10 Things DC Comics Want You To Forget About The Joker‏

2. His Look Was Totally Ripped Off

Bill Finger and Bob Kane were classic rip-off merchants (although Kane was arguably worse). The original incarnation of Batman himself was more or less daylight robbery of the costume, gimmick and secret identity that belonged to pulp hero The Shadow, but they didn't restrict their five-finger discount to just the creation of their heroes. They took a similarly lax approach to copyright law when it came to inventing the villains, too.

The above image isn't a screengrab from a classic black-and-white Batman serial, but the big reveal of the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs. A silent adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel, the German expressionist classic tells the tragic story of Conrad Veidt's Gwynplaine who is disfigured to have a permanent, terrifying grin by King James II, after his father offended the monarch.

A disfigurement which looks identical to the famous smile of The Joker. The influence is so blatant that DC paid tribute to the silent film years later with the graphic novel The Man Who Laughs, which retails Batman and The Joker's first encounter with the latter looking decidedly Veidt-y.