Why The Joker Is Considered One Of The Greatest Super-Villains Ever

From the series of deranged villains who have had a contribution in making Gotham the ‘hell hole’ it is, a chart that includes the devious bird-themed crime boss Penguin, the jewel thief Catwoman and the eco-terrorist Ra’s al Gaul, the contribution of the Joker is the most significant. He holds the record for being the sole villain in the DC universe who has killed more than 140 people singlehandedly. With the clown prince of crime getting a movie of his own this year starring Joaquin Phoenix, I thought there would be no better time to discuss why he is considered one of the greatest supervillains of all times.

The Joker is a psychopath, a murderous lunatic whose purpose in life is to torment the Bat and get a good laugh, even if it means murdering all the people in Gotham city. He really has nothing to achieve from the crimes he commits, he just does it for the sake of fun. The darkness in him has no bounds. He is responsible for the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin, and word of Bruce Wayne and the paralysis of Barbara Gordan, Batgirl. Over the years he has fought many superheroes including Superman and Wonder woman but his all-time arch-enemy remains to be Batman.

^{Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight, 2008. The actor was known for his portraiture of the character.}

Ever since his first appearance in the Batman comics in 1940, Joker had stolen the hearts of the people, intriguing many by his level of insanity and his great criminal mastermind. It was only the matter of time till he became one of the scariest clowns in the history of scary clowns topping almost ever chart listing the most dangerous villains in the history of DC comics.

Created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, the character was initially planned to be killed by the end of the first arc but his immense popularity helped him to survive and even after 80 years, his popularity has shown no signs of decline.

What makes him so special as a villain is a macabre smile and his disturbingly twisted sense of humor. He is the only supervillain who has no particular motive for committing crimes. He creates mayhem for the sake of chaos. His killings are random and the level of insanity tops all charts. Sometimes he will be walking around Gotham city killing random people just for entertainment. Even worse, he can create a massacre just to grab the attention of Batman. His insanity his visible when he cuts off his own face and wears the severed skin as a mask!

^{The Joker wearing his own severed face as a mask.}

Like Batman, the Joker possesses no superpowers but that has never stopped him from creating chaos. His highly unpredictable moves make him feared even among his fellow criminals. The genius intellect combined with his expertise in chemical engineering makes him the perfect supervillain worthy of facing the dark vigilante. Throughout the years, he too like Batman has come up some cool gadgets like razor-sharp playing cards, deadly joy buzzers, and acid-spraying lapel flowers. His most deadly invention is the lethal Joker gas that when inhaled causes immediate death with the spreading of a creepy grin across the face of the dead victim.

^{The Joker along with Batgirl in The Killing Joke, 1988. In the story, the Joker shoots and paralyses Barbara Gordon (a.k.a. Batgirl).}

Another quality that makes the Clown Prince of crime stand out from the rest of the insane criminals in Arkham is his influence on people: no matter how dangerous and psychologically twisted he might be, the Joker has a long-lasting influence on people, often bringing normal people in the path of crime. In Detective Comics(2011) issue #16, Batman comments:

“Joker does things to people. A certain type of people. Some of them are just outcasts, looking for something to connect with. Others have something dangerous inside them, and Joker brings it out.”

For regular people, he inspires fear but for the less stable people, he simply inspires. A great example of his manipulative power is his impact over Harley Quinn, a former psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, who becomes so enchanted by the Joker that she helped him escape and joined him in his battle against the Bat.

In Arkham Asylum, Dr. Harleen Quinzel was an intern who was assigned to interview the Joker. He told her tales about his childhood where he was constantly tormented by his abusive father. Soon Dr. Quinzel realized that source of all his miseries was the Caped Crusader; Batman and her sympathy for him developed into love. Little did she know it was just one of the clown's ugly tricks. The Doctor was so moved by his stories that she gave in to his charms. Very soon after that, she was committing heinous crimes with her 'puddin’. The episode 'mad love’ from the classic 'Batman: The animated series’ talks about how the psychiatrist herself because of a psychopath in the name of love.

^{Doctor Harleen Quinzel interviewing the Joker in Mad Love, an episord from Batman: The animated series(1992)}

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