6) Strangling The Joker? – The Killing Joke
Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke graphic novel completely redefined the rivalry between Batman and the Joker. In its presentation of the pair being two sides of the same coin – they have both suffered “one bad day” which irrevocably changed them – it’s impacted on just about every on-screen adaptation of the Joker ever since.
One other innovation it potentially made was having Batman actually kill his greatest enemy. Throughout the story, Bats warned Joker that their fight can’t go on forever and one will eventually kill the other. At the end of the book, Batman comes to arrest the villain after his most despicable scheme yet – paralyzing Barbara Gordon in an attempt to drive Commissioner Gordon mad.
Instead of fighting, Mr. J tells Batman a joke about two insane asylum inmates (who clearly represent Bats and Joker). After a moment, the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime laugh together at the joke. But then, as the ‘camera’ draws away from them, the laughter stops.
It’s a long-held belief by fans that Batman has finally killed the Joker here. The sudden halting of the laughter, and the ominous final silhouette of what looks like Batman grabbing the villain by the neck, seems to confirm it. Moore has admitted that he didn’t intend to imply this, but that hasn’t stopped fans from reading it that way.
