Off My Mind: Why it’s Time for the Joker to Return

Where has the Joker been? When the New 52 started, he appeared in DETECTIVE COMICS #1. After a confrontation with Dollmaker, he allowed his face to be removed and it wasn’t until Death of the Family that he made his return to Gotham City. The Joker is Batman’s most dangerous enemy. Part of this is because you never know which version of the Joker will pop up next. When Joker started targeting those around Batman, it was something we hadn’t really seen at this level.

With Joker’s fractured psyche, he felt a bond with Batman. They had a special sort of relationship. Joker felt Batman had strayed from true self by having so many allies in his inner circle. At the end, Batman rejected Joker’s ideal version of how they should interact. Batman tried tricking Joker that he figured out who he really was. Joker didn’t want to hear that as it would remove the masks they both created for themselves and change their relationship. It appeared Joker fell to his death with only his cut off face turning up later.

Obviously Joker isn’t dead. There’s no way that could happen. The big questions are, where is he and what has he been up to?

It’s hard to believe it’s been close to two years since we’ve last seen him in BATMAN #17. This is great because one of the worst thing readers can see happen to a character is overuse. Seeing the same villain pop up over and over and be defeated over and over can almost ruin the character in our eyes. Joker can be a scary and formidable villain. He’s one that should be used sparingly. But after the events of Death of the Family, there are some issues that should be addressed.

Being rejected by Batman should be a big factor. Everything Joker did was out of his twisted love for Batman. One could only imagine what a bitter and angry Joker might do. The potential for a more focused and determined Joker is intriguing.

Joker isn’t the only one that’s suffered hurt since their last encounter. As a result of how he decided to handle Joker in the past, his family became a little distant with him. There’s also the loss of his son, Damian, he’s been dealing with. Now, Commissioner Gordon, one of Batman's only friends, has been locked up and Selina Kyle is headed down a dark path. They’re both in different places so another confrontation could play out in a different way than we’ve seen before.

When Joker fell to his “doom,” he lost his face. The person calling herself “Joker’s Daughter” is now using it on her face. She even had it grafted to her skin. That means Joker can’t come to town and reclaim it so easily. What does his face look like now? Is it all crusted and scabbed over? Maybe he spent some time at a fancy plastic surgeon clinic and got some work done. Maybe (and I’m totally kidding here), he’ll come back as the New 52 version of Hush, all wrapped up in bandages. (We are currently seeing Hush in BATMAN ETERNAL).

Joker’s always been a loose canon. An angry and hurt Joker would only mean bad things. There’s usually not too much of a focus to his madness and schemes. When he does return, assuming he can process and recalls what happened, he’s going to be scarier than ever. Once again, he’s had a lot of time to cook up another scheme. That’s another scary thing. Batman’s been extremely busy with everything going on while Joker’s simply had to recover from his fall, emotionally and possibly physically. Surely with all this time he would plan something lavish and even deadlier than before.

Joker isn’t someone you’d won’t to upset. DC has been wise to not bring him back for another story immediately after Death of the Family. Provided he doesn’t make too many appearances like he did in that crossover arc, seeing his return in a shorter story would be excellent. Let’s find out what he’s been up to. More importantly, let’s see him channel his rage and madness against Batman to push him to his limits once again. We always joke how Batman can defeat everyone. Let’s see him have to face Joker on a scale he might not be fully prepared for.

It's time for Joker to completely unleash his anger and insane genius upon Batman.

If he returns, have him pop up in someone else's book. Make him the focus of a Green Arrow arc or something and use that as an excuse to bring in a Bat-Family character in order to deal with him. Use that as build up until he makes another solid return in a Batman book.

I'd rather see a good scarecrow story.

I resent the implication that the Joker should only be used sparingly. So long as his appearances are good stories, I don't care if we get a different Joker story every month.

If he does return, I hope DC takes him in a different direction. The DCAU Joker was PERFECT, he was fun, but he was still menacing and you could still hate him for the things he had done. The current Joker barely a character.

He was in DotF and I think Snyder said he's going to be back for Endgame, that's only one arc later, I would prefer if he's not coming back for a few more arcs.

Keep him gone for another while and have him come back in a huge crossover event.

I do remember Snyder saying in a video interview (maybe it was with you guys at SDCC?) that Joker was going to come back, and angrier than ever.

I completely agree on this.

I'm not exactly raring for another Joker story, since I didn't find Snyder's use of him in Death of the Family too interesting. I felt the end result of the story was pointless, and that it overall relied too heavily on shock-horror. Though I did find the art killer, and it had a great moment - Joker under Gordon's bed - that was absolutely disturbing.

I'd be more excited for the story if I knew it opened up with Joker capping Joker's Daughter in the head and reclaiming his face.

F#ck no

I believe I saw somewhere, can't remember where exactly, that DC are planning Joker's return. If he does come back I really hope someone else, different from Snyder, handles him since his interpretation of the Joker in Death of the Family was horrible.

I can't believe it's been two years already.

This.

Also, didn't Snyder say on Fatman on Batman that if he writes Joker returning after Death of the Family he would be vengeful and more unpredictable than usual? I know he said it somewhere.

I thought I heard it on Fatman on Batman when Snyder and Capullo were on, but yeah.

Maybe outside of Gotham?

@thanosismad: Thats actually a smart Idea. If DC doesnt do that they should just leave the character alone until they have a good story to make him relevant again. Right now, i feel he should just stay away from the batman books and they should just continue to build upon other batman stories.

There is no possible way for hi o reattach his face at this point. Not even when he first got it back. It would be like reattaching leather to a cow. It's BEEN dead. No. They would have to do some sort of super advanced stem cell treatment and just grow him a new face. That's why the face thing was dumb to me. But just give him a brand new face (because: comics) and move on.

@rustyroy: He was in Days of Future's Past?

@silverpool: yes, you're right! It was Fatman on Batman where Snyder said that

I say wait another 1 or 2 years.

I definitely agree that he should be used sparingly....while DotF didn't have a great ending it did have a fantastic beginning with the Joker showing up at the police station....Gordan's reaction was perfect...the Joker should be one of the most terrifying villains in the DCU and I loved seeing Gordan's fear when he realized that the Joker was in the building

wait people didnt like Death of the Family?!?!
what. why. how.
dude Snyder did a great job. his joker was great. the story was creepy and engaging.

Capullo's joker was amazing. so eerie i couldnt help but spend minutes just staring and admiring.

i like their joker. i do however feel as though the character should come back naturally instead forcing Snyder/Capullo to bring him back.
I natural transition would be much better.
I am looking forward to this upcoming arc 'Endgame' ; very promising.

Man...i though it was unanimously known that Snyder/Capullo's run on Batman was well-loved. i guess i was very wrong haha

who gives a shit about joker. BRING ME MORE SCARECROW AND HUSH

@j_hickmanisgod: Problem is that a story called Death of the Family would've had larger implications like Alfred dying, but all that was hurt was their trust in Batman which really didn't do anything in the end. An issue made even worse by Morrison killing Damian mere weeks after DOTF ended.

Now I love DOTF, its one my favorite Joker stories but it really should've been called something like Jokers Five Way Revenge (I know that's the name of a different story, just trying to prove a point).

@ekrolo: so your bout is with the title....okay

That one back in Batman: The Dark Knight wasn't too bad, although it did fall apart at the end (I think it was 10-15?).

I'd like to see another good Joker arc, but I'd love to see a modern Riddler arc that follows up on the events of Zero Year to really make it all tie into itself and make it important to Riddler and not just Batman.

We actually sort of saw Joker in Zero Year last. Also, if there is anyone to cut off Batman's arm in End Game, I want it to be Joker.

@devinwifi: Everyone else except you.

I'm good with not seeing Joker for a while. Wasn't a huge fan of DotF and would prefer to see other villains.

I'm pretty sure Snyder already said he is bringing back Joker for Endgame and as has been mentioned above, Joker was kind of in Zero Year. But being the huge Joker fan that I am, I believe that we can never see enough of the CLown Prince of Crime, as long as it is a good story.

They could kill him off in the New 52 for all I care, I feel like the only reason he's still popular is because he's the Joker. Other than that I feel like his writing since the reboot has been kinda shoddy like cutting off his face and such. Yeah, he's crazy, but it's like the writers "changed" his type of crazy.

Nooooooooo, stay gone you predictable and uninteresting clown.

Right on

@j_hickmanisgod: If you name a story called Death of the Family then you better do something that'll kill the family or just name it something else. Not that I cared much because I think the story is great anyway but plenty of people expected an actual death of the Bat family where Joker offs some one to break them apart for a long while which didn't happen.

Joker is of course alive because he left a note for his pseudo daughter after doll maker grafted joker's face to duela dent.

However, I really think the Joker should be killed off by now because from it looks like the new 52 timeline might be coming to a close. If he dies dramatically now, he can be reborn in another future without the whole face lift thing which I still don't get really.

I know he wuz severing any humanity he had left by having his face removed but then why didn't the writers simply kill him off by having him fall on some jagged rocks at the bottom of the waterfall.

If someone as iconic as two-face can be killed off then why not joker. Joker's daughter has stepped into the light and with two-face gone, the charlatan can make his debut.

This.

But if there was a Joker story again, I'd have it be another person. Physically. Like, another dude taking after the Joker, showing Batman that his villains have fans and what-not.

To be honest, I think he should stay missing for a few more years.

Give other villains more spot light like:

• Scarecrow
• Black Mask
• Great White Shark
• Killer Croc
• Zsasz
• Firefly

In the comics he maybe MIA, but he's in every video game and animated series.

I think he is overplayed to be honest. The whole anarchy without purpose is somewhat inconsequential when nearly all of Batman's villains want to achieve something, have some goal or justifiable reason for committing their acts.

there should be a rule for the a-list batman villains that they should only be used once every 2 years or something.

Same! Death of the Family was one of Snyder's weak stories compared to Court of Owls and Zero Year.

I'm sure Snyder will bring him back at some point before he ends his run, hopefully with his ridiculous cut off face fixed. The big question is how much longer does Snyder want to write Batman. I think he said at one time he wanted to do about 50 issues. If that still stands true, that would be less than a year and a half away. My purely speculative guess, he does around 6 issues of End Game, then a big 10-12 issue Joker arc to end his run.

I've been wondering when the Joker will appear again. I really enjoyed DOTF, definitely one of the better Joker stories I'd read in awhile. I also agree with the article in that he should be used pretty sparingly. I got tired of him in BTAS when he kept appearing in every 3rd episode. Plus, I like the fact that he was actually a villain in DOTF, rather than a side-character.

Snyder did talk about the Joker returning at some point in his last Fatman on Batman podcast, but he didn't give any indication on when that will be. Part of me wonders if it will be during ENDGAME, or if it will be the arc after that. Either way, I'm definitely ready to see the Joker come back into the picture.

@captainmarvel4ever said:

This. Totally this.

The problem with the New 52 is that it takes "darker and edgier" to the extreme. But what happens when they do that to the guy who was dark and edgy enough as it is? We need Joker back because he's one of DC's greatest villains when written well. Every bit as brilliant and cunning as Batman, and a total badass, yet still funny! Too many people forget that no matter how menacing or how terrifying the Joker is, he still has to be funny! Observe:

And that was Nolan's "make you crap yourself" Joker.

Now, here's my idea: they've done lots of stories on how Joker would be lost without Batman. Why not bring him back with a story about Batman realizing that he needs Joker? (As a reminder of what he could become if he loses control)

We've known about this for awhile now, back when the new 52 started and joker lost his face, Snyder said that was his idea, and expanded with "what if there was a joker you didn't recognize" so Joker will come back in endgame, hating Batman rather than loving him wearing a new face and probably catch him way off guard. And Batman possibly loses a hand...

He should come back and kill Alfred. Really. How many dilemmas for Batman/Bruce would that raise.

@warlordeternal: Hold on there, Space Ranger, Zsasz would be okay but he's stale like the bread in my cabinet I haven't removed in weeks. Firefly is boring. And Great White Shark is annoying. You're right about all the others though.

If he shows back up, I think it should be a comic set inside a Maury episode where it's revealed that he's Superwoman's real baby-daddy. :)

Then Harley runs out and attacks him with her mallet. Ultraman and Owlman get in on it too. Entertainment for all.

Batman should have just killed him. But since he didn't, keep him away longer so I can keep pretending he did.