Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #11!Fans who thought three Jokers were enough might want to prepare themselves. As two Clown Princes of Crime wage war, one goes all out by making an entire army of grinning doppelgangers with a devious purpose.
In The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #11 by Matthew Rosenberg, Carmine Di Giandomenico, and Romulo Fajardo Jr., Gotham is going to hell in a handbasket as the Gotham and LA Jokers continue their epic war against each other. Gotham’s Joker and his crew roll up on a poor custodian and kidnap him, adding him to the collection of other victims that the Joker has snatched.
As chaos reigns throughout the city, Ravager and Manhunter run into each other, stumbling upon the van the Joker’s gang was driving, now empty. They track the Joker down to his lair and attempt to take him out. Though Joker gets the better of Manhunter, Ravager shoots the villain in the shoulder. With no other option, Joker retreats and pulls out an unexpected surprise. He reveals his kidnapping victims have all been surgically altered to resemble the Joker. Even worse, they’ve also become living bombs that Joker detonates in his getaway.
Joker Creates an Army of Explodable Copycats
The DC Universe has been haunted by dual Jokers for the past few months. One Joker moved out to Los Angeles, intent on expanding his criminal endeavors across the entire nation. But another remained in Gotham, trying to recover after being shot in the head and suffering gaps in his memory as a result. Both Harlequins of Hate were certain that they were the original, but Gotham’s Joker finally regained his memory and remembered the impostor Joker was actually a former henchman that had been poisoned by Joker venom and surgically altered to resemble the Joker.
Ever since the publication of the Black Label miniseries Three Jokers, copies of the iconic villain have become an increasingly common sight. DC has even introduced a new villain known as Red Mask who can create Jokers on a whim. However, the latest batch of clowns doesn’t seem to be intended as anything more than a trump card for Gotham’s Joker. He used one doppelganger to attack LA’s Joker and experienced a reluctance to use his victims on Ravager and Manhunter. Gotham’s Joker likely wanted to take his copycat out in the most ironic way possible by killing him with other false Jokers.
Joker’s Latest Weapon is an Insult to the ‘Ripoff’ Joker
Whether he’s the real one or not, Gotham’s Joker has taken umbrage at another Joker existing in the DCU. Gotham’s Joker swore he’d win in the end, and it looks like his final move was intended to put an end to the entire copycat Joker movement. It’s a pretty creative manner of killing: It’s violent, attention-grabbing, and essentially says LA’s Joker was a fake like all the rest. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Gotham’s Joker will get the chance to use this creative method of execution. Seeing more than one Joker might be wearing thin for some, but this is a hell of a closing act for the multiple Joker shtick. The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #11 is on sale now.
