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    Batman

    Character » Batman appears in 23535 issues.

    Bruce Wayne, who witnessed the murder of his billionaire parents as a child, swore to avenge their deaths. He trained extensively to achieve mental and physical perfection, mastering martial arts, detective skills, and criminal psychology. Costumed as a bat to prey on the fears of criminals, and utilizing a high-tech arsenal, he became the legendary Batman.

    Off My Mind: Could Batman Have Become The Joker?

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    batmanboy11

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    #51  Edited By batmanboy11
    @Jordanstine said:
    "
    But he did! 
     
    Batman did become the Joker
     
    He's called Nemesis by Mark Millar :) 
     
     
        "
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    ArtisticNeedham

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    #52  Edited By ArtisticNeedham

    Whatever created the Joker had to be much more than a bad day, much more.  It had to be a life time of traumatic stuff.

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    MatKrenz

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    #53  Edited By MatKrenz

    Well at least it wasn't "One More Day". 
     
     
    Im sorry for the horrible,horrible pun.
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    Mbecks14

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    #54  Edited By Mbecks14

    Valid point and great Joker Voice

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    dweet

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    #55  Edited By dweet

    All I know or care to know is that I enjoy their rivalry.

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    MrRagePants

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    #56  Edited By MrRagePants

    Batman is already knew what path he is taking, his will is what makes him differentiate between black and white.
     
    Though that would be an interesting twist for a story, I hope DC comes up with this idea.

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    weareallskrulls

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    #57  Edited By weareallskrulls

    is g-man asking someone to do what JMS did to Spider-man and have a " one more day " storyline? if so, g-man must die! ;)

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    atomicrobo5

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    #58  Edited By atomicrobo5

    One of them had an Alfred...that is the difference..

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    matt_cable

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    #59  Edited By matt_cable
    @atomicrobo5: Nailed it.
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    NXH

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    #60  Edited By NXH
    @Jordanstine said:
    "
    But he did! 
     
    Batman did become the Joker
     
    He's called Nemesis by Mark Millar :) 
     
     
        "

    Damnit! Someone beat me to it! lol
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    Sydpart2

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    #61  Edited By Sydpart2

    Elseworld tale "Two face(s?)" pretty much sums up how similar the two are...if you can find it it has a cover of Batman and Joker's heads on it that basically looks like a yin yang...

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    B'Town

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    #62  Edited By B'Town
    @soap on a rope said:
    "i think if bruce went bad, he wouldn't be like the joker. he'd be something far more dangerous. "

    YES, this.
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    Mr_Wayne69

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    #63  Edited By Mr_Wayne69

    Losing your parents doesn't constitute as a REALLY bad day?
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    COBRAMORPH

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    #64  Edited By COBRAMORPH

    Not quite an answer to the specific question, but back in the finale of the 90's spiderman cartoon, with the alternate versions teaming up, on one world uncle Ben was never killed, so Peter still became Spiderman, but made an ironman suit, & Jameson even liked him. I like to think of Batman the same way. Had his parents not been killed, he might still become a hero, but would be more "normal".
     
    However, his whole deal is motivated in a way by revenge, & not having others have to deal with what he had to. But he was rich. A poor/ middle class kid would likely not have it as good as little Bruce had. Look at Code Geaas for an example. So Bruce could have became an evil Batman. Sure.

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    Baraborn

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    #65  Edited By Baraborn

     Superhero Joker is Rorschach (favorite hero).
     
    Super-villain batman is Dr. Doom. (Because Iron man is Marvel, Batman, and Dr. Doom is Iron mans opposite.)

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    speedforced

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    #66  Edited By speedforced

    If he was so insane or crazy whats up with alfred? he supports him and they have some pretty normal conversations so i think that batman is completely normal but he put in training and meditations to basically become the perfect human so his physical abilities are far greater than any normal human and he is about as super as anyone with powers can be.

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    mebaz

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    #67  Edited By mebaz

    Your post reminded me of an interesting story I read recently about a scientist who studies brain mappings and discovered he has the brain of a sociopath. Now, why isn't he one?
     
    "They believe that brain patterns and genetic makeup are not enough to make anyone a psychopath. You need a third ingredient: abuse or violence in one's childhood."
     
     http://n.pr/cpS6bK 

    I'm on board with nature + nurture.

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    The Devil himself

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    Who ever they are now was always them, they where always capable of what they do now a days...it just had to be released. so no. I don' t think Joker would of ever become Batman and batman became joker. If thier 'day' was worst, then a diffrent approch would be accepted. Let's admit it. Sooner or later Batman WILL kill joker. we are all waiting for that day, for bats to snap, and finally kill joker(As seen in HUSH) That's the whole purpose of Joker. Yes they are alike, but there's one diffrence: Joker is willing to kill (that is the only diffrence because they both follow thier moral code, which is very diffrent from eachother but still....) That would be joker's greatest sucess.

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    likalaruku

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    #69  Edited By likalaruku

    To me they are polar opposites.  I don't believe in good & evil, so it's more complex than that to me. I'm also a sociopath, so I don't see things the way most people do.
        
    Batman for me embodies truth, depressing reality; the burden of knowing too much, while Joker is (depending on the writer) lies & either ignorant bliss or nonchalant carefreeness. (Writers who have little to no experience writing the Joker really play down his intelligence).
     
    Batman represents tradition & the known, Joker represents change & the unknown. (mostly this comes from how the writers agree or disagree on the personality & mentality of the character & the solidness of their origins, & the Joker's life story is riddled with inconsistencies  & contradicting plot holes.).
     
    Batman is thought-out restraint, Joker is impulsive free will.  
     
    Batman is a masculine sinewy sexually-active heterosexual, Joker is an effeminate scrawny chaste homosexual.    
     
    Batman is haunted by his past & is a pessimist, Joker optimistically looks toward the future.  
     
    Why do you guys insist on clinging to The Killing Joke for the Joker's past? Lovers & Madmen is more detailed & told from Batman's POV, while the bit of Joker's past from TKJ is told quickly from a compulsive lier's POV. I blame Red Hood: The Lost Days, Gotham Knights, & TKJ for this mess, as the Joker ever having been the Red Hood, along with the first 50 years of Batman, was supposed to be retconned by Absolute Crisis as having happened tin another part of the Multiverse.

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    kmb501

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    #70  Edited By kmb501

    @likalaruku said:

    To me they are polar opposites. I don't believe in good & evil, so it's more complex than that to me. I'm also a sociopath, so I don't see things the way most people do.

    Batman for me embodies truth, depressing reality; the burden of knowing too much, while Joker is (depending on the writer) lies & either ignorant bliss or nonchalant carefreeness. (Writers who have little to no experience writing the Joker really play down his intelligence).

    Batman represents tradition & the known, Joker represents change & the unknown. (mostly this comes from how the writers agree or disagree on the personality & mentality of the character & the solidness of their origins, & the Joker's life story is riddled with inconsistencies & contradicting plot holes.).

    Batman is thought-out restraint, Joker is impulsive free will.

    Batman is a masculine sinewy sexually-active heterosexual, Joker is an effeminate scrawny chaste homosexual.

    Batman is haunted by his past & is a pessimist, Joker optimistically looks toward the future.

    Why do you guys insist on clinging to The Killing Joke for the Joker's past? Lovers & Madmen is more detailed & told from Batman's POV, while the bit of Joker's past from TKJ is told quickly from a compulsive lier's POV. I blame Red Hood: The Lost Days, Gotham Knights, & TKJ for this mess, as the Joker ever having been the Red Hood, along with the first 50 years of Batman, was supposed to be retconned by Absolute Crisis as having happened tin another part of the Multiverse.

    They shouldn't retcon that! Joker even mentioned that he was the Red Hood once upon a time in Under the Red Hood, when Batman questioned him about the current Red Hood. Jason Todd even took on the identity because of Joker. If all of that was retconned, the new-52 timeline made everything wonky. There were some very poetic stories that answered a lot of burning questions and totally made the characters look like they had more depth. I get that it's a comic book, but some of us want a good story.

    As for Killing Joke, why would Joker go to so much trouble if that wasn't his origin story, and why was he remembering something that wasn't true? Who was he telling that story to? The flashbacks started while he was taking pictures of Barbara Gordon. Why would the Joker make himself fondly reflect on a lie? Who was he trying to trick? Doesn't that at least prove that he's crazy if he was lying to himself thoughout the whole story?

    I blame DC for being very confusing and not sticking to one good story. You literally can't get to know some of these characters, because they retcon their pasts and origin stories! Come on, comics. Please stop treating the best characters in Batman with such disrespect. The Killing Joke made Joker actually look like a human being. It presented a great origin story.

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    Eto

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    And now there are supposedly three jokers lol. @kmb501:

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    kmb501

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    #72  Edited By kmb501

    @eto said:

    And now there are supposedly three jokers lol. @kmb501:

    You know, I think DC just needs to start telling stories in different universes. I want a Joker with an origin story because he once had one, sort of a tragic one because some writers went with the Killing Joke origin.

    Yes, Batman could become the Joker if there wasn't already a Joker, but the real Joker would probably have something not so nice to say /do to Batman if he were to try it while he was around. Joker is one of the villains who takes a personal interest in him, so I would guess he keeps him honest, among other things.

    It would be very interesting to see what Joker would do if something happened to Batman that made him throw his moral code out the window---like mind control or something. Would Joker step up and try to help Bats get things back to normal, or would he just stay out of the way? It would be cool if he decided to help old Bats. The fact that Joker is such a wildcard is why I think I like this supervillain so much.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5YCAZd_lgQ

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    Eto

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    @kmb501: hmm interesting.

    What's that link about btw?

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