10 Comics Where You Couldn’t Help But Root For The Villain

10. The Joker - Batman: White Knight

What if the Joker, but sane? So posits Sean Murphy's White Knight. Set in an alternate universe where the Batman has finally gone off the deep end, losing the support of Gotham, the Bat-family and the GCPD, an unlikely contender rises to face this public enemy. Yes, the Joker, with the help of an experimental new medical treatment to cure his madness.

Released from Arkham, the once Clown Prince of Crime re-invents himself as a politician, campaigning against the brutality of the Batman and drawing public attention to the collateral damage in his never-ending war against crime. And you know what, he's kind of right.

That readers find themselves rooting for the Joker and Harley is kind of the point, but Murphy works in the grey areas - with a Batman who isn't really irredeemable, and a Joker who isn't truly good (or... is he?) In White Knight, Murphy achieves a Joker who readers can root for in his plot against the Batman - all without bashing us over the head with the fact that we Live In A Society.