LGBTQA Week: The Joker

[cyberghostface]

This isn't something that has been explicitly made canon (yet) but as far back as in 1973 he was deliberately depicted as being gay.

From Andrew Manning’s The Batman Files:



There are numerous examples from the comics although Tom King explored it in a serious fashion in Batman #49.





More recently in the Telltale game the writers wrote Joker as being bisexual:

Watch on YouTube

The Lego Batman Movie also deliberately played up the angle of Batman and Joker being in a relationship with Batman being afraid to "commit".

Watch on YouTube

 

Comments

[alicemacher]

Most eye-opening. Here I thought it was Miller, in The Dark Knight Returns, who introduced the portrayal of Joker as gay. And rather camp gay at that, with his calling Batman "darling" (when he snaps out of his ten-year catatonia upon learning of Bats's return), "my sweet" and such. Not to mention putting on lipstick (granted, it's variously mind-controlling, or lethally poisonous, lipstick, but still). But apparently Adams got there first.

[icon_uk]

Given the Joker's homicidal insanity should really be his overriding psychological feature I'm never sure I see his sexuality as particualrly relevant.

No relationship he enters into is going to be based on the concept of mutual attraction because his comprehension of that HAS to be skewed by his complete and utter disregard for everyone else's life.

See the discussion Pied Piper has with Wally about that, even back in 1993



Plus I think it's being over the top for Adams to claim he had the Joker as gay per se, he made him flamboyant with some vague "scary homo" undertones (Via that old favourite, the infamously non-specific and easily deniable "veiled references"), which is perhaps as close to an acceptable perception of gay as a 70's Batman comic would allow. But it certainly wasn't representation.

Which perhaps fits better into Morrison's take that the Joker's sexuality is pretty much entirely perfromative and based on "Whatever will cause the person to freak out the most", so if someone is disturbed by the idea of the Joker being gay then he'll amp up the gayness just for fun.

[kurenai_tenka]

I didn't play the Telltale game (maybe I should?) but re: that one... I've never once felt that he had genuine feelings for Harley? She seems to be more like a prop to his capers, imo.

Not to say that that's the case in the Telltale game, but generally.


In terms of sexuality though, I think he's so fixated of Batman (Bruce ver) exclusively, that giving him any kind of general sexuality is too broad. The only person he's attracted to (in... whatever capacity that is) is a man, so saying that he's gay is fine, but I also don't see him as being attracted to any other men (or women, for that matter).

[cyberghostface]

The Telltale games are great. Easily one of my favorite AUs.

The Joker/Harley dynamic is very different. Joker is “John Doe” and Harley Quinn is the ringleader. So it’s a reversal of their usual relationship where he’s in love with her and she’s abusive and manipulative.

Here’s a clip:

https://youtu.be/frQO_k3906s

[kurenai_tenka]

Thanks for the link! You've sold me, I've just added it to my Amazon wishlist. :)

The idea of a reversal with Joker and Harley is very interesting too. Joker seems a lot more... normal in this version? So I can see him being able to form an actual bond with Harley, moreso than in regular canon. I also loved the little pause when Bruce asked if he was in love with him, like he hadn't considered that before and had just started to.

[cyberghostface]

Just to clarify there are two Telltale games, this is from the sequel. They’re both worth playing though.

[kurenai_tenka]

Dw, I know. :) From what I know the whole John Doe thing is a spoiler too, so I'm just going to 'lalalalala' my way through that part of the first one!

[cyberghostface]

I won’t say anything else on it but it’s not really a spoiler. He has a small role in the first game but he’s just there for fans to say “hey it’s the Joker” as opposed to it being integral to the plot.