It's an interesting Essay I wrote. Especially if you're into comic books primarily Batman.
The comic book media has inspired some of the greatest relationships that have persisted through literary culture since the medium has been in circulation. The historical characters and struggles present in the medium of comic books and graphic novels have created universes filled with intertwining stories, characters, and story lines that would put the works of even Shakespeare to shame. Though all these narratives each stand on their own merit and worth, the most interesting and dynamic one would be between Batman and Joker.
Batman and Joker have a very long running give and take relationship. It's been portrayed in comic books, movies, video games, and about every other media form you can think of. It's the classic tale of Batman, the caped crusading hero, against Joker, the homicidal clown lunatic, who is out to destroy Gotham with only The Dark Knight standing in his way.
This has always been the dynamic between the Gotham elite in the meta-criminal world of Gotham, but when we take a look at it from a new standpoint, a question arises. Is the Joker really trying to destroy Batman, or is the Joker just simply trying to give batman a means to an end? One that only the Joker, with his hyper-sanity, can push Batman into. By posing this question we can no longer take the Joker as an intrinsic villain, but instead on the same coin of Batman as simply trying to eliminate all the hindrances that Batman contains that stop him from eliminating all crime in Gotham. In this examination I will explore the Joker's past, his present, and his actions he is taking against Batman. I will take these actions and prove that these actions have been tailored to Joker's needs of Batman becoming truly what the Joker needs him to be able to kill crime, in the literal sense, and Joker's true motives behind this.
First, we must look at Joker's past before he evolved into the Dark Knight's greatest adversary. The Joker's back story has been reiterated multiple times through different comic book runs, so for argument's sake we will go with the most common and multiply canonized back story, from Alan Moore's The Killing Joke. The Joker's history is that he was a man, married to his wife Jeannie, who was working as a chemical engineer in Gotham. He quits this job to become a comedian, and begins to fail miserably. In an attempt to support his wife and future child, he agrees to help 2 thugs rob a chemical engineering plant, using the alias Red Hood. Right before the robbery however, he learns that his pregnant wife has died in a household accident. Hearing this news, he wants to back out of the deal, but the two gangsters strong arm him into going with the plan. Shortly after the heist begins, the security catches on and the two thugs are killed in a shoot out, and he runs away. While escaping he is confronted by Batman, in a act of panic and fear, he jumps off the balcony railing and lands in a pit of acid underneath. When he arises from the vat, he now has the hyper-sanity and joker features he has become famous for.
From this history we can see that originally the Joker is a man who is broken and battered, albeit by some of his own choices, but he's trying to support a family. If we juxtapose this with the Bruce Wayne genesis into Batman story, they are completely dialectical. Where as Bruce Wayne in one night loses the established family that he has grown to love and later is engulfed into a life of opulence and chooses to become involved with the criminal world, Joker on the other hand loses the future family that he could have had, and is coerced into the criminal world afterwords due to a future of poverty he wished to avoid for his family. Theses losses of family have fueled both of these men, and will continue to fuel their motives as the story continues, with their choice of alliances they choose. Batman hoping to give someone the childhood that he so feels robbed of adopts Robin into his life. Joker having gone insane because of his love, takes in Harley Quinn a psychiatrist who loves him as a constant reminder of a possible sane love he could have had. As we can see the genesis of Batman and the Joker have strayed down different paths, despite both being born out of tragedy, and both attempting to cope with it.
Next, we need to explore the motive that Joker would have to want to push Batman over the edge. Joker sees the city of Gotham as nothing more than a playground for him. He's a man who's lost everything and no longer has any kind of regular social bonds to this world. The Joker has submitted himself to the idea of chaos, and wishes to impose this upon the city. Any idea of structure is directly opposed to The Joker's dogma. Which would bring out the question of why would the Joker be satisfied with just merely there being a constant back and forth between him and Batman? As Joker said it best in "The Clown at Midnight", the Joker states to Batman, "You can't kill me without becoming like me. I can't kill you without losing the only human being who can keep up with me. Isn't it ironic?!" The Joker says later, "I could never kill you. Where would the act be without my straight man?", at a first glance this statement is the epitome of the back and forth between the two, but take a look closer. The Joker says, "I could never kill you", looking at this statement in context you realize that before that Joker brings up the situation of them killing each other, but in this leaves out the idea of The Batman killing him exclusively. This means that Joker, has the idea in his mind of Batman being able to kill him, and most preferably that he does. This is even show in The Dark Knight Returns, when The Joker breaks his own neck just so he can frame Batman. The Joker wants to turn Batman into the same situation that he is in so that the caped crusader no longer feels some kind of self-righteous indignation towards human life in a similar way that he doesn't. The Joker wants Batman to take his place, to lift that burden of Chaos away from him.
Expanding on that idea is the hold that Joker and Batman hold over the DC universe. Batman and the Joker both stand in a meta-realm above those sides whom they would most naturally represent. Batman stands as the benevolent benefactor to the Justice league, and as shown through out the DC run, has the power and capabilities to deal with any of the other Heroes if they were ever to turn rogue. This automatically puts Batman as being above the rest of the league, even the invincible Superman. Now take a look at The Joker, a man who has been burdened with this blood lust and chaotic demeanor, a visage so intimidating that other villains don't even wish to deal with him in fear of his actions. This is evidenced in the "Villains United" and the "Infinite Crisis" arcs, where the Joker wasn't allowed in the organizations. Joker stands in a league of his own when it comes to the evil archetype in DC. When these two powers collide in Gotham, Joker now sees the perfect opportunity for him. Knowing that Batman has all this power, Joker sees in him the possibility of what he ultimately wants, and that is for there to be a power above all in the universe. Taken from Joker's perspective, this Batman clearly has gathered all this power and control for some reason. If Joker were to be able to instill in Batman the kind of chaos he's been imbued with combined with Batman's resources and power, Batman would be unstoppable. The perfect agent for Joker's deadly ideals for the world.
Joker however knows that because Batman has all this control, that he needs Batman to be pushed so deep into this feeling of control that he snaps him over the edge, and brings him into his world. Joker attempts to do this by trying to destroy Batman's world around him. First Joker tries to take it to a much larger scale, first trying to destroy the city of Gotham. He realizes that this is not the best way to do so, as inevitability the city will come to Batman to save the day, giving him that satisfaction of control that he wants. So Joker decides to go deeper into his life, by attacking Gordon and his family. However because of Gordon's strong belief in Batman's way of crime fighting, despite the Joker doing extreme permanent damage to Barbara Gordon, this doesn't break the Dark Knight's moral compass. So Joker takes it to the ultimate step, by killing Dick Grayson, aka Robin. Joker almost thinks he has him this time, but in the end even this can't push Batman over the edge. Joker now knows that he must dig even deeper, as he searches for Batman's true identity, with the intent to test Batman even further until he reaches the breaking point.
Joker sees in Batman, something he can no longer have in life, he sees structure. The Joker wants nothing more to destroy the ideal of Batman, he wants to break the unbreakable, to push him over the edge. He wants Batman to be stronger, he wants Batman to take control of the chaos that he wants. If The Joker were to take control of the possibilities that only Batman had available to him, to be able to make Batman break this moral code and kill those who stand opposed to him, it would be The Joker's final victory as an agent of Chaos. The Joker sees in Batman the means to an ultimate end for himself. Batman has the capabilities, the power, and the prestige to completely take over, but hold himself back. Most importantly Batman has something Joker can never have, the ability to do all this and slip back into the regular world, to not be hated and despised.
As long as there is an unbroken Batman, there will be the Joker, the man who tries to push him to his greatest pinnacle, to stand atop both good and evil, and evil death itself. To unleash an unrestrained Batman upon the world, that is the Joker's final punchline.
