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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DeathOfTheFamilycover_1882.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:300:[[EvilLaugh Ehehehehehehhhh...]]]]
3
4->[-''"Look into his eyes and tell yourself he's just a man.\
5Tell yourself he can't know the things he says he does. He can't know your fears. But he has Alfred. He has your friends. And his eyes...\
6...you have studied the human eye. There are six eye movements that reveal motive, then fifteen variations of each one.\
7On everyone else you face--even the most hardened criminals--the pupils contract or expand depending on emotion.\
8Happiness, laughter, affection. The pupils open. Fear, anger, hatred. The pupils close.\
9But not his. His pupils stayed fixed, tiny points of blackness, the eyes of someone who hates everything, everyone. Eyes that let in no light, that see through the darkness, stare into you, each pupil a tiny pearl fixed in space,\
10A bullet coming at you. Eyes that say he's more than a man, eyes that say he knows you.\
11No... you know what he is. Tell yourself the truth. He's just a man who fell in a vat of chemical waste.\
12\
13He's just a man..."''-]
14-->-- '''Batman'''
15
16
17Starting in October 2012, ''Death of the Family'' is the second ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' crossover spinning out of Creator/ScottSnyder and Greg Capullo's [[ComicBook/New52 relaunched]] ''Batman'' title, featuring [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker]]'s return to Gotham City. Like ''ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls'' before it, ''Death of the Family'' isn't a traditional crossover in the sense of the reader needing to read each title in a specific order. The main story is told in the pages of ''Batman'', while the other titles tell their own stories within the larger arc. Titles that tie into the story include ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Batgirl|2011}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Batman and Robin|2009}}'', ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'', ''ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws'', ''ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'', ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' and ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad''. While the story begins in the 13th issue of ''Batman'', the tie-in books begin their stories in issue #14 or #15.
18
19The first issue of each title's ''Death of the Family'' story features a special die-cut cover illustrated by ''Batman'' artist Greg Capullo, in which a mask of the Joker's skin/face folds over an image of the starring character in each book.
20
21[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] ''ComicBook/BatmanADeathInTheFamily''.
22----
23!!This ComicBook storyline contains examples of:
24
25* AcidPool: [[spoiler: Joker tries to drop Harley Quinn in one. She escapes, and Joker almost falls into it himself.]]
26* AcousticLicense: Although he has crudely reattached his face and can still talk, Joker shouldn't be able to keep his lips mobile and speak without mispronouncing certain words.
27* AloofAlly: Batgirl acts like this to the Teen Titans. Kid Flash even tries to hug her... only to find out that she has devices on her suit to give people a shock.
28* AmbiguousSituation:
29** Does Joker really know the Batfamily's identities or is he just bluffing? The finale implies [[spoiler:he probably does know the Batfamily's identities on some level, but he just cannot see the Batfamily, especially Batman, as anything other than their masked identities.]]
30** Does Batman really know [[spoiler:the Joker's real name or was he simply [[BatmanGambit bluffing to buy some time?]] Knowing Batman, [[CrazyPrepared it could be both.]] ]]
31* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: The Joker does this to [[spoiler:Batgirl of all people when he holds her mother hostage]].
32* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: Or rather, [[spoiler:And Then the Batfamily Were Clowns. In the finale, Joker turns the Batfamily sans Batman into insane and overly violent clown versions of themselves, who laugh madly while trying to cause as much harm as possible to each other.]]
33* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Joker can enunciate quite clearly despite the fact his mouth has been physically detached from the lips on his severed face.
34* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: Batman claims two of the chemicals in the vat that whoever became the Joker fell into were sulphuric acid and sodium hydroxide. They would neutralise each other (and not even particularly dramatically) if mixed. This may just be an example of AndSomeOtherStuff.
35* BadassBoast: [[spoiler: Damian, all tied up and at the Joker's mercy, defiantly tells him, "I have nothing to say that would help you manipulate me, clown."]]
36* BadassInDistress:
37** Batman gets captured by Joker and tied up. He manages to free himself.
38** In the finale, it's revealed [[spoiler:the Joker has successfully captured Batman's closest allies and fellow superheroes: Damian, Tim, Dick, Jason and Barbara are held in an elaborate trap that sets them on fire if Batman tries to save them, though the protagonist manages to put out the flames before they suffer any harm]].
39* BadBoss: Joker [[spoiler: treating Harley Quinn as a punching bag, even more so than usual]] demonstrates this trope quite well.
40* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:While it may not have been literal, The Joker has essentially brought about the metaphorical death of the Bat-Family, as they all lose their trust in Batman and refuse to meet him at the end of the story]].
41* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler:The Joker makes it seem like he cut off the faces of Batman's family, only for it to be revealed that they're unharmed. However, in ''Red Hood and the Outlaws'' issue 17, it revealed that he rigged one of Jason's helmets to spray his face with acid simply because Jason came back from the dead and "ruined" his [[DeadSidekick biggest joke on Batman]].]]
42* BatmanGrabsAGun:
43** Used to demonstrate just how desperate the situation is. [[spoiler: Batman pulls a gun on Gordon to try to coerce him to move to a secure location. Barbara puts a gun to a Joker goon's head (and might have pulled the trigger) before he begs for mercy.]]
44** In ''Batgirl'' [[spoiler:Barbara pulls a gun on The Joker himself, planning to shoot him in the base of the spine, and the only reason she doesn't go through with it is because of the Joker's men pointing sniper rifles at her mother.]]
45* BewareTheSillyOnes: Harley Quinn, despite usually being Joker's costumed moll, proves surprisingly badass when she [[spoiler:realizes Joker really wants to kill her. She escapes from Joker's attempt to dump her, whilst straitjacketed, into a pit of acid -- almost throwing the Joker into the pit in the process. Then she fights, and kills, with her ''bare hands'', the rabies-infected hyenas Bud and Lou after Joker sets them on her. She bites off some of Joker's tongue, gives him a savage beatdown and then, when he chains her up in a cell and leaves her to die as he claims he's done with every Harley Quinn before her, she yanks her way free of the manacles and escapes, voluntarily going back to the ComicBook/SuicideSquad for protection from him.]]
46* BigBad: The Joker is responsible for everything bad that happens in the story. Believing that Batman's loved ones make the protagonist weak, he devises a plan to murder them, but not before psychologically torturing the heroes and committing countless murders.
47* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:ComicBook/TheJoker doesn't kill any allies of Batman's, but he drives Alfred into an insane state and then does the same to Damian, Tim, Barbara, Dick and Jason; who all viciously beat each other while laughing madly and looking like Joker versions of themselves. Batman confronts Joker about what he's done, and Joker falls into a chasm with no body found. Although Bruce saves his allies, Joker has shattered the trust Batman's allies have in each other and in Batman due to the numerous [[BreakingSpeech breaking speeches]] and trauma he's given them. In addition, Bruce could not remove a small trace of modified dubnium from each of his allies... and the chemical dubnium used to be called "hahnium" and had the Periodic Element Table symbol "Ha".]]
48* {{Blackmail}}: Batman finds out that Joker [[spoiler:has not only taken over Arkham Asylum, but he has blackmailed the guards into working with him]].
49* BlatantLies: Batman scares the crap out of the Joker at the end and defeats him by telling him [[spoiler:he knows his true name]]. As shown in the last panels, this is patently false.
50* BodyDouble: Batman takes on who he thinks is The Joker wearing a red hood at the ACE Chemical Plant. [[spoiler:He pulls the hood off to reveal Harley Quinn.]]
51* BloodierAndGorier: Gordon and Batman compare notes and agree that this Joker seems angrier; he killed all those cops with his bare hands, where before he would use henchmen or trick props. Add to that the Joker reenacting his old crimes.
52* BrainwashedAndCrazy:
53** Damian found himself having to fight a brainwashed Batman, [[spoiler:only for it to be revealed to be an impostor. "Batman" is actually a martial arts master that owned his own dojo that Joker brainwashed and dressed up as Batman.]]
54** Nightwing finds himself fighting [[spoiler:the entire Haley's Circus, from the performers and even the little girl of one of the trapeeze artists]].
55** In the finale, [[spoiler:Alfred is revealed to have been "jokerized". The rest of the Batfamily sans Batman are only driven temporarily insane, where Alfred instead for a while acts as Joker's faithful butler before getting the insanity treatment with Batman's allies.]]
56* BreakThemByTalking: When Batman goes to confront Joker at the Ace Chemical Plant, he find Joker wearing the red hood. Joker launches into this trope by saying that having an network of allies has made Batman soft and weak, and that Joker would be doing Batman a favour by getting rid of them. [[spoiler: Batman ends up pulling off the hood to reveal Harley Quinn instead.]]
57%%** [[spoiler:Batman does this to the Joker in the finale.]]
58* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler:The Batfamily is unhappy with Batman for keeping at least one secret from them. In fact, Joker could be counting on this trope to sabotage his enemies]].
59* BuriedAlive: [[spoiler: Poison Ivy finds herself subjected to this by Penguin's thugs. It does not work, because she's a PlantPerson, and Penguin's Dragon Ogilvy digs her out]].
60%%* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler: Barbara towards James Jr., thanks to him setting her up.]]
61* CallBack: Joker tells Damian how he can't really get people to laugh without giving them a "pharmaceutical push", alluding to the Joker Venom, which literally makes people laugh to death. However, he also states Batman was apparently the only person he could get to actually laugh, referring to the ending of ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke''.
62* ChemistryCanDoAnything: Subverted. The Joker was created by falling into a vat of random, sci-fi chemicals, but in issue 14 of the main plot, Batman meticulously lists every chemical in the mixture and is baffled at how it didn't just kill him.
63-->'''Batman:''' I know its components by heart. Eleven percent sodium hydroxide. Thirty-four percent sulfuric acid. Five percent chromium solution. Zinc sulfide, doped with copper, which gives it its green glow. But even so, some afternoons, when I can't sleep, I take out the old slide and study it all over again. I look for something I missed, some ''[[AppliedPhlebotinum secret ingredient]]'', the thing that made him. I stare until it all blurs and I'm looking at nothing, looking at myself, my own eye, reflected back from the lens. There's nothing in this mixture but ''death''. Something no one should be able to survive...
64%%* TheChessmaster: The Joker has spent his year-long absence becoming this. The ''Catwoman'' story even shows the chess motif.
65%%* ClassyCatBurglar: Catwoman makes an appearance in this storyline.
66* ClothingDamage:
67** Most of Batman's cape and suit gets eaten away by the highly-corrosive chemicals inside the vat at ACE Chemicals. Luckily, he's wearing insulated protection underneath.
68** Catwoman's outfit gets ripped apart by the Joker's centrifugal machine rips, leaving her unmasked (except for her goggles) and clad only in her bra and panties.
69* ColdBloodedTorture: Batman finds an audio tape that suggests Joker [[spoiler:has burned Alfred's eyes with ammonia.]]
70* TheCommissionerGordon: The TropeNamer himself appears in this one. Unfortunately, he is one of Joker's targets this time around.
71* ContinuityNod: The "tapestry" in Arkham showcases famous images from iconic Joker stories, specifically "The Laughing Fish", "Joker's Five Way Revenge", "A Death in the Family" and the end of "No Man's Land."
72* CoversAlwaysLie: One cover shows Harley Quinn and Joker going back to their abusive relationship. [[spoiler: However, it turns out that there is nothing romantic between them, and Joker tries to kill her off as well as revealing that she's just part of a long chain of Harley Quinns that he has killed off at one or another. She escapes him and lets herself be put into prison.]]
73* DarknessEqualsDeath: Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham City Police Department is just going about their business... when Joker turns the lights off. By the time they get turned back on, Gordon is alive and surrounded by a lot of dead cops.
74* DarkSecret: Joker claims that Batman has a secret that he has hidden from the entire Batfamily - [[spoiler:one of Joker's calling cards was left in the Batcave, indicating that the Joker may have or had access to The Cave, though Bruce vehemently denies this is possible, hence why he never shared the information, and claims that the Joker is using this trope to turn the Bat-Family against themselves]].
75* DeathTrap: [[spoiler: Catwoman gets trapped in a centrifuge by the Joker. The idea is to be spin her around really fast until it kills her. Just when she's about to escape that, the centrifuge get flooded in an attempt to drown her. She escapes that too]].
76* DependingOnTheWriter: Harley Quinn. Snyder portrays her as an, at best, begrudingly willing participant in the Joker's scheme in Batman #13-14 (it's notable that her one appearance had her lamenting that the Joker she ''knew'' wasn't around anymore), but Adam Glass, who has "ownership" of Harley in ComicBook/SuicideSquad, focused as little time as he could with what Snyder wrote in Batman #13-14 in his tie-ins, resulting in the tie-ins showing Harley only assisting Joker to keep her team safe and her rejecting Joker after being made to serve him again.
77* DisproportionateRetribution: Joker punches [[spoiler: Harley Quinn]] in the face. He claims that it is because she had hubris on her face.
78* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:When Clayface finds out that Poison Ivy was controlling him with a plant from the Amazon, he is... unhappy. So he goes to her and attacks her while her guard is down]].
79* DragonWithAnAgenda: [[spoiler: Ogilvy, Penguin's second-in-command has decided to take over Penguin's empire, as well as name himself Emperor Penguin]].
80* DrowningPit: [[spoiler: Catwoman is first trapped in a centrifuge by the Joker. Just as she's about to escape it, the centrifuge gets filled with water, turning the trap into this. She escapes that too]].
81* DomesticAbuse:
82** Joker does it to Harley once again. [[spoiler:This time, it's made clear that he doesn't love her at all, and she escapes him]].
83** [[spoiler:After forcing Batgirl to marry him, the very first thing Joker tries to do is cut off her limbs with a chainsaw so she won't be able to "cheat" on him]].
84%%* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: [[spoiler:James Jr's reasons for selling Barbara (his sister) out to Joker.]]
85* EvenEvilHasStandards:
86** Invoked by Joker of all people about Captain Boomerang, although mostly as a means of taunting Harley.
87** Penguin, Riddler, and Two-Face also call Joker out in the course of the storyline when they are roped into participating in Joker's plot as spectators.
88* EvilCounterpart: The Joker has always been this to Batman. However, this time he is figuratively borrowing pages from Batman's book, like turning off the lights to get the drop on a group of his enemies, and finding out the Batfamily's secrets so he can hit his enemies where it hurts.
89* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: Joker tells Damian that he's not really a clown because he can't make people laugh without a pharmaceutical push, referring to his "Joker Venom", which makes people laugh uncontrollably.
90* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: Assuming that Joker started out as an ordinary man, whatever turned him into a Monster Clown certainly has this trope happen to him. However, he has successfully outdone himself by first having his face removed, and then coming back one year later to wear it like a mask. Now he looks like a villain out of a SlasherMovie.
91* EvilMakesYouUgly: While his appearance beforehand wouldn't be described as good-looking, the Joker has had his face surgically removed at the start of the ''New 52'' and is wearing it as a mask.
92* EvilVersusEvil:
93** The story pits the Joker against [[spoiler: Catwoman, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Riddler and Harley Quinn. All five of them try to flee Gotham City to get away from the Joker... but their attempts fail]].
94** [[spoiler: James Jr. joins in on the act as well. It's ambiguous whether he's doing it [[ThickerThanWater to help his sister]] or TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou towards Barbara that's motivating him though]].
95* FaceHeelTurn: Subverted: [[spoiler:Harley Quinn is blackmailed into helping the Joker when he threatens to destroy Deadshot's corpse (Harley doesn't know that Deadshot is not dead though), after realizing Harley has feelings for Deadshot and is quite pissed off about it. If you did not read Suicide Squad, you would not know about it and think she had gone evil again.]]
96* FacialHorror: The Joker had his face cut off at the start of the ''New 52'', and has taken to wearing it as a mask using a belt to tie it to his head. Towards the end of the storyline it begins to show visible signs of decay with flies flying around it. Even worse - at points during his confrontation with Damian in ''Batman and Robin'', he's wearing the face ''upside'' down, and Patrick Gleason goes even beyond main story artist Greg Capullo in depicting the thing as seething with flies and rot.
97* FailedASpotCheck: [[spoiler: Catwoman finds herself trying to move giant chess pieces containing people around. She fails to notice a person's head sticking out of a pawn]].
98* {{Fingore}}: [[spoiler: Joker has Barbara Kean-Gordon hostage. He cut off her index finger with a ring on it, presents it to her, and asks her if she'll marry him]].
99* ForcefulKiss: Hours after being knocked unconscious by a centrifugal death trap that tears her costume to shreds, Catwoman wakes up to the Joker giving her a non-consensual smooch. A reminder that [[FacialHorror the Joker has no lips]].
100* {{Foreshadowing}}: Somee tie-in covers have [[spoiler:Jokerized versions of Batman's allies on them]]. This happens in the last issue.
101* GroinAttack: Catwoman is none too pleased at being stripped to her skivvies in an attempt by the Joker to humiliate her and kicks him right between the legs once she's back on her feet. Unfortunately, the new costume he's dressed her up in is lined with a paralytic which puts her out of action again almost immediately.
102* HorrifyingTheHorror: Even Joker, the scariest thing to the people of Gotham, has something he fears, as Batman reveals: [[spoiler:remembering his original identity]].
103* InformedAttribute: Every character seems to talk about how much scarier, more unpredictable, and unhinged The Joker is this time around. But killing and torturing loads of people, as well as going after Batman's allies, is hardly anything new for him. That is, unless you count [[spoiler:his even worse treatment of Harley]]. In fact, he has a much lower death count than he should given the story not only sparing all the Bats despite having every one of them unconscious, bound, and gagged, but baffling Nightwing when [[spoiler: the Joker toxin used on Haley's Circus was revealed to be non-fatal and almost everyone was fine afterwards]].
104* InvincibleVillain: The Joker mostly in the tie-ins. Seems ''none'' on the Bat Family can really escape his clutches. Anytime it seems they do have him cornered, he manages to get one over on them in some form or another.
105* {{Irony}}: Joker is using this to create very darkly comedic crimes based after his first crimes. An example is when he threatens to kill the mayor at midnight, who is hiding in City Hall. [[spoiler:Everyone but the mayor in City Hall dies, excluding Batman and Gordon.]]
106* ItsPersonal: Barbara Gordon had been left paralyzed by the Joker in ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'' and Jason Todd had been murdered by him in ''ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily''. Now that Joker is after both of them, Barbara and Jason have some scores to settle with him. [[spoiler: Joker runs with this and poisons Jason's girlfriend and Commissioner Gordon, and kidnapping and mutilating Barbara's mother.]]
107* JokerImmunity: The Joker mocks his own immunity and asks Batman why he doesn't just kill him already. Batman confides to Alfred that the main reason he refuses to kill Joker is because [[spoiler:he sincerely believes killing Joker wouldn't make things any better. Gotham would just send someone worse, or bring Joker back from the dead, or ''something''. To Bruce, the Joker is just one facet of the true BigBad of his story: Gotham City itself.]]
108* KickTheDog: [[spoiler:Joker infects Harley's Hyena's with rabies solely to hurt her. She does not take it well.]]
109* LaughingMad: [[spoiler:Batman's allies laugh uncontrollably while beating each other up, due to the Joker turning them into insane clowns in the finale.]]
110* LegacyCharacter: Supposedly, [[spoiler:Harleen Quinzel isn't the first Harley Quinn. She is, however, the first one to escape with her life.]] Though the only person who claims this is [[ConsummateLiar the Joker himself]].
111* MadEye: In the ''Batman'' issues, one of Joker's eyes is depicted as white with a dilated pupil and the other normal, green, with an iris. The eye was his left at the beginning, but halfway through, it changes to his right... and changes again near the end. Some of the tie-in issues show him with mismatched eyes, too.
112* MadLove:
113** The Joker is implied to love Batman in his own twisted kind of way, which is why he intends to perpetuate their conflict by getting rid of any source of distraction, namely Batman's closest allies.
114** [[spoiler:Harley Quinn has gone back to the Joker's side, and she even set herself up as a convincing decoy for Batman to go after at the Ace Chemical Plant. Played with, though, as it turns out she's not there solely out of loyalty to the Joker (and states that he's not her Mr. J any more); she's there because Joker threatened to desecrate Deadshot's corpse.]]
115* TheManTheyCouldntHang: [[spoiler:When Harley Quinn tries to point out to Joker that a girl always has a secret or two, he gets a noose made of chains around her neck and starts pulling, saying that she should "hang" around and tell him a few secrets. She survives this]].
116* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Supposedly, Joker manipulated Batman into taking in Jason Todd as his ward and protege, and that he ''wanted'' Jason Todd to become the Red Hood. And that's not even getting into what he does in the actual story.]]
117* MetaTwist: The first few issues, promotional material and the story's title itself heavily implied that the Joker was going to kill at least one member of the Batfamily. [[spoiler:Yet, he didn't kill any of them and achieved a metaphorical "Death of the Family" by traumatizing the Batfamily to the point of shattering their confidence and trust.]]
118* MassOhCrap:
119** Everyone in Gotham is horrified when the Joker comes back, [[spoiler:including the villains: Penguin, Poison Ivy, Riddler and Harley aren't exactly overjoyed to see him back.]]
120** The Batfamily is shocked after Batman tells him [[spoiler:the Joker had left his calling card in the Bat Cave, as it implies the villain had been spying on them and probably knows who they are. Batman tries to assure them the Joker is bluffing, but it doesn't work]].
121* MonsterClown: The Joker is a supervillain with a clown motif, but this time his appearance is far more monstrous, as he had the skin on his face surgically removed. He still wears it as a mask, though.
122* MonsterFangirl: Harley Quinn once again. [[spoiler:The sad thing about this is that it looked like she had moved on from him. It's also revealed that she's not the first Harley Quinn, nor the last- The Joker has [[UnreliableNarrator apparently]] had numerous Harleys over his career, and considers them all disposable and forgettable. She is, however, apparently the only one to escape; stating that, while she loves the Joker, she's done being his toy.]]
123* MoralityPet: [[spoiler: Harley Quinn has always tried to be this to Joker. Not this time. If anything, his behaviour towards her proves that he doesn't have any good side to bring out.]]
124* MrExposition: Batgirl ends up being the one to bring the Teen Titans and by extension the reader up to speed on what's been going on in the storyline so far.
125* MsFanservice: Catwoman. As if to spell it out to readers, she escapes a death trap that ripped up her outfit... and shows off an ''insane'' amount of skin.
126* NightmareFace: The Joker crudely wearing his own face like a mask. While the comic itself does not show the skinless horror underneath, the cover of the hardback release abandons any mystery and has a removable sleeve of his face.
127* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:It looked Deadshot had been killed off. However, he wakes up in a hospital bed.]]
128* OddFriendship: Red Hood and Red Robin. Tim considers Jason the closest thing he's ever had to a brother. Jason puts a gun to his head.
129%%** In a twisted way, how Joker sees his relationship with the other Bat-Villains, like Penguin and Riddler [[spoiler:and Batman]].
130%%** [[spoiler:According to Joker, the Batman's rogues ARE the real Bat-family]].
131* OhCrap: The Joker freaks out when he realizes that Batman [[spoiler:really isn't playing anymore and has him dangling over the waterfall. Not from fear of being dropped; but because Bruce is threatening to reveal the Joker's real name.]]
132* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Batman has taken this attitude towards Joker, turning down the Batfamily's offers to assist him.
133* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Joker has modified his Joker venom to leave its victims' faces with a permanent frown instead of the grin it usually leaves them with.
134* PopCulturedBadass: Batgirl goes in to brief the Teen Titans on the situation. She insultingly compares them to "the cast of Series/ICarly".
135* SadClown: Harley Quinn shows indications of this. She has tears marking her face, and she cracks jokes as she tries to survive being around Joker.
136%%** [[spoiler:Joker implies this about himself.]]
137%%* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler, Harley and Ivy all try and fail for different reasons.
138* SecretIdentityApathy: The Joker starts dropping hints that he knows who Batman really is, and Bruce realises there was a time when he could have figured it out. However [[spoiler:he also realises Joker would have rejected the opportunity, because he doesn't want to think of Batman as being anyone but Batman]].
139* SerialKiller: The Joker kills a lot of cops right in the police station, followed by everybody in City Hall except for the mayor, Batman, and Commissioner Gordon.
140* SequelAdaptationIconicVillain: After the first story arc of the reboot post-''New 52'' introduced the Court of Owls, the Joker makes his return in this arc.
141%%* ShipSinking: WordOfGod states that the ending was this for Batman and Joker's FoeRomanceSubtext.
142* ShoutOut: There are a couple flashbacks to previous encounters with the Joker, and his appearance evokes the most well-known live-action appearances. When Batman fights him on a Joker Venom blimp, he resembles Jack Nicholson's Joker, and towards the end of the story arc, a flashback of Bruce Wayne confronting the Joker at Arkham Asylum has him sporting cheek scars like in The Dark Knight.
143* ShutUpHannibal: When Batman goes after the Joker in the caves at the end of the story and has him cornered, Joker tells him again that his family is making him weaker. Batman says that they make him stronger.
144%%* StalkerWithACrush: [[spoiler:Joker. Catwoman calls him out on it.]]
145* TapOnTheHead: Joker kidnaps [[spoiler:Alfred]] by knocking him out with a mallet.
146* TongueTrauma: [[spoiler:Harley bites off the Joker's tongue and spits it out in front of him. It doesn't affect his ability to speak.]]
147* UndyingLoyalty: [[spoiler:Subverted with Harley Quinn to the Joker. She ends up fighting back, and escapes him. She also declares that while she may love him, that does not mean that she belongs to him]].
148* UnholyMatrimony: [[spoiler: Poison Ivy and Clayface have become a married couple. It gets subverted when it turns out that Ivy is using a plant from the Amazon to control him, and Clayface is broken free from it. Clayface is so unhappy about it that he decides to attack her while her guard is down]].
149* VillainousBreakdown: Joker finally stops laughing and freaks out when Batman [[spoiler:whispers that he knows Joker's real name]].
150* WalkingSpoiler: Everything about [[spoiler:Harley Quinn]] in this storyline is a spoiler.
151* WouldHitAGirl: Joker punches [[spoiler: Harley Quinn]] in the face, because... she had hubris on her face.
152* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: Joker says that he has done this to a long chain of Harley Quinns before the present one. He tries to do the same to her. However, she escapes him and lets herself be put in prison]].
153* YouKeepUsingThatWord: Joker is quite willing to point out to Damian that he doesn't really qualify as a "clown", despite being called this frequently.

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