The Jokerz are a large street gang of punks 40 years in the future of the DCAU that take their inspiration from the Joker, Batman's onetime archnemesis. They tend to dress in clownish costumes and makeup as did their namesake, but have none of the style or humor of the original. They are based in Gotham City.
Appearances[]
In the animated series Batman Beyond, Batman battled different versions of the gang on several occasions. In a Justice League Unlimited episode the member Ghoul stated that there are 9,453 active Jokerz that are divided into approximately 200 separate groups (It's unlikely that Chronos affected the large amount considering that he only hired one gang of the Jokerz). There are three known such versions. The first is led by a vandal dressed as the Joker. Those were the Jokerz that Derek Powers' henchman Mr. Fixx incriminated for the murder of Terry McGinnis' father in "Rebirth", the two-part pilot of the animated series. Their leader is J-Man, who dresses in a style similar to the Joker and voiced by DCAU creator Bruce Timm.
A second group of Jokerz appeared in the episode "Hidden Agenda", led by a Jokerz member named Terminal, a top-tier student at Hamilton Hill High and a would-be killer of rival candidate for valedictorian Max Gibson. Max's search to determine who is after her leads her to find out Terry's secret life as Batman.
In the direct-to-video feature Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, a third group, including Harley Quinn's twin granddaughters, was actually led by the revived Joker himself, who was using Tim Drake's body. This third group was defeated, and the host seemingly freed from the Joker's influence.
The last appearance of the Jokerz was in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Once and Future Thing, Part 2." In this episode, the group of Jokerz from Return of the Joker are shown to be working for a time-traveling villain called David Clinton, known in the comics as the Atom's archnemesis, Chronos. This team of Jokerz has been enhanced with super-powers and/or cybernetic enhancements that Clinton pulled from the future, and Bonk, who was murdered by the Joker in Return of the Joker, is part of the group. This group of Jokerz has killed most of the Justice League of that time, leaving only Static, Warhawk, that timeline's Batman, and an elderly Bruce Wayne. The present-day Batman, Green Lantern (John Stewart) and Wonder Woman chase Clinton to this future, and were able stop Clinton and undo the damage he did to the timestream, erasing all of the events of the episode
Members[]
Band I[]
Street gang Jokerz
The Joker's Jokerz
- J-Man (Bruce Timm) - Dresses very similarly to the original Joker.
- Coe (Scott Valentine)
- Scab (Marc Worden) - Wears a red, single-coned jester's cap, possibly inspired by Harley Quinn.
- Top Hat Joker (Bruce Timm)
- Lee (briefly) (Ethan Embry)
- Dottie
- Smirk
- Spike
Band II[]
- Terminal (Michael Rosenbaum)
- Trey (Omar Gooding)
- Weasel (Michael Tucker)
- Tayko
Band III[]
- Bonk (Henry Rollins)
- Chucko (Don Harvey)
- Dee-Dee (Melissa Joan Hart)
- Ghoul (Michael Rosenbaum)
- Woof (Frank Welker)
Alternate Continuities[]
Batman '89 concept art
- The Jokerz are featured in the Batman '89 comic series. Artist Joe Quinones shared concept art for the group on Twitter after the announcement of the series.
Trivia[]
- The Jokerz are known to be rivals of another street gang known as the T's.
- In the series episode Joyride the Jokerz are shown initiating a new member. The initiation involves an abandoned mine shaft. During the sequence the leader of the group shines a flashlight toward the bottom of the shaft. When the bottom of the shaft is illuminated the viewer is shown a close up of a skeleton. The remains of the skeleton's clothing are purple with a white flower over its chest. Judging from Barbara Gordon's story in Return of the Joker, it is possible that this was the skeletal remains of the Joker.
Gallery[]
