10 Best Fakeout Endings In Comics
3. The Joker As Gotham's "Eternal Prince"
Having been absent for over two years following the events of 2012's A Death of the Family, the Joker resurfaced in magnificent fashion in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman: Endgame.
When the disguised Clown Prince of Crime comes face to face with Bats, he lets the cat out of the bag that he is an "Eternal Prince" who has tormented Gotham City for centuries. For Jim Gordon and Batman, this bold claim is given further credence when they discover Joker in countless images from Gotham's past.
Despite it sounding impossible, the excellent storytelling of Snyder makes the reader - in addition to Gordon and the Dark Knight - start to believe that the Jester of Genocide's claims of being immortal are actually genuine. This is only further emphasised when the Joker rises up after being 'fatally' shot by Gordon. All of this plays out over a backdrop of Gotham City being infected by a new strain of the Joker Virus, and we're led to believe that Mr. J really has got the better of Batman this time out.
The World's Greatest Detective would eventually deduce that his long-time rival is actually full of bulls**t and that the Joker has merely beefed up his immune system by plying himself with the Dionesium drug. As for the images of Joker from decades past? That was all merely a well constructed ruse.