Joker (comics)

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Powers and abilities

The Joker's powers are his countless "comedic" weapons (such as razor sharp playing cards, acid-spewing flowers, and lethally electric joy buzzers) and Joker venom, a deadly poison that infects his victims with a ghoulish rictus grin as they die while laughing uncontrollably (although some versions cause immediate death, without the painful laugh spasms beforehand.) This venom comes in many forms, from gas to darts to liquid poison, and has been his primary calling card from 1940 till the present. In the 1989 movie, it was dubbed "Smilex." The Joker is also very skilled in the field of chemistry and is a good hand-to-hand combatant.

Related Topics:
Joker venom - Chemistry

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Some stories have speculated that the Joker's insanity may be a super power in and of itself. It is often implied that the Joker was transformed bothe physically and mentally by the accident which bleached his skin, much like a traditional superhero origin. goes so far as to imply that exposing others to the same process will grant them Joker-like "powers"; specifically, this occurs in the episode "Beware the Creeper", which created a new version of the DC Comics character The Creeper. In Elseworlds: Distant Fires, the Joker is rendered sane by the nuclear war which deprives all super beings of their powers. In , a psychiatrist suggests that the Joker's mental condition is an instance of "super-sanity," a unique form of extra sensory perception. It has occaisonally been implied that the Joker's perception extends beyond the limits endured by the merely sane, up to and including awareness of being a comic-book character. In its short run, Amalgam Comics had super beings from Marvel Comics and DC Comics appearing in each other's universes, much confused and unrecognized by the native population. However, upon encountering the Marvel character Spider-Man in Gotham the Joker spoke in familiar terms and even commented on Spider-Man's costume change, an oblique reference to an older cross-over tale which had subsequently been retcon-ed out of existence.

Related Topics:
Insanity - DC Comics - The Creeper - Sane - Nuclear war - Extra sensory perception - Amalgam Comics - Marvel Comics - Spider-Man - Retcon

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During the "Knightfall" saga, Scarecrow and Joker team up and kidnap the mayor of Gotham. After Batman rescues him, Scarecrow turns on the Joker and uses his fear gas to see what Joker is afraid of. To Scarecrow's suprise, the gas has no affect on Joker and he, in turn, beats Scarecrow with a wooden chair. This suggests that due to his insanity, the Joker literally has no fear.

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