This page is about the character from the Tim Burton film. For other uses, see The Joker (Disambiguation).
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- "And now comes the part, where I relieve you the little people of the burden of your failed and useless lives. But as my plastic surgeon always said: "If you gotta go... GO WITH A SMILE!""
- ―The Joker to Gotham's citizens at Gotham's 200th Anniversary Parade before he tries to kill them.[src]
The Joker was the chosen alias of Jack Napier, a mob enforcer whose appearance was radically altered by chemicals and botched plastic surgery, turning him into an insane clown with a sinister smile.
Joker became Batman's first great enemy after he attempted to take control of the city from the mob and committed mass random murders. Unknown to both parties until their later confrontations, Joker and Batman shared a secret past that made them greater enemies. Batman was regarded as an urban legend but his attempts to thwart Napier gradually left him more exposed to the public and made him to be a more local figure.
Biography
Early Life
Born in Brooklyn, Jack Napier came to live in Gotham City. In his school years, Jack proved himself to be emotionally unstable, but was highly intelligent, and showed aptitude in art, science and chemistry. He also turned to a life of violent crime. When he was fifteen, Jack was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. He also implied that he may have also murdered people, including his own parents, since he was a kid. Napier also got into a sadistic habit of asking his victims whether they "danced with the Devil in/by the pale moonlight" before he shot them.
As a young man, Jack and his associate Joe Chill ambushed the Wayne family whilst they returned home from the Monarch Theatre. When Dr. Thomas Wayne attempted to fend off Chill as he stole a necklace from his wife, Jack shot them both in cold-blood. Planning to kill their son Bruce, Jack stepped out of the shadows and aimed his gun, asking his signature question. Before he could shoot him, a horrified Chill convinced him to flee the scene before police arrived. Deciding to spare the boy, Napier told Bruce he'd "see him around" before leaving. While this was likely intended as a sadistic and snarky remark, little did Jack know this was a prediction that would seal his fate, as he and the child would meet again years later.
Grissom's Number One Guy
- "He can't run this city without me..."
- ―Jack Napier to Alicia Hunt about Carl Grissom.[src]
As Jack aged, he worked his way up in the Mafia ranks and eventually became the right-hand man of Mob Boss, Carl Grissom. Jack often toyed with a lucky deck of playing cards, which saved his life on one occasion by taking an otherwise fatal gunshot for him. In stark contrast to his later hilarious attitude, Jack's persona was rather sarcastic and grumpy, and he prided himself on a dignified and handsome appearance. At some point, Jack entered into an affair with Grissom's mistress, Alicia Hunt.
Jack doubted the competence of Grissom's leadership of the crime family and also snidely retorted to a news broadcast of Harvey Dent's speech about decent people living in Gotham: "Decent people shouldn't live here. They'd be happier some place else", as well as heavily implied that he'd kill Dent brutally if the latter even attempted to move in on Grissom. Napier later met with Lt. Eckhardt to learn what Dent and the GCPD had been investigating. During the fight, Jack attacked the officer when he insulted him, the officer not retaliating due to his friend and associate Bob threating him.
Confrontation at Axis Chemicals
Eventually, Grissom discovered Napier's affair with Alicia and decided to set him up to be killed by Eckhardt at Axis Chemicals. When Grissom informed Jack of his entrusted task with stealing incriminating documents from the plant, he consulted his lucky deck to pull a random card's face towards him. The card happened to be a Joker (which, coincidentally, was the very thing that he later became). Napier reluctantly agreed to help Grissom, despite the card's advice.
Breaking into the chemical plant with his men, Napier discovered the ruse after they broke into the main office vault to discover it was empty. Whilst his men kept the GCPD busy, Jack activated machinery around the plant to make detection more difficult and cover his escape. Grissom's plan went awry thanks to intervention by Commissioner Gordon, who took charge of the officers and demanded they spare Napier, and Batman, who subdued several of the Hoods and tracked Napier as he fled.
Making his way to the mixing chamber, Napier was confronted by Batman. However, the vigilante was forced to stand down when Bob arrived and held Gordon at gunpoint. Before he fled, Napier gunned down Eckhardt for his betrayal and attempted to do the same to Batman. However, the Dark Knight deflected his attack and the bullet ricocheted through both of his cheeks. In pain and in a panic, Jack lost his balance and fell off the catwalk. Though Batman caught his arm and attempted to pull him back up to safety, Napier's glove eventually slipped through the vigilante's and he plummeted into the chemical vat below.
Jack survived, and was washed into Gotham Harbor by a drainage pipe. Still submerged, Jack stretched an arm upward through the water's surface, where his lucky deck floated, and managed to climb out. However Jack's long chemical submersion had permanently wreaked a horrible toll: his hair follicles were turned emerald green, his skin pigmentation was bleached chalk-white and his lips were flushed ruby-red.
Becoming the Joker
- "Jack? Jack is dead, my friend. You can call me... Joker! And as you can see, I'm a lot happier!"
- ―The Joker to Carl Grissom, moments before he killed him.[src]
After he saw the horrible result of his chemical encounter, Jack turned to a backstreet plastic surgeon named Dr. Davis and was particularly desperate to have his facial wounds healed to preserve his prized appearance. Despite an extensive procedure, Davis informed Jack that not only was he unable to reverse the chemical damage to his skin and hair, but due to the extent of the trauma - specifically completely severed nerves - and a lack of effective tools, Davis was forced to resort to a procedure similar to a face lift; stretching the skin of Jack's cheeks over the gashes to hide them, resulting in a permanent rictus grin. At Jack's demand, Davis presented Jack with a mirror to reveal that his carefully maintained appearance had been transformed to that of a clown.
This was too much for the vain mobster, and after moments of reflecting on all that had transpired, Jack lost touch with what little sanity that he had. He began to laugh maniacally and convulsively, then smashed the mirror that he held on the table that held Davis' tools, stumbled out of the room, and laughed into the night. With Jack's mind completely snapped after he saw his bizarre new appearance, Jack then assumed the new identity of "The Joker".
Joker went directly to Grissom's apartment, revealed his survival, and made clear that he knew that it was Grissom who set him up to die in the first place, especially regarding Alicia as his motive, and also held Grissom up in order to prevent him from reaching for a stowed away gun. Grissom tried to cut a deal with Joker but the crazed mobster killed him as revenge for setting him up and took over his empire. When sitting at his now deceased boss' desk, he picked up a newspaper which read "Winged Freak Terrorizes Gotham's Gangland" and scowled, deciding to get revenge for his disfigurement and "outdo" Batman, whom he felt was getting too much press. He said with a smile "Wait'll they get a load of me", and laughed heartily.
The Clown Prince of Crime then engaged in a violent and chaotic crime spree. When Joker tried to present himself in a more "normal" light, he applied various cosmetic products to give himself a more normal-looking skin tone and hair color that resembled his original appearance.
Mob Meeting
During a mob summit with the rest of the Gotham City Crimelords, Jack claimed that Grissom was in hiding and had left him to be the acting President. He also claimed that their goals would be, starting with Gotham's 200th anniversary festival, to "run the city into the ground". However, most of the mob bosses, including Antoine Rotelli and Vinnie Ricorso, were suspicious of Jack's apparent orders from Grissom and his constant devilish grin. Rotelli then wondered what would happen if he said "no". Jack then responded with a handshake and that would be it. Unfortunately for Rotelli, Jack meant by that statement that it would be it for Rotelli, as he fried and electrocuted Rotelli with a Joy Buzzer, which horrified the rest of the Mob bosses and with Jack joking about his demise and then laughing at it. Jack then dismissed the mob as his Goons then rushed in and held them at gunpoint. Joker then ordered Bob to tail Alexander Knox to find out more information on Batman, and then decided (by talking to Rotelli's charred corpse as if he were still alive) to "grease" all of the mob bosses at the summit.
Assassination of Vinnie Ricorso
Joker then arrived at City Hall and, after he claimed that the check was written with a dead hand, murdered Ricorso (who claimed that Grissom had landed him with the check with his signature) with his quill pen after he claimed that he was his "Uncle Bingo" and then had his mime faction of his gang open fire. As Napier made his way down the stairs he noticed that Bruce Wayne was the only member of the crowd who not taken cover, unafraid. Joker got in his black sedan getaway car and waved at Bruce as he stared into the window.
Following his debut to the public, Bob showed Joker a photo of Vicki Vale he had taken the event. Joker had a strong reaction to her beauty, a striking blonde similar to Alicia. Joker set up a fake date between her and Bruce Wayne.
Smylex Commercial
During this time, using his knowledge in chemistry, Joker cleverly tainted the raw chemicals of the products from a mixture of components of chemicals shipped to beauty and hygiene companies from the Axis plant. The police would be looking at one product to be the cause but the poison would only work if the products were combined, such as hairspray being combined with lipstick and eyeshadow.
A strange office space was set up in the factory. with a plastic dog next to a common arm chair, mocking domesticity. A large studio room had hundreds of photos taken of dead soldiers stolen from a CIA file where spread across the floor. An elderly scientist, one of the few employees still working at the plant began obeying his wishes. Joker Goons now inhabited the factory and carried the menial labor of loading trucks and operating the gates. A video threat in the form of a commercial was taped at the plant and interrupted the Action News broadcast when news of the first victims broke, with the Joker stating that his new brand of products with his secret ingredient of Smylex would put a "happy face" on all of Gotham's citizens.
Incident at the Flugelheim
Joker and his henchmen planned the deaths of patrons and staff of the Flugelheim Museum. A purple gas was released through the ventilation system, killing everyone there, apart from Vicki, who been given a gas mask by a waiter. Joker was driven to the museum in the Joker Van, where Alicia was left parked outside. As Joker entered the building, he cued for Lawrence to blast a song called Partyman on his boombox. The group danced over the corpses and defaced every priceless work of art on their way up the stairs, Joker's goal that evening to deface every vision of beauty that came into view, his final target, Vicki Vale. After sitting at her table he told her she could take off her gas mask; when she did, he said she was "beautiful... in an old-fashioned kind of way". Lighting up a candelabra, he took notice of her portfolio, and Vicki replied she was meeting with someone who wants to see her work. Joker opened the portfolio and mocked the fashion photos, but praised a photo of a dead civilian from the Corto Maltese Revolution, calling it good work and saying she "gave it all such a glow" before adding that he didn't know if it was art, but he liked it. He offered her the job of photographing his homicidal performance art but she didn't seem very enthusiastic. During this, Bob walked Alicia (who was now unable to stand by herself) over to the table. Vicki asked about her mask, and Napier asked her to show her scarred visage; it startled Vicki so much she immediately rose from her seat, realizing the full extent of Napier's intentions. Joker initially admitted he was no Picasso before asking if Vicki liked it; she said it was great, before asking what she could do for him, to which he replied, "Oh, a little song, a little dance, Batman's head on a lance". When she admitted she didn't know anything about Batman, Joker replied, "Really? Well, how about a little you and me?"
As he closed in on her, Vicki replied he was insane; Joker, in faux surprise, said, "I thought I was a Pisces". He then attempted to squirt her face with his Acid Flower; she dodged and threw water in his face. His flesh makeup now ruined, Joker feigned pain, hiding his face and rubbing more makeup off. As Vale attempted to comfort him he looked up to startle her and cackled in her face. Suddenly Batman crashed through the skylight and grabbed Vale away from him. As Joker stepped forward, the Dark Knight held up a Foefie Gauntlet and unfurled the folding gadgetry in his face, creating a zipline from the balcony to the entrance. Joker watched mouth agape as the pair left the building, he could only ponder where one could acquire such "wonderful toys."
Smylex Plan Failed
- "I have given a name to my pain, and it is Batman!"
- ―The Joker, after his Smylex plan is foiled[src]
Later he saw on the news that Batman had been able to figure out how the Joker's products were poisoning people and had warned Gotham City about the clever product combination. Now that the city knew, they were avoiding using the products altogether until safe products would be shipped in. This as well as Batman taking Vicki away from him, made the Joker furious and he was now even more determined to kill the Dark Knight.
Reclaiming his Rhubarb
The following day he arrived at Vale's apartment to express his anger of her running off with a "sideshow phony." He presented the mask of Alicia, placing it on the mantle and smashing it after claiming she had jumped out a window. Wildly giggling, suddenly Bruce Wayne appeared. As he approached Joker, Bob pointed his pistol at him on the quickest draw of his life, ready to protect Jack. Joker motioned to Bob and Lawrence to stand down and let Wayne speak. Bruce leaned in and whispered that he knew Napier's true identity, he then proceeded to tell a story about a "bad seed" that met an unfortunate end. This culminated in Wayne settling next to the fireplace, grabbing the fire iron and smashing a vase, beckoning Napier come "get nuts" with him.
Napier looked on stone faced, drawing a small derringer he asked if he'd ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight. Bruce asked "What?" in surprise, to which Joker explained he asked that of all his prey before shooting him in the heart, also quipping that Bruce should "never rub another man's Rhubarb" in reference to Vale. Joker gave a final disingenuous poetic speech to Vale before making his way out of the apartment. Joker danced and blew raspberries down the hall as he exited the building. Unbeknownst to him, however, Bruce survived Joker's earlier shooting by using part of the steel serving tray as a makeshift bulletproof vest. More importantly, Bruce managed to deduce Napier's role in the murder of his parents years ago, as well the encounter starting off his role as Batman in the first place.
200th Anniversary Parade
- "Winged battle flies through the night and finds me ready!"
- ―The Joker about to set his plan in motion, after seeing Batman.[src]
Later, Joker sent a live television broadcast, saying that he would reignite the previously cancelled Gotham City's 200th Anniversary Parade against Mayor Borg's wishes who was not prepared to discuss any deals with him. Joker even promised to drop twenty million dollars on the crowd and offered a challenge to Batman to meet him there.
Batman then drove to Axis Chemicals to stop the manufacturing of Joker's poisonous products once and for all. Batman succeeded in destroying the factory and killed most of Joker's henchmen, but Joker escaped in his helicopter, and mockingly told Batman that he wasn't beaten yet.
At the parade, Joker threw twenty million dollars into the crowd as he had promised (the comic adaptation of the film and the novelization as well as a deleted scene revealed that the money was actually fake one dollar bills with Joker's face on them), and openly mocked Batman, laughing hysterically for his lack of attendance. His laughter was cut short when he saw Batman above him, arriving in the Batwing. Joker then released a gas form of Smylex out of his Balloons, hoping to kill everyone. However Batman used a device in his Batwing to take away the balloons, and released them into the night sky, which caused Joker to kill Bob to vent out his frustration. Batman then made a strafing run on the Joker, but Joker shot down the Batwing with an explosive round that was fired from his long barreled gun.
Skirmish of Gotham Cathedral
- "You idiot! You made me, remember? You dropped me into that vat of chemicals. That wasn't easy to get over and don't think that I didn't try."
- ―The Joker whilst confronting Batman.[src]
Joker then took Vicki hostage and led her at gunpoint into the Old Gotham Cathedral. Realizing that an injured Batman was pursing them up the immense staircase, he made Vicki leave behind her high heels and trench-coat possibly to lure him. When Joker reached the bell tower, he used his Acid Flower to disconnect one of the massive bells which fell to the ground and blocked the only entrance to the stairs so they wouldn't be followed by the police. The falling bell narrowly missed the Dark Knight and he continued the pursuit. Joker then ordered three of his goons to attack Batman on sight while he forced Vicki to waltz.
Batman eventually reached the belfry and after he defeated Joker's henchmen, confronted Joker, and, after repeating Napier's pre-mortem words towards his victims and delivering a brutal punch in his face, vowed to kill him for murdering his parents years ago, although Joker, who had apparently murdered several parents since he himself was a kid, did not know what Batman was talking about and eventually mocked him for how he made the revelation of Joker making Batman first.
During their confrontation, Batman repeatedly beat up Joker and managed to knock him off the balcony, but Joker reached up with both of his arms and pulled both Batman and Vicki down. Batman and Vicki held on for dear life from a narrow ledge, while Joker insanely taunted them. Joker's helicopter then arrived to get Joker to safety.
Death
- "Sometimes I just kill myself!"
- ―The Joker, prior to his death[src]
After taunting Batman and Vicki one last time, Joker began to climb the helicopter's rope ladder. Batman fired a bolo launcher that then tied Joker's ankle to a large stone gargoyle. As the Joker clung to the rope ladder, struggling to get free, the gargoyle broke loose and sealed his fate by starting to slowly drag him down rung by rung.
Unable to break free from the heavy burden of the gargoyle and now on the last rung of the rope ladder, Joker finally lost his grip, fell to his death, and hit the Cathedral's flight of steps below hard, which then broke every bone in his body.
Commissioner Gordon and the rest of the GCPD then came upon Joker's corpse and heard a repetitive laugh. Puzzled, Gordon wondered where the laughter was coming from until he reached into Joker's tailcoat and pulled out a laugh box that was activated by the landing.
Legacy
Though the madness of the Joker was ended forever, the decline of the Gotham mob and the Joker's initial rise paved the way for the appearance of numerous villains. These ranged from those within Gotham's higher society with dubious morals, such as Max Shreck, and criminals with similar theatrics to Napier, such as Penguin and Catwoman. Several different accounts claimed that Joker left varying degrees of influence on Batman and Gotham City.
According to one account, Bruce, despite avenging his parents' murder, continued to have bad memories of Jack Napier killing them for the next several years as well as regrets of continuing to be Batman. This eventually led him to get psychiatric help from Chase Meridian, who eventually helped him to overcome his fears and realize that being Batman was his own choice.
Another account mentioned the Joker in a newspaper read by Alexander Knox, which claimed that he'd been captured by Batman. If true, it is currently unknown whether this Joker was actually Napier, who had either survived his fall or been resurrected, or another person had adopted the identity.
Another account claimed that Joker would directly inspire another group of criminals to don his clown gimmick. This group would be responsible for a riot on a following Halloween, eventually resulting in Harvey Dent's campaign against Batman and Commissioner Gordon.
According to another account, Batman managed to recover Joker's laugh box and kept it in the batcave as a trophy. Decades later he still had the laugh box, and it is discovered by Barry Allen.
Another account claimed that a variant of the Joker known as Red Mask travelled to "Earth 789" and resurrected Jack Napier from the dead. This story is broadcast on the news, in which Commissioner Gordon has provided the revelation that Napier's body has gone missing.
Characterization
Appearance
Jack started off as a man with black hair and a Caucasian complexion and wore business suits with black shoes or boots, a black trench-coat, a matching fedora and black gloves.
After his transformation into the Joker, both his hair and fingernails were changed to emerald green, his skin became chalk-white and his lips were flushed ruby-red. Ricocheted shrapnel from a bullet had severed the nerves in his cheeks and after a botched plastic surgery attempt to repair them, left him with a permanent rictus grin. Though he would occasionally apply himself with various cosmetic products to give himself a more normal-looking skin tone and hair color that resembled his original appearance.
As the Joker, his attire became more colorful with a purple tailcoat, blue, pink, purple, and green check patterned trousers, a turquoise waistcoat, a colorful shirt (orange or green) and various chosen cravats, ties, bow-ties or ribbon bow-ties. His fedora, trench-coat, gloves and shoes were also changed to purple.
Personality
- "I was in the bath one day... when I realized why I was destined for greatness. You know how concerned people are about appearances. This is attractive, that is not. That is all behind me. I now do what other people only dream. I make art... until someone dies. See? I am the world's first fully-functioning homicidal artist."
- ―Joker to Vicki Vale[src]
Jack Napier was seen as quite vain, with a penchant for nice suits and Alicia Hunt as his trophy girlfriend. In contrast to Joker, Napier was quite humorless, though when he committed his crimes, he made large smiles on his face (after he murdered the Waynes or when he enjoyed killing Eckhardt). However, Napier was still equally as psychotic, although not as outwardly, with hints of his psychopathic nature that oozed out when he watched Harvey Dent's speech about making Gotham safe for decent people, noted that "decent people" needed to move elsewhere and also stated he'd "hand [Dent's] lungs to him by now" should Dent even dare try to move in against Grissom, which showed that Napier had no qualms with killing any threats to the mob in an extremely graphic manner.
Napier was also not above murdering children, as he was clearly preparing to execute Bruce Wayne on a whim after he murdered his parents and would have gone through with it with zero remorse had Chill not told him to flee the scene. Even prior to killing Grissom upon becoming the Joker as revenge for being set up, Napier mentioned that Grissom was a tired old man who "couldn't run the city without [Napier]", which indicated that he was treacherous against his boss and was content with waiting until the mob boss died before he could take over the mob. Napier's treachery was also retained after he became the Joker, where told his friend, Bob, that he was his number one guy in a very similar manner to how Grissom himself told Jack that right before he sent him off to Axis Chemicals to die, which implied that he may have been planning a similar fate for Bob in the future.
While he discussed Grissom and Eckhardt's future within the mob, Eckhardt retorted to Napier that he was: "An A-1 nut boy". After he read Napier's Police File Report, Bruce summed up to the Joker his opinion of what he was before: "Mean kid, bad seed, hurt people (...) he got sloppy, you know crazy, he started to lose it. He had a head full of bad wiring, I guess. Couldn't keep it straight up here. He was the kind of guy who couldn't hear the train until it was two feet from him. (...) Well... he made mistakes. Then he had his lights out!".
Like many criminals before him, Napier was just as terrified of Batman when he first met him. However, after he became the Joker, Napier had absolutely no fear of Batman, and, in fact, not only was he unphased by Batman vowing to kill him, but reminded Batman bluntly that he was the reason why Joker existed, and even when told that he himself had been responsible for Batman's existence, he didn't lose his composure and continued to mock him.
When he sought out surgery after he fell into the vat of chemicals, it was possible that Napier finally lost his remaining sanity upon seeing his new appearance, although he explained to Batman that he tried to get over it. As a result, the Joker was born cackling madly. Joker also was shown to "talk" to Antoine Rotelli's corpse as if he were still alive and was even "told" by him to "grease" the remaining mobsters at the summit, although it was unclear whether he genuinely believed that he was being told that by Rotelli or was simply mocking the deceased mobster, as shortly afterwards, he laughed exhilarated over his own words about how he's "glad that [Rotelli's] dead". Throughout the film, the Joker had skills for using all sorts of gadgets as weapons. Joker killed a mob boss with a quill, another with a supercharged Joy Buzzer, and was frequently seen using an Acid Flower. Also, Joker had a tendency to wear gag chattering teeth so that he could shock the enemy if he was punched in the face long enough to attempt a retaliatory blow, as he attempted to do with Batman in their final encounter.
In addition to his trademark gadgets, the Joker also had a macabre sense of humor, which was both surreal and morbid. The Joker was also quite sadistic, as seen when he shot Grissom and laughed, deliberately disfigured Alicia (it's strongly implied also that he threw her to her death out of a window, though he says that Alicia committed suicide instead) and found humor in killing Mob boss, Rotelli. It also also implies that when he killed Grissom, that he actually seemed to enjoy death in itself, and not just the deaths of other people, and even went as far as referred to it as "therapy" from his experience. He also said on a television broadcast that he may be "theatrical" and may be even "a little rough", but not a "killer" and instead was an "artist", therefore indicating that he found death as a form of art, even calling himself "the world's first fully functioning homicidal artist". That belief was contradicted near the end of the film, though, when Joker was seen screaming as he fell to his death. However, that might have been because there was no way that he could have survived.
Police Case History Folder
Bruce asked for Alfred to bring him a copy of the GCPD's Case History Folder on Napier. Included were two mugshots, one of Napier from recent years, and one of him from the time period that he murdered the Waynes. The following were known segments of the report. All underscores indicated sections of words or numbers that were currently unverifiable:
- Jack Napier - Police Case History Folder
Name: Jack Napier. Sex: Male. Address: 1379 P__ 565, Gotham City. Age: 52.....6778 __: Gotham. Height: 5 ft. 11". __: JN7. __:265-784. __ by: __. __: 2846287.
Assault: AC+D = __ N (8-29-76)
__: AC+D = __ A (2-16-78)
__: AC+D = __ A (11-6-80) Can not prove
Extortion: AC+D = __ J (12-16-81)
Bruce then summarized the remainder of the report. "Jack Napier, assault with a deadly weapon, age fifteen. Results of psychological profile: Violent mood swings, highly intelligent, emotionally unstable. Aptitudes include science, chemistry, and art".
Abilities
- "I say we break into the place... trash the office... and make off with the records and say it was industrial espionage."
"Jack... smart thinking. That's the way to go. In fact... I'd like you to handle this operation personally." - ―Carl Grissom and Jack Napier[src]
- Gifted Intelligence: The Joker was a highly intelligent mobster. Before their division, he stated that Carl Grissom could not run Gotham City without him. The latter even commended him for his smart thinking and said he was his "number one guy." According to his psychological profile, Napier had aptitudes in science, chemistry, and art. He was able to taint hundreds of chemicals at the source with Smylex, which only worked when components were mixed.
- Trilingualism: The Joker spoke English, French and Spanish.
- Expert Marksman: The Joker was proficient with firearms, particularly revolvers and flare guns. He shot and killed Thomas and Martha Wayne. He shot Max Eckhardt from a distance, and he killed Carl Grissom and Bob. He was even able to shoot down the Batwing. He was also skilled with throwing weapons, as he killed Vinnie Ricorso with a quill pen.
- Intimidation: To be added
Equipment
- Colt New Service: Napier used a revolver to shoot and kill Thomas and Martha Wayne. He brought it to Axis Chemicals to shoot Max Eckhardt, and he attempted to shoot Batman, but the latter deflected the bullet into his face, completely severing facial nerves and causing him to have a chronic smile. He later used his revolver to shoot Carl Grissom and Bob.
- Smith & Wesson Model 1: The Joker used a revolver to shoot Bruce Wayne in Vicki Vale's home, although the latter survived by hiding a metal tray under his shirt.
- Smith & Wesson Model 15-3: The Joker used a revolver with a 21" barrel to shoot down the Batwing.
- Krieghoff Model L Flare Pistol: The Joker used a flare gun to shoot his television.
Behind the Scenes
- The name Jack Napier, was a play on the word "jackanapes" according to Sam Hamm.
- In a 2005 interview, Nicholson elaborated on his casting. “Because of my feelings of the TV show and the way movies tend to be made, I didn’t want this to be another case of ‘let’s brighten it up for the kids’. I felt this was very much a transitional type of movie genre-wise and really the reason why they wanted me.”
- Jack Nicholson had ample creative control over the character, which included final say on what the character would look like in the film. However, not all of his decisions won out in the final appearance, as Tim Burton and make-up artist Nick Dudman also provided ideas that pleased Nicholson.
- The Joker, being the murderer of Bruce Wayne's parents, had been Burton's intention with the character since he first joined the film. However, Screenwriter Sam Hamm argued with Burton and managed to talk him out of putting it in. Burton placed the plot back in during principal photography after replacing Hamm with script doctor Warren Skaaren.
- Nicholson got into the habit of signing his Joker gloves and giving them away as gifts to visitors on the set, much to the chagrin of costume designer Bob Ringwood, who then asked Nicholson to cease giving out the gloves and, although he promised that he would, kept doing it. New gloves were constantly being made throughout filming, Ringwood estimated that there must have been hundreds of signed Nicholson Joker gloves.
- According to the Wanted Posters that were handed out by Eckhardt at Axis Chemicals, Napier was born in Brooklyn.
- During the flashback sequence of the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne, young Jack Napier was played by Hugo E. Blick.
- In the flashback for Batman Forever, the young Jack was played by David U. Hodges. The film retconned Napier to be the only attacker, removing "Joe Chill" from the scene.
Unmade Sequels
Joker was planned to return in various proposed continuations to the Burton and Schumacher films. However, many of these plans were abandoned during either planning or pre-production.
- In the cancelled fifth film (titled Batman Unchained), the Joker would have returned as a hallucination that was caused by Scarecrow's Fear Gas. Harley Quinn would have also appeared as his daughter, seeking revenge on Batman for his role in his death. Nicholson was expected to reprise his role from Batman, though it was discontinued due to the negative response to Batman & Robin.
- In the planned crossover of with Superman named Batman vs. Superman, the Joker would have returned as the murderer of Elizabeth Miller, the wife of Bruce Wayne. Leaked drafts of the script suggest that this Joker would have been a clone created by Lex Luthor rather than the Joker himself. According to Warner Bros. sources, the film would have been a stand-alone sequel of Batman & Robin.
Trivia
- The Joker's Line: "Take thy beak from out my heart" (at Vicki's Apartment) was from Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven. The full line is "Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" (the "beak" being of the Raven).
- In Empire magazine Nicholson said of his role: "The thing I like about the Joker is that his sense of humor is completely tasteless".
- In the 2005 dvd interview, Nicholson summed up Joker's mentality thus; “The story says here’s a man plunged into nuclear waste and comes out this other identity, right? So my simple thought on it is the guy is, from then on, shortwired."
- This is the only version of Joker from a live action movie to die.
- It's implied that this version of Joker knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman when he reveals that Joker killed parents. Joker points out he was a kid when he did that, indicating he remembered the event.
- In the original script for the parade scene, the crowd discovered that all the money that Joker handed out was counterfeit and adorned with his face. This was a follow-up to the Joker's earlier line that he wanted: "My face on the one-dollar bill". The scene still appears in Jerry Ordway's comic adaptation.
- Elements of Joker's character were ad-libbed by Nicholson. In particular:
- During his meeting with the mobsters, shortly after literally frying Rotelli, he identifies the latter as "Antoine" when claiming he "got a little hot under the collar." He was originally intended to be called Carmine, but Nicholson changed it to Antoine as a reference to an incident earlier that day where the art dept. supervisor, Anton Furst, screamed at the effects director. Shortly afterwards, when ordering Bob the Goon to tail Alexander Knox, Joker's mimicry of Carl Grissom's earlier words to him was added in by Nicholson, including emulating his breathy voice.
- When exiting Vicky Vale's apartment late into the film, Joker proceeded to do the "bird dance" (flailing his arms upward, rasperrying, and then running off), which Jack Nicholson improvised in one take as a tribute to his friend and fellow actor Clegg Hoyt.
- In the Sam Hamm script, Joker after besting Batman in combat and unmasking him managed to recognize him as Bruce Wayne and expressed excitement at the opportunity to kill him after being denied the chance to do so earlier, only to end up falling off the building in a panic to bat swarms that Batman summoned, with his getaway chopper being destroyed by Batman's bomb shortly thereafter. The final version of the film has no such scene occur with Joker never realizing Batman was Bruce Wayne, even when the latter hinted at it in their final confrontation.
- During his first encounter with Vicky Vale, when she denounced him as insane, he replied that he was a Pisces, implying that his birth date fell between either February 19-March 21 or March 15-April 14 due to the zodiac sign Pisces falling between those dates (either Tropical or Sidereal versions). However, his wanted poster reveals he was born in August.
- The name "Jack Napier" has been carried over to the DC Animated Universe and Batwoman versions of the Joker. It has also been used in several non-canonical comics, including Gotham Noir and Batman: White Knight, and some retellings of the characters origin, albeit as "Jack". A canicical reference to the name was made by Denny O'Neil in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #50 in which Joker's cousin is identified as Melvin Reipan (Napier spelled backwards), who starts to say Joker's first name as Jack, but is quickly hushed.
- The name is a a play on the word, Jackanapes.
- This incarnation of the Joker is one of the few versions of who have a fully identified backstory. Various other examples included the DCAU Joker (an enforcer in Sal Valestra's mob, who fell into the vat during a fight with Batman), the Flashpoint Joker (a version of Martha Wayne who was driven insane after Bruce was killed by Joe Chill) and the Batman: Under the Red Hood version (who is shown as the Red Hood in flashbacks, and verbally confirmed by both him and Batman). In Gotham, a character called Jeremiah Valeska is heavily implied to become the show's Joker, thus is giving him a proper origin.
- In the comics, it was accepted for decades that Joker was formerly a supervillain called the Red Hood, who fell into a vat of chemicals and was disfigured during a confrontation with Batman. This was changed after Alan Moore's Batman: The Killing Joke, which altered details and implied both stories were fabrications caused by Joker's fractured mind. Subsequent writers have taken elements from this Joker's backstory, mainly the name, in their own Joker backstories.
- This incarnation is also one of only two versions of the Joker to have been involved in the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne and thus responsible for Batman's existence. The other is the incarnation from the film, Joker, whose riot during the climax indirectly inspired Joe Chill to kill Thomas and Martha Wayne.
- Although not explored, Joker was implied to have a chauvinistic/misogynistic streak: his pursuit of Vicki as a lover despite already in a relationship with Alicia, and his comment that Grissom “must be insane” to have betrayed him “over a woman.”
- In some TV airings of the film, the cuts to the final battle removed the attempted helicopter escape and Batman tying a gargoyle to Joker's leg. These made it seem that the hero had managed to kill the Joker by simply punching him.
- The way Joker taunts Batman to fire at him with the Batwing is eerily similar to a moment from the later film The Dark Knight, where its Joker encourages Batman to run him down with the Batpod.
- He has the highest kill count of any film version of the Joker, having killed 50 people.
- The 1989 film's Joker inspired the appearance of his DCAU counterpart, who also wears an orange shirt rather than traditional green. This is also true of the Joker from Batman: Under the Red Hood.
- Much like his version in The Batman animated show he is referred to as just Joker and rarely as the Joker.
- This is the only version of Joker to have killed Bruce's parents. However Arthur Fleck just inspired chaos with his anarchic sense of justice which led one of the Clowns to shoot the Waynes making him responsible for their deaths albeit indirectly.
Appearances
- Batman
- Batman: Resurrection
- Batman '89 (Mentioned only)
- #1: "Shadows: Chapter One" (Mentioned only)
- #5: "Shadows: Chapter Five" (Mentioned only)
- Batman (Volume 3) #135 (In a photograph only)
Non/Semi-Canon
- Batman: The Video Game
- Batman Forever (Flashback Only)
- Supergirl
- "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One" (Mentioned only)