8 Comic Book Characters Who Broke The Joker

6. Batman And Commissioner Gordon - The Killing Joke

Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke is the authoritative account on the relationship between Batman and the Joker, and while it isn't without its critics, it's hard to argue that its last pages are anything short of stunning.

Inevitability governs Moore's solitary Batman story, and the idea of how, in the end, no matter how often the Dark Knight and the Harlequin of Hate fight each other, one day, it'll result in one of if not both of their deaths. Batman comes to Joker at the start of the story in a desperate plea to end the cycle of violence, but when it becomes clear that it's a prelude to one of the character's most heinous crimes, the reader begins to consider the possibility if that end could arrive a lot sooner than originally thought.

The story sees the Joker at his most manic, determined to prove that all it takes is "one bad day" to turn even the most stable man into a crazed supervillain. He paralyses the then Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, and kidnaps her father to try and turn him insane. His scheme fails (or at least it does, if you disagree with Grant Morrison's take on how the book ends), as the Commissioner emerges mentally unscathed and Batman offers to help his old enemy from causing more harm.

For one, brief second, it seems as though the Joker actually considers his offer. A textless panel shows him turning around, confused at the Caped Crusader's kindness. It's as if he breaks character, while the following panel also depicts him in a more lucid and reflective light, contemplating just how far gone he truly is, and how sorrowful he is that there's no way back.