The joker is gay
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He was originally created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson. The only exception is – his madness and chaos.
Was Joker ever canonically gay?
Joker was never explicitly referred to as “gay” but still mounting evidence shows that at one point in time he was envisioned to be gay. We can deduce that he is bisexual due to his relations with numerous female characters and obvious flirtatious intentions toward Batman and other characters.
Now, one might argue that Joker does not have sexuality at all due to being a pure murderous sociopath.
Drew comments that she took inspiration from her own life, and in the changing Joker of Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (Grant Morrison and Dave McKean, 1989). rabbit shorts! Some of my favorites are Hillbilly Hare (Robert McKimson, 1950), Rabbit Fire (Chuck Jones, 1951), Rabbit Seasoning (Chuck Jones, 1952) and Bedevilled Rabbit (Robert McKimson, 1957).
[6] I wrote in more detail about Ledger’s Joker as featured on Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) in my original essay.
[7] An article about the pregnant Joker controversy and the comments from writer Matthew Rosenberg can be consulted at this link.
[8] The story of how Tim Curry was considered originally to voice the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series can be read in Fixing the Laughter: Voice Casting the Joker on Batman: The Animated Series by John Trumbull, The Man Who Laughs (2023) published by Crazy 8 Press.
Is The Joker Queer, Straight Or Something Else
A petition on Change.org started by Elena Shestakova calls for DC Entertainment to "Make The Joker Gay Again," compacting the long-running speculation about the DC villain's sexuality into a clear call to action.
"The Joker is a character with almost 80 years [of] history, half of which he was portrayed as homosexual," Shestakova states.
The effect is more sexy than grotesque thanks to the art of Marini. In the movie, the actor Jack Nicholson is magnetic as the charismatic, psychotic and farcical Clown Prince of Crime.
As expected, the character keeps changing with new iterations. The film is unpleasant and has a moralistic, self-righteous tone. He is an evil clown, but completely heterosexual, there is nothing queer about him.
Joker's teasing of Batman goes beyond your typical supervillain/superhero relationship of obsessive rivalry.
That is why it's so important to me and other queer readers to return his homosexuality."
RELATED: Batman: The Animated Series - Why You Never Sully the Joker's Image
By "return," Shestakova means that since Harley Quinn was introduced in Batman: The Animated Seriesin the early '90s, her infamous infatuation with her puddin' means Joker has been viewed in a more heterosexual mold.
This mainstream interpretation hasn't faltered, despite the couple's messy break-up.
His most iconic love interest was Harley Quinn with whom he had a kid even. She eventually turned out to be quite popular so her character evolved into Joker’s side-kick and ultimately his most iconic love interest.
Harley Quinn and Joker though had a very rocky relationship that always seemed a bit one-sided, but what did you expect from a dysfunctional sociopath?
Harley Quinn has been recently replaced by Punchline, a new sidekick and partner in crime for the Joker.
While being examined by Doctor Phosphorus in a gynecology exam table, instead of giving birth, he vomits a repugnant homunculus. This is the result of feedback about the original text, recent developments, and lively discussion with my coauthors.
I present here the new material adapted back into English, as an informal blog entry rather than a proper essay.
These are cases of the Joker as a Trickster figure [4], and he acts very similarly to Bugs Bunny in various animated shorts, where the rabbit dresses as a woman to confuse or mock his antagonists [5]. But in the end, none of the relationships ever seemed like Joker was truly invested in them, at least not romantically.
In the end, Joker probably cannot perceive and reciprocate love through normal means like a functional human being.
The original text is available in The Man Who Laughs – Exploring the Clown Prince of Crime, and can be acquired in Amazon.
When I wrote about the infamous mustache of César Romero – the Joker in the Batman TV series – I might have sounded a bit glib, even though I have a deep appreciation for that show.
According to the reviews and analyses I have read, the film takes the idea of the incel Joker from the Todd Phillips motion picture, and reverts it as a trans narrative. It’s hard to decide what label to put on him due to his unstable nature and even more unstable relations with other characters. Firstly, he is disfigured, both by his discolored skin and two grotesque scars left by a butcher of a surgeon when attempting to suture a bullet wound in his cheeks.
The tale is about eight pages in length and is amusing and disgusting in equal measure.
However, it sparked controversy on social media because the mere image of a pregnant Joker – an ultimately very feminine image – was enough to provoke the fury of incels, a group notorious for being being particularly misogynistic.
Is he trying to spook the Caped Crusader or getting dolled up for a date with him?