10 Most Inappropriate Joker Storylines

Poisoning someone is never cool. Poisoning a group of people is even less cool. And poisoning a group of children is about as low as you can go.

Of course, this is the Joker we're talking about here, and this is a figure who is devoid of morals if it means he can get one over on the Caped Crusader. In Frank Miller's seminal The Dark Returns, killing off a bunch of kids is just one of the many misdemeanours carried out by the Harlequin of Hate.

This 1986 tale is one of those rare ones where the Joker actually dies. Like, for real. With Batman deciding that he needs to finally put his nemesis down for good, a purported battle to the death comes up a little short when Bruce ultimately ends up paralysing the Joker rather than killing him. Still, determined to make it look to the public that Bats is a murderer, the Jester of Genocide uses his last ounces of strength to break his own neck and end his life.

Prior to this final fight, Batman had been lured to the county fair, where he found the corpses of hundreds of children who the Joker had gleefully handed out poisoned cotton candy to.