10 Most Inappropriate Joker Storylines

1. Romanticising And Normalising Abusive Relationships

Joker Harley Quinn
DC Comics

One could fill such an article solely with entries involving the Joker's treatment of Harley Quinn.

While the Maid of Mischief has been mentioned a couple of times here already, it's only fair to dedicate a whole entry to how the 'relationship' between Harley and her Puddin' has been incredibly inappropriate over the decades. Granted, recent years have seen Quinn presented as her own strong character who didn't need the Joker, but for years this wasn't the case.

For those unaware, Harleen Quinzel was a successful psychologist at Arkham Asylum prior to meeting the Joker. Soon seduced by the charms of the Clown Prince of Crime, she helped Mr. J escape Arkham and she became his sidekick and love interest. The problem is, this 'love interest' role was often a largely one-sided affair. While Harley forever pined after the Joker and did all that she could to please him, he would show disdain towards his beau, mock her at every turn, and would at times take to physically assaulting her.

The relationship was framed like this for years, with Quinn always simply shrugging off the Clown Prince of Crime's hateful, possessive, controlling, violent and outright abusive ways. Whatever heinous act he did or twisted words he used, Harley Quinn would always go back to the Jester of Genocide.

While this tandem was at times positioned as a jovial, slapstick-esque Bonnie and Clyde at times, the reality is that the Joker had and has no true love for Quinn; she is merely another plaything who's disposable to the Harlequin of Hate. For Quinzel, she is a mentally-ruined victim who has her own issues in addition to having spent years with a Stockholm Syndrome-type tie to her abuser.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.