Top 20 Worst Things The Joker Has Ever Done

2011’s video game “Batman: Arkham City” already put Joker in a bad light when he purposely infected the Caped Crusader with the Titan Disease. But there was some dark icing to cover that tasteless clown cake. When Batman goes to Mr. Freeze for the cure, we discover that Hugo Strange had handed Nora, Freeze’s wife, over to the Joker as a hostage to make him continue research on the Titan Disease. If you know anything about Freeze beyond his cold persona and ice-based puns, he deeply loves Nora. After all, he’d spent years looking for a cure for her Huntington's Chorea, making this move by Joker pretty cruel.

In “Detective Comics #475,” Joker infected Gotham City’s fishes with a version of his venom, turning them into aquatic versions of himself. He then attempted to get a copyright to them so he could collect a fortune when they were sold. It sounds like a goofy, not very serious plan from the Joker. But it gets pretty serious later on when Joker’s told by officials that he can’t copyright fish. Instead of moving on from that, Joker goes on a slaying spree, even taking one official out right in front of Batman. On top of the direct murders, while the fish aren’t toxic for consumption, no one is going to want to eat the bizarre fish, and a whole industry would likely be destroyed.

A good thing to note is don’t leave the Joker out of anything. In DC’s epic 2005 event “Infinite Crisis,” Alexander Luthor from Earth-Three turned evil during his time in the paradise dimension. So, he wanted to combine Earth-Two and Earth-Three to create a “perfect world.” However, when Alexander's plan doesn’t work and he’s defeated, he tries to slink away in Gotham. Instead, he’s sprayed in the eye with acid from a flower belonging to a certain purple-suited character. After Joker electrocutes him, Prime Lex Luthor comes out of the shadows to mock Alexander and admonish him for not inviting Joker into The Society. The clown then took out a firearm and brutally ended Alexander.

For “Batman Confidential,” we got to see the early escapades of the Dark Knight. So, of course, in the storyline “Lovers and Madmen,” we witnessed Jack become the Joker after battling Batman. At one point, the newly created Clown Prince of Crime sent a blimp across Gotham that exploded. Joker went old-school with this by not using clown gadgets. Instead, the blimp rained broken glass on the city’s population as Joker stood protected under an umbrella. To make it worse -- if that’s possible -- the glass was tainted with Joker Venom, infecting those it dug into. Batman, instead of stopping the rampage, stayed at Lorna Shore’s bedside in the hospital until Alfred convinced him to do something.

2008’s “Joker” graphic novel is a grim and gritty tale about the villain. Narrated by his henchman, Jonny Frost, he helps Joker return to his criminal prestige after leaving Arkham Asylum and taking out those who showed disloyalty while he was locked up. At the same time as this, Jonny is dealing with breaking up with his wife, Shelly. Harvey Dent offered Jonny a job. However, he rejected it and continued working for Joker. Later, Dent told Joker about the meet-up out of spite, which Jonny neglected to tell his employer. For revenge, Joker assaulted Shelly. This deeply disturbing moment is divisive with readers as many believe this is out of character for the Joker.

After a decade of Joker being in a coma in Frank Miller’s 1986 pivotal comic “The Dark Knight Returns,” the clown woke up after Batman’s return and immediately got back to his chaotic best-slash-worst. After popping up on a talk show and murdering everyone, Joker went to the County Fair to hand out free cotton candy to Boy Scouts. Naw, cute. Only, instead of it being a sudden redemption arc, the sweet treat was laced with poison that immediately took their lives. To make it even worse, Batman narrates that Carrie Kelley, the new Robin, loses her innocence upon witnessing this. Yikes.

For 2008’s “Batman: Cacophony,” on one side, you have the Joker. On the other is Maxie Zeus, a former history teacher who believes he’s Zeus from Greek Mythology. And in the middle is Batman trying to stop them. With two dangerous and unhinged sides, all sorts of mayhem could potentially take place. However, no one was expecting Joker to go this far. The Clown went to Zeus’s nephew’s school and held them hostage until the god-pretender arrived and Joker could confront him for adapting his venom into a designer substance. The duo eventually leaves the school, with veiled threats being uttered under friendliness. Then, Joker explodes the school as part of a punchline, kick-starting the gang war between him and Zeus.

Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo’s 2008 “Joker” book was so intense that the Clown Prince has multiple terrible moments to show his depravity. Shortly after leaving Arkham, Joker goes to the “Grin and Bare It” club to meet Monty, his henchman. While Joker gets all chummy and appears to be enjoying the party, he takes Monty backstage after getting a dollar from Jonny. When they return, the henchman has been mostly skinned. Gross. To make it worse, Joker slaps the dollar on Monty’s derrière as he stumbles and falls motionless on the ground.

For years, comic fans had pondered what would happen if Joker and Batman merged. Well, 2018’s “The Batman Who Laughs” showed us how bleak that could be. After obliterating Gotham, assassinating the GCPD and villains, and infecting citizens with the venom all in front of Batman, the Dark Knight snaps and slays Joker. However, in a final wicked act, the clown releases a gas from his dying body that Batman inhaled. Slowly, he became The Batman Who Laughs. This version killed the Bat Family, then the Justice League, leaving Superman for last. With his son Jon and Lois held captive, this Joker-Batman used modified Black Kryptonite to make the Kryptonians kill his own family Naturally, The Batman Who Laughs became one of DC’s most dangerous villains.

Usually, Mister Mxyzptlk is a quirky, stupidly powerful annoyance for Superman. But things turned up a lot when Joker managed to trick Mxyzptlk into giving him the imp's vast power. He became Emperor Joker and transformed the world, even changing the Justice League’s origins, such as making Aquaman a literal fish man. But the most disturbing was Joker eating all of China, including the people, for a punchline. He also killed Batman over and over again in terrible ways. Even after being defeated, the psychological damage to Bruce was so much that Superman took on that burden instead. Another haunting, all-powerful Joker moment was in “Justice League: The Nail.” Armed with energy gauntlets, Joker made Bats watch as he crushed Robin and Batgirl. Yikes.

In Scott Synder’s Death of the Family, the Clown Prince of Crime shows just how psychotic he can be. After reclaiming his recently removed face, the Joker launches a crusade of his own in order to “help” Batman rid himself of the obstacles that keep him grounded – his allies. This leads to a deadly game of cat and mouse where the Joker has kidnapped the entirety of the Bat-Family…and cut off their faces. While this proves to be just another joke, knowing that he could’ve easily gone through with it is chilling to the bone.

In Frank Miller’s acclaimed take on a much older and grittier Batman, the resurfacing of the Joker comes complete with a huge body count. After finding a new purpose in life when his beloved Batman comes out of retirement, the psychotic clown and the world’s detective end up coming to blows in an amusement park, where it becomes clear only one of them is going to be walking away. Despite getting a batarang to the face, the Joker appears to be having the time of his life, and gleefully starts a shooting spree as he makes his way through the tunnel of love, leaving an even bigger trail of young lover’s bodies for Batman to follow.

Christopher Nolan’s vision of the Joker not only provided a fresh take on the character, but managed to horrify audiences while he was at it. His most disturbing attribute is just how easily he manages to manipulate the good guys like puppets on a string, even the Dark Knight. He kidnaps Gotham’s star lawyer Harvey Dent as well as Bruce Wayne’s love interest Rachel Dawes, trapping them each in separate rooms filled with explosives, leaving Batman with a deadly choice of who to save. Of course, it’s never that easy with the Joker, and the result leads to the death of Rachel and the birth of Two-Face.

The Joker’s return in the Batman Beyond movie didn’t only give fans the chance to see the Second Knight battle against his mentor’s greatest foe, but also gave us a flashback segment which in some way served as a conclusion to the originally animated series. After kidnapping Robin aka Tim Drake, the Joker goads Batman into a final confrontation in Arkham Asylum, where he reveals that not only has he tortured and brainwashed Robin into a psychotic, surrogate son, but that he now knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne. Even though the animated series wasn’t afraid to slip into some dark territory, this was on a different level entirely, made all the more deliciously evil by Mark Hamill’s performance.

Jim Gordon has lost more to the Joker than anyone else, yet still refuses to step outside the law and kill him, though we have no idea how he resisted ending the clown’s life after this despicable act. Sarah Essen; a brilliant detective in her own right and Gordon’s second wife, manages to catch the Joker at gunpoint, except there’s a problem. He has dozens of infants as hostages. Using her goodhearted nature to his advantage, the Joker tosses one of the children her way and Sarah instinctively catches the baby. However, this leaves her unarmed, and the Joker takes advantage of the moment, gunning her down.

Nothing quite sums up the Joker’s insanity than when he allowed someone to carve his face off…just to leave an unclear message. While he’s the only one that technically gets hurt as a result of this bloody process, the loss, and eventual reclaiming, of his face marks a change in the Joker’s character. He becomes even more dangerous, deranged, obsessed with Batman, and also a hell of a lot scarier. Seriously, anyone who gets a near erotic reaction from having their mug peeled off is someone you don’t want to mess with.

The comic book/video game tie-in series “Injustice: Gods Among Us” has done wonders for the fighting game genre by showing that you can indeed have an engrossing story in-between kicking the crap out of your favorite DC characters. Set in an alternate world, the Joker manages to trick the Man of Steel into killing Lois Lane, their unborn child and all of Metropolis. As you can imagine, Supes is not happy about this. Superman kills the Joker in reprisal and his loss of sanity leads to Superman becoming a dictator and enslaving the entire world. Even in death, the Joker always seems to have the last laugh.

Probably the most constant reminder of the Joker’s cruelty is his treatment of one person who loves him above all else; Harley Quinn. After falling for the psychotic clown and breaking him out of Arkham, Harley has stuck by her puddin’ through thick and thin, always helping him commit crimes and try to kill the Batman on his behalf. Despite this unending devotion, the Joker does not treat her kindly. Whether it’s manipulating her by playing off her obvious infatuation, or via verbal, emotional and physical abuse, Harley’s suffering is legendary across the comic books and animated series.

No other event has rippled across the Batman mythos more than the shooting of Barbara Gordon in Alan Moore’s critically acclaimed graphic novel “The Killing Joke”. With a single shot, the Joker leaves Barbara traumatized and with paralysis... only one part of his insidious plan to drive Jim Gordon insane; just to prove that anyone can lose their mind after just one bad day. While this plan would ultimately fail with Jim keeping his sanity and Barbara trading in her mantle as Batgirl for that of Oracle, Joker’s twisted actions have cemented themselves in pop culture.

Just like Barbara, the second Robin narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Joker, and will carry the trauma and scars of the encounter for his entire life. Todd’s senselessly violent and deeply tragic ‘death’ served as just another stepping stone in the Joker’s endless quest to break the Dark Knight. After capturing Jason Todd, the clown prince proceeds to beat him with a crowbar, before leaving him to bleed out. Just before Batman could arrive, a time bomb goes off, seemingly killing Todd. It’s one of Batman’s darkest moments, all orchestrated by the man who finds it all to be one big joke.