Alternate Joker Facts – Batman Beyond Hey guys!
Welcome back to Top 10 Nerd, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
Batman Beyond was a great show, it was really cool to see a younger and rather different
Batman defending the streets of Gotham.
The accompanying film, Return of the Joker, was also great, and told a really interesting
and heart-wrenching story.
So let’s talk about Joker’s contributions to Batman Beyond!
Get ready, it’s time for the Top 10 Facts about Batman Beyond Joker!
Number 10: The Joker isn’t actually in Batman Beyond.
Based on the title of this video, you may be tempted to say “uh… there WAS no Joker
in the Batman Beyond show…” and you’re right!
He was, however, re-introduced in the animated film, and don’t worry, I’ll be getting
to that.
While there was no Joker in this series, Terry McGinnis was certainly not without his villains
to fight.
And Joker’s legacy certainly lived on, which brings me to my next point.
Number 9: The Jokerz Gang.
While Joker himself wasn’t in the show, a gang of criminals had sprung up paying homage
to the Joker, dressing up as clowns and calling themselves the Jokerz.
With a Z.
These were a constant thorn in Terry’s side, although on the bright side, they did help
bring Bruce together with Ace.
And Ace was like…
my favourite part of Batman Beyond.
But why wasn’t Joker himself in the show?
Well…
Number 8: The Joker is Dead.
As we saw in Return of the Joker, the Joker had kidnapped Tim Drake, who was Robin at
the time, and tortured him until he was brainwashed, turning him into Joker Junior.
Thankfully, Tim was later able to fight against Joker’s control, and when Joker tried to
get Tim to kill Batman, he instead turned on Joker, with Joker dying in the process.
So the Joker is dead forever, right?
Well hold on, these are comic book characters, and the one thing we know about comics is
that people just don’t stay dead.
Which brings me to my next point… Number 7: The Joker was Alive… kinda.
Remember when Joker was torturing Tim Drake?
Well, it turns out that he didn’t just use traditional torture techniques on him; he
had also implanted a chip on his neck that looked like a mole, which he had stolen from
Project Cadmus, apparently inserting his consciousness into the chip.
Later in Tim’s life, the chip activated, turning him into the Joker, with all the personality
quirks and physical characters everyone would expect from the Joker.
He went on to return to crime, leading the Jokerz gang, and fighting against Batman.
So awesome, Joker’s back!
Wonder how long it’ll last!
Number 6: He’s dead.
Again.
Well crap.
That didn’t last long.
Yep, at the end of Return of the Joker, Terry managed to rid Tim Drake’s mind and body
of the Joker’s influence, restoring him to his former self and destroying what remained
of the Joker.
After distracting Joker, Terry grabbed one of his electric joy buzzers, and used it to
destroy the microchip on his neck.
Quite the fitting end to the Joker, and it was a real relief that he didn’t have to
hurt Drake too much.
Well done sir.
Number 5: Return of the Joker was the first animated Batman film to be rated PG-13.
Return of the Joker was a pretty dark movie, full of torture and brainwashing and killing.
As such, it was given a rating of PG-13.
This was a great choice, it allowed them to properly tell a really dark story; it would
have been way worse if they had to tone down the torture and killing to keep it at a lower
rating.
It allowed them to be somewhat more liberal with how graphic they could make various scenes.
It’s still no Deadpool, but it’s pretty good.
Unfortunately, it came out around the same time as the Columbine shooting, which brings
us to our next point… Number 4: Joker’s death scene was done in
two different ways.
As it turns out, the original death scene with Tim Drake shooting the Joker was deemed
to be too offensive, since the movie was set to be released soon after the Columbine shooting,
where two students went on a shooting spree at their high school, killing 13 people.
So, an alternate version was made where the Joker dies of electrocution, causing him both
to not be killed by a gun, and not have a child choose to shoot someone.
I’m generally not a fan of censorship, but in all honesty, the edited version is pretty
awesome too.
It’s almost MORE brutal, plus it avoids the shooting imagery that some would have
seen as tasteless so soon after Columbine.
Number 3: He’s an excellent fighter.
Joker’s fighting ability tends to vary somewhat depending on the writer at the time, but in
Batman Beyond, he’s clearly quite a force to be reckoned with.
His unpredictability, combined with incredibly high pain tolerance, allows him to fight even
the most technical fighters.
He was even able to take on Terry with his strength-enhancing suit.
Much of fighting is about predicting the moves of your opponent, and with the Joker, any
attempt to predict his moves is pretty much useless.
On top of that, he also shares the abilities of Tim Drake, his host, which would certainly
help him to come out on top in hand-to-hand combat, and allows him to predict Terry’s
moves, since Terry and Tim both fight similarly, having both been trained by Bruce.
Number 2: The Joker was voiced by Mark Hamill!
One of the first things people wonder when a new Batman show, movie, or game is announced
is “Who will be playing the Joker?”
There have been some solid Joker voice actors over the years, like Troy Baker and Kevin
Michael Richardson, but when fans see that Mark Hamill, the man of Joker legend, is playing
the voice, it’s always encouraging.
Hamill is so consistently amazing as the Joker, and he really got to shine in this somewhat
more adult, and rather dark, story.
Number 1: Mark Hamill voiced the fake-out Joker as well.
When watching the movie, the audience would be forgiven for assuming at first that Jordan
Pryce was the returned Joker.
He looks like Joker, acts like Joker, and even sounds like Joker.
He sounds, strangely like Joker.
Almost as if they have the same voice actor…
oh wait, they do!
This was done intentionally as a red herring, to trick the audience, but it was pretty neat
how far they went to fool us.
It sure fooled me, I felt sooooo smart when I saw him and went “uh duh, he’s the Joker,
this movie is soooo predictable”.
Then I felt sooooo stupid.
Dangit.
That’s it for today!
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Who was your favourite Joker?
Let me know in the comments section down below!
Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Top 10 nerd.
Later nerds!