The Joker's 10 Most Sickeningly Twisted Moments

3. Breaking His Own Spine Just To Spite the Bat

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DC Comics

Frank Miller's classic Batman tale sees an aged, grumpy Batman come out of retirement to do battle with the new decade's freaks and geeks. After once again putting a stop to Two-Face's confused shenanigans and beating the hell out of an enormous teenage mutant leader, wrinkly Batman seems to have a handle on things. Leave it to the Joker, then, to throw a spanner in the works.

No sooner has he learned of Batman's re-emergence than Joker concocts a plan: playing at sanity, he worms his way onto a trendy TV talkshow, whereupon he promptly murders everyone present and makes his swift escape. Batman and Robin chase the Joker to the funfair (but of course) where the two mortal enemies take a fateful, fatal sojourn into the tunnel of love.

A brutal fight ensues, with Batman getting a blade between the ribs and Joker taking a batarang to the eyeball during the kerfuffle. Batman, however, still can't be made to break his one rule, forcing Joker to take matters into his own hands: stubbornly managing to snap his own spine, laughing like a maniac all the time.

Really, you have to admire the man's dedication to his cause. Quite literally, this is a case of the Joker getting the very last laugh. Hey, you were warned that you'd be hearing that phrase a lot.

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Contributor
Contributor

A film critic and professional writer of over ten years, Joel Harley has a deep and abiding love of all things horror, Batman and Nicolas Cage. He can be found writing online and in print, all over the Internet and in especially good bookstores.