Absolute Joker Is the Exact Opposite of the Original, And It’s Perfect

The Joker has always been Batman’s number one villain. Ever since his debut in Batman (1940) #1, the Joker has been Batman’s most prolific enemy, always pushing the Dark Knight and his allies to darker depths than they’ve ever been to before. The Joker is also one of DC’s premier examples of evil, right up there with actual embodiments of it like Darkseid and Eclipso. The Joker has committed despicable atrocities and torn numerous families apart with a smile on his face, and he’s not going to stop any time soon. In fact, the Joker just branched out to a whole new type of evil in Absolute Batman #15.

The issue detailed the origins of the Absolute Joker, detailing how he’s not just a clown who fell into some chemicals, but is a literal monster who feeds on his enemies and the blood of children. He’s a demonic beast who has stalked Gotham City since at least the 1880s, and can take on a monstrous form with claws and more teeth than most sharks. He can tear a man apart in seconds, and does it all with laughter on his lips. This Joker is completely different from the one we all love to hate, but that might be the best thing about him. The two Jokers are completely different and provide the perfect ground to explore different types of evil.

Evil In Two Very Different Forms

The Prime, original version of Joker is a normal human, at the end of the day. He’s a vile, disgusting person, but he is a human. The fear that the Joker generates comes exactly from the fact that he is a person. Before everything happened, the Joker was a normal man like anyone else, but something pushed him over the edge, and he was forever changed by the chemicals that bleached his skin. Now, he is a parody of a man, laughing at cruelty and torture, and is chaos given form. The fear the Joker generates is because he used to be just like any of us. The thought that anyone could be as cruel as the Joker is repulsive because everything he does goes against human nature.

The Absolute Joker, meanwhile, is not a being of chaos, but one of unrelenting order. He built the order he wanted to see by ingraining himself into the system, and has twisted it by playing both sides of everything until he had enough power to do anything he wanted. Instead of being a man pushed past the brink of insanity, he’s something else. He’s a monster whose true form is impossibly tall and gangly and is powered by the blood of orphans. He generates terror by being an evil beyond human understanding. He’s impossibly cruel, like the boogeyman or a demon. He’s something greater than and less than human, and that’s how he scares people.

The Evil You Know Versus the Evil You Can’t Understand

These two Jokers, while sharing similarities in personality and elements of their designs, are majorly different. They represent two distinct types of evil. Where the Prime Joker is a human evil that people can see others in, the Absolute Joker is a monster that exists just to cause pain and cannot be understood. These two types offer distinct opportunities to explore Batman’s character, and the types of evil they are represent which type of stories the Prime and Absolute universes are trying to tell.

The Prime Joker is the ultimate test of Batman’s morality. Batman is a character who always believes in redemption and restoring a good order to the world, which the Joker challenges with his insanity that prevents him from improving and inspires him to tear the world down. The Absolute Joker, meanwhile, is a test of Batman’s resolve. He is a monstrosity that has helped create a system that only exists to exploit and degrade people. He is the embodiment of Batman’s rebellion, and will endlessly hurt him in the effort to break his spirit. Absolute Batman will not be tested in morality, but in his resolve to continue a fight he cannot win.

In the end, the Jokers each represent what’s different about their Batmen, too. Prime Batman is all about saving the day, while Absolute Batman is all about fighting to save the day. That distinction is small, but endlessly important, and shows what their universes focus on. There are advantages and disadvantages to building their Jokers like this. A more human Joker always challenges Batman’s morality and risks alienating people who disagree with his choices, while a demonic Joker risks separating him too much from humanity. After all, pure evil beings run the risk of becoming so one-dimensional that they aren’t entertaining. Still, both of these Jokers are perfect for their respective Batmen, and I cannot wait to see the new types of conflicts the Absolute Joker has in store.

Absolute Batman #15 is on sale now!

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