The Punchline That Broke Batman
One of the most iconic hero versus villain dynamics has to be between Batman and the Joker. From their beginnings in the comics to live-action, possibly the most ground-breaking moment between the two is the ending of Alan Moore's The Killing Joke. Moore, best known for his magnum opus Watchmen, dives into the deeper meaning of what it truly means to be Batman. Just as Watchmen subverted expectations of the superhero genre (i.e. what it means to be a hero, what it means to be a villain, and what it takes to create someone similar to, if not exactly like, Joker), Moore's The Killing Joke does the same to Batman. Moore turns a shared laugh into the collapse of Batman's sanity and his desire to try to find meaning in his chaotic life. Though his actions as a vigilante come from a place of objective good, The Killing Joke places Bruce's (Batman's) actions under a microscope and questions who is truly in control and who is being controlled.
Since witnessing the murder of his parents, Bruce Wayne (Batman) has lived in a state of emotional stagnation. While slowly healing on the inside, it is evident Bruce is broken by the experience. The one person who makes Batman confront the validity of his black and white morality is Joker. The sad reality is how Batman comes to terms with the aftermath of his actions and the lasting effects of what can happen after "one bad day." It is only with his encounter at the end of The Killing Joke that Batman comes to terms with his "one bad day" in a morbid, tragic way.
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Though not canon, The Killing Joke perfectly illustrates the Joker's nihilistic views of the world. His entire premise is not to incite violence or rise to power in a traditional sense. His objective is to have people realize and embrace the chaos of the world. Whether his actions come from a place of planning or sheer coincidence, Joker's motivation now is to show Batman his "one bad day" already happened, but he has been doing everything he can to not let it get the best of him. In Joker's own words,
"[Batman] had a bad day once .... [Batman] had a bad day and everything changed. Why else would [Batman] dress up like a flying rat? [Batman] had a bad day, and it drove [Batman] as crazy as everybody else... Only [Batman] won't admit it! [Batman] has to keep pretending that life makes sense..."
Joker has stopped trying to make sense of the world. According to Joker himself, there is little difference between him and Batman. On paper, this wouldn't make sense; Batman saves people and has a strict moral compass, whereas Joker incites violence at best and is a wanton murderer at worst. Joker's choices and actions in The Killing Joke cost Barbara Gordon her ability to walk and defend herself, her father's emotional stability and sanity (albeit temporarily), and a patsy's identity. While Joker's plan to bring Gordon down to his darker, seedier level is considered a failure, there's a subtle success lingering in Joker's plan.
Witnessing the aftermath of Barbara's fate and Gordon nearly reduced to a crying mess almost causes Batman to break his main rule: not to kill anyone. When Gordon is saved after having to endure seeing photos of his daughter stripped and crippled, he can tell Batman he insists on handling the Joker "by the books." This request is adhered to by Batman as he and Gordon have a deep respect for each other. Joker knows this. Yet in this battle, Joker gives Batman the option to kill him. After all, Batman won't be facing any harsh legal consequences for doing so. However, Batman extends another olive branch. The words are there, but a lack of sincerity hangs over the both of them. Both seem to have come to terms with the back and forth they go through. There is no chance of rejoining normal society for the Joker; no one can truly help him. Joker and Batman are stuck halfway into a battle where it's too late for either of them to turn back. Under the assumption Joker realizes this, he shares his twisted and symbolic Joke:
"See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum... And one night, one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum anymore. They decide they're going to escape! So, like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight... stretching away to freedom. Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend did not dare make the leap. Y'see... Y'see, he's afraid of falling. So then, the first guy has an idea... He says 'Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!' B-but the second guy just shakes his head. He suh-says... He says 'Wh-what do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I was halfway across!'"
The final olive branch mirrors the opening scene in the comic. The Killing Joke begins and ends with Batman and the Joker together, side by side. Two characters one in the same; both with tragic origin stories where one event changed the course of their lives forever. Batman of course witnessed his parents' murder and the man who eventually became the Joker lost his entire life and identity. Both made choices leading to the paths they ended upon. As a result, their paths brought them together in the wild, mad world of Gotham. In a way, Gotham is the asylum in the perplexing joke, and Batman and Joker are the two men seeking to escape. Whoever is the one holding the flashlight is dependent on which of the two is ready to take the first leap to freedom. In the end, none of the two can accept the freedom presented or help from the other. While the freedom could be presented as a good thing, The Killing Joke never explicitly says what the two men are running from. Yes, they are trying to escape an asylum, but who is to say it's an actual physical asylum.
Both seek freedom through their actions through violence and a desire for people to see things through their eyes. Batman and Joker, both with narrow-minded perspectives of what is right and wrong, try to force their will onto others. The difference is Batman is given the noble angle as he presents his adversaries with a choice, just as he does with Joker. Sadly, Batman's greatest weapons and feats of physical strength are useless when facing Joker. There is no meeting one person halfway. There is no way for one to be the "bigger person" and forgive. They are both sides of the same coin; shaped by the tragic outcomes of their maddening society. Any help they might have received was stripped away from them after their circumstances, but before any long-lasting damage had been done. Only half a chance of normalcy was given, and the two were left to make sense when the light was taken away from them. Such is their lives.
It's a sick joke; symbolic of taking the wool off of Batman's eyes as to how futile and time-consuming his battle with Joker, not to mention his own inner demons and emotions, is. He is more Batman than Bruce. It's harder for Batman to be Bruce, the boy without a family. It's easier for him to pound and punch his anger toward whatever adversary crosses him by night than to play billionaire playboy by day. With the veil removed, Batman is bombarded with the reality of how much his parents' murder shaped him and how close he was to becoming someone like the Joker.
Batman's stone-faced façade breaks. For one moment, he is Bruce; sharing a laugh, something not common for him. After everything Joker has done, in The Killing Joke especially, Batman's mental state collapses in front of the one person who truly knows and understands him. The laugh turns maniacal, then ends. Their laughs become one, they are equals for a moment, and the story ends. Their dynamic doesn't and won't. Not until one, or both, meet their end.
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Source(s): BatmanFandom.com