The Joker

The Joker is a homicidal maniac and the archenemy of Batman. His real name and origin are unknown, but one of the most common versions indicates that he fell into a vat of chemicals which turned his skin white and his hair green. Completely unpredictable with no regard for human life, the Joker finds murder and mayhem funny, and is perhaps the most dangerous man on Earth with a body count stretching into the thousands, all centered around his obsession with the Batman.

Early Life
The Joker's early life is unknown to everyone including the Joker. He himself has told the story of how he came to be with several different variations, saying that sometimes he remembers it one way, sometimes another; and that if he has to have a past, he "[prefers] it to be multiple choice."

But his early life is this: the Joker was a failed comedian who never made people laugh but only his wife Jeannie who was pregnant. He wanted to make money to secure his family's future so he was thinking about a heist until he gets the news that his wife died of a accident with her unborn child. Devastated by this, he turns to crime.

Red Hood Gang
The Joker began as "Red Hood One," the leader of the Red Hood Gang, comprised of blackmailed individuals from the middle and upper classes of Gotham that the Red Hood kept under his sway. With the ideology of pointless violence, the gang dared the authorities to try and catch them all. He first faced off against Bruce Wayne when the returned billionaire-turned-vigilante rescued some hostages from the madman.

Having been tipped off by Edward Nygma, the Red Hood sent his gang to kill Bruce Wayne, catching the billionaire in an explosion in his brownstone. Taunting Wayne as he lay dying, Red Hood One added insult to injury by shooting two bullets through a portrait of Wayne's deceased parents before leaving the future vigilante to his injuries.

As the tales of the urban legend known as the Batman rose in the wake of Wayne's attempted assassination, the ranks of the Red Hood Gang began to slowly dwindle bit by bit, each member caught one by one. Having discovered Red Hood One's plan, Wayne blew the gang's cover at ACE Chemical Processing Plant where the criminals were planning to steal flesh-eating chemicals. Realizing the jig was up, the Red Hood Gang led an assault there against the Batman and the GCPD.

Though Red Hood One attempted to escape in a helicopter, Batman fired his grappling line around his enemy's ankle, yanking him from the aircraft and sending them both plummeting through the weakened roof of the chemical plant. Almost falling into a vat of chemicals, Red Hood One was caught by Batman, who attempted to save the criminal's life. Claiming this moment to only be the beginning, the gang leader broke free of his savior's grasp and plummeted into the chemicals below. The man who was Red Hood One, though, despite Batman's prediction that the chemicals were enough to kill him, would only mutate from his exposure in the vat both mentally and physically into the criminal that would later reappear as the Joker.

The War of Jokes and Riddles
Not long after "the Zero Year", the Joker resurfaced and quickly made a name for himself in the city; his first attempted crime was trying to poison the Gotham Reservoir, an act that Batman successfully stopped.

Near the conclusion of Batman's second year as a vigilante, Joker found himself with the unique inability to laugh, thought to be caused by his continued inability to beat the Bat. Going on a chaotic killing spree of comedians, the Joker was tracked down by the Riddler, who had broken free after a year in prison, to offer that the two work together to fight Batman. Joker didn't find this offer funny though and shot the Riddler in the stomach, instigating what would later be known as "the War of Jokes and Riddles".

The Joker and Riddler both recruited every villain in Gotham they could to fight in their war, which raged through Gotham for weeks, accumulating numerous civilian casualties. Batman, unable to simultaneously stop both sides, was forced to focus on one and chose to defeat Joker's side first. With Riddler and Batman's combined efforts, Joker's army was picked off until only Kite-Man remained, who they knew they could use to find Joker and end the war. In the final confrontation, the Riddler revealed that the entire plot of the war was orchestrated by him as a means to make Joker laugh, and Batman, unable to control his rage, attempted to stab Riddler with a knife. In a surprise twist, the knife was stopped only by Joker, saving two of his enemies and regaining his ability to laugh.

Gotham City Life
Incarceration would prove no obstacle for the Mirthful Menace, and he quickly rose to become one of the top members of Batman's Rogues Gallery. He would find a frequent home in Arkham Asylum, Gotham's local psychiatric institution, where he would most commonly find himself imprisoned. Despite the asylum's efforts to contain him, he viewed it as sort of a revolving door, and even a place to simply rest up between his plans. He often committed crime for the sheer enjoyment of it, or specifically to cause pain to others, which he sees as part of "the big joke." Although not all of his criminal endeavors earned him money, he must have had a significant bank roll, and has had possessions as outrageous as a full truck-mounted heat-seeking warhead.

The Joker had a substantial list of significant crimes. His most consistent theme was been personal attacks against Batman, often through loved ones and members of the Bat-Family, but he had shown complete indifference as to who his victims were, as it didn't really matter to him. Though many feared to form an alliance with the Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime was recruited into a gang of super-villains led by Two-Face to battle Carmine Falcone's criminal empire. As one of his tasks, the Joker had to eliminate Mario Falcone, but the hit was unsuccessful. The group was also responsible for the Columbus Day Massacre of Gotham's mob bosses, including Bobby "The Don" Gazzo. The team disbanded after a battle with the Hangman and a battle in the Batcave with the newly-formed Dynamic Duo, Batman and Robin.

The Killing Joke
Joker had a habit of escaping from Arkham on various occasions, but two of these occasions are most notable as a result of his criminal activities after his escapes.

On the first occasion, Joker set out to show Batman how easy it was for even the sanest of people to lose their minds and he attempted to drive Commissioner Gordon insane. He arrived at Gordon's house, and before kidnapping him, shot his niece in the spine, then took pictures of her naked, bleeding, and in pain on the floor; later forcing the Commissioner to behold the attrocity in a slideshow. Although the Joker did not know this when he shot her, James Gordon's niece was actually the retired Batgirl. Joker was eventually stopped by Batman and his plan to drive Gordon insane had failed, but Barbara was left wheelchair-bound, but revived her vigilante career as Oracle.

A Death in the Family
Joker was locked away in Arkham, but it wasn't too long before he escaped once again. This time, he set out to sell nuclear weapons to terrorists. This plan was foiled by Batman and the new Robin, Jason Todd. After this failure, Joker reached Dr. Sheila Haywood and blackmailed her with her dark past. Haywood was Jason's missing mother, coerced into betraying him, and the Joker tied the two of them up together in a warehouse set to blow up after viciously beat Jason with a crowbar. Batman was unable to rescue the two of them before the bomb's detonation, and they were both killed in the explosion.

Afterwards Joker became the new Ambassador of Iran, which gave him diplomatic immunity. Considering his new political position allowed him to avoid justice, the Joker tried to commit genocide at the United Nations Building, but he was stopped by Superman and Batman, although they couldn't find his body after his apparent demise on his escape attempt.

In reality, Joker had sustained serious injuries and was taken to hospital. Still driven by the desire to destroy Batman, Joker manipulated Two-Face from afar, talking to him through a radio and making him believe he was Dent's own subconscious speaking. Following Joker's instructions, Two-Face organized a series of crimes to kill Batman, but he failed and was eventually captured by Batman, Nightwing and a new Robin, a development that Joker found amusing.

However, Joker's injuries were very serious and he was out of action longer than expected. During this time, he was filled with self-doubt and went through a mid-life crisis in which he started to lose his insanity. When a fake Joker appeared in Gotham, Joker decided to return, despite his diminished condition, in order to set things right. His lack of confidence in his own criminal genius prevented Joker from being himself again and the fake Joker was only defeated thanks to Batman and Gordon. Joker was subsequently captured and taken back to Arkham, where his madness returned. Back to his old self, Joker escaped from Arkham and used Lex Luthor's influence to starts a criminal spree in Metropolis. Eventually, both criminals double-crossed each other and were stopped by Batman and Superman.

Knightfall
When Bane destroyed the walls of Arkham, Joker escaped the facility, but before leaving, he left Dr. Jeremiah Arkham in a death trap to stall Batman.

A few days later, Joker teamed up with Cornelius Stirk and used him in a plan to kidnap Commissioner Gordon in order to control the GCPD. His plan was foiled when Stirk tried to kill Gordon instead of kidnap him and Joker left Stirk to be captured by Batman. As soon as he was leaving, Joker was approached by Scarecrow and together they teamed up and invaded the house of Mayor Krol. They dosed him with Scarecrow's Fear Toxin and forced Krol to do their will. Knowing that Firefly was creating fires all around Gotham, Joker and Scarecrow made Krol cause a strike on the union of firefighters in the most dire of times. Using Krol, Joker lured the GCPD into a trap, which caused the death of the entire SWAT Team. Finally, Joker and Scarecow used Krol as bait to lure Batman into a trap in the Gotham River Tunnel. Batman arrived at the place and confronted the villains, but he was dosed with a great amount of Fear Gas, which made him recall Jason's death at the hands of Joker and thus, he furiously beat Joker to a pulp. Joker was barely rescued by Scarecrow, who caused the water from the river to fill the tunnel, forcing Batman to rescue Krol and allowed the defeated villains to escape.

After their failed attempt to kill Krol and Batman, Joker and Scarecrow learned of Batman's defeat at Bane's hands. Scarecrow was furious for their failure and used his fear toxin on Joker. The gas had no effect and in return, Joker attacked Scarecrow and beat him with a chair, leaving him unconscious and ending their partnership.

Not long after this, Joker set in motion his next scheme by pitching an “autobiographical film” to a movie studio. Joker pitched the movie as the “Death of Batman”, but when he started his scheme, he realized that Batman was different. After Bane's defeat he had become ruthless, violent and started using a body armor. Joker lured Batman into a filmmaking studio, where he planned to eliminate Batman with help from several hired killers. As Batman knocked down Joker's henchmen, the madman realized that this new Batman was a different person and not his long-time enemy. Joker was eventually defeated by the new Batman, who broke Joker's arm and started to brutalize him until the police arrived and restrained the vigilante. Joker was placed in an ambulance headed for Blackgate Penitentiary, but he managed to escape during the transfer and remained on the loose.

No Man's Land
When Gotham City was classed as a No Man's Land, abandoned by the United States and crime ran rampant across town, the Joker was absent for quite a while. Batman also left Gotham for some time, and while he was away the Joker just simply didn't think it worth the bother of being active in Gotham. However, when he did appear amidst the already burgeoning chaos, his impact was shocking. A large number of GCPD officers were murdered when he dressed them up in costumes and makeup similar to his own so they would all be killed by a lone police sniper who had a vendetta against the Joker. A large number of innocent police officers were shot by their comrade.

Later, he took an entire hospital ward full of newborn infants hostage. When Detective Sarah Essen, Jim Gordon's wife, arrived on the scene, he pointed a gun at her and told her not to move, before throwing a baby at her. Sarah instinctively went to catch the child, and the Joker shot her in the head. Oddly, he seemed to take no pleasure in this act. When Gordon found out, his anger led him to the verge of murdering the Joker, only shooting Joker in the knee instead. The Joker was immediately concerned about the damage to his leg, worrying that he might never walk again, but quickly cracked up laughing, realizing there was a joke. The Commissioner had just gotten him back for the damage to his niece.

Joker's Last Laugh
In an attempt to get him to come to terms with his mortality and have some sort of moral realization, a prison doctor informed the Joker he was going to die of a malignant tumor. Instead, the Joker decided he wanted to leave his mark on the world indelibly, and began a chain of chaotic events. He used a variant compound of the Joker Venom to actually Jokerize all metahuman inhabitants of Slabside Penitentiary, driving them virtually into the same condition he was in, but with the added benefit of having every single one of them completely loyal to him. The Joker's army ravaged the planet, combating all of earth's heroes, but Batman was eventually able to thwart the attacks using an antidote he obtained from Harley Quinn. Harley was angry at the Joker for attempting to impregnate her without marrying her. Nightwing, falsely believing that Robin had been eaten in the ensuing madness by Killer Croc, caught up with the Joker and actually beat him to death. Batman, not wanting Nightwing to have blood on his hands, resuscitated the Joker and saved his life.

Hush
Hush and the Riddler convinced and manipulated several other villains into helping in their attempt to destroy Batman. Part of this included fooling Bruce into believing that his childhood friend Tommy Elliott was the latest victim of the Joker. That brought Batman to the brink of murdering the Joker, and he only stopped when former GCPD commissioner Jim Gordon talked him down, reminding him that by killing the Joker, Batman would become just another killer, and Gordon refused to let the Joker ruin Batman's life in that way.

Joker began a shooting spree with a high powered sniper rifle murdering Mayor Dickerson and the Superintendent in order to force the inhabitants of Gotham City to stay inside during the Christmas holiday. He then turned himself in to Gotham's Major Crimes unit, before revealing he'd planted bombs throughout the city, as a "Christmas present" for Batman. This caused the M.C.U. to rush to save countless Christmas shoppers from death. Joker then began a shooting spree within the Major Crimes Unit, where he killed several detectives, only to be shot multiple times by Maggie Sawyer, as his bomb went off, leveling a now evacuated toy store. Joker recovered from his wounds in the hospital laughing at the carnage he had caused.

Under the Red Hood
After Jason Todd was resurrected, he sought revenge against Joker. Todd took over the Red Hood identity and found Joker in an abandoned carnival, beating him with a crowbar in reciprocation of his own assault.

After his recovery, Joker learned of Black Mask's latest scheme and confronted the crime lord who was disguised as Batman. The real Batman arrived shortly after and knocked the Joker down before chasing Black Mask. However, during his fight with the crime lord, Joker managed to get away. Some time later, Joker got a second chance to take down Black Mask and he shot the crime lord on the leg. Joker's vendetta against Black Mask was due to the killing of Robin at the hands of Black Mask, as the crime lord was blamed for Stephanie Brown's death. Joker was mad at Black Mask for taking away from him the chance to kill another Robin. Batman arrived at the scene and stopped the fight, delivering both criminals to the police and Joker was sent back to Arkham Asylum.

A few days later, Red Hood abducted the Joker and held him hostage at Crime Alley, beating him without mercy until Batman arrived. Jason tried to force Batman to kill Joker and then he threatened to do it himself. However, Batman defeated Jason and Joker seized the chance to create havoc by taking a gun and shooting a box of explosives, blowing up the entire building.

Infinite Crisis
The Joker was one of extremely few villains not drafted into Alexander Luthor's Secret Society of Super-Villains. Unlike many of the other villains, such as Catman, the Joker actually wanted to be a member of the Society, but the higher level members wouldn't let him join, which enraged him. While slaughtering a branch of the Royal Flush Gang on his warpath, the Joker was actually laughed at by the King who said "Don't you get it? The Joker's too wild!" He then electrocuted him with his joy buzzer, before walking away and saying to himself, "That's not funny". After the Society had been defeated, while Alex Luthor was planning what to do next, he was ambushed by the real Lex Luthor and the Joker. Before allowing his brutal murder, Lex simply told his counterpart "You should've let the Joker play."

Salvation Run
For a period, the majority of Earth's villains were deported to the Hell Planet, where the Joker became responsible for one of the factions. They were largely non-constructive, and attempted to steal food and supplies from Lex Luthor's group, who were trying to find a way to escape. The conflict ended in one-on-one fisticuffs between Luthor and the Joker. Although the match was nearly even, the Joker ultimately overcame Lex, just before the entire villain community was forced to unite against an oncoming Parademon attack.

Countdown
Jimmy Olsen interviewed an incarcerated Joker about the murder of Duela Dent, who had called herself "The Joker's Daughter." The Joker stated that he never had a daughter, but expressed awareness of the Multiverse and shifts in reality.

The Clown at Midnight
A deranged police officer impersonating Batman, named Josef Muller, shot the Joker in the face, leaving him physically scarred and disabled. After having undergone extensive plastic surgery and physical therapy, The Joker reappeared with a drastic new appearance, with scars running from the corners of his mouth high onto his cheeks, and affliction sometimes referred to as a "Glasgow smile." While in intensive care at Arkham, the Joker had developed a new, more lethal variant of Joker Venom, and instructed Harley Quinn to use it to kill his former henchmen to signal his spiritual "rebirth." He went on a rampage through Arkham, attempting to murder Harley (her death being the final "punchline" of his rebirth) before being stopped by Batman.

Batman R.I.P.
Joker was locked in his cell in Arkham when Batman showed up and attacked the Scarecrow in front of Joker's cell. Batman opened the cell, cuffed Joker to a pipe and proceeded to torture Crane on the Joker's toilet, much to the madman's delight. After Crane confessed his crime, Batman left the place and Joker was thankful with him for letting him witness such a great performance.

Not long after this, Joker was offered a position on Doctor Hurt's conspiracy "the Black Glove" and murdered several people in Arkham as part of the plan. Joker joined Black Glove on the condition that they let him have Robin, and not long after this, Guy Dax freed Joker from his cell. Joker attacked Dax and mutilated his face after going for his henchmen, and after a while, he attacked El Sombrero, apparently killing him. Joker went to Hurt, and shortly after he faced Batman who had been lured to Arkham. During the fight, Joker cut his tongue and caused Batman to have a mental breakdown.

After the Black Glove buried Batman alive, Joker warned them that the Dark Knight would rise again and eliminate them all. Then, Joker hijacked an ambulance and escaped Arkham, but was pushed off a bridge by the Batmobile driven by Damian Wayne.

Oberon Sexton
Joker soon resurfaced under the guise of British journalist/detective Oberon Sexton. At the same time however, he operated as the Domino Killer, killing members of the Black Glove one by one. Dick Grayson, who had taken up the Batman mantle, confronted Oberon about all the Domino killings actually being a set routine of jokes. Oberon removed his mask to reveal the Joker grinning at his old foe, the bullet wound to the head seemingly healed.

After the Joker was arrested once more, he underestimated the newest Robin, Damian Wayne, by trying to win the Boy Wonder's pity. He received a beating with a crowbar from Robin who he realized was the son of his old foe after noting the resemblance between the child and the original Batman. The officers at GCPD ignored the Joker's pleas for help after they concluded that Robin could handle the villain easily.

However, the Joker's apparent helplessness was yet another ruse. Feigning injuries from Robin's assault, he scratched Robin with a paralyzing toxin painted onto his fingernails, and revealed that he had once again manipulated events toward his own ends, mocking Robin for going so far as to provide his own crowbar. Appropriating Robin's utility belt, the Joker escaped to execute his attack on the Black Glove, unleashing his signature venom on an audience gathered under Professor Pyg (via tainted popcorn) and guiding Batman and his allies to a climactic confrontation. The Joker had Robin bound and gagged, and possessed a nuclear weapon. Help arrived in the form of the original Batman who aided his successor and his son in their battle against the Black Glove and the Clown Prince of Crime at Wayne Manor and the Batcave. The Joker infected Dr. Hurt with Joker Toxin and buried him alive. The second Batman pursued and captured the Joker, while the original Dark Knight, Robin, and Alfred Pennyworth disarmed the Clown Prince of Crime's weapon and defeated the remaining Black Glove members.

The Black Mirror
Eventually the Joker escaped from Arkham again by ingesting a mixture of venom and alcohol which secreted through his pores, making him poisonous to the touch. Gordon's ex-wife Barbara was attacked with more toxin and Batman hunted the Joker down to an underground lair. They fought while Joker refused to acknowledge Dick Grayson as a worthy successor to "his" Batman, but in defeat, he insisted he never touched Gordon's wife. It was James Gordon, Jr. who broke the Joker out of Arkham and attacked his own mother with toxin, using her as a diversion while he kidnapped his sister, Oracle.

Faces of Death
Years later, the Joker is a homicidal killer being hunted by Gotham's police force. After a skirmish with Batman, the Joker is caught and taken to Arkham Asylum. There, the Dollmaker pays him a visit, which the Joker seems to have been expecting. The two have cordially arranged this meeting, and the Joker has assigned his visitor with a special task: he has the Dollmaker cut off his face and pin it to the wall.

Afterward, the Joker is assumed dead by virtually everyone except Batman, and hundreds of mourners have surrounded the GCPD building in a mock vigil, calling for Joker's face to be returned to them, and Batman's head too. Soon afterward Harley Quinn learns of her Puddin's "death" and betrays the Suicide Squad by orchestrating a mass prison break at Belle Reve Penitentiary. Afterward, she travels back to Gotham City, turning herself in at Gotham City Police Headquarters all in the hopes of stealing back the Joker's face.

Death of the Family
The Joker made his return to Gotham City a year after his disappearance. He infiltrated the GCPD headquarters, killing the lights, slaughtering several cops and making his presence known to Gordon. In the following days, he reenacted some of his earliest crimes such as publicly announcing his intention to poison the mayor, with each crime having some morbid twist to it.

After using Harley Quinn to distract Batman, the Joker went after anyone who has a connection to Batman. In order, he vanquished Batgirl, Catwoman, Robin, Nightwing, Red Robin and Red Hood. Joker brought them all to Arkham Asylum.

By the time Batman came, Joker had his defenses ready and lured the Dark Knight into his trap. Batman complied, hoping to learn more of his adversary's plans. Joker placed the entire Bat-Family on a large table, with bandages around their faces. He claimed he had removed their faces as Dollmaker had removed his. He also explained that he had instructed Dollmaker to remove his face to show that under his grin, there was only more grin. He left them and set the scene on fire.

Batman broke free. He liberated his allies and discovered their faces were still intact. He caught up with Joker, and the fight was short. Batman taunted him, claiming to have discovered who the Joker was before his chemical bath. Not wanting to hear it, Joker jumped off the cliff.

In the pit, Batman would later learn, was a pool of the element Dionesium, which had the supernatural ability to heal the Joker's dismembered face skin and grant him superhuman healing, which he would later incorporate into his next plot against the Bat. Also in the cave, Joker discovered the cave painting of a bat that he wouldn't realize the significance of until even later.

Eric Border
Soon after his supposed death off the cliff, Joker reappeared, but disguised as a new orderly at Arkham Asylum. Using pigmentation to conceal the pale skin on his new face and muscle relaxant pills to suppress his constant smile, Joker adopted the name "Eric Border" - "Eric" being a combination pun of the Norse and Gothic words "Eternal" and "Prince" respectively, and "Border", which is a homophone of the archaic word "bourder" meaning "jester".

Befriending Dr. Mahreen Zaheer, Joker worked in Arkham, formulating his plan for return. In his new identity, the criminal kept to his roots by playing a dark prank on his new friend Dr. Zaheer by encouraging her to write a book about the "true" origin of the Joker. The clown falsified documents and paid people off in order to construct another origin story that could only potentially be true. As part of his dark prank, the Joker gave each of four inmates a different origin for himself (a demon, a robot, a man from another time, and a soldier who was the first in an army of Batmen created by the government,) with a path through Gotham that eventually leads to the publisher of Dr. Zaheer's book where the fifth inmate has Dr. Zaheer tell them her story.

Endgame
Shedding his Eric Border identity almost a year after adopting it, Joker came back with an endgame in mind for Batman. Unlike his last dastardly plot, the clown made clear that he was no longer playing; he intended to make this his final dance with the Bat.

Drugging the Justice League using a new and extremely potent Joker Venom, the madman sent Batman's superhero allies after the vigilante, forcing Batman to single-handedly fend off the entire Justice League. Wasting no time, Joker infected the entire city with the same virus, turning them all into laughing homicidal maniacs. Revealing that he knew Batman's secret identity, Joker then singled out some of Batman's closest allies, putting a hatchet into Commissioner Gordon's chest and cutting off Alfred's right hand with a meat cleaver. After a gruesome parade in the middle of Gotham, Joker made his way down into the depths of Gotham to his Dionesium pit, where he fought Batman in a duel to the death. With both eventually severely wounded and Joker's own supply of Dionesium neutralized, Batman and the Joker died together, side by side, under the streets of Gotham.

The Dionesium, despite having thought to been destroyed in the cave's collapse, managed to still revive both Bruce and the Joker, healing the scars on their bodies but also robbing them of their memories. The man who was once the Joker—his skin and hair turned back to normal—returned to society and started a new life at a butcher shop. Months later, Bruce, also living a normal life without the knowledge that he was once the Batman, met the former Joker in the park, who had intended to kill himself that night but eventually backed down. A short time later, after Bruce used a machine in the Batcave to return all his memories of being Batman, the insanity of his former life seeped back into the reformed Joker's mind, causing him to return to his normal Joker self.

Rebirth
With all his memories back, the Joker began investigating a conspiracy behind a cave painting he had found when he was first revived by the pool of Dionesium. Batman, following the same mystery and thinking the Joker might hold a clue, captured him and detained the clown for weeks in a secret wing secluded in the Batcave until he was accidentally released by Hal Jordan and Duke Thomas. The mystery turned out to lead to the Dark Multiverse, in which Batman released the evil deity Barbatos and the Dark Knights.

After stopping that crisis, with Batman and Joker even teaming up in the final battle to defeat the Batman Who Laughs, Batman, weary from all his adventures, proposed to Catwoman, who accepted. However, after months of anticipation for the event, the wedding was crashed by the Joker, who convinced Catwoman not to marry Batman because happiness is Batman's greatest weakness.

Joker would later join the Legion of Doom and torment the Justice League with the rest of the team's greatest rogues.

The Return
Well into his sixties, the Joker spent three years at Arkham Asylum in a near catatonic stupor. When news hit the wire that his arch-nemesis the Batman had come out of retirement, the Joker's conscious mind resurfaced and he decided that it was time for him to come out of retirement as well. Having manipulated his psychiatrist into declaring him 'cured'- the doctor proclaiming that he was merely a victim of Batman's own psychosis- the Joker murdered the guests at a talk show where his psychiatrist had intended to publicly reveal his 'recovery' before taking hostages at a local carnival. Tracking the Joker there, Batman engaged his foe in the hall of mirrors before the fight progressed into a sewer, where Batman broke the Joker's neck just enough to paralyze him. However, in a last act of revenge against his enemy, the Joker was able to twist his neck just far enough to kill himself, committing suicide and framing his enemy for his own murder.

Powers

 * Unique Physiology: Due to his chemical submergence, Joker gained beyond average advantages over normal humans as well as further exposure tainting his physiology.
 * Pain Resistance: It was speculated that the Joker's exposure to chemicals may have heightened his resistance to pain. It was also implied that he was masochistic in nature, and thus enjoyed any pain received, making it an ineffective way of dealing with him.
 * Tainted Blood: Joker's blood was tainted. It was said that "being an avid consumer of his products, Joker's immunity to poisons has been built up over years of dedicated abuse." When a mosquito sucked the Joker's blood, it "writhes and whines, choking on tainted blood".[43]
 * Toxic Immunity: The Joker was immune to his own venom as well as various similar toxins.
 * Cheating Death: The Joker cheated death numerous times, even in seemingly inescapable and lethal situations. He has been, among other things, caught in explosions, electrocuted, shot repeatedly, and dropped from great heights, but he always returns to once again wreak havoc.
 * Cosmic Awareness: The Joker has, at times, shown to be fully aware of being a comic book character, even directly talking to the reader. However, most other characters ignore this, believing it to be a manifestation of his insanity.

Abilities

 * Indomitable Will: The Joker's insanity, or his frame of mind, made him immune to the Spectre's judgement, though warranted. Batman once explained that the Joker doesn't actually know what was right and wrong, a crucial understanding the Spectre needed to judge. In a way, one had to know one's deeds are evil or wrong for the Spectre to judge, and the Joker doesn't. Also, both Jim Corrigan and Hal Jordan's Spectre have had major problems with navigating the Joker's mind, Corrigan even managed to get lost in it and Jordan literally was blasted out of his boots to the moon when he tried.
 * Genius Level Intellect: The Joker was highly intelligent and skilled in the fields of chemistry and engineering, as well an expert with explosives. He was capable of hijacking television and radio broadcasts.
 * Gadgetry: The Joker commits crimes with countless "comedic" weapons such as; razor-sharp playing cards, acid-spewing flowers, cyanide pies, lethally electric joy buzzers and his signature Joker venom.
 * Escapology
 * Tactical Analysis
 * Disguise
 * Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic): The Joker was moderately skilled in hand to hand combat. Although Batman was stronger, the Joker was faster and more agile, and his fighting style was chaotic and difficult to predict. The Joker had been known to be able to hold his own in hand-to-hand combat against Batman, however every time he was subdued it was through physical force. However, the Joker has proven to be very skilled in the area of martial arts as well, this being proven when beating the Batman once in a fight without "cheating".
 * Intimidation: Joker was adept at torturing his victims endlessly, including shooting Batgirl, torturing Robin to death and beating Damian into submission.
 * Weaponry
 * Throwing
 * Stealth
 * Investigation

Equipment

 * Joker Venom: A deadly poison that infected his victims with a ghoulish rictus grin as they died while laughing uncontrollably. This venom came in many forms, from gas to darts to liquid poison, and was his primary calling card.
 * Joker Teeth: A common weapon and theme for equipment for the Joker were "Joker Teeth." Clacking, wind-up gag teeth were commonly used to mock the Dark Knight and his allies. They were one of the Joker's signature items.

Weapons

 * Various Joker Gadgets: Razor-sharp playing cards, acid flower, various guns and other weaponry. The Joker was unpredictable in that he would use any kind of weapon afforded him.
 * Joker's Joy Buzzer: The Joker often used a modified novelty joy buzzer strapped to the palm of his hand. The buzzer administered a lethal dose of electricity into anyone who came into contact with it.
 * Explosives: Joker was an expert at bomb making and even bought nuclear weapons. He loved using time bombs and used grenades in battle, though they may be disguised as harmless objects like toys, dolls, balls or marbles.