History Main / JokerImmunity

** Batman's moral code isn't the only flawed aspect of this, Joker has been sparred the death penalty in the past due to being insane and as such its seen as unjustified to execute him. Now becomes HilariousInHindsight: Gotham is said to be in New Jersey. As of 2007, New Jersey has abolished capital punishment, so there is some justification for this.

* Built into the concept of ''ComicBook/HackSlash'', but the characters who obtrusively show this are [[spoiler:Laura, Ashley, and Cassie's mom.]]

* With green hair and laughing maniacally while mocking people, Hazama IS the joker of the {{Blazblue}} series. Made even more so that he is already dead but kept alive by people's hatred of him.

* There have been online posters pointing out that James Holmes (the man behind the Aurora movie theater shootings), looks noticeably different from the time he was caught by authorities compared to when he was brought to trial. Many speculate that these were two different people, thus bringing the Joker immunity to a real life (after all James Holmes did claim to be the Joker). Prosecutors have recently rejected a plea bargain from Mr. Holmes' lawyer to avoid the death penalty, so if that really is the Aurora shooter in court custody, he might have outlived the Joker Immunity that his idol claimed.

* The villain is very popular and lucrative, so franchises with indefinite continuity are hesitant to get rid of them. Particularly the TropeNamer: every would-be {{Batman}} writer dreams of writing a good Joker story and to get rid of him with any sense of finality would seemingly rob future writers of such a coveted opportunity. Ironically, a villain could be ostensibly lame, and killing them off is seen as too 'serious' a treatment rather than just [[PutOnABus putting them on a bus]].

** [[spoiler:Jason Todd]] even asked this of Batman in ''BatmanUnderTheRedHood'':

* This trope doesn't only apply for the Joker. ''Most'' of ''{{Batman}}'''s RoguesGallery never get killed off ([[LegacyCharacter in principle]]) no matter what happens to them. The common in-story explanation is Batman realizes he's quite capable of killing opponents, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope but doesn't trust himself not to come up with excuses to do it again if he can rationalize it the first time.]] Often forgotten is that other characters have been insistent on stopping Batman if they think he's really been tempted. Jim Gordon explicitly informs Batman that he, the police, and citizens of Gotham tolerate him because of his moral code, and would not hesitate to deal with him if this was broken.

** In ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamCity'', [[spoiler:Joker]] stays dead for all of five seconds before reviving to trap Batman. The trope then gets a [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] hung on it via the EnemyChatter (I mean, it's not like the Joker ever ''dies'', is it?) [[spoiler: Then, it's completely subverted, as ''[[BeyondTheImpossible the Joker actually dies at the end]]''.]]

*** ''Laughter After Midnight'', a story by Creator/PaulDini in ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures Annual'' #1 deconstructs this trope begining with the Joker falling out of a police blimp after a climactic fight with Batman, and proceeds to show how he spends the rest of his night getting back to one of his lairs. First he survives by falling into a Park’s lake. Understandably angry that his archenemy threw him from a blimp, he begins a massacre of Gotham’s midnight denizens while buying donuts and a paper. He asks Harley for picking him up, but the police is with her. Then a RedShirt patrolman tries to arrest him and the Joker steals his patrol car. Then we realize the FridgeHorror: in this series, Batman is TheOnlyOne who can stop the Joker, but he ''cannot do that'' now ''because his episode already has ended'' with the JokerImmunity scene, so ''nobody is capable to stop the Joker rampage.'' The comic ends in an eerie scene with the Joker trying to get home.
--> TheJoker: [[NightmareFuel I wonder ''who’s'' home gonna be?]]

** Finally revoked in the final book, [[spoiler: where she gets a rather nasty death [[NightmareFuel in which her black magic essentially eats her from the inside out.]]]]

** It's FridgeBrilliance: CatsHaveNineLives.

*** "As long as a [[FromASingleCell single drop of the oil]] remains, the [[NightmareFuel joyous work continues]]."

*** ''Laughter After Midnight'', a story by Creator/PaulDini in ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures Annual'' #1 deconstructs this trope begining with the Joker falling out of a police blimp after a climactic fight with Batman, and proceeds to show how he spends the rest of his night getting back to one of his lairs. First he survives by falling into a Park’s lake. Understandably angry that his archenemy threw him from a blimp, he begins a massacre of Gotham’s midnight denizens while buying donuts and a paper. He asks Harley for picking him up, but the police is with her. Then a RedShirt patrolman tries to arrest him and the Joker steals his patrol car. Then we realize the FridgeHorror: in this series, Batman is TheOnlyOne who can stop the Joker, but he cannot do that because his episode already has ended with the JokerImmunity scene, so nobody is capable to stop the Joker rampage. The comic ends in an eerie scene with the Joker trying to get home.

*** A story by Creator/PaulDini in ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures Annual'' #1 begins with the Joker falling out of a police blimp after a climactic fight with Batman, and proceeds to show how he spends the rest of his night getting back to one of his lairs.

* Revolver Ocelot, the only surviving boss from from ''MetalGearSolid'', went on to plague Snake in every subsequent game. In his second appearance, he evades doom by wearing a kinetic shield, making him literally immune to bullets. The prequel focused on his early career in Spetnaz, so you can assume he's safe in this outing; but even then, Hideo Kojima can't leave well enough alone, lobbing bullets, bees, rockets, explosions, planes, and who knows what else at poor Ocelot. He survives everything, even a few tight scrapes with Big Boss himself, who consciously spares Ocelot's life (as he feels a certain kinship with a fellow "[[spoiler:Son of The Boss]]".) Ocelot [[spoiler:finally dies in Metal Gear Solid 4.]]

* James Horton in ''{{Series/Highlander}}'' seemed to die twice, but came back. (the first time, Joe got him to a hospital, as his brother-in-law, he didn't want to stand and watch him die. But he then came back after appearing to die a second time.

** And don't forget the reboot.

* Clearly, [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim the untimely death of Heath Ledger]] [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] this trope. In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Ledger's Joker [[LampshadeHanging even mentions how they're destined to fight without killing each other]], all but [[TemptingFate promising to bring the character back]].

* AdolfHitler. The man [[HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct survived]] 42 assassination attempts, some of which failed only due to the sort of ContrivedCoincidence that would lead to any work of fiction being pitched into the near wall.
** The other attempts were mainly survived due to Hitler using the time-honored tactic of [[ActuallyADoombot using impersonators to foil his enemies and draw them out.]]

* NorthKorea is an apt example of this trope. Despite having ruinous famines (an equal percentage of both soldiers and civilians perished during the 1990's famine) the regime still continues its economically/humanitarian disastrous policies. The third and recent ruler, Kim Jong Un, gives no indication of changing the country's policies.

** Discussed in ''TheDarkKnightReturns'' where [[spoiler:The Joker kills himself just so Batman will be blamed for it.]]

** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the Batman[=/=]CaptainAmerica crossover, The Joker is nuked. Captain America openly doubts SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker was ''really'' killed by the nuke.

->''"You... you just couldn't [[DisneyVillainDeath let me go]], could [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} you]]? This is what happens when [[UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject an unstoppable force meets an immovable object]]. You truly are incorruptible, aren't you, huh? [[ThouShaltNotKill You won't kill me, outta some misplaced sense of self-righteousness...]] and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun. [[ArchEnemy I think you and I are destined to do this forever.]]"''

* The Man in Black (a.k.a. Richard Fannin, Randall Flagg, Marten Broadcloak, etc.) from TheDarkTower seems to have a form of this. He always turns up again even if defeated, and none of the protagonists are able to kill him. [[spoiler: Mordred, however, gobbled him up cause he was hungry, effectively ending his immunity.]]

* Subverted in ''StationeryVoyagers'' with Clandish Consto. In spite Nonpriel's use of the IdiotBall to bring Consto back from S-chip retirement, he gets trapped by Maurice in the [[PlaceBeyondTime Haragad Cavity]], making Nonpriel's bending over backwards to bring him back look that much more ridiculous to the rest of the RMM. It then takes [[spoiler:over 60]] years before he can get out and go back to being himself.

* Revolver Ocelot, the only surviving boss from from ''MetalGearSolid'', went on to plague Snake in every subsequent game. In his second appearance, he evades doom by wearing a kinetic shield, making him literally immune to bullets. The prequel focused on his early career in Spetnaz, so you can assume he's safe in this outing; but even then, Hideo Kojima can't leave well enough alone, lobbing bullets, bees, rockets, explosions, planes, and who knows what else at poor Ocelot. He survives everything, even a few tight scrapes with Big Boss himself, who consciously spares Ocelot's life (as he feels a certain kinship with a fellow "[[spoiler:Son of The Boss]]".) Ocelot [[spoiler:finally dies in Metal Gear Solid 4, but even death]] can't slow him down; young Ocelot continues to appear in the prequel games, fit as a fiddle.

* Revolver Ocelot, the only surviving boss from from ''MetalGearSold'', went on to plague Snake in every subsequent game. In his second appearance, he evades doom by wearing a kinetic shield, making him literally immune to bullets. The prequel focused on his early career in Spetnaz, so you can assume he's safe in this outing; but even then, Hideo Kojima can't leave well enough alone, lobbing bullets, bees, rockets, explosions, planes, and who knows what else at poor Ocelot. He survives everything, even a few tight scrapes with Big Boss himself, who consciously spares Ocelot's life (as he feels a certain kinship with a fellow "[[spoiler:Son of The Boss]]".) Ocelot [[spoiler:finally dies in Metal Gear Solid 4, but even death]] can't slow him down; young Ocelot continues to appear in the prequel games, fit as a fiddle.

* Revolver Ocelot from the ''MetalGear'' series. In his second appearance, he evades doom by wearing a kinetic shield, making him literally immune to bullets. The prequel focused on his early career in Spetnaz, so you can assume he's safe in this outing; but even then, Hideo Kojima can't leave well enough alone, lobbing bullets, bees, rockets, explosions, planes, and who knows what else at poor Ocelot. He survives everything, even a few tight scrapes with Big Boss himself, who consciously spares Ocelot's life (as he feels a certain kinship with a fellow "[[spoiler:Son of The Boss]]". Ocelot [[spoiler:finally dies in Metal Gear Solid 4, but even death]] can't slow him down; young Ocelot continues to appear in the prequel games, fit as a fiddle.