The Batman Arkham Origins Files – The Joker

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For as long as there has been a Batman, there has always been a Joker. The polar opposite of the brooding and law-enforcing Dark Knight, the Joker is a force of chaos that cannot be contained nor stopped. It’s time to learn about the most dangerous foe that the Batman has ever faced.

Biography

No one really knows who the Joker was before he became the clown prince of crime. Some say that he was chemical engineer who tried his hand at comedy, failed and got mixed in with the wring crowd. Others reckon that he was born bad, and was one of the most ruthless criminals in Gotham before he went mad. Some folks say he just had one hell of a bad day, and snapped.

What is know about the Joker though, is that he didn’t get his complexion from staying inside. It all happened one fateful night at the Ace Chemical processing plant, where he took a tumble and fell into a vat of deadly chemicals. The Joker should have died that night. Instead, he emerged with green hair, white skin and a dangerous lack of sanity.

Equipment and Skills

Altered physiology – Thanks to his dip in the Ace Chemicals plant, the Joker has a physiology that has allowed him to become one of the more persistent foes that have helped to define the Dark Knight.

Pain Resistance – The Joker possesses a heightened resistance to pain after his chemical dip, which has allowed him to shrug off numerous beatings from the Batman, and at times, even enjoy them.

Poison blood – The chemicals running through the blood stream of the Joker, combined with his habit of testing his own poisons on himself, have left him with an immunity to various toxins and poisonous blood.

Cheating Death – The Joker has a unique knack for surviving deathly encounters, having escaped the clutches of the grave numerous times. To date, the Joker has survived being electrocuted, shot, stabbed, falling from great heights and numerous other trauma, always returning to haunt the dark knight another day.

Fourth Wall awareness – Because of his madness, the Joker is fully aware that he happens to be a comic book character, although this gets brushed off by other comic book characters as a sign of his various mental illnesses.

Advanced intellect – Though mad, the Joker is an expert when it comes to engineering and chemicals, having concocted numerous poisons and death traps for the Dark Knight in the form of his patented Joker venom.

Engineering – The Joker is an expert at constructing explosives and other ‘comedic’ weapons, such as his trademark-acid-spitting lapel flowers, deadly joy buzzers, razor-sharp playing cards and cyanide pies.

Joker Venom – The signature poison utilised by the Joker, this toxin kills his victims by making them laugh to death, and leaving a corpse that just can’t stop smiling.

Escapology –  Somehow, the Joker always finds a way to get free, having escaped from his resident jail Arkham Asylum numerous times in the past.

Fighting skills – Able to hold his own easily with any street thug, the Joker is an above average hand to hand combatant, but still no match for the dark knight in a fair fight.

Essential Reading

The Killing Joke

Determined to prove that anyone can crack and reach the same level of insanity that he has after just one bad day, the Joker attempts to break commissioner Gordon. And the lengths that the Joker will go to in order to prove a point will leave the dark knight questioning his own no-kill policy in this landmark special issue.

Joker

What’s it like to actually work for the Joker? Downright terrifying, as low level thug Jonny Frost finds out. Coaxed into working for the recently released madman, Frost takes a front row seat for all the chaos that the joker brings to the table, from rape and torture through to death and carnage.

Death of the Family

After vanishing from Gotham City for a year and leaving his own severed face behind, the Joker returns to reclaim his position as the polar opposite of the dark knight by killing everyone closest to him. No one is safe, as the Joker embarks on a crime spree that inflicts heavy casualties on everyone from the Gotham City Police Department through to the extended family of the Batman himself.

Last Updated: October 25, 2013