The Joker: 10 Most Famous Comic Book Origins Ranked Worst To Best
3. It Was All An Act
Unless you’ve got a sympathetic viewpoint towards all villainous people, everyone can agree that the Joker is a raving lunatic. Stretch upon stretch inside the glum walls of Arkham Asylum has shown that with Mister J often able to cause chaos even when the odds are stacked against him. But what if it was all an act and that, underneath the pale face and creepy smile, was a man who was perfectly within his right mind?
That’s the path 1996 story Case Study, from Paul Dini and Alex Ross, chose. Within its pages the Joker creates the Red Hood to take on petty criminal activitiess and, when the police and Batman manage to catch up with him, he switches in a bid to avoid the death penalty. Seems to work, too, as he never gets the comeuppance his heinous crimes warrant,
Ranking Explained: It’s quite a twist. Some will disagree, instead believing it to lessen the character of the Joker. But it’s genius and makes the fact that millions of thugs buy into his crazy ideology all the more impressive, while also giving him an added layering of intelligence and cunning in the process.