Various Origins
Though many have been related, a definitive back-story has never been established for the Joker in the comics, and his real name has never been confirmed. He himself is confused as to what actually happened; as he says in The Killing Joke, "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" The first origin account, Detective Comics #168 (February 1951), shows the Joker had once been the criminal Red Hood. In the story, he is a chemical engineer looking to steal from the company that employs him. After committing the theft he is thwarted by Batman and falls into a vat of chemical waste. He emerges with bleached white skin, red lips, green hair and a persistent grin.
The most widely cited backstory, which the official DC Comics publication, Who's Who in the DC Universe credits as the most widely supported account, is featured in The Killing Joke. It depicts him as originally being an engineer at a chemical plant who quits his job to become a stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. To support his pregnant wife, he agrees to help two criminals in a crime that goes wrong and sees him leap into a chemical vat when confronted by Batman. When he surfaces in a nearby reservoir and removes the hood, the chemicals are shown to have given him bleached chalk-white skin, ruby-red lips, and bright green hair. Coupled with the earlier accidental death of his wife and unborn child, the engineer goes insane and becomes the Joker. This version of events is cited in Batman: The Man Who Laughs when Batman performs chemical tests on the Red Hood's mask recovered from his first investigation into the Joker. Joker's Red Hood identity is further confirmed in Batman #450 when Joker finds an old Red Hood costume he kept and puts it on to help his recovery after the events of A Death in the Family.
In the story "Pushback" (Batman: Gotham Knights #50-55), Riddler recounts that the Joker's wife was kidnapped and murdered by a corrupt cop working for the criminals in order to force the engineer into performing the crime. "Payback" shows pictures of the pre-disfigurement Joker — identified as "Jack" — with his wife, giving further support to this version.
The Paul Dini-Alex Ross story "Case Study" proposes a different origin, suggesting that Joker was a sadistic gangster who worked his way up Gotham's criminal food chain until he was the leader of a powerful mob. Still seeking the thrills that dirty work allowed, he created the Red Hood identity for himself so that he could commit small-time crimes. Eventually, he has his fateful first meeting with Batman, resulting in his disfigurement. It is implied that Joker remains sane, and pretends to be insane in order to evade the death penalty. Unfortunately, the written report found explaining this theory is discovered to have been written by Dr. Harleen Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn, which invalidates any credibility it could have in court.
The second arc of Batman Confidential (#7-12) re-imagines the Joker as a gifted criminal named Jack, who is nearly suicidal due to boredom. Jack becomes obsessed with Batman after he breaks up one of his crimes. When Jack kills Bruce Wayne's girlfriend, an enraged Batman scars his face with a batarang, resulting in a permanent grin. Jack escapes and Batman gives Jack's information to mobsters, who torture Jack in a chemical plant. Jack escapes, but falls into an empty vat as wild gunfire punctures the chemical tanks above him, and the resultant flood of antidepressant chemicals alters his appearance, completing his transformation into the Joker.
The Brave and the Bold issue #31 uses this origin. While assisting in an operation on Joker's brain, the Atom sees the flashes of his life as Jack committing various brutal crimes; savagely beating a bully, burning his parents alive after they find him killing pets, joining a gang and needlessly murdering a shopkeeper.
Although many Joker origins conform to the notion of his physical transformation being the result of chemical bleaching, some portrayals suggest that his red lips are purely the result of wearing lipstick. Others have inconsistently depicted the Joker's trademark smile as resulting from some form of additional disfigurement. Most comic portrayals, however, default to depicting the Joker as unscarred and fully capable of not smiling, should the mood take him.
Read more about this topic: The Joker
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