The Joker (The Batman)

"All it takes is one rotten day to turn an ordinary man into a monster... Well, in my case, a rotten day and a chemical bath!"

- Joker on his origins

History
A very different interpretation of the Joker appeared in the animated series The Batman, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.

In this series he is only referred to as simply "Joker" and never as "the Joker" - he had wild green hair, red eyes, dark red lips and a milky blue tongue. He was born by falling into a vat of chemicals, which bleached his skin, dyed his hair and drove him to insanity. In his first few appearances his costume consists of a purple sleeved straitjacket, blue pants, fingerless gloves and bare feet. Later in the series, he regressed back the more traditional garb of a purple suit and spats, but still had wild hair and wore no shoes, save one episode (which had mechanical stilts concealed in them). Joker also moves and fights with a monkey-like style, using his feet as dexterously as his hands, and often hangs from the walls and ceilings.

Whilst it can be argued that this version of the Clown Prince of Crime more resembles the colorful, comic relief character featured in the comics of the 1950s and '60s, he is still a highly dangerous, intelligent and cruel character - whilst most of his crimes are silly and prank-like in nature, they can still be legitimately destructive. He treats each of his crimes like an elaborate joke designed to make his victims literally die laughing. Due to his unpredictable nature, bizarre appearance and unnerving instinct for the absurd he has earned a reputation as one of the most dangerous criminals in Gotham.

He believes himself to be inextricably linked to the Batman, and considers him to be his favorite sparring partner and opponent - he says their relationship is "like comedy and tragedy - two sides, same coin". His weapons include his signature Joker venom (called "Joker Gas" in the series), razor sharp playing cards, grenades with Joker smiles on them and a bomb shaped like a Jack-in-the-Box. One of his most famous crimes was creating the supervillain Clayface. Joker captured and tortured detective Ethan Bennet, in order to drive him mad, he exposed Bennet to "Joker putty" a deadly chemical he created which mutated Bennet transforming him into the shapeshifting monster Clayface. As Clayface Bennet would attempt to get revenge on Joker many times. It is possible that this incarnation of the Joker has an origin similar to the Killing Joke, as he mentions having always wanted to make people laugh, in a flashback to his origins he is shown wearing red clothes after emerging from the chemicals suggesting at the very least a red hood origin. It is also hinted that Joker will one day cripple Batgirl like in "the killing joke" as Barbra Gordon is shown to be confined to a wheelchair in the future. He also maintains a rivalry with the Penguin for the title of Gotham's greatest criminal.

Joker the Vampire
Joker encountered Penguin outside a mausoleum and chased him down. Joker was caught by Count Dracula and turned into a vampire. His hair turned white, his eyes turned blue-white, and his clothes were affected as well. Unlike all the other vampires however, he retained his individuality and his speech as well as gaining vampiric superhuman strength and speed. Nevertheless he is still incapable of betraying Dracula's resting place. He stays this way until Batman managed to find a cure and revert Joker back to normal. As a side effect, Joker didn't remember anything after his meeting with Penguin outside of Dracula's moseleum.

Appearances

 * The Batman
 * The Batman vs. Dracula