Batman: The Killing Joke - 10 Disturbing Moments We Can't Wait To See

5. The Realisation

The Killing Joke Joker
DC Comics

Sure, we’d seen The Joker callously shoot Barbara Gordon purely to mess with the psyche of Jim Gordon, but there’d soon be a realisation of just what the nefarious rogue did to Barbara.

An earlier panel seemed to suggest that The Joker had undressed Barbara, and we’d soon get confirmation of this when Batman visited her in the hospital.

As it was explained to the Caped Crusader, Babs had lost the use of her legs and was found in a state of undress when she was discovered by one of her friends. Not only that, it’s revealed that the Jester of Genocide had even taken pictures of the naked, crippled Barbara Gordon.

I guess you can’t accuse The Joker of going half-assed when it came to showing his sick and twisted side here, with crippling Barbara Gordon seemingly just the tip of the iceberg of the Clown Prince of Crime’s hideous acts in The Killing Joke.

The Joker had never done anything this messed up in his long history, and later that year would also see him kill Batman’s second Robin, Jason Todd. The game had firmly changed, and The Joker was more unhinged than ever before.

In bringing this horrific reveal to life in animated form, it will truly be a marker point in terms of how adult-driven and mature DC's animated movies are prepared to go. Messed up? Sure. A traumatic realisation that's cinematic in its nature? Hell yes.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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.