10 Comic Book Characters The Joker Has Killed
5. Sarah Essen
The Joker has done countless terrible things during his criminal career, but the murder of Commissioner Gordon's wife Sarah Essen in Detective Comics #741 is in a class of its own. It wasn't the act itself that was so atrocious, but the way he carried it out.
In this issue, the Clown Prince has kidnapped a bunch of babies and is holding them in the basement of Gotham police station. Essen is caught up in the thick of his plot and ends up pointing a gun at the villain, in an attempt to intervene.
To disarm Gordon's missus, the Joker tosses a baby at her. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. He literally hurls a human infant her way and then shoots her in the head after she's let her guard down to catch it.
This, understandably, sends the police commissioner into a rage, but just like Batman, he refuses to go as far as killing Mister J in retribution, shooting him in the leg instead.