Here are more pics from the SUICIDE SQUAD set for your enjoyment. Thanks to the “Instagramers” that are doing all they can to keep the fans informed…
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!! OMG Batman what chu doing?? #SuicideSquad #mrj #capedcrusader #harleyquin
A video posted by Nebula* (@starrrs) on
A great report by Joey Paur for GEEK TYRANT hints to the preparations actor Jared Leto is doing to help him get in the role of the Clown Prince of Crime on the upcoming SUICIDE SQUAD movie. Here is a transcript of the article:
We’re all really curious to see what director David Ayer‘s and Jared Leto’s version of the Joker is going to be like in Suicide Squad. This will be the first time that we see the Crown Prince of Crime up on the big screen since the character was played by Heath Ledger. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill, but I think Leto is going to be great in the role.
During an interview with Billboard, Leto discussed the Joker and how he’s preparing to take on the part. It’s interesting to note that he’s bulking up for the part.
“I’m trying to gain a lot of weight. It means I have to eat every couple of hours — and I’m terrible at eating a lot.”
I don’t think any of the actors who have played the Joker gained weight for the role, but Leto is a pretty skinny guy, so that might be the reason why. I don’t think we’re going to be seeing a juiced up Joker or anything. He went on to discuss what attracted him to the role:
“The opportunity to take on this nearly Shakespearean character — that’s what graphic novels and comic books are becoming, right? [He’s] this beautiful disaster of a character — what a big challenge.”
I love his description of the character as a “beautiful disaster.” The Joker is one of my favorite villains of all time, and I really do hope that they get him right in Suicide Squad. Ayer is a very gritty and hardcore director, so I imagine that that is going to be the kind of Joker that we see in the movie. I wonder how different this version will be than Ledger’s Joker. Will he be a darker and crazier version? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. What do you hope to see from the character in this movie? The rest of the Suicide Squad cast includes Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Cara Delevigne as Enchantress, and Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg. The movie hits theaters on August 5th, 2016.
The incredible guys at COMIC BOOK RESOURCES had a chance to talk to Scott Snyder about the his role in the new Joker story line ENDGAME and the acclaimed writer talks about his unconventional origin story for Joker that he hinted in BATMAN #38 this month. Here is the interview highlights. (WARNING…SPOILERS AHEAD!):
CBR News: In “Batman” #38, you explain that the Joker virus is unique in that it heals The Joker even as it slowly kills its victims. It’s a complete inverse, like life and death and comedy and tragedy and, really, like Batman and The Joker. Why is it human nature to be so fearful of our polar opposite?
Scott Snyder: Part of the point of “Endgame” is that The Joker now positions himself as a stranger to Batman. “You don’t know me at all, and I know everything about you.” That’s terrifying not only because he’s a reflection of Batman, but suddenly he’s become this obscured reflection. It was always his message in “Death of the Family” and earlier in continuity, that, “We are two sides of the same coin. I’m doing this because I make you stronger.”
But this time, he something’s different. “All I am is the unknown.” Now, he’s this stranger that knows Bruce very well, and knows his weaknesses. I don’t think there is anything scarier than somebody coming after you that knows what you are most afraid of, and is happy to bring that to your doorstep.
While he’s often portrayed as crazy and the Clown Prince of Gotham, this time around, we’re seeing a more calculated approach to his mayhem.
I’ve actually never really seen him as crazy. I see him as evil. I think people like to think he’s crazy because we’re less comfortable with the idea that somebody could be deeply evil. You so rarely see absolute lack of empathy and compassion in a character that is operating with gleeful malevolence. That is something that just goes completely against our nature to believe in another human being. The Joker is that. In my interpretation, The Joker never says he’s crazy. He more, unapologetically, says, “This is who I am.” He very much has reasons for doing the things that he does, which make sense in his relationship with Batman. But I don’t think he views himself as crazy, and I don’t think Batman thinks he’s crazy either. The public perception of him is that he is a lunatic, but deep down, he’s actually very evil.
Speaking of crazy, we also get the New 52 debut of Crazy Quilt in this issue, a much maligned supervillain since his debut in 1946. Why mine Batman’s past to find these gems when building a story arc like “Endgame,” as opposed to creating new adversaries like the Court of Owls?
That’s a great question. For me, this story is meant to be somewhat celebratory, as dark and twisted as it is. It started as a celebration of Batman’s 75th anniversary, and it ends as a celebration of Joker’s 75th anniversary…
…Crazy Quilt was perfect because I needed a character that was really Frankenstein-ian. I needed a doctor that Batman believes must have helped Joker make this inverse strain. Joker must be taking something that is giving him this ability to heal and letting him make this argument that he is ancient. When he targets Dekker, he’s sure that he’s right: This is the person that did it. But even though Dekker admits that he helped Joker make the virus, what he says that stuns Batman is, “The substance in the virus, it’s from him. I got it from The Joker’s body… from his spine. He found it long ago. He is who he says he is.” Because Crazy Quilt is so integral to the story, you forgot the silliness of him. ..
…Again, this story, albeit very twisted, is meant to be fun. Even though Joker said “Death of the Family” is a comedy and “Endgame” is a tragedy, for him, he revels in tragedy, so “Death of the Family” must have been more uncomfortable for him. That story was more grim and dark, and this story is more eye-popping and silly and fun. And it only gets more so. You’ll see a lot more nuttiness as the story moves forward. I wanted this to be a big birthday party for The Joker and Batman, because this will definitely be the last time I ever write The Joker.
Well, looking at the cover for “Batman” #40, it’s fairly mythic.
I love that cover. I told Greg that I wanted it to be like Batman and The Joker had turned into completely mythological figures, something that you would see portrayed in a stained glass window. I wanted it like they are fighting deep in the pages of an ancient story, because again, this will be the last time we use The Joker. “Death of the Family” was the first part of a story, and I intended to do something with The Joker that was more of a tragedy in the second part. But when I started working on this one, which basically started when I was finishing the first one, I quickly realized that this one was going to be the one when nothing is left on the table. Everything that Joker didn’t do or said he wouldn’t do — and I don’t mean not kill people — but everything and anything is possible. The consequences of this one change everything. In “Death of a Family,” he gave Batman a chance. In this one, there are no chances. This one is about tearing everything down, for The Joker. And a lot of it does get torn down, and what comes out on the other side and what it leads to, the transformative aspects to the story, is very, very big.
I know from talking to you about “The Wake” that you love science and biology, so when I see such a well-defined, scientific explanation for the Joker virus based on jellyfish physiology, I know you’ve done your research. Do you have a team of scientists working for you?
[Laughs] No team, but I actually did a lot of research on that science. Again, the story has been planned for over a year and I love the idea of making it somewhat plausible. That gene, LIN28, is real. It’s one of the key genes that they’ve found in mice to be responsible for regenerative abilities for lost limbs. The idea of the cellular matrix and magic dust is all speculative stuff that is fun to read about. I really wanted to make something that links the mythology of some different aspects of “Batman” in a way that could be true and could be not true, because Crazy Quilt is crazy. At the same time, his belief that the Lazarus Pit is a corrupted version of this substance or has this substance in it, and the electrum that the Owls have possibly have this substance in it. And there is the idea that Vandal Savage was possibly touched by this substance long ago, and that’s why he is this immortal figure, which is how Grant [Morrison] positioned him in the cave.
This story really is a goodbye to a lot of things that we’ve built, and lots of the status quo, and it’s a celebration at the same time. I just want it to be as big as we ever go. AWe can pull back with a new status quo in June. It’s almost time to start over, in a way. I want people to say, “I did not know that they had that in them, to try something that nutty in their fifth year on the book” — my fifth year, Greg’s fourth.
Traditionally in the DCU, Batman and Joker have been portrayed as wickedly clever and resourceful. But in this arc, you’re basically making Joker a super threat in terms of strength and immortality. How does that change the Batman/Joker dynamic?
One of the things that is almost unspoken between Bruce and Dick is the question of, “Did we just miss our chance to kill him?” Or is it possible that The Joker always had this substance in him and it wouldn’t have worked any way? He would have just got up and laughed. Ultimately, now he is kind of reveling in the fact that you cannot take him down. He is this character that has a much longer history than you would think.
The other reason that it’s deeply scary, and why he’s chosen to flaunt it in front of Batman, whether or not it’s true, is because he believes very much that Batman’s biggest problem, his biggest fear, is his own mortality. He’s tried to transform himself into a symbol that extends beyond his own body and extends beyond his own life, and not in a way that he is afraid of dying. Bruce is afraid of losing Batman to his own body as he gets older. He’s afraid that he’ll go down fighting, but he won’t be strong enough, he won’t be fast enough. He isn’t exactly the legend that Batman has become. He’s still, ultimately, physically defined by his own body. He’s a person, and The Joker is saying that. He’s saying, “I know who you are. You’re nothing. You’re reduced to being just Bruce Wayne. I’m something much bigger than you — and I always have been.”
(This is just a partial transcript. The whole article (and pictures) can be accessed HERE)
This is a reprint from an article by JOHN SAAVEDRA titled “SCOTT SNYDER AND GREG CAPULLO’S JOKER: A HAUNTING IN GOTHAM CITY” that appeared in the site DEN OF GEEK.
I found it interesting and very comprehensive, and now that I am following the new Joker storyline of ENDGAME (which for those who need to know, started in BATMAN ##35) I have to agree that the new twist on the Joker’s little revenge plans are hinting a little towards the supernatural. Don’t know exactly where Snyder and Capullo are heading for, but I have complete trust on his writer’s abilities (Snyder had demonstrated them more than once with COURT OF OWLS and DEATH OF THE FAMILY among other storylines). I believe that the supernatural can be fun too if it is written well and with respect for the characters own history (remember, there has been Joker and Batman for almost 75 years now and just because the Batman comics restarted the saga, does not mean that the past is completely gone. Even Snyder had paid homage to the Joker’s past in his DEATH OF THE FAMILY run).
I think we are all in for a surprise, and Snyder himself has said in multitude of interviews that this story will change EVERYTHING in the Batman world. Let’s hope it will be worth the wait and news buzz.
Well since no more interruption…here is the transcript of the article. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD…READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
The Joker is back in Batman: Endgame, but he’s not the same old clown. He’s something more. Snyder and Capullo turned him into a haunting.
Editor’s Note: This article contains Batman comics spoilers…
When I spoke to the Batman team of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo at NYCC 2014, something Capullo, who drew his share of monsters with Spawn, said really stuck with me: “What kid or adult doesn’t love a monster?” We were specifically talking about the Joker, who made his triumphant return to the pages of Batman back in October, after an almost two year absence. Of course, it was revealed in Batman #36 that he’s been creeping his way from panel to panel all along, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
Snyder and Capullo’s Joker is a special kind of animal, the one closest to the form I always thought the villain should become — the omnipotent, indestructible evil that can commit any atrocity that enters its twisted mind. A creature much larger than the entire Batman legend that can transcend a physical form. It doesn’t even suffice to call the Joker a “he” anymore since it’s all but obvious in #37 that Batman is dealing with a beast. Whether the beast is the devil or just a demon (or perhaps its all a trick of the light) still remains to be seen. For now, we watch him smile through the flames:
In case you haven’t read that issue, which I suggest you do at all costs, the above panel shows Snyder and Capullo take their first big step into the supernatural within the pages of Batman. A few panels before, Gordon shot the Joker in the chest and the villain fell back into a fire. A relieved Commissioner Gordon calls Batman to tell him the good news. The city is still going to shit with the zombie-like apocalypse brought on by the new, invincible strain of the Joker’s laughing gas, but at least the Joker’s dead…I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone so absolutely finish off the Joker since his death in Batman: Arkham City or “death and rebirth” in Grant Morrison’s run a few years back. But Gordon learned quite a bit about the Joker this issue. He’d do well to turn around.
There are a couple of big discoveries made about this version of the Joker in Batman #37. In fact, I’d even even call it a primer for what this new era’s Joker is going to be/what he’s been about all along. Snyder brought his complete writing toolkit to the book in “Endgame,” the arc in which all of this takes place. While the writer has mostly kept the supernatural out of this run, he’s definitely a veteran of the form. American Vampire, The Wake, and now Wytches have all solidified Snyder’s place in the realm of scary supernatural tales. Finally, we see him bring that to Batman in full form, introducing the Lovecraftian tone that he’s so good at. Snyder’s Joker, it would seem, is the beast that’s older than time itself. At least older than Batman.
We get a clue of just how long the Joker has haunted Gotham City, a discovery made by poor Jim Gordon, who gets his fair share of trouble in this arc, and will probably see even more by the time Batman #40 rolls out in March. Without spoiling too much of the plot, Gordon is investigating the mysterious tragedies that have plagued Gotham’s oldest hospital, where Batman must go to find the source of the Joker’s new toxin. In each old newspaper clipping — some dating back to the early 1900s — Gordon finds a familiar face in the background:
Peek-a-boo. The name Gordon is about to utter, as the smoke and fire from his cigarette engulfs his computer screen, is “Beelzebub,” which is the name of the devil. That face belongs to none other than the Joker. If this picture is real, that means that the Joker of the New 52 has been in business for much longer than Batman, who’s only been fighting crime for about six years in current DC continuity. That’s disturbing.
What’s even more disturbing is what happens next. Playing out like the best ghost stories, a scene as good as Nosferatu climbing up a set of stairs or Stephen King’s Pennywise preying on little children from a gutter, the Joker is revealed as the monster under the bed:
You see why Gordon probably shouldn’t’ve turned his back on the Clown? Joker, the haunting of Gotham City has arrived. But Gordon can’t believe that the Joker could be more than just a mortal man, although I don’t know anybody who would bother calling the villain a human except perhaps Alan Moore, and neither can Bruce, whose quest throughout Snyder’s run has been pretty specific: figure out who the Joker is and stop him once and for all. You remember Bruce sitting in the Batcave at the end of “Death of the Family,” the Batcomputer coming up with zero results for the Joker’s identity. Only the word “Ha” flashes on the screen, a new element in Joker’s gas.
It’s no accident that Batman #37 opens with Bruce telling himself that Joker is nothing more than a man. All along, he’s been trying to put a face to the name, to bring the Clown down to size, to prove his biggest fear wrong. If Joker is nothing more than a mere man, he can be defeated. We see Batman easily defeat Joker in the opening pages of Detective Comics Vol. 2 #1. This is shortly before Joker has Dollmaker cut off his face, so that he may be reborn.
So much of Synder and Capullo’s run has focused on the Joker. From the Joker-centric “Death of the Family,” which Snyder likes to call a comedy — in the dramatic sense, of course — to “Zero Year,” which calls back to the classic “Red Hood” Joker origin story of the Silver Age, not to mention Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke, the team have chronicled the Joker’s transformation. And in “Endgame,” this tragedy about Batman’s mortality (Snyder’s words, not mine), the stage is set for Joker’s transcendence.
It’s appropriate then that the Joker’s sinister smile and mad laugh would be pasted on the faces of every Gothamite and heard in even the darkest alleys of the city during the villain’s latest attack. The idea that the Joker is more of a force than just a criminal mastermind has never been more apparent. He can be anyone and everywhere. It’s not hard to believe that he could take on the face of Arkham Asylum’s Eric Border in order to keep an eye on Batman, to continue their mad dance:
In Batman #36, we get a pretty satisfying answer as to how Joker was able to maintain his Eric Border disguise since his introduction in Batman Annual #2, only a couple of months after the Joker’s demise at the end of “Death of the Family.” Not much in terms of the supernatural going on there. He took some pills that allowed him to keep the psychotic smile off of his face for a couple of hours at a time. Simple and believable, as far as realism in comics goes.
But even this serves Snyder and Capullo’s purposes. The idea that the Joker can be a cunning master of disguise and deception, that he can become Batman’s most trusted ally within Arkham Asylum while pulling the strings behind the scenes, it all serves as further evidence that Joker could be Snyder’s version of the devil in the pages of Batman, the lord of temptation that whispers in Bruce’s ear. Join me. Join me. You helped me evolve. Now let me help you…
It all comes down to evolution on the Joker’s part. The Batman team has made it so that, even if the Joker is faking his supernatural state, we can sure believe that the Joker could transform into this invincible demonic being. For one thing, Joker tried to help Batman evolve along with him earlier in the run. Snyder has talked at length about how his Joker wanted to help Batman transcend and reach his true potential in “Death of the Family.” Joker asked Bruce to leave his silly little family behind and become more than this mortal man who would one day finally wear out. Make no mistake about it: no matter how twisted the Joker can be, he’s never been interested in killing off the Batman. But rather, to help him live on forever, so that they can continue their hellish love affair for all eternity. In Snyder and Capullo’s Batman, it’s true what we’ve all suspected all along: one can’t live without the other. Until now.
After Batman rejects the Joker’s offer to be greater, to be more than a mere human, the Joker decides to break all ties. There’s a change in the dynamic. The Joker doesn’t need the Batman anymore. The monster has evolved past the hero. If this supernatural form is the final step of the transformation for the Joker, then Bruce and his family are definitely in trouble.
In an interview with CBR about Batman #35, Snyder described Joker’s throught process, as he begins his final battle with Batman: “Joker’s saying, ‘This is the end of us. This is it. This is the last Joker story of Batman and Joker.’ Joker is moving on, is what Joker would say. So it’s really the end of the game played between the two of them.”
How Joker survived the events of “Death of the Family” without a face is anyone’s guess. Snyder hasn’t explained what happened between that arc and Eric Border’s first appearance a few months later, but I’m guessing it all has ties to the supernatural. By the time Joker has his face cut off and jumps off a cliff to a watery doom at the end of his twisted comedy, the final transformation has been triggered. The Joker From Hell.
At NYCC, Snyder and Capullo told me that in “Endgame,” the Joker was out to really hurt Bruce, who must confront his own mortality and his choice to remain tethered to the family that keeps him human. The Joker is pissed about Bruce’s decision and decides to end the man himself. Snyder said, “This time, [Joker]’s going to be looking for a kind of tragedy.” You can see it in Joker’s face:
“Endgame” has been the subject of feverish discussion for Batfans. Some thought perhaps it meant that it would be the end of Snyder and Capullo’s run on the book. I know, ridiculous. But it definitely is an end of sorts to their fantastic run thus far. It is the final act of a three-part Joker arc that has been masterfully woven by Snyder and brought to life by Capullo’s pencils. While Snyder has said that he doesn’t plan to use Joker in his run again, he won’t completely rule it out if there’s another story to tell.
Come June, after DC’s two-month Convergence event, Snyder and Capullo will return with what he’s referred to as soft relaunch of the book. It will be an all-new Batman with plenty of great, gutsy, new stories to tell. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Clown Prince From Hell is creeping behind some of those panels, waiting to be born again…
John Saavedra is currently working on a Master’s thesis about Scott Snyder’s work. What a time to be alive.
(Original article appeared in January 7, 2015 at DEN OF GEEK HERE)
Yeah, we know….it is too early in the Batman history to see a Joker. He should be what? A young man in his late teens early 20s maybe?
Well, the writers of the successful TV series from FOX, Gotham, have decided on hinting to possible Joker candidates throughout the series (obviously not setting anything on stone as Joker’s origin is best left where it is…in the unknown) and they seem they will be starting with the second round of episodes for season 1 (or should this be Season 1.5?). Personally, I hope this is not one of those hints…I really can’t see the man who would become the Joker related in any way with the Grayson’s at this time of the Batman history…it would be just too tacky in my opinion.
Anyways, here is the actual report from our friends at VIXEN VARSITY.
Filming for Gotham episode 16 took place earlier this week and some interesting on-set images and spoilers have surfaced online via Vixen Varsity.
The episode titled The Blind Fortune Teller will take place at a circus and viewers will be introduced to The Flying Graysons – Robin’s parents. According to the website, following a murder at the circus, Gordon questions the ringmaster and “an evil clown”.
Now, “could this be some sort of nod to The Joker? It’s unlikely, but you never know!” speculates ComicBookMovie.
Here are some more rumoured plot details about the episode, as per Vixen Varsity:
– A fight breaks out between clowns and trapeze artists.
– Detective James Gordon meets Dr Leslie Thompkins at Haly’s circus.
– Mary Lloyd, daughter of a clown is in love with John Grayson, son of a trapeze artist.
– Dr Leslie Thompkins checks out the injured circus folk.The next episode of Gotham season 1 (episode 12) titled What the Little Bird Told Him airs on 19 January, 2015.
(Picture courtesy of Vixen Varsity via Tweeter)
My friend Kanike liked this site and with good reason. Russ Burlingame, correspondent for COMICBOOK.COM has a nice overview about the character of the Clown Prince of Crime for those that are new to Jokerdom. Russ gives away nice facts, recommends an initial bibliography all in a very interesting (and entertaining) segment dedicated to our psychotic clown. Please enjoy…
Click on the video screen to begin.
(Video courtesy of COMICBOOK.COM. For more reports, please visit site HERE)
Jared Leto had to grow out his hair for his Oscar winning performance in Dallas Buyers Club, and he’s been rocking that look ever since. Don’t expect Leto’s Joker to have long hair in Suicide Squad though. Leto shared a photo on Instagram, teasing the haircut he’ll be getting in early 2015. Suicide Squad starts filming in April.
The Instagram photo is from a 2011 GQ photo shoot, and it appears that the new Joker will be sporting a similar hairstyle. Would you be a fan of that look (with some green hair dye, of course)? Let me know in the comments below!
Fun fact: It’s Jared Leto’s birthday today! He’s 43.
(Original Article HERE)
So….what do fans think about this? I personally think they are reinventing the Joker once more (and that is great by me, Heath Ledger’s legacy should be left intact) and are aiming to a more ARKHAM ASYLUM/ARKHAM CITY look. Anyways, this is a tease, it might not even be the final look Guess we’ll have to wait and see…
Note: If someone knows some Photoshop, you can start manipulating this photo for a possible look of the Clown Prince of Crime.
For my Joker fanatics out there that also tend to like the Funko Pop figures, here is a treat.
LOOT CRATE, that company that sends you a mystery black box every month with goodies, after you enroll in their subscription system, has released a little surprise for those Jokerholics out there. In December’s package they have released a EXCLUSIVE EDITION JOKER BATMAN-BATMAN FUNKO FIGURE and a Loot Crate Exclusive edition of BATMAN #36. You can probably still grab them now through Ebay (where I got mine). Here are some pics of the loot…ehem…treasure:
Using the latest in animatronic technology, the IAAPA Expo 2014 revealed the new JOKER animatronic to embellish the Six Flags parks of Texas and St. Louis new ride JUSTICE LEAGUE: BATTLE FOR METROPOLIS 4D. Though slightly cartoony looks and somewhat limited in animation, the voice over makes up for it. Yep…that sounds like Mark Hamill donning the voice of the Clown Prince of Crime one last time, or it could just be Troy Baker…I just can’t tell, but most resources confirms it is Hamill’s voice indeed.
Well, the 4D interactive dark ride will be opening at Six Flags St. Louis and Six Flags Over Texas in 2015.
In addition to the Joker and Cyborg, other DC characters that will be included in the ride will be Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Lex Luthor. Guests will climb aboard six-passenger motion-based vehicles, which were also unveiled at the convention, created by Oceaneering:
Here is the unveiling ceremony:
And more pics. Feel free to click away:
The guys at Comic Book Resources had a very nice interview with DC writer Scott Snyder about the new storyline ENDGAME that started in Batman #35 and marks the Joker’s return to Gotham. Here is part of that interview. (For the whole interview visit our friends at Comic Book Resources HERE)
SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for “Batman” #35, on sale now.
You’ve probably heard by now that 2014 is Batman’s 75th anniversary. One thing that’s been missing from that celebration thus far is his perennial archenemy the Joker, who hasn’t been seen in DC Comics’ storylines since 2012’s “Death of the Family” by writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo — where the Clown Prince of Crime attempted to craft a fatal schism in the Bat-family.
With this week’s “Batman” #35, Snyder and Capullo launched “Endgame,” a six-part storyline that had been shrouded in mystery before release. And now readers know why: In the last page, it’s revealed that Joker is back, and apparently has raised the stakes: Controlling a Joker-ized Justice League targeting Batman, all part of a larger plan yet to be revealed.
CBR News spoke with Snyder — whose Image Comics series “Wytches,” illustrated by Jock, also debuted today — about the issue, which he says is the first part of Joker “moving on” from Batman with one final plot. And given that the opening shot involved the combined powers of the Justice League, Snyder said things only get bigger from here
CBR News: Scott, as revealed in the last page of “Batman” #35, the Joker is back! You wrote a major Joker story, “Death of the Family,” not that long ago, in 2012. As that story closed, did you know you’d be coming back to the character at this point? Did you have these plans in mind, at least loosely?
Scott Snyder: I did. Really, it was when I began writing it that I realized it would need a closing act. It was just really a matter of when we were going to do it. While I was writing “Zero Year,” I kind of had this thing in the back of my mind as a story that we’d eventually return to. It just became a question of what was the best time to actually launch into it. Ultimately, I thought about doing it about six months from now, but I kept looking at the date, being like, “It’s Batman’s 75th anniversary!” I remember one of my friends was like, “It’s also Joker’s 75th anniversary at the end of that.” “You know what, we’ve got to do it. We’ve got to do it then.”
It’s something we’ve been looking forward to for a very long time. It’s the conclusion, I think, to the arc for us with the Joker as a character that really began in “Death of the Family” in terms of his psychology.
How has the Joker changed at this point? Where do we find him in this story? If he’s controlling a Joker-ized Justice League, that seems to be an upgrade.
He’s changed a tremendous amount since the last time we saw him, and this story is really sort of an inversion of the other one — we would never want to do something that felt, in any way, repetitive. For us, if that one was sort of a comedy, or was about him saying, “This story is all about friendship and love and this sense of immortality and you coming with me and your villains, who are your true family, who are your royal court — we’re the ones who transformed ourselves into these eternal figures, because we saw you do it, and we have transcended our bodies and death to become these things of legend and to give meaning to what we do” — and Batman rejects all of that in “Death of the Family,” where he says, “No, what makes me stronger is my humanity — the people that love me and the people I love as Bruce Wayne.” In doing so, he severed all ties with the Joker.
This time, the Joker’s back to say, “Actually, your life means nothing. Your life is a joke, and the fact that you think that it has any kind of significance or meaning, what you do, and that it has an effect on things in the greater picture, is laughable, and I’m here to prove that to you.” So this one is really about hate. [Laughs] And death and suffering — tragedy as opposed to “Death of the Family.” If that one was happy, this one is sad. But, that said, it’s not going to be centered on a character dying or going after one person — Joker’s really here to say, “I am out for all of you. I’m here to burn everything down this time.”
When the story was first announced months back, all that was really revealed was the title: “Endgame.” It was clear both you and DC were not looking to disclose anything further. Now that the first chapter is out, can you tell us if this is this Joker’s endgame against Batman — or the world at large? What can you share about the significance of that title, now that we know Joker’s the villain?
Joker’s saying, “This is the end of us. This is it. This is the last Joker story of ‘Batman and Joker.'” Joker is moving on, is what Joker would say. So it’s really the end of the game played between the two of them.
For him, he’s funeral. He’s ready to end everything with Batman. For us, it’s incredibly fun to write him in this psychological state, because it’s no-holds barred. It’s the kind of thing where nobody is precious, no one matters, he’s out to prove a point and to make Batman feel like his life is meaningless. In that way, he’s incredibly vicious and incredibly fun.
His plan is huge — you can imagine, if we open with the Justice League Joker-ized, we’re not going to go smaller from there. [Laughs] It’s very, very big, and very out of control, and a lot of fun to write. I don’t want to say I’ll never write the Joker again, because I always feel like you do that, and then 10 years down the line you get some opportunity and you become a hypocrite about it. But I would say this is really the concluding chapter for us for the Joker, given the relationship we’ve created between him and our version of Bruce Wayne, for this run of “Batman.”
You say things are going to get bigger, and already in this issue, we’re seeing the Justice League, and the scale of it already seems to be on a different level. You’ve told very big stories in “Batman” so far, but a lot of those stories were very personal, and also Bat-universe-centric. This feels like maybe a bigger, superhero “DC” story. Is that fair to say?
I don’t want to give the impression that it’s going to pull in people from all corners of the DCU. I’m not up for that kind of story in “Batman” right now. The reason that Joker pulls the Justice League in is to send a very specific message — and it is a warning shot. The story gets bigger from there.
That said, the cast is pretty Batman-centric going forward. You’re going to see some people I think that will surprise you; good and bad, new and old. It will involve everybody in a way that I think we haven’t really had a chance to do as widely as this story will do it.
Really, it’s a celebration of Batman and Joker’s 75th anniversary in that way, where we’re trying to show how far-reaching their influences are on other characters, how big their relationship is, how long a shadow it casts over Gotham in general and the DCU.
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Is his face going to be reattached?
Well, his face is over with Joker’s Daughter. Although he has it at one point in this story — spoiler! I would imagine he would need a face. I wouldn’t have him walking around with a mask, or something like that. Without giving too much away, I think it’s safe to bet that he will probably have a face of some kind, yes.
Also wanted to ask about the back-up stories written by James Tynion IV for this arc, with the one in #35 rather moodily drawn by Kelley Jones. What can you say about the plan for those back-ups, and how they’re working in tandem with the main narrative?
They’re great. They’re connected to the main narrative in that they follow the things that are happening to Gotham, and are happening to the characters that you see in “Batman” itself. But essentially James’ mission when we discussed them, we talked about the possibility of him doing five stories really that give different origins for the Joker. Different tales of how he is capable of doing what he does, and who he is. That’s the narrative there — even though it has a plot, and it has a very dark place that it’s going.
It’s also a celebration, artistically, of great Batman artists both past and present. So you’ll see that people that I think you’ll really be excited and shocked to have return to Batman in different capacities. It really is like a big birthday party for Joker and Batman — though they would argue whose birthday it really is. [Laughs]
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