10 Terrible Mistakes That Nearly Ruined The Joker For Everyone

10. Really, Actually Killing Him

When Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger and Bob Kane introduced the Joker in Batman #1, they didn't think they'd created anything all that unusual. After all, Dick Tracy was churning out similarly misshapen villains and killing them every month. And therefore, they saw nothing wrong with killing the Joker off in his first appearance. Today, comic-book death is barely more permanent than a power nap, and even in the 1940s, villains could often appear to die and then return, but when we say "killed off," we mean they really never meant to publish another story with him. What Fixed It: Editor Whitney Ellsworth, who later enforced Batman's code against killing, recognized the Joker was too good to die, so the team hastily added a last panel that showed him still alive, even though the means of his survival didn't make a whole lot of sense.