What can possibly be said about the Joker that hasn’t already been said already? The Clown Prince of Crime has been around since the early days of the Dark Knight back in the 1930s. In the years since, there have been very few (if any) incarnations of Batman that don’t feature the evil clown.
As Joker likes to point out all the time, the two characters are two sides of the same coin; all it would take for Bruce Wayne to descent into the madness of his arch-nemesis is “one bad day.” The insane criminal mastermind has been locked into a never-ending battle with the Dark Knight for decades and has become one of the greatest villains in comic book history!
With a character as crazy as Joker, there is bound to be a lot of deception going on when it comes to his personal information. Seventy years later, and even the most hardcore comic book fans are unclear about the villain’s origins, true identity, and history!
However, some of DC’s writers can’t help themselves, and give readers little tidbits of information about the enigma that is the Clown Prince of Crime.
Here are 20 Crazy Facts About The Joker’s Body.
He was a Contortionist and Martial Arts Master
Remember The Batman? This attempt at creating a successful sequel to Batman: TAS in the early 2000s ran for four years. The show was fairly popular for the first season or two, but then quickly fizzled out. Part of what made the show so unique was that it took many familiar elements of the Dark Knight and flipped them on their head.
The version of the Joker that appeared in The Batman looked little like previous versions. He had the look of a jester in a straight jacket with long, dangling arms that hung down as he twirled around and fought. In this universe, Mista J. was actually a master of martial arts and engaged Batman in one-on-one combat. He was also somewhat of a contortionist, twisting his body around in ways that no normal human could.
He does his own makeup
Perhaps the greatest thing about the Joker is the fact that there is no true “definitive version.” Most people think of Robert Downey Jr. when they hear Iron Man or Christopher Reeve when they think of Superman, but when you hear “The Joker” you could argue that Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Mark Hamill, or Cesar Romero were all the “best,” and you’d be right! Ledger’s incarnation of the character was more of an anarchist who committed crimes to prove a point.
Everybody knows how into the character the actor got, but did you know that Ledger insisted that he didn’t go under the makeup chair for anything except prosthetics?
The actor felt like the Joker would be one to do his own makeup every day using whatever he could find; Ledger would go out and buy cheap drugstore makeup and then do it himself before every day of shooting!
He’s lost a lot of teeth over the years
When the first pictures of Jared Leto as Joker hit the web, fans speculated about his grills. Some thought it was just because this version was supposed to be more of a “gangster” than previous ones, while others just assumed that they were replacement teeth for the ones that Batman had knocked out over the years.
The Joker must have a great dentist, because even in the comics there’s no way those are his real teeth. Whenever Batman or one of other members of the Batfamily loose their cool at the baddie’s antics, they promptly give him a pummeling.
Artists often like to show what a beating the Joker is taking by showing his teeth fly out of his mouth.
The most brutal was when Barbara Gordon finally got her revenge with a crowbar, knocking out all of his teeth!
His spine was broken by Batman
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is one of the greatest comic book stories ever told. When it came out in 1986, the Dark Knight was seen as more of a humorous character thanks to the massive success of the Adam West show. This comic took the character back to his roots as a gritty vigilante who was not only awesome, but also human at the core.
Of course, what is a good Batman story without the Clown Prince of Crime? The Joker makes a brief appearance in the story as a rehabilitated man who turns back to his old ways when he sees Batman is back. At the climax of the tale, Batman finally has enough of the Joker’s antics and snaps his spine. The villain, not wanting to be a paraplegic, finishes the job.
He was once merged with Sabertooth
The ’90s were a really weird time for comic books. Thanks to The Death of Superman, the entire industry almost came crashing down. The result? Publishers threw everything at the wall and hoped something would stick!
Characters became more dark and gritty, some had their origins retooled, and both Marvel and DC went through event after ridiculous event to try and revitalize the industry.
One of the strangest of these was Amalgam Comics, a 12-issue miniseries published by both Marvel and DC that saw their characters fused together into new heroes and villains that seemingly had existed for generations.
In this universe, the Joker was combined with Marvel villain Sabertooth to become the Hyena, the arch-nemesis to Dark Claw -a Batman/Wolverine hybrid.
Jared Leto’s Joker uses tattoos as mementos
There was no way we were going to talk about the Joker’s body without bringing up Jared Leto’s version of the character. One of the big gripes about Suicide Squad was its version of the Joker, who went from playful yet evil clown to straight-up gangster crime boss complete with piercings, gold chains, and tattoos galore. Fans specifically cringed at the “damaged” tattoo the character wore across his forehead.
There was some method to the madness of the character.
Director David Ayer confirmed that each ink on the Joker’s body tells a very specific story, such as the Jester on his torso (symbolizing his love for Harley). The most macabre of these has to be the bird with an arrow through its chest, a reminder of what he did to Jason Todd.
Harley and Joker’s almost baby
In the normal canon, the Joker and Harley have a very abusive relationship in which he seems to not want anything to do with her outside of using her for his criminal deeds. However, in both the Arkham games as well as the DCEU the two appear to be more of a couple, with Mista J. and Harley showing compassion for each other.
The relationship between the two was almost taken to the next level in Batman: Arkham City. After the Joker passes away, Harley is heard during the credits singing “Hush little baby.” Players also noticed a positive pregnancy test on the floor of Joker’s hideout earlier in the game.
It is revealed in the DLC Harley Quinn’s Revenge that it was simply a false positive; as several negative tests litter the floor when Batman returns to the same hideout at a later date.
Joker’s daughters
How crazy would Joker having a kid be? It would completely change the dynamic of the character as well as his relationship with Harley and Batman if he suddenly had a little one to worry about. Would the Joker show a more compassionate side? Would he use the kid as a tool to taunt Batman? Would he raise him to be a supervillain?
We kind of got our answer in two different multiverse stories. The first came from Injustice: Gods Among Us. In this universe, Harley Quinn reveals to Black Canary that she once did have a child with Mista J., but she hid it from him and sent the child away to live with her sister.
He also has a (non-biological) daughter in Duela Dent, who dresses up like the clown prince and calls herself “The Joker’s Daughter.”
Cesar Romero Refused to Shave His Mustache for the Role
The ‘66 Batman show starring Adam West and Burt Ward was the pop culture phenomenon that put the Dark Knight on the map in the public sphere.
“Batmania” swept through America in the ’60s, leading to a show that went on for three seasons and featured several of the Caped Crusader’s greatest foes. One of the most popular of these villains was beloved actor Cesar Romero as the Clown Prince of Crime.
In a hilarious twist of fate, the actor refused to shave off his trademark moustache for the show.
They didn’t try to dye it green or cover it up with prosthetics.
Eery time the Joker appeared on the show the makeup crew just had to paint over the facial hair with white paint, leaving the ‘stache obviously visible to the audience.
His heart poisoned Batman and drove him insane
There have been many different versions of Batman over the years, but none have been quite as scary as The Batman Who Laughs.
After an encounter with the Joker, Batman loses his mind and goes on a violent rampage, taking out every member of the Batfamily as well as wiping out Gotham City. As The Batman Who Laughs, he keeps all three of his former Robins zombified on a chain and uses them as weapons.
How did this happen? Because the version of the Joker in the Dark Knights: Metal universe had a “poison pill” in case he ever kicked the bucket. When Batman finally snapped and ended the villain’s life, a device in his heart released a powerful new strain of Joker Venom that slowly turned the Dark Knight insane. Talk about a backup plan.
The Joker has multiple identities
Every time a new writer tackles writing the Clown Prince of Crime, they naturally want to put their own spin on the character. While this is usually good news, leading to many different iconic iterations of the villain over the years, it can also spell disaster when a writer makes the Joker do things that are out of character.
There are literally dozens of different interpretations of the Joker, all of which have their positives and negatives.
During DC Rebirth, Batman discovers a shocking twist via the powerful Morbius Chair: the Joker was not just a single person.
Rather, the chair revealed that there were three different Clown Princes of Crime! This tease hasn’t truly had a payoff yet, but hopefully readers will find out more in the Three Jokers comic book.
Jared Leto actually shaved his eyebrows for the role
There’s a lot to take in when you look at Suicide Squad’s Joker. There’s all the tattoos, the grills, the flamboyant outfits, and jewelry, yet perhaps the most unsettling thing about this Joker is the fact that he has no eyebrows.
This makes it harder to read his emotions and always leaves him looking like he’s a predator about to strike his prey.
Jared Leto is notorious for his method acting, and the Joker was no different. For this role he went deep down the rabbit hole mentally, but he also tried to alter his physical appearance for the part. Leto refused to cover his eyebrows with prosthetics or CGI, as well as refused to do the Cesar Romero thing. He simply shaved off his eyebrows to achieve the look of the vile character!
He once removed his own face
The New 52 was an initiative created by DC back in the early 2010s that sought to sort out all of the confusing continuity errors that had sprung up over the last few decades of comics. Every single story was ended, and then the entire universe was rebooted with 52 new comic titles to start anew. Obviously Batman was one of the many characters who started over again, as well as all of his Rogues Gallery.
In the first major story of Detective Comics, the Dark Knight takes on the Joker as well as a new villain, the Dollmaker. At the end of the tale, the Joker (in true insane fashion) decides that he wants a fresh start on life and cuts off his own face. The next time we see the baddie, he’s reattached it to his head using a bunch of needles and straps.
He’s a Thousand-Year-Old Demon?
Scott Snyder’s Batman: Endgame was one heck of a ride. It was meant to be the third part of a huge trilogy of Joker storylines and it didn’t disappoint!
The story follows the Joker as he returns to torment Batman, revealing that he knows the Caped Crusader’s true identity and that nobody is safe from his wrath.
The strangest part? The heroes in the story find clues that the Joker may be much older than originally thought. Gordon finds a picture of the villain from an old newspaper.
The Clown Prince himself teases that he may or may not be an immortal demon destined to fight Batman for all eternity.
Of course, Batman puts this theory to the test at the end of the story when he pins the Joker down, letting a cave collapse on them both.
He implanted himself in Robin
Batman Beyond was one of those “passing the torch” stories that actually worked. So many times the stories about the second generation of superheroes fall flat on their face, but Beyond was made by the creative minds behind Batman: TAS and featured many of the original voice actors returning as older versions of their characters. Batman Beyond" Return of the Joker was the first animated feature for Terry McGinnis.
In this story, it is revealed that the Joker kidnapped and tormented Tim Drake, turning Robin into a smaller version of himself.
Though Batman is able to save his sidekick, he didn’t know that the Joker had implanted his own conscious and genetic material into Robin. Years in the future (during the Beyond timeline), the microchip is activated and Tim is transformed into the villain to wreak havoc once more.
Heath Ledger actually wanted Christian Bale to beat him up
The method acting of Heath Ledger gave us one of the greatest performances in comic book history, if not in cinema history. Ledger nkept a journal charting the Joker’s thoughts and dreams as well as did his own makeup every time the character went on screen. When he was in character, everybody was mesmerized.
However, he may have taking things a little bit too far during the interrogation scene. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Christian Bale revealed that Heath Ledger asked the Batman actor to actually beat him up during a pivotal scene.
Though Bale refused to actually injure his partner, the hard hits you see on screen are legitimate.
Ledger violently threw himself into the walls and tables to make the scene look realistic!
Raven’s Mental Powers Don’t Work on Him
Surprisingly, the Joker doesn’t cross paths with the Teen Titans too often. It does make a little bit of sense. The Joker is completely obsessed with Batman, and doesn’t really get entangled with other heroes unless the Dark Knight is involved. That said, it’s strange that he doesn’t torment the Titans as much as he has considering their leader is Batman’s first sidekick. Maybe he’s just afraid of what would happen if he went up against heroes with actual superpowers!
That didn’t seem to matter in the pages of Titans East Special, when Joker took on Robin, Kid Flash, and Raven with ease. The craziest part?
Raven tries to use her powers to show Joker his deepest fears, but the villain was completely immune. Instead, he started laughing at the images of horror he saw before him!
The Joker truly believes his past is multiple choice
When you first hear the word “Joker,” what do you think of? It’s always that evil, maniacal laugh and the scary grimace that lies up on his snow-white mug. This guy is one of the scariest characters of comics because he’s simply so unpredictable and takes some sort of sick pleasure in the things he does. Nobody really knows how the Joker became such a maniac.
Even the Joker himself has no idea what his origin story is!
In The Killing Joke, he tells Batman, “If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice.” Although it sounds like he’s pulling Batman’s leg, every incarnation of Joker has been inconsistent with his origin.
It’s not just a clever saying; the Joker truly believes that he his past could have been one of many options, and he uses whichever one is appropriate at the time.
He once had the power to bend reality
The Joker is one of the most manipulative characters in all of DC comics. No matter how well Batman or other heroes think they have him pegged, the Clown Prince of Crime will always find a way to surprise everyone with his insidious planning and unhinged schemes. Just about every character in the DC Universe has been a victim of the Joker’s plots at some point or another.
One of the biggest tricks the character ever played was on Superman villain Mr. Mxyzptlk, when he tricked the character into giving him universe-altering powers. This led to a timeline in which the Joker was an immortal who could bend reality at will. He used these powers to conquer the world, turn the Justice League into a team of villains, and put Batman into a perpetual state of torment.
The Joker has “Super Sanity”
The Joker and insanity seem to go hand in hand. Why else would somebody dress up like a clown and commit crimes just for fun? Then there’s his creepy obsession with The Dark Knight that almost seems like a romantic attraction.
What if we told you that the Joker wasn’t insane in the slightest?
What if we told you that the Clown Prince of Crime is actually one of the more sane characters?
In Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum, it is revealed that the Joker has what they call “Super Sanity.” This mental state of mind means that the villain doesn’t have any real personality, but rather adapts his personality to whatever situation he is in. His brain cannot perceive the sensory stimuli that are coming at him in the outside world, so as a coping mechanism he simply “goes with the flow.”
Did we forget any weird details about the Joker’s body in Batman? Let us know in the comments!
