5 Reasons The Joker Isn't The Greatest Comic Book Villain

4. He's Not That Tough Or Powerful

Power isn't everything, of course, but when there are characters who have everything the Joker offers (an array of gadgets, a genius intelligence, a murderous personality etc) and power to boot, it's mad to say he's "better" than they are. Look at Doctor Doom - he's a mere human, just like the Joker. However, he has bettered himself to the point of wearing an advanced technological suit of armour (of his own creation) that essentially grants him superpowers. He has also learnt to use magic, which grants him further powers. And this is on top of the fact that his intelligence and ability to scheme and plan utterly dwarfs that of the Joker. As a result, Doom is a threat to far more powerful heroes and beings than the Joker ever will be. Basically, unless he gets his hands on some serious power (which, of course, he has done on one single occasion - in the "Emperor Joker" arc), he's really only a threat to street-level guys like Batman. If any of the big-hitters in the DC universe really wanted to get rid of him, they could theoretically do so in a heartbeat - and the only reason Batman hasn't done so is because, in his own weird way, he needs the Joker to represent his antithesis or anathema. In a sense, the Joker gives him an ongoing purpose. If Batman really wanted Joker out of the equation, he could have made that so by now. Joker can fight - no doubt about that - but there are countless human villains who could beat the hell out of him (Kingpin, Red Skull, Lady Shiva, the Mandarin - even without the rings - and Ra's Al Ghul to name but a few).