Is this the weirdest version of the Joker?
The Joker is one of the greatest comic book villains because of the unsettling juxtaposition of happiness with psychopathic behaviour. Finding a stranger version of the Joker is pretty tricky.
We’re all familiar with multiverse stories. We’ve seen them in comic and in movies. It’s an interesting way to look at a character from a different perspective and to provide and even more unusual version of a familiar character.
It is possible to create a more unusual version of the Joker? There have certainly been some good efforts (like a Dr Jekyll and Mr Joker version) and some that change the character a little more (I’m looking at you Batman who Laughs).
It is possible that the Flashpoint Joker is the weirdest (and maybe the most tragic) version of the Joker. Let me know what you think.
When the Flash travels into the past and changes the timeline, he creates the Flashpoint timeline. You might be familiar if you watched the Flash movie.
What the movie doesn’t have is the Joker. But not the Joker you might be familiar with.
In the Flashpoint time, Bruce Wayne doesn’t survive the tragedy in crime alley. His parents Thomas and Martha Wayne do survive, but they suffer from significant consequences. Martha is struggling with the loss of her son and her inability to save him. However, her husband is consumed with vengeance.
Thomas seeks out the criminal who gunned down his son. Initially he has plans but when he confronts the villain, Thomas cannot control himself and brutally beats the mugger. Unlike Bruce, Thomas is willing to take a life. In doing so, he creates the Flashpoint version of Batman. The one exception is the Joker. Flashpoint batman won’t kill the Joker.
Reading further will involve spoilers for the story of Flashpoint Batman and the Joker. Skip to the end of the article if you don’t want the story spoiler. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Years later, Flashpoint Batman has to face Flashpoint Joker.
The Joker has kidnapped the twin children of Harvey Dent. Jim Gordon (a good friend of Thomas Wayne) tracks the Joker to Wayne Manor. Gordon knows he needs to be careful with the Joker. Unfortunately, that means he goes in guns blazing.
Gordon sees a figure standing over one of Dent’s children. It looks like the Joker is about to take out a child. Gordon opens fire and all too late realises that has gunned down a child.
The Joker has tricked Gordon who attempts to save the life of the child. Gordon is so distracted, he doesn’t see the Joker arrive and before he can react, it’s over for Gordon. By the time Batman arrives, Gordon is gone and the child is fading fast.
Batman screams the name of the Joker. It’s Martha. His wife.
While Thomas was seeking vengeance for the death of Bruce, Martha was loosing her sanity. When Thomas tells her to smile, she takes it literally and carves a smile in her face.
The tragedy of Bruce’s death doesn’t give rise to Batman in the Flashpoint timeline, it also leads to the creation of the Joker.
As much as the Joker brings chaos and tragedy to the world, Batman is unable to end the Joker’s life.
Flashpoint brings a new dimension to the connection between Batman and the Joker. They continue to be locked in a deadly game, but the stakes are more personal and the decision of the Batman (who will happily throw a criminal off a building) all the more difficult because of his relationship with the Joker.
For more about Flashpoint Batman and the Joker, pick up The World of Flashpoint: Batman.
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