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

[a7xman]

I've always been a huge Joker fan. Not just because he is perhaps the only villain in pop culture who can make nearlly everyone laugh, but because he's a fairly original concept for a villain role. He's the antithesis of his superhero in nearlly every way, he is completely psychotic, never calls it a day, no matter how many times Batman drags him back to Arkaham, turned his own psychiatrist into his romantic couterpart, and in "The Killing Joke," becomes the first villain to ever explain his motives and it make sense. So the question arises: in a one hero vs. one villain, and ineveitablly a complex plot and thugs becoming involved, could any other DC hero beat the Joker? Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman (haha)etc. Could any one other than Batman best the criminal mastermind, the Clown Prince of Gotham?

 

[Saladfork]

I was goin to posit a few theories, but then you said DC specifically, so...


Hmm... I would say superman, but I really, really don't like superman so I'm just going to ignore that he exists. Other than him, the only DC characters I can think of that would match up decently with the Joker would be Ra's al Ghul and Lex Luther, niether of whom are really heroes.

 

[Axolotl]

The Joker is an mentally disturbed clown. Given that a fair ammount of DC characters can move at FTL speeds and can lift city blocks I'm going to say that yes, they can beat him pretty easy.

 

[arnoldthebird]

Batman has morales preventing him from killing, the Joker would be defeated by numerous other heroes because they have SUPER POWERS. I can't imagine the Joker surpassing Hal Jordan or Superman in combat

 

[trollax]

Spoiler

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muujl83fimQ]

around 19:30
4 superheros got trapped by the joker and batman takes it down with a batrang

 

[Ordinaryundone]

My biggest problem with the Joker is that he is a perfect example for why superhero worlds shouldn't crossover. As a Batman villain, or some other street-level human hero, he is perfect. Just fine. Crazy serial killer genius clown? Couldn't ask for more. But then you bring guys like Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, etc. into the mix and you still want me to think that the Joker is a serious threat? That's when it starts to get a little silly.

It almost feels like it invalidates Batman's personal crusade. If he REALLY wanted to clean up Gotham, why doesn't he just call in Superman for a few days? Not a one of B-man's villain could stand up to him, he'd roll the whole city over in under a week. I love Batman, but in integrating him with the rest of the DC universe as a whole they've really hamstringed his entire concept.

Marvel does crossovers much better. There are extremely few "non-powered" heroes, and the few that do exist work as a part of a team, or have some "non-power" like super technology or smarts. And most of the villains tend to be considerably stronger than their hero counterparts, so team-ups don't feel like overkill (X-men and the Avengers teaming up against Magneto or Loki? Reasonable. Batman and Superman against the Joker? Why in the heck does Batman need to be there?)

 

[Terminate421]

He is a great villain. One of the best.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

Wasn't there a comic where Superman tried to take down the Joker?

I don't really read DC so I don't know.

 

[JesterRaiin]

Could any one other than Batman best the criminal mastermind, the Clown Prince of Gotham?

Punisher almost killed Joker.
Superman bested him at least once.
Bane considered him nothing more than clown and unfunny one. While choking him.

Joker is only a man. Nothing more. He is still alive only because Batman still adheres to his code of honour AND because in the grim darkness of comic industry it's impossible to kill anything and anyone once and for all. We're talking money here people !!!

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, anyone should be able to take down the Joker. He's just an over the top flamboyant criminal that makes no real attempt not to be caught, other than relying on the incompetence of everyone.

"Hey everyone, I'm that extremely wanted criminal, prancing around in bright clothes where everyone can see-"

Police have snipers.

...

Failing that, after all the stuff he's done, half the intelligence communities of the entire world would be after him. It'd be like if Usama bin Laden didn't go into hiding.

Failing that, the next time Batman locks him up, someone visits him in the week before he escapes and the Joker is found dead in his cell.

 

[DustyDrB]

My biggest problem with the Joker is that he is a perfect example for why superhero worlds shouldn't crossover. As a Batman villain, or some other street-level human hero, he is perfect. Just fine. Crazy serial killer genius clown? Couldn't ask for more. But then you bring guys like Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, etc. into the mix and you still want me to think that the Joker is a serious threat? That's when it starts to get a little silly.

It almost feels like it invalidates Batman's personal crusade. If he REALLY wanted to clean up Gotham, why doesn't he just call in Superman for a few days? Not a one of B-man's villain could stand up to him, he'd roll the whole city over in under a week. I love Batman, but in integrating him with the rest of the DC universe as a whole they've really hamstringed his entire concept.

Marvel does crossovers much better. There are extremely few "non-powered" heroes, and the few that do exist work as a part of a team, or have some "non-power" like super technology or smarts. And most of the villains tend to be considerably stronger than their hero counterparts, so team-ups don't feel like overkill (X-men and the Avengers teaming up against Magneto or Loki? Reasonable. Batman and Superman against the Joker? Why in the heck does Batman need to be there?)

I just crossovers period, even Marvel's. I remember watching Spider-Man: The Animated Series and getting annoyed when the X-Men, Blade, or Iron Man showed up. Stay in your own world, dammit!

Part of the reason it annoys me is because those crossovers feel like a commercial for whoever the "other" hero is. And then, like you said, it does feel like the main hero is being upstaged. I especially don't want anyone else in Batman's world, and doubly so for Superman (who I hate anyway).

 

[Blunderboy]

While in theory pretty much an other hero could take down the Joker, I'm not so certain it would come up.
Honestly the Joker and Batman have such a symbiotic and most importantly personal relationship that I doubt Joker would bother to fight anyone else with anywhere near the tenacity he does with Bats.
In fact, the only way that Batman could ever defeat the Joker (short of killing him) would be to hang up his cape and stop being Batman.
This is what makes the relationship so good, at least in my opinion. Batman is such a good crime fight due to his dedication to his own code and his iron clad will not to break it. The very thing that gives him such strength is exactly what stops him from taking one of the only two permanent ways of stopping the Joker.

 

[FreedomSlices]

Well of course they could. Any average Joe, in any other city, with a gun could take him down.

But that's not the point with the Joker. The Joker is made to fit Gotham specifically, and he plays that part perfectly.

 

[Shadowstar38]

The Joker is overhyped. Much the same way that Batman is. Im sure even Green Arrow can stop Joker on any given day, let alone all the guys with actuall powers.

 

[WaysideMaze]

Penny Arcade sums it up quite nicely

As much as I hate superman, he would kinda annihilate the Joker without much effort.

 

[JesterRaiin]

Could any one other than Batman best the criminal mastermind, the Clown Prince of Gotham?

Punisher almost killed Joker.
Superman bested him at least once.
Bane considered him nothing more than clown and unfunny one. While choking him.

Joker is only a man. Nothing more. He is still alive only because Batman still adheres to his code of honour AND because in the grim darkness of comic industry it's impossible to kill anything and anyone once and for all. We're talking money here people !!!

Considering Punisher is Marvel, I kind of doubt that first one.

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/2/21012/463924-jokerpunisher10_super.jpg

And Bane really only considers Batman potentially his equal, right? Of course he's just a clown when he sees everyone as inferior to him.

No.

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/5/50460/953258-b___j.jpg

And it was in the Animated Universe, so it may not count, but I do remember once when Joker outsmarted Superman and Lex Luthor and would've destroyed all of Metropolis if Batman hadn't been in the neighborhood as well.

http://www.expertcomics.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/actionjoker.jpg

What can i say ? It's not wise to express one's opinion without quick googlecheck.