In one corner we have the cosmic horror, born
from the space between spaces, and stalking the multiverse for countless eons, always
seeking its next meal- Pennywise, the Dancing Clown. In the other corner, we have the Clown Prince
of Crime, The Ace of Knaves, or Mistah J if you're nasty- the Joker. Today on another special episode of The Infographics
Who Would Win we have a colossal clash of clowns, a beastly battle of buffoons, a merry
madcap massacre, as we pit Pennywise the Dancing Clown versus Gotham City's Joker, and find
out who would win in a battle to the death! They call it 'it' for a lack of a better name,
for Pennywise's true form is incomprehensible to the human mind. Born in the early moments of creation, It
exists in the space between worlds, the home plane of existence for all matter of eldritch
horrors- though once every few millennia it finds a world in the vast ocean of nothingness
that separates the stars, and descends to feed. Hundreds of years ago, It chose our world
as its new feeding ground, and descended into what would become Derry, Maine. There It slumbered beneath the earth until
It awoke and consumed three hundred English settlers. Returning to It's long sleep, in the modern
age It took on the identity of Pennywise, the Dancing Clown, in order to lure children
to their doom. A sadistic butcher, Pennywise feeds on human
flesh but prefers to eat victims who are seasoned by fear, and thus engages in a lengthy ritual
of terrifying it's prey. Though many believe that Pennywise's real
form is that of a giant spider, the truth is that no mortal mind can comprehend the
true form of Pennywise, and a giant spider is the closest that the human mind can come
to understanding the predatory nature of this eons-old killer. It seems that Pennywise's preferred form here
on earth is that of a clown, but has the power to shapeshift into anything or anyone it desires. Pennywise is also very fast, though not supernaturally
fast, and extremely agile. Add to that formidable, though again, not
superhero-levels of strength, and you have quite a challenge for The Joker to deal with. For all his strengths though, Pennywise has
one glaring weakness- deep down inside, Pennywise is a coward. Unless it's prey is terrified, Pennywise cannot
defeat it, and in fact is very easily driven off by individuals who learn to master their
fear of Pennywise and it's illusions. While physically able to overpower any human
being, Pennywise has such a crippling weakness to courage that it can't even bring its superior
strength to bear on any individual that stands up to it. This has twice now seen Pennywise defeated
by nothing more than children. It's said that no man knows the true identity
of The Joker- not even The Joker himself. When asked about his past by his archenemy,
Batman, The Joker remarked, “Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another. If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to
be multiple-choice!” Whatever his origin, The Joker is certifiably
insane, and qualifies for every mental illness he was ever tested for during his brief stay
at Arkham Asylum. Nobody knows where he came from or what truly
led to his unique look and twisted personality, but everybody knows about his modern exploits. One of the most accomplished criminals of
all time, The Joker oversees a vast criminal empire- and yet is not content to simply rule
from above, often taking to the streets alongside his henchmen out of sheer enjoyment for 'the
dirty work'. A complete madman, The Joker is utterly unpredictable,
and can one day be a completely harmless prankster, and the other a homicidal maniac who doesn't
hesitate to kill even children. Yet it seems The Joker has at least some morality,
and like the rest of the world hates Nazis, even going so far as to get into a fight with
Red Skull during the final stages of their criminal plot when he realized that the latter's
swastika wasn't worn as a joke, but as part of his actual uniform. Even The Joker knows that Nazis are bad. For all his infamy though, The Joker possesses
no super powers- he isn't super fast, super strong, or super tough. He can't use telekinetic powers or summon
bolts of lightning from out of the blue- The Joker is in every way just a normal human
being, and yet he is one of the most feared of all super villains. What he lacks in superpowers, The Joker makes
up for in a keen intellect- which thanks to his fractured mind works in ways that other
people simply can't predict. He is routinely outmaneuvering the mightiest
of superheroes, and leaving other supervillains completely stumped as they try and get a handle
of how the Joker thinks. And that's the thing- nobody can think the
way the Joker can, as it takes a severely broken mind to even come close, and this leaves
him with his greatest strength: the constant element of surprise. So in one corner we've got the interdimensional
flesh-eating monster that's existed for as long as time, and in the other a criminal
mastermind who's so crazy he is just as likely as pull of the world's greatest heist as he
is to turn himself in for littering. Who would win in this battle to the death? Pennywise is clever, but it's cleverness relies
on the ability to observe a victim and learn their fears. With some low-level psychic power, Pennywise
is even able to delve into the mind of a victim and tease out the most painful and terrifying
memories, then use them as inspiration to create horrifying illusions, or force a victim
to relive their most emotionally traumatic moments. In battle, Pennywise really only has one strategy:
overwhelm an opponent's mental defenses through horror and deep emotional pain, because if
they ever get a chance to recover and gather their courage, Pennywise is done for and left
helpless as a baby. In this scenario, delving into The Joker's
mind is going to leave Pennywise reeling from the backlash of extreme insanity. Pennywise will find itself flooded by hundreds
of psychopathic thoughts, trying to find a way through a mind that has been broken for
decades. If Pennywise tries hard enough to focus its
powers, it may find a few fleeting memories of emotional trauma, but even these are not
guaranteed to be real, and forcing the Joker to relive them could have completely unpredictable
effects. As The Joker himself said, he can't remember
his own past, and he prefers to leave it having multiple choices. Pennywise's initial psychic attack is going
to cripple it, as it's forced to confront a thoroughly fractured psyche, a psychic land
of illusions and misdirection, with paths leading to nowhere before they curve back
around and in on themselves. Pennywise cannot make the Joker afraid, because
diving into his mind will be like running through a funhouse full of distorting mirrors,
and in fact Pennywise might itself be lost within the madness of The Joker's mind. The Joker has a plan, he always has a plan-
even if he doesn't remember it at the moment, or if he doesn't even know he has a plan because
the part of his brain that came up with the plan hasn't communicated it to the part of
his brain that knows it has a plan... Yet in a one on one deathmatch, The Joker
is at a disadvantage, because he's been denied the most important part of his genius: the
time to actually plan. Yet as he confronts a Pennywise that is reeling
from its peek into pure insanity, the Joker is going to realize that he doesn't need a
plan. Pennywise needs it's prey to be afraid of
it, or else they can easily overpower it. Yet because Pennywise cannot dive into The
Joker's brain due to his extreme insanity, Pennywise will never realize that there is
only one single thing that The Joker is truly afraid of: not being taken seriously. Pennywise is thus defenseless, because no
scary form that it can assume will ever scare The Joker. For the Joker, defeating this ageless cosmic
evil in the shape of a clown will be as easy as picking up a baseball bat and giving it
a few good whacks. With his true fear shielded by a mind far
too broken to read, the Joker will easily defeat Pennywise, and send the eldritch horror
skittering back into the dark places between reality to lick its wounds. Think The Joker would really win this fight? Why or why not? What other epic matchup do you want to see
in our Who Would Win? Series? Let us know in the comments! And as always if you enjoyed this video don't
forget to Like, Share, and Subscribe for more epic content!
