The Batman (2022)

It would be great to hear more of his jokes IMO.

I'm tired of the humorless Jokers, give me a genuinely funny Joker.

"Humorless"?

I mean the serious nihilistic ones that treat life like a joke instead of the ones who genuinely have fun with their carnage.

I feel like the nihilistic ones are also having fun with their carnage in their own way. It's just the type of fun that the audience has a very difficult time finding amusing.

That said, I don't mind a more "light-hearted" and less kill-happy Joker.

Edited by windleopard on Jan 15th 2023 at 7:54:44 PM

That usually means Silver Age Joker and that's definitely incongruous with a movie like this, and the last time we had anything like Silver Age Joker in live action, it was the Suicide Squad Juggaloker. DCAU Joker probably struck the best balance of humor and violence, but I highly doubt that's the approach Reeves will take (plus he's repeatedly said that this character hasn't technically become the Joker just yet, and he's not planning on having him be a central antagonist any time soon).

I would absolutely love to see a live action Joker that's less Tyler Durden and more Borat/Johnny Knoxville, but not in this universe.

I could see it. A sort of mirror universe Johnny Knoxville in clown makeup, having the time of his life as he drags random innocent people into his often-lethal stunts, not even particularly minding when Batman swoops in to beat the shit out of him—it just livens things up.

I quite like the idea of a Joker who doesn't deliberately set out to kill people necessarily but his ideas of "pranks" just so happen to often turn out lethal. Just really lean into the Blue-and-Orange Morality when he genuinely doesn't get what Batman's objections are to this.

That's more Mxyzptlk than anything. Joker is basically always going to be willfully malicious with his pranks, and whenever his antics are harmless, it's because someone else's willful malice renders whatever he could do pointless because it's not funny that way.

Edited by HasturHasturHastur on Jan 16th 2023 at 5:16:30 AM

My rule of thumb has always been that Joker should be about irony, not specifically death. At his best written he does certainly kill, but rather than death being the point he undertakes plans that can kill, but can also terrorize or simply unnerve, all by ironically overturning what makes people believe they're safe, or even overturning what makes them feel like they're in danger.

That and the theatricality.

Imo one of the absolute best Joker plan we've ever seen outside the comics (maybe even including the comics) is the one from Wild Cards in Justice League. Joker plants a bunch a bunch of bombs on the Las Vegas strip. That's terrible. But it turns out the plan isn't about the bombs. Joker doesn't really care about the bombs. He's pretty sure the Justice League is going to disarm them all. Harming everyone in Las Vegas matters nothing to him. It's actually all the people sitting safe at home watching the news unfold who are really in danger.

In the comics, my favorite Joker scheme is the one from Joker's Asylum, in which he intentionally doesn't kill a single person and the whole "joke" rides on the fact that everyone expects him to and how that expectation still allows him to wreak havoc.

It's sometimes a shakey difference, but the key of it is that when it boils down death shouldn't, itself, be the point of the character. I always liked that bit in Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader? where a citizen bumps into the Joker and figures Joker's about to kill him, only for Joker to respond with something like "you're just some guy, what would be funny about killing you?"

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jan 16th 2023 at 9:06:17 AM

That version of the Joker feels like Bodhi, just a guy who is such an adrenaline junkie that he will do anything to get that high. That really works for me.

I prefer him to just be an insane clown. So many adaptations and stuff make him go "Oh I became a villain because the world is so unfair" no, fuck you.

Something that I would find funny is that they decide to adapt both of the Joker's girlfriends (Harley Quinn and Punchline), and everyone feels surprised that someone like the Joker somehow managed to get two girlfriends, to the point that many assume that it is a Paid Harem.

Which would be especially notable in this version, because he has a deformed face.

Edited by LucienRen on Jan 25th 2023 at 6:29:53 AM

As it turns out like with cases such as the Manson Family, depraved psychopaths are quite...... popular with a certain group of people

I know, but I was referring to the fact that this Joker is one of the ugliest to date.

So having two beautiful girlfriends would raise a lot of eyebrows.

Edited by LucienRen on Jan 25th 2023 at 6:33:19 AM

You could just say he's charismatic enough they are able to overlook it. I don't know much about Punchline other then her being an eviler Harley, but to my understanding she likes Joker more for how evil he is rather then actual physical attraction. Though I could be wrong.

EDIT:Read further above. If it's about people In-Universe finding the Joker having beutiful women obsessed with him bizzare, that could actually be slightly humouras.

Edited by Snoketrope on Jan 26th 2023 at 1:55:48 AM

I think the surge of popularity of the 'humorless Joker' comes from TDK. Heath was killing with the cynical joker act so well that we still want that kind of Joker. Joker movie was heavily influenced by TDK by how the tone and characteristics of Joker were similar from TDK Joker.

Ledger's Joker was genuinely funny, at least.

Yeah, I agree. Ledger's Joker is a pretty decent shake at "what if comics Joker, but with more realistic weaponry," and retains most of the theatricality and humor associated with the character, I think.

The primary difference between Ledger's Joker isn't that he's humorless, but more that he's got a specific social ideology he's trying to push and is played more as a domestic terrorist, which changes the kind of villain he can be. Personality wise, though, he's pretty similar.

So while the later poor Joker film appearances were definitely due to people trying to copy and exaggerate the grittiness of Ledger's take (and the grittiness of Nolan's films in general), I wouldn't agree that Ledger's Joker himself is an example of their humorless interpretations.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Feb 3rd 2023 at 8:57:21 AM

They basically forgot the clown part of the Monster Clown.

dont you know,clowns are monsters, everyone has the exact same fear!

off-topic: Ironically, the serial killer who gave clowns such a bad name was not actually a "Killer Clown".

I mean, the guy never dressed up as a clown in his crimes or used his work as a clown to attract victims, so he was actually closer to a "killer who happens to work as a clown" instead of a "Killer Clown" itself.

Edited by LucienRen on Feb 3rd 2023 at 1:57:22 AM

What we need a superhero clown to redeem the name of clowns

"Yeah, I agree. Ledger's Joker is a pretty decent shake at "what if comics Joker, but with more realistic weaponry," and retains most of the theatricality and humor associated with the character, I think.

The primary difference between Ledger's Joker isn't that he's humorless, but more that he's got a specific social ideology he's trying to push and is played more as a domestic terrorist, which changes the kind of villain he can be. Personality wise, though, he's pretty similar. "

Yes and no, ledger joker try more for unsettling people, the way he sorta do cold readings and speak base on people(the two monologue about his scar, his "everyone lose his mind!" to dent, even his speech to batman, is hard to know when he speak the truth), even his theme "why so serious" have tone of it, even his ideology can be boil to "humanity and his sociaty is a joke, im just the punchline" rather tha make some weird ass joke about the situation, he just think everyone is the joke.

Phonix joker on the other hand does lend more on the "one bad day" idea of the joker, the idea that sociaty reaaaaaally broke him hard and now he just sorta take his own existence with humor.

Is not surprising that joker is probably one of the most elastic chararter ever, not having a confirm backstory means author can move one way or another without breaking canon from most part.