The Joker #5

[cyberghostface]

Comments

[crinos]

Its weird seeing Joker fighting the Royal Flush gang, since a lot of later media attributed him as the gangs founder (JLU, Superfriends)

[beyondthefringe]

There have been a lot of iterations of the Royal Flush Gang... some less successful than others. So in a sense, they've had lots of founders? :)

[mastermahan]

It's not surprising there's been so many Royal Flush Gangs, really. They don't usually have much in the way of character (the Batman Beyond version being the big exception), but those character designs are just too good to not reuse.

I suppose Marvel's equivalent would be Zodiac?

[mazway_75]

I do remember in Infinity Crisis, he takes them all out in a casino as he's ticked he wasn't invited to join the big villain army.

Jack: "Everyone knows the Joker's too wild..." Laughs until Joker fries him with hand buzzer.

Joker: "That's not funny...."

[crinos]

And then of course at the end of Infinity Crisis we get the ultimate payoff.

Luthor: You made one fatal mistake.... You didn't let the Joker play.

*Joker proceeds to kill Alexander Luthor*

[mastermahan]

One of the most interesting parts of Underworld Unleashed happens when Neron assembles his own team of villains: Luthor, Joker, Kadabra, Circe, and Dr. Polaris. Lex and Joker *immediately* plot to get rid of the others, and even high five when it works.

I like the idea that Lex and Joker have a friendship based on being fellow obsessed geniuses.

[crinos]

I am also reminded of the Injustice Unlimited arc, which mirrors the OYL Justice League arc where Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are looking over photos on a table to decide who should be in the new league, only its Lex, Joker and Cheetah trying to decide who should be in their Injustice league.

Luthor: How about Dr. Light?
Cheetah: He's a rapist and a murderer
Joker: I like him he's Sunny

(Also, apparently the Justice League wedding special isn't up on DC Universe yet, which is kind of a glaring omission since it kicks off the Injustice League Unlimited arc).

[mazway_75]

I do remember Cheetah down on him and Luthor going "If we're limiting our choices to people of good character...."

Morrison had a fun line where Luthor talks of Joker as "Horribly disturbed and yet strangely compelling company."

Of course, real reason Lex invites him along is because it's better to have the Joker around to keep an eye on him rather than have him feel slighted and then go after you because his ego was hurt.

[crinos]

And of course then it turns out Cheetah only relented because she was planning on gutting Light the second they were alone together.

Really that entire arc was like a counterpoint to identity crisis. At one point Black Canary was like "What, I'm supposed to feel bad for what I did to you Light? After what you did to Sue Dibny you should be grateful we didn't just fucking kill you."

[mazway_75]

That was always the problem, trying to make Light more of a threat that way. Problem is, no one respects a rapist as they're on the bottom rung of prisons.

[crinos]

Yeah, it pretty much ruined the character forever. Because I don't think he's been used in anything since the new 52. Like at all. Because why would they? They can't even use him as a villain team seat filler or as a second rate jabroney to slap around because he's got.... that hanging over him.

I would say Wally West is in the same boat now after heroes in Crisis, but luckily good guys tend to have a better track record of bouncing back from shitty stories like this.