Enough has been written about The Dark Knight already. I wont go much into it 🙂 We all know what a terrific movie it is 🙂

And it is one of those rare movies where the villain goes way higher than the hero himself. As much as we loved Christian Bale‘s portrayal of Batman, who can deny the impression created by the ultra charismatic, enigmatic and supremely intelligent, our very own psycho, JOKER :mrgreen

As much as I loved Heath Ledger‘s portrayal of the joker, it got me intrigued into what joker is really all about? I mean, who steals room full of money and then takes utmost pleasure in burning it all!!?? :mrgreen 😕

So, for all the joker fans out here, here are a few interesting things about the most widely adored and hated fictional character:

  • The fictional character first appeared in the comics by DC Comics
  • He is is a master criminal whose characterization has varied from a violent and murderous sociopath, causing chaos and committing crimes for his own amusement, to a goofy and virtually harmless trickster-thief.
  • His real identity is unknown.
  • He has appeared before in Batman television series
  • Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of the joker in 1989 movie, Batman earned him a place in American Film Institute’s List of Top 50 film Villains.
  • From the Joker’s first appearance in Batman #1, he has committed crimes both whimsical and inhumanly brutal, all with a logic and reasoning that, in Batman’s words, “make sense to him alone.”
  • He commits crimes with countless “comedic” weapons (such as razor-sharp playing cards, acid-spewing flowers, cyanide pies, and lethally electric joy buzzers) and Joker venom, sometimes referred to as “Joker Juice”, a deadly poison that infects his victims with a ghoulish rictus grin as they die while laughing uncontrollably.
  • He is always wearing his trademark Purple Suit.
  • He has cheated death numerous times, even in seemingly inescapable and lethal situations. Though he has been seen caught in explosions, been shot repeatedly, dropped from lethal heights, electrocuted, and so on, the Joker always returns to once again wreak havoc
  • At the end of the franchise reboot film Batman Begins (2005), a joker card is mentioned as a calling card by a criminal who is not explicitly named.
  • Not many know this, but joker is indirectly responsible for the origin of Batman!
  • Apparently playing the role of Joker gets so hard on the psyche, people take months to get back to their normal selves after they have played that role. Now, did heath ledger just die of overdose of pills??? Hmmmm… m not too sure!!! 😕

The joke usually told by the joker in Batman: The killing joke is:

See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum… and one night… one night they decide they don’t like living in an asylum any more. They decide they’re going to escape! So like they get up on to the roof, and there, just across the narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in moon light… stretching away to freedom. Now the first guy he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daren’t make the leap. Y’see he’s afraid of falling… So then the first guy has an idea. He says “Hey! I have my flash light with me. I will shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk across the beam and join me.” But, the second guy just shakes his head. He says… he says “What do you think I am, crazy? You would turn it off when I was half way across.”

Some of his famous lines:

Gotham National Bank Manager: The criminals in this town used to believe in things. Honor. Respect. Look at you! What do you believe in? What do you believe in!
The Joker: I believe whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you… stranger.

The Joker: You just couldn’t let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren’t you? You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won’t kill you, because you’re just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.
Batman: You’ll be in a padded cell forever.
The Joker: Maybe we can share one. They’ll be doubling up, the rate this city’s inhabitants are losing their minds.

The Joker: [holding a knife inside Gambol’s mouth] Wanna know how I got these scars? My father was….a drinker. And a fiend. And one night he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn’t like that. Not. One. Bit. So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. Turns to me and he says “Why so serious?” Comes at me with the knife,”Why so serious?” He sticks the blade in my mouth. “Let’s put a smile on that face!” And….. Why so serious?

The Joker: This town deserves a better class of criminal… and I’m gonna give it to them. Tell your men they work for me now. This is *my* city.
The Chechen: They won’t work for a freak…
The Joker: [mocking his accent] A freak…
[pulls out his switchblade and tosses it to some goons who grabs the Chechen]
The Joker: Why don’t we cut you up into little pieces and feed you to your pooches? Hmm? And then we’ll see how loyal a hungry dog really is. It’s not about money… it’s about… sending a message. Everything burns.

The Joker: [speaking to Two-Face] Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it! You know, I just, do things. The mob has plans, the cops have plans, Gordon’s got plans. You know, they’re schemers. Schemers trying to control their worlds. I’m not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how, pathetic, their attempts to control things really are. So, when I say, ah, come here, when I say that you and your girlfriend was nothing personal, you know that I’m telling the truth.
The Joker: It’s the schemers that put you where you are. You were a schemer, you had plans, and uh, look where that got you. I just did what I do best. I took your plan and I turned it on itself. Look what I did, to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets. Hm? You know what, you know what I noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even if the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I tell the press that like a gang banger, will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it’s all, part of the plan. But when I say that one, little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!
The Joker: [Joker hands Two-Face a gun and points it at himself] Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos. Oh and you know the thing about chaos, it’s fair.
[with the gun in Two-Face’s hand, Two-Face pauses and takes out his coin]
Two-Face: [showing the unscarred side] You live.
The Joker: Mm-hm.
Two-Face: [flipping, showing the scarred side] You die.
The Joker: Mmm, Now we’re talking.
[with the gun in Two-Face’s hand, the joker has the gun to his own forehead; Two-Face pauses and takes out his coin]

Source: http://stars.ign.com/articles/841/841564p1.html, http://www.dccomics.com, http://en.wikipedia.org