| The Joker is a super villain of Universe DC Comics, the main enemy of Batman.
The original history of the comics:
In the comics: the murderer of the parents of Robin and partner of Batman. In the comic “Going Sane”, his present name and surname, merge to which the nickname - Joseph Kerr is mentioned. According to this nickname, he operates in the style of a clown. Joseph falls into acid and receives a white skin with black shades and green hair and he always has a grin on his face. He wears a violet suit and fights with the help of various facilities, which are stylized under the requisite of the clown and illusionist. He has a partner – girlfriend Harley Quinn, dressed in a clown’s suit.
The Joker in films:
* Batman (film, 1966) (film and serial) – Cesar Romero;
* Batman (1989) – Jack Nicholson;
* The Dark Knight (2008) – Heath Ledger
The Joker first appeared in a TV series in the 1960’s, where he was somewhat changed with respect to his appearance: now, he has light green hair, combed into a ball and the corners of his mouth are extended using lipstick instead of a hardened grin. He wears a dark-pink suit and violet colored gloves. In movies, the Joker looks more like a clown than a villain. Also, he functions very poorly, only following the instructions of the Penguin. After that, the Jjoker appeared for a long time only in cartoon films and comics.
In 1989, the Joker returned in Tim Burton's film “Batman”, portrayed by Jack Nicholson. In this film, he got the name of Jack Napier, ex-right hand of criminal boss Carl Grissom. Jack falls into a vat of chemical waste in a chemical factory and his face is disfigured due to unsuccessful plastic surgery: he always had a grin on face. Robin’s character is not shown in the film and Batman recollects how the Joker killed Bruce Wayne's parents when Bruce was still a small kid. His traditional appearance was retained: green hair, white face, red lips, expensive violet suit, violet gloves and a constant grin. This is how they tried to keep the grin: An artificial lip and cheek with a “grin” were put on as make up for Jack Nicholson. In the end of the film, the Joker was killed by Batman though much more mileage was given to Joker than Batman. According to the plot, Harley Quinn was killed by the Joker (though she was refused a clown’s suit and nickname).
In the 21st century, the Joker appeared in a new cartoon serial and he became a vampire (as the other super villains) in the cartoon film “The Batman vs Dracula”.
In “The Dark Knight”, the Joker (Heath Ledger) once again does not have a name (also, he does not leave evidence and it is impossible to learn about his past life). His appearance is traditional but with some changes: The Joker had light green curly hair, black outlines around his eyes (taken from comics), a dirty violet suit, dark violet gloves and a white face. Two scars, cut in his mouth, have become his constant grin. During the entire film, the Joker gives two versions of their occurrence: the humiliation of his father and miserable family life but the true reason is not told. The stories are accompanied by the phrase “Why so serious?”, which became the tagline of the film. Falling into chemical waste is not adopted in this film - the white face of the Joker and inaccurately imposed make-up gets wiped during the course of the film. The knife is the favorite weapon of the new Joker: in his opinion, knives provide the closest victim’s contact. Dynamite and gasoline are also distinctive features of this villain. In the ending, the Joker does not die which makes the film a prequel. Heath himself closed himself in his living room for a month devised the image of the Joker. He did not want his Joker similar to Jack Nicholson's Joker. Heath’s joker was egoistic, with unsurpassed mimicry, with an eternal grin in the form of scars, with the wonderful intonations of a psychopath. In this film, the Joker shows all morals of society. Not the Batman, but the Joker protects the citizens of the city. The Joker of Heath Ledger delivers sense and philosophy of people to us as Harvey Dent and also societies. The Joker submerges the city into anarchy and leads a clever game.
The tragic death of Heath Ledger raised two acute issues during the film release: whether to show the recently passed Heath Ledger in an image of the spoilt Joker saying the master phrase and also the appropriateness of cutting the scene, where the Joker pretends to be dead, during final editing of film. The situation was resolved, justified that Heath Ledger worked very hard for the role and in any case, would have been proud and glad for it.
Other appearances:
Besides Batman, the Joker was a member of other Universes. In one of the episodes of the serial “Superman”, the Joker was a partner of Lex Luthor. Batman was also present in the serial as an ally of Superman and also his new beloved Lois Lane.
Also the Joker was in one of the serials about Scooby-Doo. The Penguin was mentioned in the serial with whom the Joker gets united. Batman and Robin were also there, as new friends of Corporation Secrets.
The Joker is also found in the game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. In its ending, it is said that after the division of worlds, the Joker became much stronger. He occupied Gotham City and declared himself mayor. Now, he begins a tournament the “Deadly Fight” in Gotham City, the participants of which shall fight until death for the entertainment sake of the Joker. Eventually the winner of the tournament will fight with Joker. |
Los Angeles woke up to a big surprise today - unidentified groups of people have posted a massive number of posters on LA streets featuring President Barack Obama as Heath Ledger's "Joker" character from the Dark Knight.
The caption under the posters says "Socialist".
The authors and distributors of the poster are not known, but rumor has it these posters will soon appear in other cities across the USA. Obama Joker posters have outraged many Obama supporters, who demand the destruction of all posters, as well as prosecution of the people who create and distribute these posters.
Supposedly the posters are made by the groups of people who are angry with the President and his latest universal health care plan.
