10 Sickest "Jokes" The Joker Ever Pulled
5. Killed Himself - The Dark Knight Returns
For all the brutality and bluster of Frank Miller's Batman, he was a big softy when it came down to it. Or at least, when it came to the no-kill rule. Miller's Batman may have bent the rule at times - and stretched the terms and conditions at others - but he was no killer. He couldn't even make an exception for the Joker, when the time came.
How better for the Joker to go out, then, than to take Batman's credibility with him. Following a brutal fight in the sewers (Batman catches a knife in the ribs - Joker a batarang to the eye), Joker pulls one final joke on his nemesis. Snapping his own spine (while seated, no mean feat), Joker does what Batman always couldn't, and kills himself; laughing the whole way to hell.
Naturally, everyone thinks Batman did it, and this one act of murder sets the book on its final course - to confrontation with Superman, and Batman faking his own death.
And, ultimately, bringing about The Dark Knight Strikes Again. One can think of no greater act of revenge.