Analyzing Evil: The Joker From The Arkham Series

hello everyone and welcome to episode 166 of analyzing evil my name is [Music] man what the was that I don't know man anyway our feature topic for this episode is going to be our Patron pick for January 2024 the [Music] dler seriously man what what is that ju just stop okay I'm not doing anything man I'm not doing anything whatever what whatever all right so again this video features our Patron pick for 2024 the Joker from the Arkham series of games voiced by Mark Hamill in one of his best performances as this character this version of The Joker and nearly every other version of him has captivated audiences since his Inception often ranking among the best portrayals of the character ever created and in this video we're going to find out how this Joker Stacks up against his counterparts in terms of villainy by delving into every bit of information that I could could dig up on his character now you might be wondering what I mean by all the information I could find on him as Canon and the Arkham verse is subject to heavy debate and if you're a purist it's pretty much the games that are the only officially Cannon parts of this story however all the material that's been created as tie-ins to the games provide us with a lot more information about the Joker that greatly enhances his character so in this video I've taken every piece of Arkham related media into account when analyzing this version of The Joker and those materials are of course the four Mainline Arkham games Arkham Origins Blackgate Arkham VR the assault on Arkham film and the following Comics road to Arkham Arkham City Arkham unhinged Arkham City endgame Arkham Origins Arkham Knight and Arkham Knight Genesis now with all that out of the way let's begin as far as an origin story for the Joker is concerned in this version of his story there is no single concrete answer however there are several indicators were given in Arkham Origins that point to the Joker having a similar origin story to the Joker we can find in the killing joke and I was better educated on these similarities through a question that was answered over on quora by username Yan Chung lung so if you're watching this thanks Yan in The Killing Joke it's revealed that the Joker was once a lab assistant who decided to quit his job and try his luck at becoming a comedian while also being a married man with a child on the way unfortunately for pre- Joker Joker he apparently wasn't the greatest comedian and his dream was quickly becoming an untenable profession that was bound to leave him and his pregnant wife destitute sooner rather than later in his desperation he chose to sign up for a heist with the Red Hood gang which involved the robbery of a playing card Factory that stood a into his old place of work at the ace Chemical Company a heist that he was convinced that he was a crucial part of but his part in actuality was one of the tour guide and the Fall Guy the man that this gang would throw to the Wolves should they be ambushed by law enforcement or Worse unfortunately for this clown to be his wife would perish in an accident the day of the heist along with his unborn child but the tragedy of this fateful day was far from Over the criminals he had signed up with were not so willing to let their new Psy off the hook just because his entire world was collapsing and they forced this grieving father and husband to accompany the them on the robbery regardless of his pain unfortunately for the gang there was a new security detail working the chemical plant and as he tends to Batman made an appearance during the robbery and put a stop to their Heist and spurred on by the overwhelming despair he had experienced as of late our unnamed man chose to toss himself over a railing into chemically polluted Waters rather than submit to the punishment Batman had in store for him which permanently disfigured him and gifted him the Joker signature chalk white skin green hair and deadly red grin a man who was thrown over the edge of Sanity because of just one bad bad day or more appropriately one bad day that served as the igniter for a life already in Decline now the sequence were given in Arkham Origins is slightly different as the Joker is pushed into a vat of chemicals rather than jumping of his own valtion into a polluted chemical outlet but in the side-by-side comparison you've been seeing on screen it's pretty clear where the creators of this series Drew their inspiration from regarding his origin but even in The Killing Joke The Joker admits he has a hard time remembering just exactly what happened to him and in the Arkham City Comics he even explains that he's some sort of alien sent here from another Planet when he was a baby Allah Superman but there's actually two more indicators that the Joker's origins in the Arkham universe is the same one that we find in The Killing Joke when Batman is infiltrating the Joker's headquarters at the Gotham Royal Hotel in Arkham Origins he finds that the Joker has converted the sprawling complex into a maab amusement park one filled with deadly rides and Whimsical torture devices complete with victims and when the Joker is talking to Batman about the renovations he's made he has this to say where did I get all of this you ask well a great deal on an out of service amusement park oh you should have seen the look on the real estate agent's face when we shook hands on the deal now this might seem like just another one of the Joker off colored remarks but it's actually a reference to The Killing Joke as in this story we see the Joker purchasing an abandoned amusement park from its owner and after they've shook hands and sealed the deal we see that the Joker had poisoned the man with a needle he had strapped to his palm causing him to to parish and leaving him with this horrific look on his face so this line that we receive in Origins is undoubtedly a direct reference to this sequence but we have further evidence for this theory that comes straight from the Joker's mouth when Dr Hugo Strange is interviewing him in Arkham City I think it is time for you to do something for me name it duck tell me how you came to be explain what made you what you are today how you come to be sitting across the table from me dying is that all well I guess you could say I was had a very bad day really go on it was a Thursday night things had been getting worse I was 3 days from the bank foreclosing on my home the chemical plant I work nights at was about to lay off half the workforce and I was sitting in the hospital holding the hand of my pregnant wife wishing to God that she wasn't dead that must have been upsetting for you probably was back then though all I knew was that if I didn't let old man falone's men into the plant that night they'd have killed me too so here's the thing I had to decide could I live without her was there any point going on I've got to admit it I was scared not of being dead you understand no one would blame you if you were it is perfectly common do I look common no I was scared of the part just before you die when you don't know what is about to happen when you're desperately clutching at life and trying to hold on with slippery blood covered hands so I made a decision right there and what was that that well that is a story for another day hey strange I think I may need to see a doctor get me one you were telling me about the night your wife died oh no Hugo as I recall I was waiting for you to send me another doctor we both know I have sent you three more doctors did you yes one was left dismembered outside the elevator to my office office the other two have not been seen since they were sent to you how careless listen doc Professor okay Professor I'll give you a little more I just hope you're taking notes it's the day after and I'm standing in the freezing rain just staring at the chemical plant feeling numb Genie was dead it didn't seem seem real I can remember the day I first met her her infectious smile as I told her bad joke after bad joke how even after living with the pathetic wret I was she still wanted my child and then they arrived reality's way of yanking me another wedgie Falcone's men told me to cheer up he said things could be worse I asked him how he grabbed me by the collar pulled me close he had been eating Garlic and each word stank as he threatened to perform oral surgery on me with a nail and a brick created guy they hand me a box I remember thinking it was heavy was it a bomb a gun i' never used a gun before were they that heavy and what was in the Box how's that doctor coming along how I'll get you one and when you do I'll tell you the rest you are looking a little better yes well I have my good days and bad days but I do try and start each one with a smile are you ready to continue your story why not so where was I the Box ah yes the box so there I was was tearing open this box expecting the worst and all it had in it was a crazy red dome in a cloak I thought they were having a joke with me but oh no they made me put it on they said it was a disguise it would keep me safe it smelled like garlic that was it really I was dressed up like a Spaceman barely able to see trying to break into the one place in this town that had given me a jarm have you ever tried to walk with an enormous fish bowl on your head don't answer that it's hard I couldn't see where I was going I must have tripped one of the alarms I heard muffled gunfire I panicked and tried to run and then I saw him who that man really yes really Batman tried to hit me I moved out of the way but well what you need to understand is I giant Bowl on my head and I lost my balance it's like life really one minute everything's bad the next your wife's dead and you're hanging on for dear life suspended over a tank of experimental chemicals I'm sure he'd say he tried to save me but we all know he didn't I fell for a second just as I hit the surface I thought I may just get away with this I assume that wasn't the case do I look like I got away with it it I was drowning the chemicals were burning my skin my entire body felt like it was on fire and it was all his fault whose fault Batman's who else yours come again let me tell you what I believe I believe that you have fabricated a series of events that you use to conceal the truth of about your condition I have read 12 different accounts of your past all different except for one detail Batman what can I say I like to keep things interesting A wise man once told me that if you have to have an origin story you're better off making it multiple choice and never facing up to the truth of what happened what you did are you you got here oh I know exactly how I got here a big truck brought me here from Arkham you remember the Asylum don't you of course well good cuz I'd hate to think that I'd fabricated seeing you watching me in my cell all those times excuse me Hugo you Merry Maniac you were obsessed with me you all were trying to get in here yeah next thing you'll tell me it wasn't you who sent old Sharpie over the edge nice work by the way thank you so here's the thing if you want to make sure that no one else finds out about your past you should stop poking your nose into mine oh and send me another dock doc I think I need a second to so with these three references it's pretty clear that the Creator of this series drew a lot of inspiration for the Joker's Origins from the killing joke but again it's not confirmed that this is the Joker's true backstory but all indicators do seem to point to the fact that it is and we're going to consider at the very least if this isn't truly his backstory that his backstory does contain some sort of horrific tragedy that made him into who he is so now that we have this possible origin story in mind we have a great starting point from which we can explore the Joker's personality mind and motivations so we can better understand why he takes all the horrid actions he takes throughout this series The Joker has shown us time and time again that his Madness doesn't limit his intellectual capabilities and the method to his unique brand of Madness can be found in his overall philosophical outlook on life and that philosophy can be boiled down to One Singular phrase life is just one big joke but when applied to the story of The Joker this common lamentation is given so much more meaning if we abide by the assumption that the Joker's backstory here is similar to the one we see in the killing joke or if it isn't that it's at the very least a backstory with a hefty amount of tragedy baked into it then we know know that prior to his transformation The Joker's life was on a downward spiral into destitution and despair therefore when he fell into that bat of acid it was not just the events of that one day as well as his warped appearance that caused him to go insane but everything leading up to this day compounded with his transformation this was a man who was failing at achieving his dreams who then lost his wife and his unborn child in a short span of time and once he'd lost himself in that vat of acid the absurdity of all of it only further shattered his mind as these chemicals rapidly changed the makeup of his psyche and in this moment this new creature found not only the answer to the meaning of life but his purpose in that life to become a chaotic criminal gester of Madness who would prove his Newfound theory that one bad day was all that separated the good men from the bad becoming a plague upon the world of men just as the world of men had served as a plague upon his own drowning them in sorrow and Madness as he himself drowns for if life is just one big joke then the Joker would become life's punchline a man whose Madness only worsens the memories of strife hardship and loss that constantly plague his mind there is there's nothing so cruel as memory the pointy bitey little Thunderbolts unwanted party crashers screaming through your sxes inescapable unrelenting not at all friendly you can't even Escape into madness there is no Rhyme or Reason for why such unfortunate things can happen to a person in quick succession and the tragedy that can quickly at anyone in this uncaring universe of ours is a potentially random occurrence that we all are in danger of facing at various points in our lives when one is faced with such horror there are several ways their story can continue following these occurrences you might find a person who takes whatever life throws at them in stride walking with their head held high and Nar a tear shed you may find someone who falls into a state of utter despondency who after some time is able to pick up the pieces of their fractured world and Forge themselves a new the pain they experienced ever presentes but slowly lessened as time passes them by there are an infinite number of possibilities in regard to the direction one's life might take when a person is presented with tragedy but in this case for this man that path unfortunately led to Madness but for a man who was so ready to live his life to achieve his dreams and share the fruits of that dream with his virging family life was still very much in the cards for him but it was now a life of recklessness of nihilism of chaos of sadism a life that would be lived Without Limits and with an extraordinary amount of excess debauchery and Hedonism GI us a man who takes his Pleasures in whatever dreaded Whimsical fancy that might pop into his mind at any moment and a man who makes extensive and intricate plans to cause as much pain and suffering to a world that shattered his mind as he can everything and anything was funny to the Joker whether it be a simple and inoffensive pun or the darkest joke you can imagine the Joker could find humor in everything and nothing was off the table as long as he could get a good laugh out of it and the cruelty and barbarity of the Joker was legendary even amongst the other super villains of Gotham now while the Joker chose life after his transformation he would would not hold his own with as much regard as he once had and if any of the circumstances he manufactured caused him to stare into the eyes of death he would meet that stare openly without flinching for as much as he wished to live and seow seeds of Destruction across Gotham he wanted to die just as much therefore the Joker lived every moment as if it were his last as if nothing mattered save for the exactement of his own cruel Pleasures upon any unfortunate soul who might cross his path a path that he in some ways felt forced to take but quite unexpectedly this man whose purpose was now dredged in chaos was given focus when he met an individual who he shared so many similarities with and yet so many differences Batman you want to know something funny I used to think of Fate as evil predetermined not by some higher power mov by the rules of human nature tonight it's all changed what changed have you ever had the feeling that your entire life has been building towards the SP moment is that how you feel well now yes now I realize that all the battles the bad days the brutalities it was all the hand of Fate at work so now you see fate differently absolutely now I understand there are no chance encounters it was all meant to be everything leading up to who I've met tonight now like the Joker Batman suffered a day of immense tragedy wherein he lost his parents and similarly to the Joker that day of tragedy decided the course that the rest of his life would take however instead of his mind focusing on lashing out at a cruel world that took from him that which he loved most it was instead galvanized against that world and resolved to meet Injustice with Justice to protect the lives of every single person living no no matter how innocent or guilty as the Batman life is something sacred that is to be cherished and no one man honorable or otherwise should hold within his hands the power to end another's life in Batman's eyes lest the world truly devolve into chaos Batman like the Joker is often considered to be insane but how how is a man like Batman insane well in a way to be the living embodiment of a strict form of justice is insanity as to live one's life according to an arbitrary moral code at the expense of everything else life has to offer is actually quite insane as though Batman under the cowl is Bruce Wayne a man with a life who can live that life in any way he pleases his whole existence is essentially consumed by his alter ego and whatever life Bruce does live is typically only lived to further whatever he's trying to achieve as Batman Insanity isn't just Madness it's behavior that any average person would consider to be extreme and dedicating one's life to being Batman is quite the extreme thing to do especially when you consider that in many ways Batman Is His Own Worst Enemy as his strong sense of morality often contradicts his intended goal of protecting people when the many villains he apprehends inevitably escape and wreak more havoc on the world he's trying to safeguard I mean what is he stupid man in all seriousness though I'm not saying Batman should be ding out the death penalty with his own hands here as it's more so the Justice system's fault for not dealing with the criminals that they've sentenced in the proper way as Batman's code is highly admirable but it still stands that his life is relegated to that of a seemingly endless struggle between himself and the forces of evil because of that code and it's hard not to see how insane one has to be to willingly perpetuate that cycle now what is it exactly about Batman that fascinates the Joker so well because he's a man just like him Who's acting in the complete opposite way that he is the Joker kills anyone and everyone just for a laugh a mass murderer wishing to see the world suffer as he suffers Batman will save anyone no matter how heinous their crimes are a man who wants to prevent the suffering of others so they won't have to experience the suffering he experienced when the Joker realized who Batman is and and what he's about a couple different things happened first it shattered his preconceived notions that someone like him would inevitably turn towards a path of Mayhem destruction and Vengeance even more so when he realized that Not only was he a do gooder but a doood who would even save the lives of the most heinous and wretched creatures walking the Earth but more importantly it made him realize that he wasn't alone in the world that there was someone else like him who understood him and shared his pain and that this person who stood at the opposite end of all that the Joker represented had now given his life direction to continue playing the game he had been playing yes but to play it now with a worthy adversary at which he could direct all his ill intent towards the emptiness of the chaotic void within his soul filled to the brim with the prospects of either bringing Batman down to his level so he might finally prove himself as the one worthy enough to end the life of the clown Prince of Crime or killing the Batman and proving to the world that his brand of immoral Madness was Superior that what he is and what he's become is ultimately what a person affected by tragedy is reduced to and that no matter which result he achieved by fighting the bat that he was right all along that there was never any hope for men like them who had been Twisted by all the horrid things that they had experienced to become anything less than murderers so while initially the Joker was committing his atrocities to wreak havoc upon the world for the sake of punishing the masses through the Supreme humor that is Carnage in Mayhem after meeting Batman he instead dedicated his entire existence to dancing maob with his justicier counterpart his newfound friendship with Batman as he calls it even caused Joker's Suicidal Tendencies to subside somewhat I mentioned earlier that the Joker was often willing to meet death with open arms however the Joker showed us several times that he wasn't above trying to save himself after he met Batman as there are situations where we find him attempting to subvert his demise like when he's trying to find a cure for Titans effects in Arkham City but even then death still isn't something he necessarily fears it's just something he tries to avoid if he feels that he still has a part to play in the game of cat and mouse that he's constantly engaged in with his rival but in order to keep playing this game with Batman the Joker needed to bait him into playing it and the best way to do that was to continue being the Menace that he planned to be and now that we've gotten a pretty firm grasp on Who The Joker Is and what he's about it's time that we further explore his personality as we examine his actions and the skills he employs when taking them so we can get a good idea of just how evil this man truly is now as you can see chronicling all these things is going to take quite a while and this is actually the condensed version of everything he's done as if I were to relay to you in detail everything The Joker has done we'd likely be be here for several hours but I'm not doing so for a few reasons one is that a simple overview of any actions he's taken is more than enough to convey to you the evil that's present within them another is that many of you are likely already aware of most of what I'm about to discuss if you've played the games however I'm sure there's still a bevy of information that you might not be aware of if you haven't consumed any Arkham material outside of the games and last but not least because what I can convey you here in words in no way compares to what the games comics and film Cannon images and in the dialogue you can find within and if you'd like to fully experience all the evil of this version of The Joker I hope what I'm about to tell you inspires you to experience it all for yourself one more thing before we continue there's a whole lot of evil that this man commits throughout all these different stories and chances are I might have forgotten to include some things here so if you know of something he's done that I've missed please let us know down below now let's start chronicling his actions from the beginning of his reign of terror when Joker was just starting to make a name for himself in Gotham on Christmas Eve no less he chose to Target the criminal operation of Roman pionus better known as black mask for a hostile takeover a quick route to securing for himself the fortune of this Crim Lord as well as his personnel and his drug manufacturing operation at his steel mill where the Joker could create the chemicals he needed for his toxins as well as the explosives he need to carry out his designs in order to accomplish this The Joker after stealing from the mill and grabbing Roman's attention infiltrated a safe house that Roman had sent his lover Tiffany Ambrose to hide in and baited Roman into coming over so he could steal his identity the Joker ended up murdering a body double that Roman sent ahead of him and he also forced Roman to make a horrible decision to let his lover Whom The Joker had tied to a chandelier burn alive after he threw a Molotov cocktail in the room or shoot her himself to prevent her suffering Roman chose the latter after taking Roman hostage and asserting his position as the false Black Mask The Joker murdered several of Roman's thugs police officers and security guards at blackgay prison when he staged a breakout in the process Joker had his thugs kidnpped Warden Joseph and he tortured him up to the point where he burned one of his eyes out of its socket so the warden would ensure that the security the night of the breakout was light during the breakout as well the Joker murdered Police Commissioner lobe by placing him in a gas chamber that was scheduled to execute calender man once he secured Roman's organization and freed many of Gotham's worst criminals he first robbed the Gotham Merchants Bank to claim Roman's fortune in the process poisoning the bank manager with his Joker Toxin and causing her to die a maddening death then he set his new found crew to work riging explosives under a number of Gotham skyscrapers and and he managed to destroy one supposedly unoccupied building and he also created a massive carnival-like Hideout within the Gotham Royal Hotel which we've already discussed and he also set a $50 million bounty on Batman's head that sent every mercenary and super villain scrambling to eliminate him and all of this was done so the Joker might Totally Secure his power over Gotham within the span of a day he was of course prevented from doing so and sent back to Blackgate but once he arrived he commandeered the prison for himself and set up a cruel game wherein Batman had to fight Bane while Joker said had in an electric chair that would activate if Batman didn't kill Bane in time guaranteeing that at least one of them would die by the end of the fight but Batman figured away to get out of that without killing anyone and as far as we know no one was hurt in the explosion The Joker managed to trigger and Batman survived the many attempts on his life that came as a result of the bounty but the Mayhem that the Joker caused during his power struggle with Batman caused the deaths of dozens if not hundreds of people this is the first canonical example were given of just how extraordinarily intelligent and resourceful The Joker Is as his plan plans to take down black mask impersonate him successfully and take full control of his organization so he could gain a massive foothold in Gotham in a short span of time is a brilliant display of diabolical intellect we're also given our first instance of the Joker's use of torture and psychological torment as well as his use of manipulation to try and bring people down to his level all of which highlight the sadism inherent to his character but one of the most Sinister things that joker managed to accomplish during this time period was the successful seduction of one Dr harling quinzel to his side which he didn't really mean to accomplish considering that Harley became enamored with a joker of her own accord and assumed he was talking about her when he was telling her that he had met someone special the night he met her but it's one that he certainly wrote out to completion once he realized he could transform her into the most loyal servant he ever had highlighting how magnanimous the Joker's personality can be when exposed to the right individuals and once again how skilled of a manipulator he is now I'd like to take a moment to discuss the Joker and Harley's relationship before we continue chronicling his misdeeds as valued as Harley is to the Joker he treat treats her about as well as he treats any of the other thugs in his employe perhaps even worse The Joker is constantly seen berating Harley making fun of her using her as bait in any number of his schemes or harming her physically and mentally including one instance where he pushed her out of a moving car when they were making a getaway to distract his pursuers and he seems to care for her only so far as she's useful to him there may be some sort of genuine affection that he feels for her as during the events of assault on Arkham The Joker is shown to be distraught over Harley's foray with Deadshot and he even tried to kill him later on for touching his stuff but on the whole Harley is little more than an abused dog happily scampering back to her master due to sheer unrequitted blind love love that's transformed her into a mad woman eternally pining after the Joker no matter how harmful this relationship is to her there are many more crimes we're going to discuss that far outweigh his treatment of Harley in terms of evil but it's still very much worth noting that the toxic relationship that the Joker has created with Harley can be considered one of the worst things he's ever done the total Destruction and Mal for of the life of another into a female version of himself for the sake of his own designs and of course for the laughs it brings him now after being defeated by Batman at the end of Arkham origins The Joker along with black mask and penguin took advantage of a riot that occurred at Blackgate during the events of Arkham Origins Black gate and each of them took control of separate sections of the prison The Joker planned to use small doses of modified Riot gas here to control the minds of the inmates so he could create for himself an army of loyal minions That Could set him free from prison and allow him to wreak havoc upon God which seems to have been a precursor to a plan he would formulate later on but of course he failed in this endeavor and Batman knocked him unconscious but after he killed two guards who came to return him to a cell he managed to escape Blackgate once again dressed as a guard in the comic Arkham unhinged sometime after his escape from Blackgate The Joker was invited to the opening night at the Penguin's Iceberg Lounge here the Joker killed a waitress by spraying acid on her face from the flower on his lapel after she accidentally spilled a bottle of wine on him and a few weeks later he tried to return to the club and finding his name absent from the guest list he chose to shoot the bouncer before he was kicked out of the club by the penguin while these two crimes aren the worst things that joker has done they do highlight something important about his character that whether as an excuse to get a Sinister laugh or out of genuine animosity The Joker Is Not so forgiving when it comes to being slided and he's liable to murder anyone for the smallest mistake or for insulting him in any way sometime later Joker heard a tale about the Abramovich twins a pair of conjoined twins whose brutality was legendary that were abandoned by their father who were now employed as circus freaks The Joker went to their circus and murdered their ring leader to acquire them after which he had them surgically separated so he could better use one of them as His most valued enforcer ordering Harley to get rid of the other by tossing him into the river to die which she didn't do but this whole ordeal is quite the horrifying sequence and it further emphasizes the sadism and wanting cruelty that the Joker is capable of we learn in the Arkham City endgame comic that perhaps later on that year on the 4th of July The Joker concocted a plan to cause a blackout in Gotham and then set off fireworks that contained a powdered version of his Joker toxin Batman managed to apprehend him after tracing the source of the power outage to the Joker but even though he was quite literally dragging the Joker back to Arkham The Joker still succeeded in seeing his plans come to fruition and many people beneath the fireworks explosion perished nearly instantly while many more would die shortly after as the toxin was carried on the Wind throughout the city an event that caused hundreds of deaths a notable occurrence during this scenario is that Joker's penmanship of his diary which he wrote after Batman suggested he write a book after The Joker asked what he should do with himself when Batman threw him into a cell deep within Arkham and this diary is just a long list of the people that the Joker has killed over the years this shows us that even when faced with the opportunity to leave something behind after he's gone the Joker still just wants to have the last laugh bequeathing the world with a final token of Terror that in so many words conveys one thing to us look at all that I've done to you isn't it wonderful now while his fireworks schem was quite the terrifying feat we've now arrived at what I consider to be the most sickening thing the Joker did over the course of this series The Torture of Jason Todd and the action that caused Jason to fall into his grasp in the first place in Arkham Knight and in the comic Arkham Knight Genesis we're given an account of what happened to Jason leading up to and during his imprisonment by The Joker but in the city story titled the fall we're given quite the detailed account of what caused Jason to go after the Joker in the first place I would like to read this story to you but considering how graphic it is I fear that it's probably not exactly YouTube friendly so there's a link to the city stories page of the Arkham Wiki in the description where you can read it for yourself if you'd like to but I will tell you as plainly as I can what happened in that story Jason got fed up with Batman's approach to Justice and decided to pursue his own brand which led him to pursuing The Joker after he had kidnapped an entire Kindergarten class and promised to return them back in one piece which he did stitch together after he killed them following this gruesome act the Joker would proceed to torture the capture Jason Todd for months subjecting him to beatings a branding and psychological torment until he finally broke him turning him into the dreaded Arkham Knight a man whose mind had been shattered and forced to focus on exacting his revenge on a Batman who he now believed abandoned him and left him to die what this series of events lays out for us is something that we might have pondered up until this point that being the question of whether the Joker has his limits as far as committing atrocities is concerned but with the knowledge of these crimes I believe the answer to that is a resounding no and that answer becomes even more concrete when you consider perhaps the second most personally horrific thing the Joker has ever done the manipulation of Edward Burke at the time the Joker was introduced to Harley's old friend Edward Burke under the Alias Jack White he had become interested in the Titan project of one Dr Penelope young after he'd been introduced to her while Jack White manipulated Edward Burke into constructing an amusement park for his daughter Katie he also began sending funds to Dr Young as the primary benefactor furthering the Titan project before Edward could take his daughter to her new park she unfortunately fell ill with an incurable disease on the advice of his good friend Jack White Edward chose to have his daughter treated by Dr Young by signing her up to become a test subject for project Titan during her treatment Katie only got worse and she quickly perished due to the negative effects of the Prototype Titan serum combined with the disease ravaging her body while much of what I've just described to you is given to us through audio files that can be found during the Arkham kns a matter of family DLC I think it's important that you listen to what happened to Edward following his daughter's demise to understand just how messed up the Joker's treatment of him was Katie died before she could see the park Jack blamed me and said I should never have taken her to Gotham General in the first place but how's I to know he told Dr Young to Triple the dosage of her alternative meds but that only seemed to make things worse she died last week and the pain is unbearable Dr quinel says it won't get better she says the pain will just get worse and that there's no point in going on she's right she always is I signed the park over to Jack and uh my only hope is that he does something inspiring with it as for me I'll I'll be with Katie soon the pills Jack gave me we'll make sure of that you're supposed to be painless Yes you heard that correctly not only did the Joker convinced this man to construct an amusement park for him that he could use for his own nefarious purposes but he convinced him to allow Dr Young to test the Titan serum on his daughter and when she perished as a result of these tests he had hardly convince him that he should end it all by taking pills that were filled with his signature Joker Toxin and the horror laac laugh that you heard at the end of that recording should be more than enough to convey to you just how abhorent this act was now not long after this The Joker would lure Batgirl and Robin to his amusement park to rescue a kidnapped Commissioner Gordon subjecting all three of them to threats of bodily harm that could have easily killed all three of them but as usual they got away however this wouldn't be the last time that the Joker tried to ruin the life of Jim Gordon and sometime after this attempt he' Tracked Down Gordon's place of residence and shoot his daughter Barbara through the spine paralyzing her from the waist down and rendering her covert lifestyle as Batgirl obsolete during the events of assault on Arkham The Joker Is once again locked away in Arkham and manages to free himself due to Harley shooting a hole in the wall of his cell and when he gets out he proceeds to reclaim a radioactive bomb he had stolen that he had concealed in Harley's Mallet and threatens to detonate that bomb before he stopped by Deadshot which could have potentially irradiated large portions of Gotham and ended or harmed thousands of lives some time after Joker survived his attempted incapacitation by Deadshot during the course of Arkham Asylum and the comic wrode to Arkham Joker finally made his move to put to use the Titan serum we discussed earlier and in Complete product that rather than providing subjects with any sort of cure for their respective ailments instead in a similar fashion to the Venom that Bane used to enhance his physique which the serum was derived from greatly enhanced their strength only instead of fueling the subject's muscles and leaving their mind intact the Titan serum turned the host into a Mindless monstrosity and the Joker forced Dr Young to hand over to him this incomplete product so he could begin making plans to transform the inmates at Arkham into an army consisting of a thousand Banes that he would lose throughout Gotham in order to accomplish this he obtained the blueprints for Blackgate and set a fire to it that so severely damaged it that the Gotham police force was forced to relocate all of his incarcerated henchmen to the Arkham Asylum once that was accomplished during the events of road to Arkham on the 4th of July he stormed City Hall kidnapped the mayor and strapped a bomb to his chest before tying him to a radio tower where he planned to blow him up using patriotic theme chemicals but the whole ordeal was only a ruse to draw out Batman who could then apprehend him and take him to Arkham Where the rest of his crew lay waiting for him once the Joker was checked back into Arkham he proceeded to unleash havoc in Mayhem having multiple inmates transformed into Titan monstrosities murdering several of the staff as well as his own Thugs and other inmates and orchestrating the torture of Dr Young by Victor zaz all with the intended purpose of reducing Gotham to a Haven of maniac monsters should he be allowed to break out with the Titan formula in hand The Joker was defeated by Batman before this could happen but not before he infected himself with the Titan serum in a last ditch attempt to fight off The Dark Knight a choice that he would end up paying dearly for in the runup to the events of Arkham City the that we can find in the Arkham City Comic The Joker was once again interred at Arkham Asylum but not for long as Harley Quinn staged his breakout and the pair made their way to the unopened Arkham City the first villainous Duo to do so and they established their foothold in their old headquarters at Roman sis' steel mill The Joker said about recruiting Fresh Faces to bolster his forces and he began bringing doctors to his Hideout who might be able to help cure him of Titan negative effects all of whom he would end up killing and in the process he had to contend with the forc treatment of Doctor Strange along with murdering several doctors that strange had recruited to treat him and once he had managed to gain a sizable foothold in Arkham City he also had to struggle with Doctor Strange's Army on a daily basis Doctor Strange had recruited Mr Freeze to manufacture chemicals and medicines for him by holding his wife Norah hostage and seeing a way to rid himself of the negative effects of the Titan herum The Joker sought to capture freeze and force him to make a cure for him thus ensued a struggle between the Joker the combined forces of the Penguin and Doctor Strange and anyone else who stood in his way and in his efforts to escape the intended eradication of all the criminals was present in Arkham City when strange and RZ Al ghoul enacted Protocol 10 The Joker had his army construct tunnels beneath the city where they could Retreat to while war was being fought up above emerging once the smoke had settled to assert their Supremacy over Gotham by the time Arkham City finally officially opened the Joker had already made his Mark by torturing and killing hundreds at the terror Carnival he had created at the steel mill and over the course of the events of the story it would be revealed that the Joker was looking to not only cure himself but find the Lazarus Pit and make himself Immortal so he might transform himself into some quasi clown God who would Reign Over Gotham City as Lord of all its citizens some of which would become Jokers as well as the Joker had sent his blood to the various hospitals in the area which had unfortunately been administered to several patients causing them to slowly transform into Joker likee creatures however this time rather than just being stopped by Batman the Joker would meet his ultimate end as his body could no longer withstand the negative effects of Titan but not before he had once again ended several lives including that of Batman's on and off again lover Talia al ghoul but though this was was the end for the Joker it was not the end for his minations the day after his death when his body was being examined by two doctors they discovered a box containing a flash drive that had the words do not open till xmus written on it and when they tried to remove said boox a trap trigger that Unleashed a cloud of poisonous gas which killed both doctors Commissioner Gordon reasoned that the Joker was just as dangerous alive as he was dead and he chose to move the Joker's body to an undisclosed location that was known only to Batman however that would prove to be a fruitless Endeavor as it was not just the Joker's body that one needed to be wary of but his waning influence in Gotham there was of course Harley who continued her Lover's Legacy and honored his memory by creating a statue of him at the steel mill after which she kidnapped several officers and even Batman himself before planning to blow them all to Smither so she could be with her beloved once more but the Final Act of the actual Joker was releasing a recording he had made prior to his death that urged the citizens of Gotham to find his body and return it to Harley Quinn to receive a $100 million Bounty and if they didn't he promised that multiple bombs he had laid about the walls of Arkham City would trigger and unleash the remaining criminals onto the streets of Gotham to run a muuk while no one managed to claim said Bounty doubtless dozens if not hundreds of people suffered as citizens from all walks of life scrambled to find the Joker's body and who knows how many people lost their lives as Anarchy once again descended upon Gotham City in the wake of the Joker's demise but the Joker during the events of Arkham City had infected Batman with his blood as well and Batman was now experiencing hallucinations of the Joker which aren't really The Joker but this was still one more horrific thing that he managed to accomplish the extreme distress of Bruce Wayne as the effects of his blood ravaged his mind and plagued him with unending taunts and gests which he could not simply end with his fists though in the end Bruce managed to free himself of the Joker's influence once and for all but we'll touch on that a bit later so to recap we have a man whose rap sheet includes the following crimes murder mass murder torture mutilation terrorism destruction of property coercion bribery manipulation and robbery and theft on a massive scale and hell you can take it a step further if you count this lengthy WAP sheet that can be found in the Arkham VR game deceased prev convictions include kidnapping torture extortion racketeering fraud grave robbing unlicensed Dentistry counterfeiting bullying cyber bullying Badger bating be bating death baiting Wildlife smuggling monkey baiting iguana baiting rhino bating failure to adequately restrain a rhino identity theft malicious Mischief trespassing arson assault larsy R larsy spectacular larsy vandalism forgery impersonating a police officer impersonating a doctor impersonating an airline pilot unlicensed Cabaret entertainment death of livestock unlicensed Taxidermy involuntary man Slaughter voluntary manslaughter enthusiastic manslaughter desecration of a corpse improper disposition of a body improper labeling of meat products cannibalism homicide regicide attempted omnicide littering so everything that we've discussed so far is essentially Who The Joker Is and what gruesome things he managed to accomplish during his reign of terror over Gotham but you'll notice that I've glossed over something that might seem pretty significant to his character his appearances in Arkham Knight well that's because though I'm sure in some way what Batman is experiencing through his hallucinations contains the essence of Who The Joker Is in reality they are just hallucinations and not the actual Joker himself however there is a point at the end of the game where the virus like Joker manages to take control of Batman's mind and within we find something that we haven't discussed yet the Joker's only fear and while again this is a hallucination it seems what we're given here can probably be applied to the actual Joker's character in Batman's mind The Joker takes a fictionalized tour of the aftermath of his death we see him visiting his grave only to find it untended overgrown and vandalized we then see him viewing the mourning of Harley Quinn the only person who actually Mourns his passing and then the outrage he expresses over the Simplicity of his wake after this The Joker Goes On to see headlines and hear radio broadcasts that declare that Gotham has all but forgotten him and that even Harley is preparing to marry the Riddler in this sequence we see that the Joker is distraught over learning that no one is going to remember him after he's gone his only true fear finally surfacing once the reality of who he is and what he's trying to accomplish sets in that his entire identity is tied to events that people naturally want to forget nobody wants to remember the tragedy they faced no one wants to fixate on a mad clown gleefully rampaging through their city and harming them or taking the lives of their loved ones these things will pop into a person's memory often but only for a moment a passing pain that signifies a Time Gone by and a wound that's healed and that is what the Joker was always destined to become just a bad and long-forgotten memory like the memories he had of his own unfortunate Beginnings as this manic clown but unlike the Joker people can and will forget and though his lasting influence will surely play Gotham for years to come following his death one day no one will remember the exploits of a broken man seeking to break the world in return save and passing only for that is who the Joker truly was beneath all the dark humor sadism brutality and Mania he was a man who in all that he did was saying hey look at me look what you've done to me and look what I've done to you in return you will remember the pain I've inflicted upon you just as I remember all the pain inflicted upon me and that will be both your legacy and mine a lesson to you of what horror the world can produce when it inflicts horror upon one of its own and an example of what just a simple push over the edge can do to someone so this is who the Joker in this story was a mad man driven to Madness by the unfortunate circumstances of his life and his own decisions nihilistic chaos made flesh that sought to ruin everything that he touched and while there's certainly sympathy to be found in his character there is no amount of tragedy a person can experience that can excuse the many horrific things that joker did or influenced which is likely worse than anything any other villain in Gotham's history could have ever dreamed of accomplishing and for our dear clown Prince of Crime we have no other choice than to label him and all that he's done as pure evil thank you all for tuning in to this episode of analyzing evil and I hope you've enjoyed what are your thoughts on this version of The Joker let me know down below and leave a suggestion for villain you'd like to see featured while you're at it if you like this video hit that thumbs up button and make sure to subscribe if you haven't already a big thank you to all of my subscribers my patrons and anyone who's decided to honor me with a super thank and a most vile thank you to those whose names you're seeing on screen now join the Channel's Discord server and subreddit to interact with myself and the community and follow me on the social media platforms listed below to keep up with the channel as always thanks for watching and I'll be seeing you soon

Channel: The Vile Eye

Views: 452,609

Keywords: horror, evil, villain

Id: Zgp0lV0kfCA

Length: 48min 26sec (2906 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 26 2024