Warning: SPOILERS for The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #3Even though he is extremely hard to kill, the Joker generally doesn’t have immortality powers. That appears to be changing in DC Comics.
Something strange is going on with the Clown Prince of Crime in the new ongoing series The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing. After shooting a hooded man in the head, the Joker then goes on a crime spree throughout the world. It turns out that the hooded man — who survives the gunshot — is also the Joker. The version of the Joker who’s been shot fumbles about while trying to figure out who the other Joker is. He eventually encounters the Red Hood, who obviously wants to kill the Joker for killing him in the past. The Joker manages to escape from Red Hood, but not before taking several bullets and practically drowning in freezing cold water.
The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #3 by Matthew Rosenberg, Carmine di Giandomenico, and Francesco Francavilla shows the aftermath of this event as well as a backup story that also has the Joker enduring a near-death experience. After emerging from the water, the Joker finds his way to a hospital and essentially forces a doctor to perform brain surgery on him to remove the bullet. In the backup story, which is completely absurd, the Joker is torn in half by a train. His henchmen bring him to a hospital, where everyone thinks he is dead. When they discover Joker’s severed torso is alive, everyone scatters in fear. It’s not until his henchmen bring in Professor Pyg that Joker is able to be sewn back together with the bottom half of a gorilla.
The Joker Might Have Immortality
It’s unclear whether or not these two stories were put together by accident or on purpose as they both feature the Joker surviving pretty fatal incidents. The second story is so absurd that it is hard to imagine it being canon. The main story, however, appears to be a part of the mainstream DC Universe. While one Joker in the story deals with typical Joker things such as interacting with the Legion of Doom, the other Joker who survived being shot in the head is repeatedly battered and beaten. Yet somehow, he seemingly can’t die, which is a far cry from the powerless and “normal” Joker fans are used to.
There’s still a lot to uncover in this story. The mystery of how there are two Jokers hasn’t been solved let alone how one of them can seemingly survive so many deadly experiences. It’s also unclear which Joker is the real one, but it’s hard to imagine that it’s the Joker who can’t die. After all, the Joker has never had superpowers like this before. The other Joker hasn’t shown any of these types of abilities. So it would stand to reason that he is the real deal while this other seemingly unkillable Joker might be some sort of imposter. Otherwise, a superpowered, immortal Joker would be bad news for Gotham.
The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing #3 is now available from DC Comics.
