Why did the Joker evolve into a pure evil psychotic killer?

Question

The original Joker (from the Batman Universe) of decades ago was just a goofy crook, thief, and trickster. Future versions of the Joker made him kill people when ‘necessary’, and he started becoming a true bad guy - like a clown mobster (clownster). In The Dark Knight, he was a total monster. Why the change? Does the Joker’s evolution say anything about the evolution of our own minds?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/58/HeathLedgerJackNicholsonJoker.jpg

Answer 1

Actually, I was watching a special on the psychology of Batman on the history channel and they were saying that the thing about the Joker is that he is very unstable and unpredictable...  always a bit crazy.

It's not really the evolution of our minds anyway.. it's the evolution of censorship over the years.

Answer 2

The Joker (in Nolan's Batman universe) is someone who likes to cause chaos in order to gain notoriety. His past is never explained, and when we hear him talk about it, his past is different each time.

The change from the comic book foolish Joker into Nolan's Joker was made to make him more realistic, and therefore more intimidating as a villain. Nolan's view of the Batman universe is a gritty world of mobsters and murderers...not caricature supervillains.

Answer 3

yes, it does.  we are becoming desensitized to violence through tv and movies.  we need the bad guys to be badder to get the same thrill or fear as we felt before with previous versions or whatever.  plus, it's so much cooler now that he's a demented psychotic killer who doesn't even care about money.