Throughout his existence, the Joker has managed to make several people's lives miserable.
I don't have room or time to list them all here, although I will try to add more as time goes on.
For the moment, however, I bring you a list of some of the more prominent citizens of Gotham
who's lives have irrevocably changed by the Joker. I haven't listed Batman because it would
take a gigabyte to list all the ways the Joker's messed with his head.
Barbara Gordon - Batgirl I
The Joker had broken out of Arkham by putting a decoy in his place, which gave him much time to set up things, including buying a run down carnival. The Joker made his way over to the Gordon's home, after knocking on the door, he was "welcomed" in by Barbara Gordon, who Joker shot in the waist. The Joker's thugs manhandled Commissioner Gordon, forcing him to watch as The Joker undressed his daughter and take pictures of her broken, bleeding body, laying helpless on the floor. The gunshot ended up leaving Barbara Gordon handicapped and unable to continue her work as Batgirl.
Dick Grayson/ Robin I/ Nightwing
The first Robin and Batman were pursuing the Joker after his escape
from Arkham. They eventually cornered him on a rooftop and prepared to
bring him in. The Joker pulled a gun and shot Robin through the upper
right arm before either hero could react. While the wound was not all that serious, it
made Batman question the wisdom of putting Dick in dangerous situaltions as his sidekick. He
resolved his dilemma by telling Dick he could no longer be Robin. Dick was
devestated and left on a sort of journey of self discovery. After a stint
as leader of the Teen Titans, he eventually became Nightwing.
While he and Bruce have managed to patch things up, there is still tension
between them. Who knows what road Dick's life might have taken had the Joker
not made his mortality painfully clear.
Jason Todd/ Robin II
This one takes a little more explaining. It takes place in various thrid world countries where the Joker is planning to sell a cruise missile to a militaristic Arab faction and Jason Todd is looking for the mother he never knew. Being impulsive, Jason had ran off without Batman
and gotten himself in a load of trouble. After eliminating three other women as possibilities, Jason finally found his mother in Ethiopia. Problem was, she was connected with the Joker, against her will of course. While the Joker was her enemy, she immediately turned her son over to him out
of fear. Joker had the time of his life beating the crap out of Jason and finally locking him in a room with a bomb and his mother. With no way out and death inevitable, Jason attempted to die nobly, throwing himself on the bomb to shield his mother. Batman arrives to find them both dead.
Our friend the Joker however was in much better shape. After meeting with the Ayatollah, the Joker is given full diplomatic immunity (why they made an insane clown a diplomat we'll never know). It is only after his attempt to kill the entire UN with Joker-Gas is defeated by Superman that Batman is
allowed to lay a hand on him. Bats was shot in the arm and the Joker in the head, but as the saying goes-"No one EVER dies in a comic book" Unfortunatly, that statement did not apply to Jason Todd.
Truthfully, it was not the Joker who killed Robin, but the fans themselves. The issue containing his death could have gone either way. The issue before was a cliffhanger and gave fans a special number to call to cast their vote. The question- "Should Jason Todd live or die?" By the narrowest
of margins, the fans of Batman decided to get rid of his whiny sidekick and move on. And so the Joker was given the priveledge of causing his nemesis a great deal of grief.
Commisioner James Gordon
The Gotham City Police Commisioner was having a pleasant evening with his
daughter when the Joker came in a put a hole in her. After allowing Gordon to
get a good look at his daughter lying on the floor, bleeding, the Joker and
his gang hauled him off to an abandoned amusement park. After stripping him
of his dignity (along with his clothing), the Joker took him on a special ride.
The ride through the funhouse consisted of various pictures of a naked, bleeding Barbara
and an inane song of the Joker's. The point of this exercise was to drive Gordon crazy
proving to the world that "ordinary people" and the Joker were not all that
different. The plan failed. When the Batman rescued Gordon, the commisioner
ordered that he bring in the Joker by the book, "to show him that our way works"
The Caped Crusader obliged. This incident is one of the many example of how
the Joker has made Jim's life a trial.
Marilyn Chute
One of The Joker's psychiatrists that worked with him in Arkham was the second in his string of audio killings. Marilyn Chute always bathed with her poodle. Her dissolved flesh were found mixed along with her poodles were found one morning along with a capsule of The Joker's toxin in the showerhead. Clues to her execution were in The Joker's first tape sent to Gotham Police but they failed to pick up on them.
Jack Bean
A court recorder in on of The Joker's trials, was the 3rd target, and the last one he would get to in his string of melting executions. Batman was able to conclude that he was a target of The Joker's from clues he had left on the second tape sent to Gotham Police, mocking the for not being able to pick on the Marilyn Chute clues and not being able to prevent her death. The Police and Batman rushed to Jack Bean's apartment to prevent him from any harm. Batman defused a bomb that was in Jack's bedside alarm clock, when Jacks phone rang. Jack’s face was melted off when picking it up a jet of water sprayed out of the receiver mixed with The Joker's toxins. His body lay twitching on the floor with the melted remains of his head near by.
ALIGN="CENTER">Colin Whittier
A young artist located in Gotham City whose paintings were renowned and viewed by many in a popular art gallery. The Joker, an artist himself ripped down Whittier's paintings, starting a bonfire with them in the middle of the gallery, replacing the missing works with his own. Whittier enraged by this, ripped down The Joker's painting in order to get even, but days later he was found in the art gallery incased in a frame, nailed to a wall with green paint poured down his throat, suffocating him. Next to him on the wall was written. "Colin Whittier, Rip, An artist who really threw himself into his work.
ALIGN="CENTER">Dr. Harold Lewis
One of The Joker's more complicated victim stories, Harold Lewis was a new psychiatrists assigned to Arkham and The Joker. Unhappy with his new psychiatrist, The Joker was rather uncooperative at first, but soon started to take a liking to Dr. Lewis. First replacing his old beat up car with a new Mercedes 560 SEL. Dr. Lewis refused to accept a stolen car but The Joker would not have it replaced. Soon The Joker started prying into Dr. Lewis' private life by leaving roses, a proposal and a ring at Dr. Lewis' home for his girlfriend Dina to find. Unable to tell Dina what had really happened because he knew it would break her heart, he was painted into a corner. Knowing that The Joker had gone to far, Dr. Lewis opted for a pre-frontal lobotomy and it was approved. Upon arriving home one night, Dr. Lewis found an original Colin Whittier painting in his living room, an engagement gift from The Joker. The Joker promised more on his wedding day. All other the original Whittier paintings. The Joker had them stored away in a where house and was offering them all to Dr. Lewis, for it turns out that The Joker did not burn all of Colin Whittier's original paintings, just copies were destroyed. Dr. Lewis couldn't refuse original Colin Whittier paintings so he asked that The Joker's lobotomy be moved to a later date...after his wedding. Much to the regret of Dr. Lewis, it was not moved. Desperate, the Doctor moved his wedding date forward. In one of The Joker and Dr. Lewis' sessions, the Joker forcefully injected one of his serums into Dr. Lewis rendering him unconscious. Upon waking, his movement and speech were disabled and he found his face worked on to where it was identical to The Joker's and the Joker's face now looked like the Doctor's. Two guards came in and wheeled out Dr. Lewis thinking he was The Joker and his frontal lobe was in turn removed while The Joker strode out the front door of Arkham.
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ALIGN="CENTER">Judge Hadley
The Joker sent an audio tape to the Gotham Police department, telling how he planned to Gordon, then Batman, but only after he killed 3 before them. The first he killed in this series was Judge Hadley, one of the judges that ruled The Joker insane and sent him to Arkham. Joker place a small capsule in the Judge's pool that released toxins that when mixed with water, dissolved flesh. Judge Haley always took a short dip in his pool before going to bed, but he didn't get out his last night alive, puddles of his skin and his swimming trunks were found floating around in his pool the next morning.
ALIGN="CENTER">Sarah Esson-Gordon
It was Christmas Eve and No Man's Land (if you don't what No Man's Land is, you need to do some reading) was coming to a close. The Joker of course, had to end it in his own special way, by kidnapping all of the babies in Gotham and informing Batman and company he was going to blow them up. Batman, along with police couldn't find any trace of The Joker but continued searching. In need of supplies, Sarah Essen headed back to the Police station to stock up when she heard the sound of babies crying coming from the basement. Gun drawn, she proceeded down to find The Joker comforting a crying child, along with many other children scurrying around, playing, totally oblivious of what was going on. Sarah approached The Joker, telling him to release all of the children. The Joker slowly approached Sarah, ignoring her orders. He then dropped the baby he was holding. Sarah dropped her gun and went to her knees to catch it. The Joker then pushed a gun to her temple, whished her a merry Christmas as pulled the trigger.
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ALIGN="CENTER">Harley Quinn
While some people may contest my calling Harley a victim, they should
remember that were it not for the Joker, her life would be very different right now.
Harlene Quinzelle was a competent psychiatrist working in Arkham Asylum. After working there a
brief time, she discovered a particularily fascinating patient. The Joker, realizing the
interest he held for Harlene began to manipulate her into seeing him as a victim of circumstances.
After a few months, Harlene felt only compassion for the maniac under her supervision.
The next time the Joker escaped(notice how all these stories involve the Joker escaping from Arkham),
Batman returned him in such condition as to infuriate Harley. This is what snapped her mind and
led her to break the Joker out of Arkham as his sidekick, Harley Quinn.
The Joker Profile?
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I can be contacted at batcomputer@50g.com