History Fridge / Batman

* The episode "Joker's Providers" features probably the only in-universe example of this: the episode revolves around Joker's magic box, which is somehow able to [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum speed up, reverse and stop time via hypnotism and]] [[WaterSourceTampering some special pills he plans to dissolve into Gotham's water supply]]. After the threat is over, Robin asks Batman how being hypnotized can allow someone to affect your passage of time (ie. not just their perception of it, as reversed footage shows it affecting even inanimate objects), to which his only answer is to absentmindedly wax philosophical about how little they know about the nature of time.

* Metajoke: probably Jack Nicholson's most famous protagonist role was a sane criminal pretending to be insane in OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest. So it's fitting that his most famous antagonistic role would be an insane criminal who never pretends to be sane.

* Metajoke: probably Jack Nicholson's most famous roles was as the inmate of an insane asylum in OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest. So it's fitting that he'd end up the most famous clinically insane villain in comics.

* When Vicki Vale pretends to show affection for the Joker by kissing his shirt in order to distract him from Batman, for a moment she sinks lower and goes offscreen, and it looks like she's almost ready to give the Joker a blowjob just before Batman shows up.

** In this Troper's opinion, The Joker's scheme in this film is way more sociopathic and anarchic than the one perpetrated by Heath Ledger's incarnation in The Dark Knight.

* A lot of people wonder how Batman managed to miss the Joker several times with the weaponry on the Batwing. Unlike [[Star Wars Luke Skywalker]], Batman is no Jedi. Anyone trying to fire at a six foot target in a plane with anti-vehicle guns, especially when he was flying straight at the Joker, is pretty much just hoping for a stray bullet to get blown at its target. Sure the Joker would have to have been nuts to just stand there, but not hitting the Joker was just about as likely as actually hitting him. The Joker, [[ImprobableAimingSkills on the other hand]]... I've got nothing.

*** [[JokerImmunity This phenomenon]] is best explained in the [[BatmanUnderTheRedHood animated adaptation.]] Jason questions whether Bruce feels it would be too hard to give up the moral high ground, and Bruce counters that it'd be too damned easy. He elaborates that every day he contemplates torturing Joker like he's done to so many others before putting him down. Bruce basically says that if he breaks his no-kill code for Joker, there's nothing holding him back from killing other criminals. As he puts it, "... if I allow myself to go down into that place... I'll never come out."

* The Franchise/{{Batman}} and SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker rivalry is full of FridgeHorror moments: among other notes:

* Of course, the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] versions didn't have this problem, people had shorter lifespans back then, but the thought that Bruce was all alone with no family after his parents' murder is strange in modern times.
** Of course, [[MadDoctor given the social services]] most likely to be [[CrapsackWorld available in Gotham]], this could actually have been for the best.
** I had always assumed that they had named Alfred as his legal guardian in the event that they died. His grandparents on both sides could have already passed and it's entirely possibly for Thomas and Martha to have both been only children. And if there were some slightly distant members of the Wayne family, here's always the possibility that they may have looked at the Wayne fortune and well... [[ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents it brings to mind the plot of a certain book series]]. Of course this is partially WMG, but still possible.

** Not entirely sure how this qualifies as Fridge... well, anything, really. That is the entire point of that scene, as well as a joke about the absurd amount of cosmetic product used on TV personalities prior to going on camera.

* Of course, the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] versions didn't have this problem, people had shorter lifespans back then, but the thought that Bruce was all alone with no family after his parents' murder is strange in modern times.

[[AC:General]]

* Superman's portrayal in TheDarkKnightReturns is one of the most frequently criticized parts of the story. Most people see Superman being a government agent as wildly out of character. But it actually makes perfect sense. In the story Superman has the (then) modern characterization, which is a totally non-offensive flag waving boy scout who followed strict rules of goodness. Miller very easily finds the flaw in that interpretation, which is that a Superman who is above all a great law abiding citizen and patriot would do exactly what the President told him to do. Even Superman fighting in the Corto Maltese is in line with his participation in World War II. Furthermore, in his characterizations of Batman and the Joker Miller went back to their earliest stories, where Batman was even more violent than he was in TDKR and Joker was a serial killer with an ironic nickname. Miller may have done the same thing with Superman but in a different way. Superman's 1938 characterization actually had a lot in common with Batman as portrayed in the story. He crippled people, he threatened to murder them, he psychologically tortured them, he did whatever it took to get the job done. Miller's Superman began his career in his original characterization and experienced the same BadassDecay that the mainstream version did. That would explain why Batman has zero respect for him, he softened up and forgot what he was supposed to be.

** So...he kills people in order to save them from CessationOfExistence? Unless he's convinced there is an afterlife in the comics world, that still comes off as pretty icky. [[FridgeHorror Wait]]...Does this mean that comic-book characters have souls, but ''we'' don't?!
** So you're saying that [[Film/AFewGoodMen he has a greater responsibility than Batman can possibly fathom. Batman weeps for the innocents and curses the lawbreakers. He has that luxury. He has the luxury of not knowing what Joker knows, that the deaths of the innocents, while tragic, probably saves lives. And Joker's existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to Batman, saves lives!]]

** [[{{Othello}} Now who else does that remind you of?]] That's right, the Joker is a modern-day, MonsterClown version of Iago.

* ''[[Film/{{Batman}} Batman (1989)]]'' comes within days, perhaps even just ''hours'' of a Class 0. SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker's [[DoNotAdjustYourSet televised]] BrandX stunt had an entire major city too terrified to clean their bodies, or their clothes, or the ''buildings''... An entire city yanked back to TheDungAges.