DC Just Dropped The Joker's Twisted New Origin Story, And It's His Darkest Yet

Since his debut in 1940, the Joker has become one of the most recognizable comic book characters of all time. He is also one of the most reimagined fictional figures around, with just about every artist — be they comic book creators or movie makers — putting their own spin on the character. Some of those reimaginings, like Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix's takes, have been smashing successes, while others, like Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix's second time at bat, have been massive disappointments. But, through good and bad, the Clown Prince of Crime continues to be a fan favorite.

Now the latest animated version has made his debut in the second season of Batman: Caped Crusader, and it has been met with rave reviews, with extra attention on Joker. This Joker doesn't smile. He doesn't crack wise. He is just a pure threat, both determined and unsettlingly calm in his machinations. And there's an element added to this Joker that hasn't been seen before: he doesn't appear to be a mysterious figure from Gotham, but a figure from another land. And with this, it seems that Batman: Caped Crusader has built a Joker who has his origins directly connected to a very dark period of human history.

Batman: Caped Crusader's Joker's Actions And Accent Hint At A Very Different Villain

Batman: Caped Crusader takes its time revealing its Joker. First seen, albeit briefly, at the end of the first season, Joker spends most of the second season working in the background, usually showing up at the end of an episode to throw a monkey wrench into the plans of other Batman foes. He kills Rupert Thorne and, it seems, Thorne's son, in the first episode of the second season, then shows up again to kill Hugo Strange in the next episode.

From there, Joker kills a billionaire in "Devil's Due" and finally kicks his plan into gear at the end of "Her Dark Reflection," taking over Thorne's gang which itself had been taken over by Riddler before his own demise. In "Zero Hour," the cold, calculating villain pops in to take out the equally cold Mister Zero before he could spill the beans to Batman. And then, in the final two episodes of the season, Joker puts his plan into action, releasing his Joker gas, mixed with some of Strange's own monster creation concoction, on the population of Gotham, turning people into rampaging cannibalistic giants with freakish grins.

Joker then confronts Batman, looking to teach the Dark Knight a lesson and, as it usually goes to him, ends up losing and possibly dying as he steps off the top of a building and vanishes in the smoke below.

This Joker has no time for jokes, though he describes his view of the world as being a joke on everyone. But he does have the anarchistic quality that is often tied to Joker and, adding to it, he has a noticeably German accent. That accent, and the time period that Caped Crusader is set in, suggests that this Joker's origins are darker than any version of the character to come before him.

Is Caped Crusader's Joker A Remnant Of World War I?

The First World War is famous for quite a few things, not least of which was the use of poison gases to try and destroy armies. Mustard gas, which was the most commonly used chemical agent during the war, burned everyone it came into contact with from the outside, starting with horrible blisters before infecting the lungs and literally causing the victims to choke to death as their lungs filled with blood.

This method of death was first used by the Germans during the war, but the allied nations weren't afraid to use it as well and, in time, it became a pretty big problem. After the war ended, everyone agreed that chemical warfare was a big no-no and using such devices was banned via the Geneca Protocol. But the people who were tasked were still out there, and it seems like in Caped Crusader, which is set in the 1930s, Joker may have been a German scientist who was experimenting with other deadly gasses before the war ended, then continued to work on his creations for his own use afterward.

It seems all too plausible that this Joker's stark white skin and bright red lips may have been caused by an accident in his lab when he was creating his Joker gas. More to it, his nihilistic mindset may come from his fatherland losing the war and falling into economic collapse, which was a major issue in Germany following the war, leading to the rise of the Nazis. While this Joker set his sights on Gotham and Batman, his rage is clearly focused on a more global scale, and his actions are not far off from what Germany's leaders were looking to accomplish with World War II.

All of this would make Caped Crusader's Joker a truly dark and terrifying figure, one who is representing an encroaching reality that not even Batman can stop. One that would see the world torn asunder, leaving millions dead and causing ripples through the rest of time. And that is a level of horror that no other version of Joker has ever come close to reaching.