The Joker
| The Joker | |
|---|---|
| File:The Joker.png All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation | Batman Penguin |
| Occupation | Supervillian Criminal mastermind |
| Father | Not mentioned |
| Mother | Not mentioned |
| Marital status | Single |
| First appearance | NSDMV: "The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair" (1972) |
| Played by | Larry Storch (1972) Frank Welker (1985) Jeff Bennet (2018) Mark Hamill (2019) Nolan North (2023) |
| File:TSPT Joker.png The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians | |
| File:B&TB Joker.png Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold | |
| File:SDGW Joker.png Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? | |
The Joker is a supervillain who is Batman's archenemy and appears in Super Friends animated franchise. He is a clown-like criminal with a warped, almost chaotic sense of humor, who uses his unpredictable nature to enact his crimes. His voice was originated by Larry Stortch.
Character description
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The Joker is often characterized for his apparent insanity, with psychopathic traits such as a lack of empathy, or concern over what is right or wrong. Having long been an agent of chaos, he shares no moral compass whatsoever, with his varied personality making up his unpredictable nature, either as a homicidal maniac, a manipulative mastermind, or a lighthearted prankster. He also takes on an appearance similar to a clown—chalk-white skin, green hair, red lips, and an outlandish purple suit.
For the Joker's appearances in The New Scooby-Doo Movies, his darker personality traits were sanded down due to the show's family-friendly and often comedic nature. Similar to Caesar Romero's depiction of the character in the 1966 Batman TV series, he is portrayed more as a scheming trickster who plots crimes based on his prankish background. This depiction is also seen throughout his more light-heated iterations, especially those seen within the Scooby-Doo franchise.
Appearances
TV series
Movies
- Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold
- Tom & Jerry (poster, as portrayed by Droopy)
- Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!
Comics
Biography
Past Life
Unlike most supervillains, the Joker has no definitive origin, with multiple backstories given to his mysterious identity. In fact, due to him being an unreliable narrator, the Joker is even uncertain of who he was before he became the Clown Prince of Crime, stating: "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!"[1] The most commonly accepted origin is likely the one that debuted in Detective Comics #168 (February 1951), and in Alan Moore's The Killing Joke (March 1988), centering on an unnamed man who fell onto a vat of chemicals; in the former, he was a laboratory worker who became the Red Hood (a masked criminal) to steal $1 million and retire, while in the latter, he was a failed stand-up comedian who adopted the Red Hood mantle to support his pregnant wife. The stories of either version, which resulted in his disfigurement and loss of sanity, are cited in many recounts within mainline comic book continuity, but often vary in detail due to Joker's "multiple choice" viewpoint.
It is unknown if the animated incarnations of the Joker (at least the ones within the Scooby-Doo and Super Friends franchises) follow this narrative other than being established as a clown-like villain from the start. Despite this, Joker's incarnation in Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold may have hinted his past due to the unrelated Batman: the Brave and the Bold episode "Deep Cover for Batman!", which featured a heroic version of his former Red Hood guise from an alternate universe.
The Dynamic Scooby Duo Affairs
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Galactic Guardians
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The Brave and the Bold
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Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?
In "What a Night, for a Dark Knight!", the Joker posed as the Man-Bat to kidnap Alfred Pennyworth, in an attempted scheme to hack Bruce Wayne's bank account. His efforts were later caught by Batman and Mystery Inc., who deduced that he used a series of complicated pulleys, gears and wires for his crime, and forcefully tried to interrogate Alfred in giving the bank account's password.
In "The Sword, the Fox and the Scooby-Doo!", Mark Hamill mentions the Joker when he points out that Mystery Inc. had an earlier mystery with Batman. Hamill goes so far as to mention that he has his "sources" before doing his maniacal laugh.
Joker in the Funny Books
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Joker Sells Out
In the 2021 live-action Tom & Jerry film, a poster for the 2019 Joker movie (with Droopy as the title character) is seen when Tom walks upwards from a NYC subway entrance.
Development
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Gallery
- Main article: The Joker/Gallery
Toys
Behind the scenes
- The Joker is a DC Comics character created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson. He made his first appearance in Batman #1 (published in April 25, 1940).
- Larry Storch, who portrayed the Joker in The New Scooby-Doo Movies, also portrayed him in Filmation's The Adventures of Batman television series.
