By Dashiel Reaves Published 1 day ago
Batman has been plagued over the years by the mystery of who, exactly, the Joker is, and that question just got a horrifying new answer.
Warning! Contains spoilers for Batman: City of Madness #3!
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Summary
- DC reveals a new dark origin for the Joker of Batman: City of Madness as an Eldritch monster tied to Arkham.
- The compelling aspect of the Joker's multiple origins adds to his cosmic horror appeal.
- The Joker, as an Eldritch horror, will continue to haunt Gotham across multiple universes.
The biggest mystery in the DC Universe just got its darkest answer, with a new version of the Joker's origin finally being revealed. Batman has spent decades trying to solve the mystery of the Joker's origins, and while he's still looking for the answer, DC has finally clued fans into where the Clown Prince of Crime truly came from & at least in one dark alternate-universe.
In Batman: City of Madness #3 by Christian Ward and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Batman has to solve the mystery of a C'thulu version of himself called the Batman Below. While Batman traces the origins of the Batman Below to the son of Amadeus Arkham, the true reveal explains the origins of the Joker as well.
To cure his son, Arthur, after the death of his mother and sister, Amadeus ends up making a deal with an Eldritch being. As with most Eldritch deals, this creature tricks Amadeus, dragging Arthur down into the Gotham Below. Amadeus isn't alerted to this, and the Eldritch being instead leaves a copy of Arthur with Amadeus & who is revealed to have grown up to become the Joker.
DC's New Joker Has Terrifying Ties to Arkham
The Joker's origin is something DC has played with a lot over the years. His very first origin had him as a criminal who fell into a vat of acid to escape Batman, but then DC had a period where the publisher was adamant that the mysterious villain had no origin at all. The Joker has been a failed comedian, a criminal mastermind who was inspired by the Waynes' deaths, and a creation by an evil speedster from another universe. Now DC has given a new multiversal version of the Joker his darkest origin yet as an Eldritch monster, and it actually makes perfect sense.
The unknowable chaos of his origin is part of what makes the Joker so compelling, as he has multiple origins that often contradict one another. The appeal of cosmic horror is the fear of the unknowable, that there's something out there that is malicious for reasons that will never be understood & or worse, that the reasons will drive someone mad. The Joker's status in this universe as a cosmic monster plays perfectly not just into his unknowable origins, but also into stories like The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, in which the Joker tries to force someone to understand his motivations in order to drive them insane.
The Joker Will Haunt Gotham in Every Universe
Gotham is a pretty terrifying place: full of vicious criminals and one of the most corrupt police forces on the planet, it's also often attacked by terrorists like Bane or Scarecrow. Despite all of that, the scariest part of Gotham City has always been the Joker. During Batman: Endgame by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, the Joker tried to fool people into thinking he was some ancient evil that was here before Gotham was made. While the Joker hasn't been around that long, there's no denying that the Joker is an eldritch horror haunting Gotham.
Batman: City of Madness #3 is available now from DC Comics!
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