What is the origin of The Joker?

Question

I just saw the movie (and it was AMAZING!!!) and I was confused about one thing...where did The Joker come from?

I know he had a sad childhood (I got that much from the movie) and that his childhood led to his "Psychoness". But in the movie he's like in his late 20s, early 30s. What had he been doing sense his childhood? This "Psycho" just now appears in Gotham after doing what? Had he always been a criminal? He couldn't have been cus the police would have HAD too have identified this crazy, intelligent terrorist before! And they had nothing on him in the movie!

It just seems like he appears out of nowhere! What is his past life?

Was he buying time till the right moment?

Answer 1

The director of The Dark Knight definitely wanted to keep his past a mystery. Although, a popular idea is that he had been working along with the other criminals of Gotham. How else could he have been so murderous or good at crimes? He had to have learned it somewhere. He obviously must have worked under a different name...He probably didn't have the scars yet, and if he did, he covered it, otherwise when he became the 'Joker' the people he worked with would have known his past, which didn't happen because no one knew who this guy was!

But at the same time I really think what you said is right. He may have just been buying time and waiting for the right moment. That sounds like something he could do.  

Answer 2

Nobody really knows his origin. The comics have never been really clear on the point, and the Joker has on several occasions stated that he doesn't remember a lot of his past.

The closest thing he has to an origin is found in The Killing Joke, which has several flashbacks of Joker as a failing comedian with a wife and a child on the way. Well, the comedian needs money, so he agrees to help the mob break into the chemical factory where he used to work, to gain access to a playing card factory. Before the heist, he is told by the police that his wife had been killed in a fire, he then tries to back out of the job, as he has no need for the money anymore, but the mob forces him to go through with it. Needless to say, all does not go well, and the security gaurds, as well as Batman show up to stop the crime. The comedian, having had enough greif, decides to jump into a vat of chemicals rather than be captured by the Bat. He then emmurged in a reservoir, the red mask he was wearing to conceal his identity had melted to his face, scarring his face, and his psyche for life.

But like I said, nobody really knows if this is his true origin, or just a story, much like in the movie where he seemed to have differing stories of how he got his scars, depending on his current situation.

Answer 3

The Joker has a very checkered publication history. He wasn't given an origin in comics until he had been around for over a decade, and editorial fiat later insisted that his origin story (which was used, minus only a relatively small element or two, in the 1987 "Batman" movie) was not part of the Batman canon. A few other Batman villains started operating without backgrounds (e.g. the Penguin or Catwoman) and were defined by their actions much as the Joker is defined by his, or were given conflicting origins, much like the Joker has been in the past two or three decades. Comics are usually more of a fantasy medium than movies, and one cannot always expect the trappings of logic in comics. Basically, the Joker character in "The Dark Knight" is not the Joker character from the comics but the most recent re-invention of the character. Certain comic book historians have advanced the theory that while the Joker started out as a Death Figure he came to represent the collapse of logic, which makes him very much the antithesis of Batman.

In other words, it is hard to say what drove the Joker to invent himself, but the implications have almost always been that he created his persona as the result of some sort of trauma, much as Batman is a self-made man who created the Batman persona after a traumatic event. I think that it is entirely possible that the thing that triggered the Joker's seemingly sudden appearance from out of nowhere was likely a reaction to Batman's seemingly sudden appearance from out of nowhere.

Answer 4

The movie version this time is different not only from the first Batman movie starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, but also from the comic books.  It was never truly revealed in the comics regarding his origin.  The movie made some effort to provide his origin, but, remember, The Joker even changed his whole origin story several times in the movie when he confronted several people, so we truly don't know.  In the original Batman movie, The Joker was a small time criminal but decided to cheat with his boss's wife, and he paid the price for it.  Again, his early years have never been defined in comics or the movies, and I believe it's best not to think about it.  Just enjoy the movie for what it is.