, Poison Ivy, who she had freed from a prison transport). Soon afterwards, Batman tracks down and interrogates a TYGER guard, who reveals that Sharp - and, in turn, both Gotham and Arkham City - is controlled by Hugo Strange. Elsewhere in the city, Joker is trying to prolong his inevitable fate by seeing a string of doctors.
The latest doctor explains that Joker has been poisoned by a mutated form of the Titan formula, and presents him with a weaponized form of the Titan toxin. Hours following Batman's discovery of Hugo Strange's identity Batman gathers all available, and rather incriminating, information on him. However, Strange is one step ahead and has Sharp announce his involvement in the Arkham City Project in order to prep an alibi against Batman/Bruce Wayne's accusations. He further boosts his popularity by secretly releasing Zsasz and having his forces recapture him, proving that The Gotham Police Force are weak and obsolete and giving TYGER a defining reputation.
Hugo Strange's goal is revealed to be to seize complete control over Gotham City and use Arkham City and TYGER, who are also under Sharp's mind control through hypnosis techniques, as a way to eliminate other super-villains. With all the criminals in Gotham either fleeing the city or being locked up in Arkham City to fight to the death, Strange intends to become the leading power not only in Gotham's political affairs, but also in the criminal underworld. By this point, Strange has even concluded that Bruce Wayne and Batman are one and the same and intends to make use of TYGER, Arkham City, and several alliances he made with other villains to take everything Batman has, break his spirit, destroy him, and take his place and obtain the legend of Batman for himself, becoming, in his own words, "immortal", with Gotham City as his own personal domain.
In Batman: Arkham City, the sequel to Arkham Asylum, Joker returns as one of the main antagonists. In the game, Joker is involved in a turf war in Arkham City against Penguin and Two-Face, and it is revealed that as a result of the Titan powered Venom, he is slowly dying. Batman comes into contact with him after he attempts to assassinate Catwoman, and Joker injects Batman with a sample of his diseased blood, forcing him to try and find a cure for them both. Although Joker appears to be recovering in the latter half of the game- although still dying due to the damage caused by the Titan formula-, his health is revealed to be nothing but Clayface posing as him. Although Batman finds a cure for the disease, Joker accidentally destroys the last of the cure when he stabs Batman in the shoulder with a knife, causing him to drop the phial of it. Shortly afterward, Joker gives in to his disease and dies, his last words being to laugh at the irony that Batman was actually still willing to save him in the end despite all the pain and suffering he has caused. Batman carries the Clown Prince of Crime from the city, with Catwoman looking on, his thugs broken and Harley Quinn crying out in anguish and lays him on the hood of a police car, with Gordon wondering what happened. The Joker still has a smile on his face as Batman leaves silently. During the credits, he can be heard singing Only You (And You Alone) and also giggling through some of the song.
Joker Teeth: Throughout Arkham Asylum and the train station in Arkham City, Batman encounters annoying gag teeth that rattle an laugh. When Joker is injected with TITAN at the end of Arkham Asylum, the Joker Teeth become strapped with dynamite and explode when near Batman.
X-Ray Specs: Although not used during the main plot, Joker is shown carrying x-ray specs in his inventory when playing the Playstation exclusive Joker DLC. These specs allow Joker to see his enemies the same way Batman does when he goes into Detective Mode. [2]
Joker's Joy Buzzer: In Arkham Asylum, while playing a combat mission with the Joker DLC, if the player does an immediate takedown, Joker sometimes uses his joy buzzer to immediately kill an Arkham guard.
This version of the character is native to the Batman: Arkham Asylum videogame, and like most of the other characters in the game, the Joker is a combination of many of the different incarnations of the Joker over the years: 1. He is voiced by Mark Hamill, who voiced the character in Batman: The Animated Series. 2. His face resembles that of the Jack Nicholson Joker. 3. He wears a costume that is extremely similar to Heath Ledger's suit in The Dark Knight. 4. At some points in the game Joker's laugh is meant to sound similar to the laugh of the Joker from the 1960's television series.
There are several references to the The Killing Joke including: Barbara Gordon being shot in the spine by The Joker and becoming Oracle, if you keep visiting the Joker in the visitor center he'll say "There were these two guys in a lunatic asylum... Oh hell, you've heard that one before, haven't you?", In the 2011 video game Batman: Arkham City, which is the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum, when the Joker's interview tapes are found, he retells his origin from The Killing Joke. In this version, he reveals that the two thugs worked for Carmine Falcone. He apparently blames Batman for what happened to him. Hugo Strange then accuses him of having fabricated a series of events in order to conceal the truth about his condition, as he has read twelve different accounts of his past, all different, except for one detail: Batman. He then paraphrases a line from the book: "I like to keep things interesting. A wise man once told me that if you have to have an origin story, you're better off making it multiple choice."
In one of his P.A. system announcements, the Joker pages for "Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard" - the last names of the Three Stooges, which in The New Batman Adventures he has villainous henchmen modeled after, named Moe, Lar, and Cur.
The Joker's taunt to Aaron Cash, "tick tock, tick tock, is that a crocodile I hear?" - in reference to the appearance of Killer Croc - also references the crocodile in Peter Pan that swallowed a clock and continually haunted Captain Hook with his appearance.
If Robin plays on the Arkham City challenge map "Joker's Funhouse," Joker will make the comment, "What? Didn't I kill you already? No?" This might be a reference to the Robin he did kill, Jason Todd.
Batman Villain(s) This character, team or organization, is or was primarily an enemy of the Batman, or the Batman Family as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."