Jokers Comparision

Sebastian Rodriguez
Professor Mallan
ENC 1101
17 March 2016
America’s Favorite Joker
The first time the Joker appeared was in Batman #1 in 1940. He was first portrayed as a sociopath who murder for his entertainment. Later on his character grew on to be a goofy sociopathic killer. Today, he is rated as number one villain of all time. Audiences have grown to like the Joker for his psychotic personality and his strategic plots towards the city of Gotham. Even though he has been portrayed in many television series and in movies, he was best portrayed in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008). By analyzing both these movies, one can see how each director had their own version of the Joker, but still kept him as the best villain for Batman. The Joker in Batman (1989) and in The Dark Knight (2008) shows differences in his origin and his mannerisms, but they also show similarity in his usage with the media.
In both Batman (1989) and The Dark Knight, the Joker’s origin has played a big part in the movies. In Batman (1989), The Joker’s identity was revealed to be Jack Napier.   Jack as a young man has known to be violent and emotionally unstable. Jack joined the mafia and climbed his way up the ranks to become a consigliere for Carl Grissom (the mob boss).   After becoming the consigliere, he then has an affair with Grissom’s girlfriend. After Carl finds out of his betrayal, he then sets a plan up to get Jack killed by a corrupted cop. He sends Jack to the plant with the task of stealing incriminating documents. Grissom plan turned for the worst when Jack found out that he was being set up and kills the cop. Batman then shows up behind Jack to try to stop him, but Jack fires another shot at batman that ricochets and hits Jack instead. After panicking, He then trips over the rail and falls into the chemical waste. After surviving the fall, he washes up into Gotham’s harbor severally changed. The chemical waste had altered his hair...