Stan Lee's Version of Batman for DC Finally Gets His Own Joker

Next week, comic book fans will be celebrating what would have been the 100th anniversary of prolific creator and pop culture icon Stan Lee. While Lee was almost-synonymous for his work in the Marvel universe, he did dabble in the realm of DC in the early 2000s through the Just Imagine universe. The imprint saw him and Batman movie producer Michael Uslan remix the origins of core DC characters, which then resulted in a series of one-shots published in 2001-2002 — and next week, their mythos will be added to in a major way with the release of Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee, a new one-shot anthology of stories set in that universe. As a new preview reveals, that will include introducing The Choker, Earth-6's take on the classic Batman villain The Joker.

"Number one, Stan just didn't want to reflect or be a reflection of the DC superheroes," Uslan explained in an interview with ScreenRant. "He wanted to flip them. He wanted moments of flipping. So he already flipped the character of Batman. So without adding to any spoilers in the last panel of my story, I added one more little Stan Lee type of flip that I thought he would appreciate in terms of traditional Batman. And the other thing was, who would the villain be? And there was no question in my mind, I had a big smile on my face because I could hear Stan laughing. I chose a guy who is a serial killer in Gotham City, he's, he strangles women. And the press labeled him The Choker."

What is Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee?

The Earth-6 anthology will feature ten new stories involving the Just Imagine characters, including a new story from Uslan himself. There will also be stories written by Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, Batman vs. Robin, Batman/Superman: World's Finest), Jerry Ordway (Superman, Action Comics), Kenny Porter (DC: Mech), Stephanie Williams (Nubia & the Amazons, Trial of the Amazons), Michael W. Conrad and Becky Cloonan (Wonder Woman, Batgirls), Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing (Batman Beyond: Neo-Year), Meghan Fitzmartin (Tim Drake: Robin), Steve Orlando (Martian Manhunter), and Zac Thompson (Batman: Urban Legends).

Artists on the one-shot will include Lee Weeks, Kevin Maguire, Jerry Ordway, Karl Mostert, Juan Ferreyra, Anthony Marques, Pablo M. Collar, Belén Ortega, Max Dunbar, and Hayden Sherman. The issue will also feature a wraparound cover by Jim Cheung, and a number of variant covers by Steve Beach, Riley Rossmo, Jason Howard, Kelley Jones, Ariel Colon, Kyle Hotz, Christian Ward, Clayton Henry, Jorge Corona, Belén Ortega, and Dan Panosian, plus a 1-in-25 ratio variant cover by Cully Hamner.

What do you think of Earth-6's version of The Joker? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee will be releasing wherever comics are sold on December 27th.