Regarding Joker

Yeah, we get it, the Joker eats babies and microwaves puppies and is SO edgy all the other villains are 10,000SPOOKED by Gotham’s Do0MKl0wN. I mean even the funny versions of him in kid’s Batman content still tend to assume he’s the most dangerous villain in that setting, and that’s just plain old at this point.

What if even all the gritty grisly “adult” Batman stuff we still have just went straight back to Joker being a campy goofball, practically a G-rated kiddie show grade menace, even if the rest of the setting is still grimdark? What if he barely ever even kills people? How much funnier and genuinely more interesting would it be if in the middle of Batman investigating a rash of gruesome occult dismemberments or whatever this asshole clown shows up and successfully pranks both sides with some day-one clown shit like a big giant whoopee cushion? It doesn’t have acid in it or anything. It doesn’t explode. He just MASTERFULLY puppeteers both Batman and the Satanic Blood Cult or whatever into making a big fart noise in front of everybody and somehow gets away with it.

Like that’d be the thing about him. His ability to manipulate and dupe people would be almost terrifying but it’s all the more infuriating that he uses it for petty, infantile nonsense that just inconveniences and humiliates everybody and is somehow the one guy who can _ALWAYS_ outsmart Batman no matter what. Batman would fucking hate it so much. He would hate it even more for how trivial it is. I would read the hell out of that.

In fact what if he somehow manages to avoid ever breaking a real law but he causes such bizarre disruption they keep having to make new ones.

Superman’s like “hey Bruce is it true it’s illegal in Gotham to bring an armadillo on a Ferris wheel?” and Batman just does not want to talk about it.

The general public doesn’t get it. They think the clown guy is hilarious. Only Bruce sees how horrific, almost supernaturally impossible his planning, his invasions of privacy would have to be to pull anything off. He ruins the entire public image and credibility of other villains and heroes. He robs people of huge victories with things as banal as pies in the face. With a complex domino effect ending in only a glitter bomb he topples a criminal empire Bruce was OBSESSED over for YEARS and now Batman looks like a big dumbass.

One day, in the middle of the actual batcave, he slips on a banana peel. Nobody was eating bananas. There is never any proof the Joker did it or any other evidence the Joker might know who he is but now The Batman is haunted for the rest of his life by 1) his dead parents and 2) a banana.

I love this, specifically because of this part: “His ability to manipulate and dupe people would be almost terrifying “ “almost supernaturally impossible his planning “

  A lot of modern batman content kind of ignores that Batman is supposed to be this great detective because it’s more fun to make him punch people i guess but he is canonically supposed to be a Sherlock Holmes level genius of deductive reasoning. But he’s never really had a Moriarty figure. Joker comes closest, but he’s never really been treated as Batman’s equal, which is critical to the Holmes/Moriarty dynamic.

A version of the Joker who is frighteningly brilliant, who can match wits with Batman and sometimes even beat him, and uses that brilliance to commit only nonviolent ludicrous goofs and near-crimes specifically because he know it keeps Batman on the hook– Because Batman is the only one who realizes just how smart Joker is and how easily and effectively he could turn to real crime if he wanted– would be a fascinating twist on the classic rivalry.

Imagine the tension from Batman’s side, always wondering if this will be the time Joker stops playing, or if all of this is just misdirection from a larger scheme Batman isn’t smart enough to see, feeling like every interaction is a landmine, because if he doesn’t keep Joker entertained, maybe he’ll get bored and escalate. But if he pursues Joker too intensely, that might cause escalation too. Any action or inaction might tip this insane genius over into potential mass murder, and Batman knows Joker is good enough that Batman might not be able to stop him. No matter what happens, it will be Batman’s fault, which will play havoc on his control issues and guilt complex. And maybe that’s the point, maybe that’s the larger scheme he’s afraid of. The one thing the great detective won’t investigate is his own neuroses. So the Joker’s greatest caper is to rob Gotham of its protector by driving the Batman slowly insane.

The Sherlock/Moriarty similarity is exactly what I was thinking I’d wanna see and this is in general a really fun addition, though there’s been a ton of other fun additions in the comments. It’s hard to decide one to reblog. I wasn’t thinking this would explode so fast.

Everyone’s ideas got me thinking how Harley Quinn would fit into this, too, and I think that, after Joker somehow ruins her biggest case and entire career, Dr. Quinzel would totally snap and become a sort of Joker copycat figure who actually DOES go way too far and way too dangerous with her antics, and nobody (including herself) is really sure how much of it is an attempt to trap and kill the Joker or impress and romance him.

(Ivy still eventually steps in though)