Joker's Wild is the first in a trilogy of Teen Titans (2003) fics by jarec
. It can be found here, along with the sequel Recovery (complete) and the final installment, Titanomachy (complete).
Joker's Wild and its sequels contain examples of:
- Bittersweet Ending: The titans managed to save Beast Boy from the clown's clutches, put a stop to Joker and Harley Quinn's plans to nuke Jump City and imprison them back to Arkham Asylum. But Beast Boy has suffered from a horrific torture with recovery from it seemingly impossible and many inhabitants of Jump City ended up getting killed during Joker's brief reign in the city.
- Christmas Episode: Downplayed. Chapter 26 takes place on Christmas Day, but the Titan's don't feel like celebrating. However, Joker and Harley are seen opening gifts from the other Gotham Rogues.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The Joker and Harley kidnap and torture Beast Boy, testing the limits of his regenerative powers.
- Dark Fic: From the author's notes:I wanted to address why I was doing this. The Titans typify a classic problem in TV. Good Heroes, Crappy Villains (Or GHCV disorder). I mean, lets look at the roster. An idiotic magician, a drooling fanboy, a harried father/mad scientist (who was the biggest loser in Gotham)... hardly the FBI's most wanted. The most villainous one there is Slade, and his big goal seems to be to make Robin his sidekick- which to me is more pathetic than threatening.So I decided that the Titans needed a REAL villain to work with. Since I regard the Joker as one of the incarnations of Awesomeness (alongside such luminaries as Forever Knight, Mel Brooks, beef jerky and Moe Fine) I figured he was a good choice. Homicidal, with a darkly comedic tone.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- The Joker shoots two chefs for thinking that a bagel is bread with a hole in it.
- His reason for kidnapping and torturing Beast Boy is because an action figure of him had 'I'm the king of jokers' as one of it's phrases.
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: In the first chapter, The Joker hijacks a TV signal and makes the Titans witness the audience and host of Quiz Me This' Smilex-dosed corpses."We innerupt this borin' Riddler rip-off...permanently. Aaaannnn' now, ladies and gennlemen, the man who'll put a smile on ya face whether ya want one or not! The one the only -mah man (sigh)-...thhhhheee JOKER!"
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: The Hive Five get blown up by a grenade very early into the fic.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The Joker gets some Titans Action Figures just before Christmas, which is when he decides to torture Beast Boy.
- Kick the Dog: The Joker records footage of Beast Boy's torture, so that Robin can see it on a DVD he sent.
- Killed Off for Real: The Hive Five, Control Freak, Red X, and Killer Moth.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Justified, as Batman and the rest of the Gotham vigilantes cannot help Robin because of a mass break-out at Arkham Asylum and Blackgate.
- Wham Line: "Dude, I'm the King of Jokers". The Joker hearing this line come from a toy of Beast Boy sets into motion his plan to torture Beast Boy.
