All great assumptions, but it all comes down to good writing. But as it is, this thread just convinced me how many are so quick to believe that Marvel characters are so over the edge with killing when all I can think of are the X-folks and Punisher.

As for a good Batman analogue, it would either be Spiderman, or Daredevil... Spiderman already has his Joker/Luthor under the guise of Norman Osborn... meanwhile skill for skill, Daredevil is a near match to (or he outmatches ) Batman. And Matt Murdock is a bit loopy in the head (like Bruce Wayne, with his never-ending obsession of fighting crime, literally).

But in order for the Joker to work, you need a straight guy to counter his wild personality, which would mean Daredevil is the best character to play against the clown prince of crime.

The problem is that Marvel has too many heroes willing to kill if necessary, and they chiefly inhabit the same locations as each other. The only reason the Joker ain't dead is because he chiefly stays in Gotham, since Batman both won't kill and won't let others kill, and is very territorial.

He'd be a great villain for characters like Cap and Daredevil. There's no reason to think he'd be dead (at least not PERMANENTLY dead, he'd probably have died several times and come back).

Somebody like Joker need the the perfect Hero that Batman, of course but in the Marvel Universe I can only think of two heroes who come close to Batman and that's Daredevil and Moon Knight.......... especially Moon Knight, not because he's similar to Batman in almost in every way this is a hero with multiply personalities and the other heroes think is insane and dangerous. Which the Joker clearly is,watching them two going at it now that I would like to see

The Joker would go great with Deadpool. They could do a stand up comedian battle in an insane asylum or even do a Marvel Crazies Team-Up.

@fraffly said:

I also don't think the Joker would survive the Marvel U for more than 5 minutes, there are a lot more characters with no compunctions about killing than even in the DCnU. But put him in the Carnage Symbiote and you have a powerful and barking mad villain who goes well with everyone from Spider-Man over Wolverine up to the Hulk.

My thought exactly. He wouldn't last that if ever met the Punisher.

@cuddles666 said:

I could imagine Joker killing off a minor street-level hero or two before leading into a huge storyline with the Punisher trying and failing to kill the Joker. The problem with that kind of framework is that if anyone actually won that fight, Marvel would lose a great character (probably the Punisher).

Spidey and Daredevil would be decent heroes for the Joker, but a Joker/Punisher saga would just rock!

x2

He could work in the Marvel Universe.

But he is fine in the DC universe and besides him and Batman have a way too interesting "relationship",both work well as characters when pitted against each-other.

No street level characters don't work well in marvel

He'd probably have a short career in the Marvel universe. Punisher or some other violent vigilante would find a way to off him if Joker committed one of his usual crimes.

One problem with Marvel is that they dont know how to write good villains.

I mean look at every single DC character. They have their arch nemesis and many of the popular heroes got their own rogue gallery.

Which villain does Iron Man have? Captain America? Other than Loki, what does Thor have?

Spiderman is probably the only hero in marvel that successful manage to gather a rogue gallery.

@mattwing87 said:

Marvel doesn't need Joker. It has Norman Osborn. He may not be as ruthless as the Joker but he pretty damn close at times.

This. The only difference between them is that Osborn prefers high society over Joker's love of Gotham's gutter trash. There must be at least a few characters that directly riff on Joker in Marvel. Hell DC already has a bunch of villains in it's own universe that riff on Joker like Trickster, Toyman, and The Creeper.

I personally love when other super heroes' villains face other super heroes, but the Joker is just too perfect for Batman. He wouldn't work with anyone else. The personalities are polar opposite. Batman is the only one capable of capturing the Joker, and the Joker continues to live because Batman won't kill him.

The DC Universe has a different feel than the Marvel Universe. Marvel has a lot of heavy hitters. Joker might work in specific settings, but not all. The Red Skull might be the closest villian that would come close. What adds power to Red Skull is the Cosmic Cube and his followers. If Joker had the samethings, he might be a contender in the Marvel Universe.

This really sparks some thought. I start to think of what would happen if Dr. Doom went to the DC Universe. That would make for some crazy crossovers. The possibilities are endless, but fun to think about.

I don't think Joker works for Marvel simply because the majority of their heroes are willing to kill. Yes there are exceptions (coughSpider-Mancough) but still. If we saw something Dark Knightish come down where Joker's captured Manhattan (instead of Gotham) then i just see Iron Man going and blasting Joker's face until its melted dust.

I think the real question is who is the marvel equivalent of the Joker. A villain that sells comic books and movies just because he is in them

Deadpool vs joker = EPIC or Deadpool Team-up with joker= AWESOME

Joker lasts in DC cause people don't want to kill him, in Marvel plenty of people would be willing to kill him...he wouldn't last a few hrs...

In the Marvel universe the Joker would have to be someone that operated behind the scenes cause if he came into the light there is a strong possibility her could get killed.

@NightFang: Wow you make a good point. I was originally thinking that yes Wolverine and Punisher would just kill the Joker and be done with it. I think that his nemesis would be , Nick Fury, Daredevil, Mockingbird, Deadpool, Elektra, or Domino.

Norman Osborn is pretty much the Joker of the marvel universe

what if he stared to penance stare his lunacy protect him or not

i think Hood or Kingpin never ally the Joker

The second he messes with the wrong characters, he either gets a bullet through the head or a claw through the throat.

I could see him going against Daredevil. But I think it could be far more interesting to see him go up against Captan America. I think Joker could really push Cap to the edge.

All these choices are good but I haven't seen Captain America VS Joker anywhere....I think that might be a nice matchup

Joker dies in a year tops.

na somebody in the marvel universe would kill him off pretty fast... wolverine, maybe deadpool... prolly wolverine

The only reason Joker is alive in DCU is because he stays in gotham. Why he doesn't put a foot on Star City?, where the local hero has a no kill policy but the man behind the mask don't. Ollie killed the guy who raped Dinah, menaced to kill Onomathopeia after he shot Connor and put an arrow in Prometeus' head after Lian, do you imagine how much would the Jocker lasted if instead of Jason it would be Roy or Mia?

And yes, when well writen Jocker is a genious tactitian who doesn't fear death, and GA isn't as great as Batman, but in the end theres no doubt how things would end.

The biggest reason the Joker is as great a villain as he is is because of Batman. I don't know who in the Marvel universe would be an appropriate foil for the Joker. I like the idea of him fighting Moon Knight mentioned above. That could be pretty good.

Honestly, I think he'd be better up against someone like Dredd.

he could only be a book that has a street level hero going against him. Only D.D. wouldn't kill him. Spidey too. Spidey might work, because making Peter nuts is one thing they could write off of.

Joker would be dead so fast.

he would work well as a daredevil villain

Spider-Man actually did cross paths with the joker in this......

It was Batman & Spider-Man vs. Carnage & The Joker

He'd be dead his first debut.

I think some people are underestimating the Joker here. He only plays around with Batman and other heroes because he knows they wont cross the line, but the Joker is smart enough to know when an enemy wants him dead and would take the appropriate measures. Not saying that someone like Wolverine or Punisher couldnt beat him, just that he would be prepared and give them a good fight. That to me means he would make a good villain.

As many people have said, he's end up dead if not at an anti-hero's hands, at the hands of another villain who had grown tired of his crap.

IF joker wanted batman dead, he would have been when they first met.. joker is probably smarter than bats.. he would give the marvel Universe a good run..

@jcbart: True, I'm just saying the heroes in the Marvel universe wouldn't be used to a villain like Joker, yanno? Sure The Joker would prolly die but he would put up a good fight against the heroes.

Joker fits just perfectly as a Batman villain he doesn't need to be an enemy for another hero unless Batman somehow gets involved like with his teamups with Spiderman, Captain America, Hulk, or of course Punisher as seen above.

@Agent9149: 

Ditto

Too many anti-heroes... He would be killed- quickly. Plus he has no actual powers, the majority of the other heroes/villains do, and many are smarter. He would be outclassed. He suits Batman, he's his perfect nemesis.

Joker is alive because batman and all the other hero in the dc universe are hippy, i still don't understand how in the new52 stormwatch did not nuke the arkham asylum.

In the marvel universe he would have the punisher, x-force and others force against him.

He'd be dead a thousand times over. Obviously Wolverine and the Punisher would kill him, hell Captain America would eventually kill him in my opinion. It might not even get done by a hero, I could see him hiring a guy like Sabretooth and getting his guts ripped out before too long..

Deadpool.

The link to 'Jim Shooter posted last year' ... appears dead.

"Sorry, the page you were looking for in this blog does not exist."

I would love to see Deadpool and Joker get together. It'd be amazing.

The Joker works as villian because he is Insane Comedy to Batman's Drama, the problem with the Joker being in the marvel U would be finding a similar balance most likely with Captain America,Daredevil,Moonknight, LukeCage or IronFist. Him and Spider-man would just joke back and forth Deadpool would beg to be his sidekick Wolverine and the Punisher would probably try to kill him and Thor,Ironman,Hulk would outpower him. The Joker is like a powerless Loki. He would probably on work well against lesser powered marvel heroes as a viable villian.

All the things I was going to say have been said already. I guess my two-minute thoughts weren't all that original, eh? My very first thought was "He'd be dead", which was posted pretty early on, then I thought "I don't think Frank would've let him go" and whaddaya know, someone posts a two pages of The Punisher and The Joker. I dunno, if he were to live, he'd probably be spending his time in the lower levels of the raft like Carnage did a long time ago. Yeah, the Joker needs maximum security or he'll wreck stuff up. Freakin' agent of chaos.