The Joker

"No, no, no! You were supposed to DIE when the clown exploded!"

- The Joker in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain that appears in the pages of DC Comics. One of the many DC characters chosen to appear in the crossover video game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, he is arguably DC's most well known antagonist. With The Joker's reputation for unmatched sadism and maniacal homicidal tendencies, his counterpart in the crossover game is Kano.

About The Joker
Because of his chronic and deeply seeded insanity, there is no definitive story of how the man who would become The Joker came to be. There are, however, a few prevailing versions of what could be his origin story.

The most well-known of these is about a man with a pregnant wife, down on his luck and trying to make money as a stand-up comic. Not able to make ends meet, he is recruited by a group of career criminals to assist in a heist at a chemical plant using the traded off guise of the Red Hood. Right before the job was to be carried out, the man learns that his wife and unborn child were killed in a fire at their apartment. Feeling hopeless, the man agrees to the job and breaks into the chemical plant with the criminals as the Red Hood. Coming under fire, one of the criminals is killed by gunfire from a police officer, and one escapes, leaving the man in the Hood alone.

It's then that Gotham's nocturnal avenger, the Batman descends on him on a catwalk. Cowering from him, the man loses his footing and falls into a large vat of chemicals before Batman can save him. Washing ashore, the man feels burning in his face and eyes. Discarding the Hood, the man looks at his reflection in a puddle of rain and sees his skin bleached white, his hair turned emerald green, and his mouth stretched into a rigor mortis smile. The man begins crying, then giggling, and suddenly bursts into laughter, driven irredeemably insane by one bad day and a horrible disfigurement. From then on, the Joker's brilliantly sadistic and reprehensible actions have plagued Gotham City and Batman in the years since.

MK vs. DC
The Joker escapes from Arkham Asylum and flees to Gotham until he is confronted and defeated by Batman. However, when Batman is distracted fighting Liu Kang, The Joker escapes. As he is running, he encounters Scorpion, who defeats the Joker in combat. Lex Luthor recruits The Joker with Catwoman and Deathstroke and his team of villains. Luthor dispatches The Joker to find the teleportal that would send them back to Apokolips along with Deathstroke.

During their mission, The Joker and Deathstroke encounter Sonya Blade and Kano, and fight them. The Joker faces Sonya while Deathstroke takes on Kano. Much to his own surprise as well as Deathstroke's, The Joker defeats Sonya, and becoming fueled by Kombat Rage, he pushes Deathstroke aside and challenges Kano himself, defeating him. The Kombat Rage gets to The Joker and he betrays Deathstroke, defeating him too. He takes on his old archnemesis, Batman, defeating him as well before he is tazed by the Dark Knight while celebrating his victory.

In the final battle between the DC universe heroes and The Mortal Kombat warriors, the Joker fights against Kano.

Biography

 * MK vs DCU: "An insanely homicidal super-villain, the Joker's white skin, green hair, and blood-red lips belie the chaotic nature underlying his cartoonish appearance. The self-styled "Clown Prince of Crime" has no superpowers, beyond a capacity for incredible violence and a skill at creating deadly mayhem. He frequently concocts elaborate schemes to entrap his arch-nemesis, Batman."

Powers and abilities
Although The Joker is a human man with no particular enhancements, natural or otherwise, his lack of sanity and rationality have often been a fatal weapon for his victims: he is unencumbered by rational thought and is therefore extraordinarily creative, vindictive and sadistic. This has translated to his many schemes over the years, as well as in his hand-to-hand combat style. Although Joker prefers to have henchmen do the "dirty work" for him, having a resourceful nemesis like Batman has forced Joker to be able to fight hand-to-hand in situations that force him to. Sometimes using weapons that play off his clownish appearance, he also makes use of stabbing weapons and firearms, and always attempts to use his methods of killing in ways that he finds ironic and humorous.

As a result of Dark Kahn's Rage, the Joker has become both stronger and faster than he would normally be otherwise, allowing him to hold his own against and defeat such skilled fighters as Sonya, Kano, Deathstroke, and Batman.

Signature moves

 * Joker's Wild: Joker throws a playing card lined with steel at the opponent. (MKvsDCU)
 * Sinister Heels: Joker grabs the opponent and kicks them repeatedly with the back of his foot.(MKvsDCU)
 * Mkvsdc_joker.jpgPut It There Pal!: Joker counters an opponent's attack by grabbing their hand and shocking them with his electric joybuzzer. He then laughs giddily and dances in a circle. (MKvsDCU)
 * Bombs Away: Joker throws a bomb with a smiley face on it that bounces up and down before exploding. He can throw the bomb at close and long range. (MKvsDCU)
 * Magic Trick: Joker is enveloped in a cloud of green smoke. Any button which is pressed in this brief state will produce a different attack. (MKvsDCU)
 * Surprise Stomp: Joker does a flying jump kick. (MKvsDCU)
 * Surprise Slide: Joker does a sliding kick across the ground. (MKvsDCU)
 * Surprise Bomb: Joker appears from the mist with a bomb in his hand. (MKvsDCU)
 * Surprise Pistol Whip: Joker smacks the opponent with pistol. (MKvsDCU)
 * The Funnyman: Joker laughs as he dances in a circle causing his rage meter to fill. (MKvsDCU)
 * Punching Bag: Joker pulls out an extend-o boxing glove and fires it, stretching over half the field. It is possible to strike the opponent twice with this technique, as pulling out the glove will cause damage to the opponent if they are close enough before the Joker extends the glove for the actual strike. (MKvsDCU)

Fatalities

 * The Killing Joke: Joker takes out a gun and shoots it, but instead of a bullet, some confetti and a flag with the word "Bang" on it pop out of the barrel. He drops it and starts to laugh. He then pulls out a real gun and shoots the opponent in the head, killing them. In the North American version, this fatality is edited so that the camera zooms in on Joker as he delivers the fatal shot, cutting the victim out of the frame. (MKvsDCU)
 * Card Trick: Joker takes out 4 cards and throws 3 at the opponent's body. Then he throws the last one to the opponent's head, which knocks them to the floor, dead. (MKvsDCU)

Endings

 * The_Jokerending.pngMK vs DCU: "As the worlds separated, the Joker discovered he had retained his new powers. With them he soon controlled all of Gotham, proclaiming himself "Mayor Joker". Under his rule, the city devolved into chaos. He now holds a tournament in which "contestants" are forced to fight to the death for his amusement. The winner will face off against the Joker himself."

Trivia

 * The Joker is one of the two only fighters in the MK vs. DC Universe game that laugh when under the influence of rage. The other is Catwoman.
 * Joker is also the only fighter to hit the opponent AFTER they are down. He does this by stomping on their groin. This cannot be prevented, and always happens when a fatality is not performed.
 * His Fatality, the Killing Joke, is named after the oneshot comic showcasing a psychological battle between him and his archnemesis, Batman, whilst detailing pieces of his life before turning into the Joker. It should be noted the chair in his ending resembled his chair in said comic.
 * In NTSC regions, The Joker's first Fatality, The Killing Joke, was mildly censored to keep with the Teen rating. However, in PAL regions, the Fatality is shown in full, including the death of his opponent.
 * Joker's ending has him turning into the DC Universe's equivalent of Shang Tsung or Shao Kahn.
 * In the DC Storyline, The Joker references Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. After hearing the news of Dark Kahn, he looks up and the sky, and yells "KAHN" similar to Captain Kirk.
 * In Mortal Kombat (2011), Shang Tsung uses an edited and more gruesome version of The Killing Joke Fatality.
 * In the game, Joker is the counterpart of Kano. Kano recently appeared as a boss in Batman: Arkham City Lockdown, which starred Batman, Joker's arch-nemesis.