The Joker is one of the biggest legends in comics. First appearing 86 years ago in Batman #1, he’s since become one of the greatest villains in fictional history. I think the main reason that Joker has been able to survive the tides of the comic industry is simple – change. The Clown Prince of Crime has proven to be a perfectly mutable villain, one who can fit in any era of comics. It doesn’t matter what kind of story you’re telling, you can use the villain, which has helped make him into one of the most popular villains ever. He can be funny, he can be scary, he can be deep, he can be shallow, he can be anything you want. Variety is the spice of life and the Joker is the living embodiment of the old Spice Road.
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The Joker has reached a level of popularity that most characters will never reach. One of the problems when a character hits this level is that fans can get tired of them. This has affected Gotham’s greatest monster and it’s gotten to the point that he can get pretty annoying. He’s a great character, but he also has his share of problems that can annoy fans. Joker is Batman’s greatest villain but these five things show that he can get pretty annoying at times.
5) His Inconsistent Portrayal Makes It Hard to Take Him Seriously
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The Joker is Batman’s greatest foe, which means he has to be able to fight it out with the most formidable vigilante out there. One of the interesting things about Joker stories is that they go in all kinds of directions. So, for example, you’ll get a story about him trying to pull off a major heist in a Batman book, but elsewhere, the Joker will appear as a member of the Legion of Doom and outsmart a god to gain ultimate power or the like. He fits in crime stories as well as he does the big superhero epics, but this is a actually a problem. It’s hard to quantify his threat exactly. So, sometimes, he’ll show up and be this unstoppable force of evil, able to outsmart the greatest heroes out there and challenge the entirety of the Justice League. Other times, he’ll be something of a pushover, his schemes foiled by a hero simply showing up to stop him. It’s hard to know what Joker you’re going to get whenever you pick up one of his stories and this can get pretty annoying.
4) People Have Misunderstood His and Harley Quinn’s Relationship for Years
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Harley Quinn has become one of the most popular characters in comics since her ’90s debut. She was first introduced in Batman: The Animated Series as a henchmen for the Joker, becoming a fan-favorite right from the start, and would eventually make the jump to the comics. Harley Quinn was the Joker’s girlfriend, working with her man to defeat the Dark Knight and paint Gotham red. Their relationship was the definition of a terrible, co-dependent relationship, but for whatever reason, there are some people who decided that their love wasn’t abusive and insane, but an example of two people who actually loved each other. This misunderstands their relationship completely. While Harley loved Joker, he never loved her; she was merely just there and useful to him. There was no true love there, not really, just a monster manipulating someone who wanted to be loved. Both fans and creators alike have misunderstood their relationship and it has led to people missing the entire point of the idea – that charismatic monsters can’t actually love anyone.
3) His Cruelty Has Gotten Overwrought
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The Joker has been around for decades and comics have changed a lot in that time. Golden Age comics were harder-edged than what came after and the Joker had to be changed to fit into the more tame Silver Age, changing again as comics got more mature. One of the biggest problems with modern comics is that their idea of maturity is mostly just amping up the violence. This has honestly helped the Joker in a lot of ways, allowing him to become a scarier character than ever. However, as with many things in comics, it’s been taken too far. The Joker is played as one of the most evil people out there and he’s gotten more and more cruel over the years. While this might seem like a good thing, it’s gotten to a comical level that doesn’t really work anymore. It often feels like pushing the envelope just for the sake of it and it’s hurt him as a character. Violence is best used when it’s shocking; there’s nothing shocking about the Joker’s cruelty anymore. There’s no impact to it anymore.
2) Batman: The Killing Joke Gave His Origin Form It Didn’t Need
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Batman: The Killing Joke has earned a reputation as one of the greatest Batman stories of all time. There are definitely people out there who think that Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s classic one-shot is the greatest Joker story of them all. It followed the Clown Prince of Crime as he decided to test a theory – that a bad day can completely destroy a person, transforming them into monsters. One of the most important parts of the book is that it gave the Joker an origin, revealing that he was a failed comedian who turned to crime to feed his family, leading to the night that he fell into a vat of chemicals and became a monster. While this is a pretty cool origin, it’s honestly ruined one of the most interesting parts about the character – the mystery. The Joker is more interesting when his origin is multiple choice. It makes him into a force of nature, something beyond human, which just fits the character better. There’s nothing wrong with him having an origin, but it limits him in a lot of ways.
1) Everyone Goes to the Joker Well Eventually
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The Joker’s popularity has made into an indelible fixture of the Batman comics, which can be a problem. While a great Joker story is a thing of beauty, there are other Bat-villains who don’t really get a chance to shine like him and there have been many times when fans would have rather seen another villain in his place. Sometimes, the Joker showing up can be rather annoying, because as soon as he shows up, the story stops being about what it was and becomes about the war between Batman and the Joker. He can suck up all the oxygen in a room, which can be a huge problem. See, every creator in comics has a Joker story, meaning that the chances you’re going to get a Joker story are usually pretty good. Everyone wants to do a Batman/Joker story and they sell rather well, meaning DC is perfectly fine with publishing them. Everyone goes to the Joker well at some point and it’s gotten pretty stale. We don’t need the Joker to show up in every Bat-story and we don’t need to get yet another miniseries from an A-list creative team pitting the two against each other.
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