10 Times Joker Outsmarted Everyone

The "last laugh" jokes just write themselves.

By Zoë Miskelly /

The Joker's intelligence is maybe the most underplayed aspect of the clown's characterisation. While he's not the top of the list of IQ-wielding villains, it's only through the Joker's meticulous planning and eye for fine detail that any of his dastardly plans end up working out.

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Perhaps more importantly, the Joker's surprising level of emotional intelligence means he's able to manipulate both friend and foe supernaturally well. Combine this with a penchant for chemistry, and it's easy to see that the main reason the Clown Prince of Crime is such a threat is down to his seemingly endless capacity to be cunning.

And plenty of storylines make this readily apparent, with the Joker conniving his way into (or out of) all sorts of amoral acts. Although his schemes rarely go entirely to plan, it's surprising just how often the jester outsmarts people - especially when he knows doing so would create a little chaos.

Be it through poison, magic, or just a humble explosion, the Joker is always willing to do that extra mile to get the last laugh - even if it involves snapping his own spine to do so.

10. Making The Batman Who Laughs - Dark Nights: The Batman Who Laughs

With the Batman Who Laughs currently being the trendy new villain on the scene, it's only fair to give credit to the man responsible for making him: none other than the Joker himself.

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The villainous Bat would be created in an alternate universe where the chemicals that created the Joker would corrode further at his morals, requiring him to be put down by the Batman. Unfortunately for him, the clown's death would release a special version of the Joker toxin, which would twist the Dark Knight into his new evil form.

Interestingly, while this series has Batman state that the Joker had no idea what would happen to him posthumously, the Batman Who Laughs spin-off series suggests heavily that he would've had to be aware, given that the main universe's Joker knows all these details without ever being told.

There are few other plans that manage to sabotage the Dark Knight's life so well, as not only does the Joker corrupt one version of Batman, but he does so in a way where this twisted Bat goes on to ruin the lives of countless other heroes - sort of like the circle of life, if the circle of life was comprised solely of millions of versions of Batman.

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