10 Movie Character Backstories Revealed Years Later
5. The Joker Was Abducted By A Perverted Clown As A Child - Batman (1966)
The Joker is one of the most iconic villains in all of pop-culture, and his origin stories have varied wildly throughout his history, from overly explanatory to intentionally vague.
One of the less-explored Joker backstories, however, must surely be that of Cesar Romero's iteration of the character, which he played in both the 1960s Batman TV series and the 1966 Batman movie.
But at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, some unexpected answers were provided during a panel entitled, "Is the Joker a Psychopath? You decide!"
The psychologists on the panel were joined by not only The Joker's co-creator Jerry Robinson but also the Caped Crusader himself, Adam West, who offered up his own unique version of The Joker's origin story. West said:
"I did a little backstory in my head for Joker. I reasoned the insanity, whatever you want to call his psychopathic quality - I reasoned that he was kidnapped by a perverted clown when he was a youngster."
Though you can certainly argue this is nothing more than speculation on West's part, the fact that Robinson himself followed up with an approving "That would do it" is likely enough in most fans' minds to seal it as more-or-less canon.
Given that most of the creatives behind the '60s Batman are sadly no longer with us, the release of West's backstory some 45 years after Romero's Joker first debuted is quite the startling revelation.
It's certainly an extreme one which couldn't ever have been verbalised within the confines of West's family-friendly Batman, but it's also a uniquely twisted backstory for the Clown Prince of Crime.