death of the joker how would you write it.

[jaredstar]

was on space battles a few minutes ago and came upon a thread i decided to make a version of over here.

so as the topic says you are a writer contracted to write a comic that leads to the death of the joker (and its going to stick)

how do you go about it

for my part i would have the comic follow the joker through his morning routine before stepping out of the hide out of the moment right before he is shot six times in the head. who did it not sure maybe one of the cities many lowlifes maybe somebody with a carry permit and good/bad luck maybe a cop who lost some one to one of the jokers crimes whom ever they dump an entire clip into him.

would likely do a follow up comic detailing the consequences good or bad

 

[ankokudaishogun]

Death of the Joker should be a Batman story.

The Joker is found dead. Batman then proceed to investigate the death, first making sure it is, in fact, the One True Joker and not a clone, robot, simulacrum or otherwise copy(TM). Then discovering(or confirming) it was murder.
The story follows Bats' investigation, which is really hard because EVERYBODY hated the Joker and half of Gotham had a relative killed by him(aka the other half of Gotham). Only exceptions are Lex Luthor and Harley Quinn, who gets dedicated issue(s), as well as Gordon and other high-profile characters.
In the end, Batman cannot resolve the case because the clue for the assassin's identity has been destroyed by the Joker himself, whether by chance or purposely impossible to know: it might even be a suicide simulating a murder.
This results in Joker's death feeling like a failure on Bats' conscience, especially because nobody else feels like caring when they aren't still partying hard after a month because the Joker's dead and the world is a better place for it.

 

[PCHeintz72]

That would depend on the version of the Joker killed I suppose.

I could easily see the Joker from the first Batman movie setting up a trust fund for a party to be held upon his death.... and a reward for the one whom took care of his killer in the funniest manner possible.

That Joker in the last batman movie is undeserving of the title.

The one from the old batman live action seems fairly incompetent, considering Alfred alone managed to beat him... not sure he would really be missed. Maybe hold a party in the killers honor for removing a blight upon humanity.

Not sure what to say in the case of the various cartoon ones, one actually managed to brutally torture Robin, so doubt all that much grief would be in evidence or any real attempt to get the one to take him down.

 

[TC_Hazard]

Random police man kills him.

Trial happens.

Nothing bad happens because no one wants to be the guy who sentenced the guy who killed the Joker.

There is a party and drinks.

Literally, everyone is happier without him.

Oh and Harley moves in with Bruce at some point.

 

[bissek]

If a random cop gunned Joker down in the middle of GCPD while still cuffed, every single cop present (With the possible exception of Gordon), would swear upon their mother's souls that Joker was trying to escape. The cop is put on suspension for a few days while IA does their investigation, which ultimately concludes that it was a justified shooting and returns the man's badge. Then half the GCPD offers to buy said officer a drink.

 

[raedric]

Bring in Rorschach, have him do it the first time he gets fucked with by the joker. Spend rest of story having Batman butt heads and fists with him over his willingness to kill to meet his twisted idea of justice. Eventually this leads to a fight where Batman overdoes it from the difficulty and kills him.

Edit: If I was to stay in universe, I would probably plan a similar story with any other hero that takes things to that level. As long as it causes tension with the bat in some way or another.

 

[pacifist]

Best you could hope for is Neil Gaimen writing Death of the Joker similar to his Death of Batman. The cast of Batman telling how each had killed him.

Love to see how Harley killed him al la Alfreds story.

 

[grant]

Two ways. One either establishing that the Joker's dying from the start and then go back and show how it all happened. It'd be a very Joker-centric work where Batman only shows up sparingly and as a distorted figure, the story showing Joker's interactions with the rest of Gotham's insane underground and a twist ending (he's dead, it's just a twist as to who killed him). Also lots of alternative interpretations of actions. Did the doctor really fail to save him because there were so many drugs and poisons in his body from years of abuse that he basically killed himself years ago, or did they deliberately kill him even though he was still saveable? Were the guards really hit by some super ninja, or did they get told to take a fifteen minute break? And all of it should be left to interpretation, don't answer those questions.

Other way is to have someone just show up, pull the trigger and bam, he's dead. What's important is what happens after that. Not a major character killing the Joker, better some nameless cop or a minor character (I think there's one on FF.net where it's Batwoman or whatever, written to show Gordon arguing with a DA over prosecution*), and everything goes nuts. People are cheering the guy in the streets, Batman's trying to keep his "no killing argument" even as some of his associates might not-so-subtly mention that Gotham's a lot cheerier, Harley really loses it (and by this I mean she goes right beyond "it's all just a joke" and into "existence will burn" nuts) and his killer has to dodge her wrath.

And I think so many elseworld works and adaptations have the Joker killed one way or another is because it's supposed to be edgy (though losing that distinction by now) and an admission that a guy like the Joker actually wouldn't last long. Sooner or later someone would put a couple of really big holes in his torso, plus an extra few in his head.

*Yep, Huntress actually. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7754742/1/Political-Realities

 

[TC_Hazard]

I love that fic.

 

[PCHeintz72]

...

I think people here and Spacebattles tend to forget that the joker was all about having the last laugh... I'm equating him to toontown type funny.

I just cannot picture, if he is killed, he would not have some measures in place to cover it... a plot making it seem like his own ghost is doing stuff, or the party and post morten bounty concept... *something* unusual, off the wall, and funny.

I actually do not care about the killing per se, it is the aftermath that I would think something would come to light.

 

[TC_Hazard]

...

I think people here and Spacebattles tend to forget that the joker was all about having the last laugh... I'm equating him to toontown type funny.

I just cannot picture, if he is killed, he would not have some measures in place to cover it... a plot making it seem like his own ghost is doing stuff, or the party and post morten bounty concept... *something* unusual, off the wall, and funny.

I actually do not care about the killing per se, it is the aftermath that I would think something would come to light.

Not really forgetting it.

More like, because DC tries to push that shit as much as they try to push Batgod, I'd make his death completely lacking in those.

 

[shinzero01]

Personally, I'd have Harley do it after Joker crossed some line that even she couldn't ignore.

Of course, it'd need a lot of buildup. A whole lot of build up. Like a year's worth of comics leading up to it. It'd need to happen in front of incapacitated heroes and villains while he's having one of his grandiose moments. It'd involve a lot of tears on Harley's part and be a brutal crime of passion. Maybe even have it be televised as part of the Joker's plan.

 

[PCHeintz72]

...

I think people here and Spacebattles tend to forget that the joker was all about having the last laugh... I'm equating him to toontown type funny.

I just cannot picture, if he is killed, he would not have some measures in place to cover it... a plot making it seem like his own ghost is doing stuff, or the party and post morten bounty concept... *something* unusual, off the wall, and funny.

I actually do not care about the killing per se, it is the aftermath that I would think something would come to light.

Not really forgetting it.

More like, because DC tries to push that shit as much as they try to push Batgod, I'd make his death completely lacking in those.

Actually, I've never read the comics, so do not know what was used before. I know they've reset far too many times to count...

I've watched the movies (including that god awful last one the Joker was in), and I've watched several different incarnations of the cartoons, and seen large parts of the old live TV series.

 

[byakuryuu]

Charlie Collins said it best - and would probably do it best.

 

[nuclear death frog]

I think the Joker's death in the animated series was perfect Can't envision a better one for him.

 

[byakuryuu]

I think the Joker's death in the animated series was perfect Can't envision a better one for him.

The best death in the comics for the Joker would be a frame-by-frame low-key death. Like, before the whole "Joe Chill" affair, Joker would be killed by a random gook in Gotham - maybe someone he used in his schemes unwittingly, or ruined his life. They'd both die in the alley - and he'd rub it in his face, too - he'd emphasize the fact that Joker was going to die here with no schemes or match-ups.

Just a random man whose life he made worse and an explosion or a fire.

 

[AnimeRonin]

Bat signal goes up one night, Jim tells Batman that the Joker was found in a warehouse pinned to the wall and produces an evidence bag with a bloody batarang in it.

Batman, of course, denies being involved in it, but police work must be police work so he goes about proving his own innocence... but every test, every clue, leads right back to him. He's being set up, he has to be.

He is being set up... by the Joker. In one elaborate last trick, he's committed suicide and he's done it in such a way that Batman cannot prove it wasn't him. A true magnum opus.

 

[goldenarms]

A little ol' lady kills the Joker with a .44 magnum, just as he breaks into her house to escape Batman. She thought it was a robber. She also unwittingly set into motion Joker's Last Laugh.

Thirteen days later, Bruce Wayne receives a courier-delivered late-night letter from an anonymous source. Inside, there is a joker playing card with the words, "Can you stop the apocalypse?" written in Joker's handwriting.

Come the fourteeth morning, all hell breaks loose.

The Joker had someone make him the ultimate Joker Gas, a nanovirus that he had injected into his bloodstream an unknown time ago. Should the Joker die, it would be released into the air from his body for a few hours, infecting everyone that breathed in the nanovirus during that time frame. It goes dormant for a week, then slowly begins rewriting the infected host. Come the end of the second week, the virus triggers, and a new Joker is born, one that thinks, acts, and kind of looks like him. The virus again goes dormant, cycling through the infected person's body until they die, and it's released into the air again to infect more people. And given the courage that little ol' lady taught Gotham, there are more people willing to take the law into their own hands. By the time Batman realizes this, there had been several dead Joker-infected, and things are escalating rapidly as Joker activity begins appearing outside of Gotham.

It's a Joker-pocalypse, and only Batman remains uninfected -- the Joker purposely had the nanovirus designed so that it would not infect the World's Greatest Detective. A final present so that Batman won't ever be lonely in the case of his sudden demise.

 

[MikeJPanda]

mmm...maybe something similar to what happened to him in the BB movie but with a little twist (a kid!Robing shooting him). Run of the mill Batman story, with something "bigger" going as the main story, without any building to the event. The Joker is about to blow a place filled with children for a cheap laugh (again), Batman comes in, fights the goons (probably with Harley fighting another bat-family member in the background) everything seems like another random Joker vs Batman encounter.

Then a gunshot stops the Joker monologue (because he is of course being Jokerish) and he falls down from a headshot, a few reaction panels and they show the gunner, a small kid (3-4 years old) with a gun at his feet. The kid doesn't even understand he just killed the Joker, he/she just saw in the TV how guns "make bad people go away".

Add a few more issues with Batman and family having to focus in the bigger threat and put the Joker's death in the backburner, people celebrating, Harley having a big BSOD because she can't find the will to blame a little kid that doesn't even understand why so many people are giving him presents, and some reactions from the criminal side (some partying, some burning and salting the corpse (just in case of a Blackest Night event, or zombie Joker).

 

[goldenarms]

Then a gunshot stops the Joker monologue (because he is of course being Jokerish) and he falls down from a headshot, a few reaction panels and they show the gunner, a small kid (3-4 years old) with a gun at his feet. The kid doesn't even understand he just killed the Joker, he/she just saw in the TV how guns "make bad people go away".

I think it would work even better if it's because he learned from the Joker himself how shooting a guy in the head while he's talking equals funny. Not that he gets it; he's just imitating him all the way, including the laugh.

 

[Prince Charon]

Beaten to death with a crowbar, by some poor mentally impaired person who along with not being particularly smart, doesn't really get humour.

Jason Todd laughs about it enough for both of them.

 

[Contrabardus]

I like the way Arkham City did it. It was his own fault and Batman would have saved him.

I'd probably try something similar if I was writing it. Something where some element is needed to save them both, Batman manages to save himself, but the Joker screws up when he's trying to save himself alone and ends up dying because of it. I really like that last line Batman had in the game about how he would have saved him. It was very fitting.

I don't see Joker as the type to plan his own death out. He's too egotistical and self centered for that. Faking his death that way for sure, but not really doing it. What I do see is him planning for after his death and leaving some last laugh plan that goes into effect in the event of his death.

Honestly, I see Joker's contingency plan being something that seems like it could destroy the whole city, but in reality it's something completely non-lethal, just to fuck with Batman one last time. Threats and traps lead to a chemical bomb that is really just an empty shell that opens up when disarmed to reveal a scrapbook and some odd items inside along with a message for Batman. Something like "Fooled You! Ha Ha Ha!" along with a thank you note written in crayon for Batman wishing him well and thanking him for keeping things interesting and how boring his life is going to be without him. It would be especially good if he adds that he's known he was Bruce Wayne for years and just never cared about that personality. He wanted the Bat and not that boring guy to be his nemesis.

That's how I see Joker's last hurrah.

I could even see it getting a laugh out of Batman, or at least a smirk.

 

[akun50]

I kind of envision something different entirely:
The Joker's already died. He's died several times. No, no immortality or resurrections. He's dead.

He's been replaced, many times in fact, by new people calling themselves "The Joker".

This is why the Joker doesn't actually have a set name. You can call Poison Ivy "Pamela". You can call Two-Face "Harvey". The Joker? Whoever replaces him doesn't give a shit who they'd been before. They don't acknowledge that identity anymore. They're "The Joker" now.

This would explain all of the Joker's redesigns, the various tactics and skills, why he seems to have different "moral codes" about what he will and won't do, who they work with, whether Harley and the Joker Gang are with them, etc. (the Joker Gang might even require these new "Jokers" to prove themselves before they'll hench for the newest one)

It also explains why he's so damn dangerous. Every single one is literally a different ball of "what the fuck"ery.

How it happens is a bit of mental tangle. I envision something along the lines of Rorschach's diary, only it's not an entire diary and not everyone is affected by it. I figure the person has to be equal parts genius and borderline insane.

But here would be the twist: A vast majority of people in Gotham, and even the world, don't know the current one isn't the original. In fact, through a strange twist of fate, only select major villains and Batman know it's not the same person.

I think it would be hilarious if Lex Luthor, who has worked with the Joker a number of times, doesn't know he's worked with a different Joker every single time.

 

[Contrabardus]

I kind of envision something different entirely:
The Joker's already died. He's died several times. No, no immortality or resurrections. He's dead.

He's been replaced, many times in fact, by new people calling themselves "The Joker".

This is why the Joker doesn't actually have a set name. You can call Poison Ivy "Pamela". You can call Two-Face "Harvey". The Joker? Whoever replaces him doesn't give a shit who they'd been before. They don't acknowledge that identity anymore. They're "The Joker" now.

This would explain all of the Joker's redesigns, the various tactics and skills, why he seems to have different "moral codes" about what he will and won't do, who they work with, whether Harley and the Joker Gang are with them, etc. (the Joker Gang might even require these new "Jokers" to prove themselves before they'll hench for the newest one)

It also explains why he's so damn dangerous. Every single one is literally a different ball of "what the fuck"ery.

How it happens is a bit of mental tangle. I envision something along the lines of Rorschach's diary, only it's not an entire diary and not everyone is affected by it. I figure the person has to be equal parts genius and borderline insane.

But here would be the twist: A vast majority of people in Gotham, and even the world, don't know the current one isn't the original. In fact, through a strange twist of fate, only select major villains and Batman know it's not the same person.

I think it would be hilarious if Lex Luthor, who has worked with the Joker a number of times, doesn't know he's worked with a different Joker every single time.

Some form of possession maybe? Kind of like how Jason worked in Jason Goes to Hell?

An infection of some sort that goes from one person to the next when a body dies and retains some of their personality when it happens. Some are better able to resist it than others, which explains the more 'moral' Jokers.

It gets into you and then you go put a smile on and that's that.

I could see that honestly. It could also work to warp the former Joker's identity so he always seems like the same guy to everyone else.

 

[goldenarms]

I kind of envision something different entirely:
The Joker's already died. He's died several times. No, no immortality or resurrections. He's dead.

He's been replaced, many times in fact, by new people calling themselves "The Joker".

This is why the Joker doesn't actually have a set name. You can call Poison Ivy "Pamela". You can call Two-Face "Harvey". The Joker? Whoever replaces him doesn't give a shit who they'd been before. They don't acknowledge that identity anymore. They're "The Joker" now.

This would explain all of the Joker's redesigns, the various tactics and skills, why he seems to have different "moral codes" about what he will and won't do, who they work with, whether Harley and the Joker Gang are with them, etc. (the Joker Gang might even require these new "Jokers" to prove themselves before they'll hench for the newest one)

It also explains why he's so damn dangerous. Every single one is literally a different ball of "what the fuck"ery.

How it happens is a bit of mental tangle. I envision something along the lines of Rorschach's diary, only it's not an entire diary and not everyone is affected by it. I figure the person has to be equal parts genius and borderline insane.

But here would be the twist: A vast majority of people in Gotham, and even the world, don't know the current one isn't the original. In fact, through a strange twist of fate, only select major villains and Batman know it's not the same person.

I think it would be hilarious if Lex Luthor, who has worked with the Joker a number of times, doesn't know he's worked with a different Joker every single time.

Some form of possession maybe? Kind of like how Jason worked in Jason Goes to Hell?

An infection of some sort that goes from one person to the next when a body dies and retains some of their personality when it happens. Some are better able to resist it than others, which explains the more 'moral' Jokers.

It gets into you and then you go put a smile on and that's that.

I could see that honestly. It could also work to warp the former Joker's identity so he always seems like the same guy to everyone else.

Would totally explain his inability to actually die when he should, despite falling down a smokestack and the like -- he did; but the wandering spirit possessed another body and re-created himself.