10 Things DC Comics Want You To Forget About The Joker‏

4. That He Has A Back Story At All

One of the many other debates surrounding the Killing Joke, and whether its change should be adopted by mainstream DC continuity, is The Joker's origin story. The story flashes back to the beginnings of the villain's criminal career, when he was an ailing stand-up comic who resorted to taking part in a heist in order to support him and his pregnant wife.

In The Killing Joke, the heist goes wrong, and Batman accidentally causes the comic to fall into a vat of acid. That, and the news that his wife and unborn child have died, are enough to cause him to crack and become the loony bad guy we know today.

Since then, DC has been hot and cold on whether that particular origin story is canon. It's also debatable whether The Joker even has a real name, with some depictions pinching the Jack Napier moniker from Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film, and others finding the character more powerful an icon if we know nothing of what drove him mad in the first place.

Some characters don't need motivations, Mr Wayne. They just want to see the world burn. Although sometimes they do have motivations, and a company just can't make their mind up.