History Characters / DCAUJoker

* GruesomeGrandparent: [[spoiler:If he is indeed the Dee Dee Twins' grandfather, then he definitely counts, as he's no less abusive towards them than he was towards Harley, giving them no special treatment and encouraging their criminal behavior.]]

** During the flashback sequence featured in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'', he spends most of the film quipping, laughing, and generally being his usual MonsterClown self (with a bit of [[SurroundedByIdiots anger on the side]]). The only scene that makes him drop it all is [[spoiler:when Tim Drake shoots him]].

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Joker assumes that Terry is a Batman knockoff who cannot measure up to the original. Their final fight convinces Joker that Terry is willing to fight dirty, [[spoiler:turn the Joker's mind games back on him, and kill him if necessary]].

* FiveAcesCheater: In "Joker’s Wild" he masquerades as a dealer to blatantly cheat at Blackjack by dealing himself winning cards, only to promptly lose his winnings to Bruce Wayne, who also cheats while repeatedly giving Joker {{Stealth Insult}}s that role him up. After that, he resorts to flat out stealing the chips off the table.

* FreudianExcuse: Exploited. He often tells sob stories about how he UsedToBeASweetKid tormented by AbusiveParents to manipulate people into giving him what he wants, which is how he was able to manipulate Harley into becoming his henchwoman.

** Despite his comedy gimmick and habit of playing pranks or making light of everyone around him, he can't take a joke or laugh at ''himself'' at all. Being the ButtMonkey of someone else's joke or prank is a huge BerserkButton of his.

* {{Irony}}: He does want people to laugh, albeit in his own sick, insane way, but as Terry points out in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'', he really sucks at being a comedian in any form.

* ItAmusedMe: Half of the time, he’s only doing whatever he’s doing because he finds it funny. Unfortunately, the things [[{{Sadist}} he]] finds [[KickTheDog funny]] differ wildly from a normal person’s sense of humor.

* HatedByAll: Outside of Harley, absolutely ''nobody'' likes him. The Batfamily obviously hates his guts while his own henchmen and everyone in Gotham fear him. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even the other rogues]] dislike him for a far more mundane reason: he's [[{{Jerkass}} a full-blown asshole.]]

[-[[Characters/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesBatmanAndBatFamily Batman and Bat Family]] ([[Characters/DCAUBatman Batman]]) | [[Characters/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesAllies Allies]] | [[Characters/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesRoguesGalleryPart1 Rogues Gallery Part 1]] ('''The Joker''', [[Characters/DCAUHarleyQuinn Harley Quinn]]) | [[Characters/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesRoguesGalleryPart2 Rogues Gallery Part 2]] | [[Characters/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesRoguesGalleryPart3 Rogues Gallery Part 3]] | [[Characters/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesRoguesGalleryPart4Minions Rogues Gallery Part 4: Minions]]-]]]]]

* {{Skull For A Head}}: If you took the hair away from his ''TNBA'' design, his face would definitely evoke a skull.

* ArchEnemy: He is the worst of the worst in Batman's rogues gallery. Because of [[spoiler:what the clown did to Tim]], the Dark Knight felt uneasy talking about Joker, claiming that the clown only wanted to make him "laugh" (i.e. mentally break him).

* SmallNameBigEgo: As Terry snidely points out, Joker genuinely thinks he's the greatest supervillain ever, when pretty much he's an idiot who failed in making Batman laugh. [[VillainousBreakdown The clown reacts negatively]].

!!ComicBook/TheJoker

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In "Joker's Favor", he's ultimately beaten and humiliated by one of his own dud bombs.

* KilledOffForReal: In a subversion of [[JokerImmunity the very trope named after him]], the Joker eventually got this treatment in the ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse''. Yes, having proven himself as much of a survivor as his comic book counterpart and every bit the "no one" in NoOneCouldSurviveThat. [[spoiler: ''Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker'' took the big leap and put him down once and for all via killing him twice. First, his body was destroyed and buried deep within Arkham Asylum in the flashback sequence. Then, the chip containing a copy of his DNA and memories was burned out just to make sure he won't be coming back. But there is a bit of a cheat with his permanent death, as the event occurs at the far end of the universe-at-large's history, allowing him to show up in stories taking place earlier; ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' took advantage of this.]]

* KnightOfCerebus: In ''Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker'', his dark side is more evident than his comical side, which makes him more sinister and evil than his other appearances in the ''DCAU''.

* SmugSnake: Joker has a massively inflated ego that occasionally leads to him severely underestimating his non-Batman enemies like Terry, King Barlowe, and Charlie Collins, and he acts completely sure of himself while he mocks and torments innocent people who can’t fight back. The second the tables are turned, the smugness goes away and is replaced with either [[AintTooProudToBeg pathetic begging]] or becoming an AxCrazy maniac if his ego is bruised.

[[quoteright:300:[[labelnote:Click here to see him pre-accident]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_1mask_of_the_phantasmmkv_snapshot_003445728.png[[/labelnote]]]]

A lowly unnamed gangster that worked for Sal Valestra who, one night, during a mishap encounter with Batman in a chemical factory, fell into a vat of unknown chemicals which stained his skin a sickly white, turned his hair green and left him with a twisted smile.

* ArchEnemy: To Batman, as always. He ''is'' the Joker after all. In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' (years into the future), Terry [=McGinnis=] noted that while the retired Bruce Wayne openly discussed his other enemies, he avoided mentioning Joker. Bruce criticized the notion of the arch-enemy by pointing out:

** For someone who loves to hear himself laugh even if others don't care, he really ''cannot stand'' being the butt of someone else's joke or prank. Just ask Terry and King Barlowe.

** "Joker's Millions" has him getting enraged [[spoiler:that a dead rival conned him with a fake UnexpectedInheritance. Like a SoreLoser, he shoots the VideoWill in anger]].

* ArchEnemy: He is the worst of the worst in Batman's rogues gallery. Because of [[spoiler:what the clown did to Tim]], the Dark Knight felt uneasy talking about the Joker, claiming that the clown only wanted to make him "laugh" (i.e. mentally break him).

* LogicalWeakness: Terry figures out and ridicules Joker's fixation with making the original Batman laugh. The repeated insults drive Joker to a VillainousBreakdown.

* FreudianExcuse: Exploited. He often tells sob stories about his past and how he UsedToBeASweetKid tormented by AbusiveParents to manipulate people into giving him what he wants, which is how he was able to manipulate Harley into becoming his henchwoman.

* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: Of the "killing people with laughing gas and bombing a whole city is a ''hoot''" variety.

*** "King" Barlowe exploited this posthumously and had the last laugh by [[spoiler:revealing that most of the fortune he willed to Joker was fake. Barlowe also knew that after binge-spending most of it without realizing that the IRS was coming for his cut of the inheritance, the clown would be royally screwed between two options: either admit he was conned by a dead man and become Gotham's ButtMonkey, or go to jail for tax evasion]].
*** During their final battle in ''Return of the Joker'', Terry would rile the clown to a VillainousBreakdown by insulting him so he would [[spoiler:leave himself open for Terry to fry the DNA-altering chip he used on Tim Drake with the clown's joy-buzzer, finally killing him for good.]]

* FreudianExcuse: Exploited. The Joker often tells sob stories about his past and how he UsedToBeASweetKid tormented by AbusiveParents to manipulate people into giving him what he wants, which is how he was able to manipulate Harley into becoming his henchwoman.

* LogicalWeakness: Terry figures out that part of Joker's obsession with the original Batman was that he couldn't get a laugh out of him. He then decides that, for a comedian, the only thing worse than a quiet audience is [[BoringInsult a heckler]]. Terry's insults proceed to cause a VillainousBreakdown for the Joker.

* NothingIsScarier: Discussed. Terry notes that, despite his infamy, Joker was the only member of Bruce's RoguesGallery that he never told him about, correctly deducing that it was because he was the worst of the worst.

* OutsideContextVillain: Whenever the Joker encounters a hero that isn't part of the Bat Family, it rarely ends well for said hero. The sole exception throughout the entire continuity, crossovers included, is [[WesternAnimation/StaticShock Static]] of all people, whom the Joker either doesn't take seriously or doesn't know he exists and pays for it thusly.

* HatedByAll: Outside of Harley, absolutely ''nobody'' likes him. The Batfamily obviously hates his guts while his own henchmen and everyone in Gotham fear him. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even the other rogues]] dislike him for a far more mundane reason: he's [[{{Jerkass}} an full-blown asshole.]]

* {{Sadist}}: His worst trait which makes him so fearsome. He enjoys every act of malice he commits with no remorse at all. He also loves to torment his victims both physically and psychologically instead of simply killing 'em. In "Joker’s Favor", Charlie notes the only thing that brings Joker any joy is ruining other people’s lives and dreams.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Unbelievably. The Joker has never been given an exact backstory in the comics but it's strongly implied the vast majority of the time that he was a normal person that broke after a horribly traumatic event. In contrast, Joker here was a psychopathic hitman before he was dunked into a chemical vat.