Sudden thought.

[gridlore]

The Joker is one of the most enduring villains in comics, hjaving plagued the DC universe since 1940. I was suddenly hit with an idea while reading something else.

One thing about the Joker is that he is not buff. Indeed, most portrayals have him being thin unto being cadaverous; yet he has survived multiple bouts of hand to hand combat with the Batman with no long term injuries, and has even fought actual metahumans (including Superman) and not only survived but shown no long term effects. He's also insane. The Joker's schemes run from the silly to the deadly, and he himself is shown as not knowing much about his past.

I have a theory. The vat of chemicals that bleached the Joker's skin also gave him a healing factor that makes Wolverine look like a piker. The Joker's body is constantly rebuilding itself.. including his brain. Normal people have fairly stable brain structures, with new connections being made only when necessary. The Joker is constantly rebuilding, which results in muddled memories and a short-circuited decision making process. The one thing that does stick in his head is that he wasn't always this way and Batman is to blame.

The Joker may well be immortal. Short of actually blowing him up or burning the body in a crematoria, he'll heal and come back to Gotham time after time (indeed, at times he may not remember there is anything outside of Gotham.)

So, what happens when Batman retires/dies? Let's ignore comic time-shifting for a minute. If Batman got his start in the late 30s, he's crime fighting career would have been over by 1960 at the latest. One would assume that Robin would take over the mantle, but after that? The Joker needs a focus, he needs someone to blame. So he'd pick another hero who was superficially like Batman and make him his archenemy. In time, the Joker would even come to truly believe that the new hero was the original one who pitched him into that vat.

I like this idea. It gives a nice tinge of horror to the character.

Comments

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

I've heard similar suggested before (not to diminish your inspiration), in an attempt to account for the character's (on a meta-level, purely fan and market-driven) longevity. One particularly nasty variant, which also accounts for his arch-foe's refusal to deal with him permanently: he possesses and eventually transforms his killer.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I read this one to Lisa (she and I are in Sparks for the weekend), and she applauded and said, "Very well thought out!" I agree.