Poll: The Joker: How Good of a Villain is He?

[Raika]

I've always considered the Joker to be impossibly lame. His cookie-cutter 'chaotic evil' persona bores me to tears, and the fact that the character has not developed in any way over the course of several decades doesn't help his cause. The Killing Joke was too small of a step in the right direction and arrived many years too late to make much of an impact. I like characters with complex motivations. "Because he's crazy" is a poor motivation. From what I can gather, the Joker was more well-written when his name was Kefka Palazzo. I haven't played Final Fantasy VI to confirm or deny what I've been told, but I'll take my friends on faith.

 

[Zen Toombs]

The Joker is a fantastic villain. However, he can still be beaten by any good hero. Noone is perfect, and noone is invincible.

The Joker does come close though. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JokerImmunity]

 

[Evil Smurf]

any idiot with a sniper could take him down, but He is a very good villain because he is
an insane clown! Also some people find clowns scary.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Pretty much anyone who doesn't mind killing could beat the joker. Doesn't mean he's not a great villain.

 

[CODE-D]

I like to think riddler or scarecrow could.

 

[Denariax]

The only plausible threat to the Joker is someone without morals, who'd eventually become the villain anyways. That's why he's so great at what he does.

Or super man. Because its hard to kill a flying bullet proof blue thing with knives and bad moral values.

That's the thing about the Joker. Given what he does, he'd make Superman fall into a trap of karbonite spikes or something. Joker doesn't just throw stuff, he manipulates people into thinking whether or not he's lying.

 

[brainslurper]

The only plausible threat to the Joker is someone without morals, who'd eventually become the villain anyways. That's why he's so great at what he does.

Or super man. Because its hard to kill a flying bullet proof blue thing with knives and bad moral values.

That's the thing about the Joker. Given what he does, he'd make Superman fall into a trap of karbonite spikes or something. Joker doesn't just throw stuff, he manipulates people into thinking whether or not he's lying.

How does one fall into something when they can fly?
No amount of manipulating is going to stop fucking laser eyes.

 

[TheScientificIssole]

Robert Kirkman kills everything and everyone once and for all. Heck, only reason you say this is because it seems as if you don't understand how comics work. Characters can get killed of forever in one continuity but not in others, and some heroes die in all continuities(Ex: Original Blue Beetle and the second Robin).

Please don't mistake sarcasm with real opinion.

OH SHIT SORRY!It's just, you typed it, and I read it as an ignorant jerk and not as sarcasm.

 

[JesterRaiin]

Robert Kirkman kills everything and everyone once and for all. Heck, only reason you say this is because it seems as if you don't understand how comics work. Characters can get killed of forever in one continuity but not in others, and some heroes die in all continuities(Ex: Original Blue Beetle and the second Robin).

Please don't mistake sarcasm with real opinion.

OH SHIT SORRY!It's just, you typed it, and I read it as an ignorant jerk and not as sarcasm.

No problem. In my case it's easy to mistake one with another.

 

[Denariax]

The only plausible threat to the Joker is someone without morals, who'd eventually become the villain anyways. That's why he's so great at what he does.

Or super man. Because its hard to kill a flying bullet proof blue thing with knives and bad moral values.

That's the thing about the Joker. Given what he does, he'd make Superman fall into a trap of karbonite spikes or something. Joker doesn't just throw stuff, he manipulates people into thinking whether or not he's lying.

How does one fall into something when they can fly?
No amount of manipulating is going to stop fucking laser eyes.

Simple; you trap them in a room full of kryptonite. He only has to be NEAR it for it to really take effect, and since the stuff is like everywhere apparently, wouldn't be that hard to make a room full.

 

[octafish]

The Joker's principal motivation is usually 'for the lulz' or 'to irritate batman' I've personally never found him that terribly interesting. modern Mr. Freeze with his tragic backstory, ends justify the means methods, and having an actual end goal. That's a villain I can get behind.

I feel the same about Preston Payne (The best Clayface) and Deadshot. I mean Preston doesn't have much evil in him, he just a disturbed individual who unfortunately melts anyone he touches. As for Deadshot, he just wants to be killed, or to be saved from his destructive path. He looks to Batman to be his savior and that is why he always pulls his shots with the Bat, in the end though there is only one thing he knows to do well.

OT: I seem to remember Tommy Monaghan putting a bullet in the Joker's chest, only to have Batman save him. I think if he ever became a matter of National Security The Wall would shut him down pretty quickly. If you can beat the Batman I think you can beat the Joker. That would be the proper Wall, not that god awful skinny Amanda Waller from the re-boot. Amanda Waller is a hero goddamn it. She is just one of those ends justify the means heroes.