Recap / Justice League S 2 E 21 And 22 Wild Cards

The Joker reveals on television that he's planted several bombs in Las Vegas. The Justice League have to try and stop him while his superpowered minions, the Royal Flush Gang, stall them. After all the bombs are disabled, the Joker reveals his true plan: to use one of the Royal Flush Gang's members' telepathic powers to make everyone watching insane. However, Batman finds the Joker and gets the last member of the Royal Flush Gang to use her powers on him before she leaves the scene. The episode ends with Hawkgirl and Green Lantern finally getting together.

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Tropes:

• Actor Allusion: The powers of two of the Royal Flush Gang in relation to their Teen Titans counterparts: Ten is Nigh-Invulnerable like Cyborg, and Jack is a shapeshifter like Beast Boy, albeit of the Rubber Man variety.
• Arbitrarily Large Bank Account: In contrast to his Perpetual Poverty from TNBA, Joker was able to buy airtime from near all networks, set up a large system of explosives and maintain a camera crew to capture everything.
• Asshole Victim:
  • The Joker murdering the Royal Flush Gang's Cadmus handlers. Since Cadmus had kidnapped the gang as children and was trying to raise them to be living weapons, it's hard not to root for Joker in that scene.
  • Joker set up bombs throughout Vegas that could have killed a lot of people, just to get people tuned into his broadcast so Ace could Mind Rape them all. Nobody cares when he's subjected to the same Mind Rape by Ace.
• Batman Gambit: Batman pulls off two:
  • He makes Harley jealous of the attention Joker is paying to Ace, which makes her stomp all the way back to his studio hideout. Batman probably wasn't expecting that punch, though.
    Joker: You led Batman right to my doorstep!
  • Under Ace's hypnotism and getting beat up by the Joker, Batman manages to reveal that Joker is carrying the headband Ace's "handlers" had used to depower her. She is not pleased.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: The Royal Flush Gang act as Joker's henchmen largely because he sprung them from the government institute experimenting on them.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between John Stewart and Hawkgirl. Lampshaded by the Joker, of course.
  "Whew! Is it just me, or is there something going on between those two?"
• Betrayal Insurance: Joker stole the collar that was used to stifle Ace's powers, and it's revealed he kept it on him in case she gets out of his own control. This bites him in the end.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Shayera and John at the end.
• Big Eater: Ten likes working for the Joker because the food is better.
• Blessed with Suck: Ace's ability to drive people insane merely by looking at them drove her parents mad when she was an infant, caught the attention of a shady government organization interested in creating Child Soldiers, and ended up with her wearing a mental inhibitor device that left her unable to disobey her handlers for her entire childhood.
• Bomb Disposal: The League has to defuse Joker's 25 bombs in less a quarter of an hour before they blow (and while dealing with booby traps and interference from the Royal Flush Gang).
• Book Ends:
  • Not the episode itself, but rather for the Joker. His first appearance in the DCAU (The Batman: TAS episode “Christmas with the Joker”) featured him hijacking a Gotham City news station. This episode marks his last appearance in the DCAU (in terms of production) and featured him hijacking several television channels.
  • Batman calling Shayera and John at the Watchtower, although the circumstances are different.
• Brick Joke: The old woman Joker pesters at the beginning of the episode appears again when Shayera and John kiss at the end.
• Bullet Time: Flash tries disarming a bomb but can't focus enough, so he suddenly disappears with the bomb and an explosion happens outside the city. Joker rewinds the video to see what just happened and we see one of the fastest displays of speed Flash has shown as he relocates the bomb into the desert. Joker's response is a flat "huh..."
• The Cameo: J'onn and Wonder Woman both have unexplained absences, but they do show up in a still of the whole League in one TV screen.
• Casting Gag: The Royal Flush Gang are all played by the core Teen Titans voice actors, which was airing concurrent with Justice League at the time. There are also similarities between the characters they play on either show, some more overt than others.
• Cliffhanger: Was Green Lantern killed in that fiery explosion? Tune in next week!
• Comically Missing the Point: The old woman Joker talks to fails to realize that when he asks if she's scared, he's referring to the bombs.
• Crazy-Prepared:
  • Whether Joker actually believes he's immune to Ace's power or not is debatable, but he had the foresight to keep the protective headband on him just in case he wasn't. Fortunately for him, it turns out to be the right move. Not so fortunately for him, Batman turns this on him by taking the headband away in plain view of Ace, leaving Joker unprotected and the new target of her wrath.
  • In Part I, Joker also has the foresight to buy airtime on multiple networks just in case Batman and the League manage to shut down the feeds on at least one of them before he goes live. It also doubles as foreshadowing, as The Plan hinges on having as many people tuning into the Vegas 'reality show' as possible (and thus extra channels and airtime are beneficial).
  • Joker also rigged all his bombs with motion detectors, correctly anticipating one of the Leaguers (Flash in this particular instance) would eventually try Cutting the Knot and simply move/lift the incendiaries to get them clear of Veg. The bombs have to be manually defused in order to take them out of play. No cheating!
• Death Glare: Ace gives one that almost puts the Bat-Glare to shame to Joker when she finds out he has the power-suppressing headband that was used on her all those years ago.
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • Joker says this word for word when Harley punches Batman after he makes her jealous over how Joker is treating Ace.
  • He is similarly surprised when Flash ends up Relocating the Explosion of the last bomb instead of trying to disable it.
• Didn't Think This Through: The Royal Flush Gang try to stop the Justice League from disarming Joker's bombs. However, it is pointed out that if they succeed it means they will be caught in the explosion too. While Ten is fine with that since he's Nigh-Invulnerable anyway, the other members aren't. As soon as King realizes this when there is only one minute left, he immediately tries to run for it.
• Doing In the Wizard: Joker claims that his already being insane protects him from Ace's insanity-inducing gaze when in reality he is simply keeping one of her power-suppressing headbands on his person. When Batman removes it, she's able to render him catatonic with her ability.
• Don't Explain the Joke: When no one laughs at his volcano joke, the Joker rather hypocritically violates this, though he doesn't look so happy about it.
  Joker: "Getting warm", I said! (mooks stare at him) ...He's next to a volcano!
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Subverted. Rather than invade the airwaves as usual, Joker buys airtime on multiple channels under an alias, and other networks pick up his broadcast because he's got the best footage.
• Droste Image: As the Joker rattles off his ratings and reveals his true plan, he is standing in front of a broadcast monitor which creates this effect.
• End of an Era: Meta example. Due to the Bat Embargo that went into effect the following Season, this episode marks the final appearances (in terms of production order) of the Joker and Harley Quinn in the DCAU. It is thus Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin's final outing as their characters — or at least their final outing as the DCAU incarnations of Joker and Harley. Both actors would of course later reprise their roles for non-DCAU projects (and Hamill was also not done with the DCAU, as he would later guest star as the Trickster in "Flash and Substance").
• Evil Laugh: Averted. Throughout the entirety of the two episodes, though the Joker retains his puns and Faux Affably Evil demeanor, his trademark laugh is surprisingly absent.
• Excuse Me While I Multitask: Batman manages to successfully guide Flash through disarming a bomb while fighting Jack, only pausing when he gets hit. At no point does he imply that Flash called at a bad time, and continues giving directions even after Flash offers to help him first.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: As the Leaguers get to work defusing bombs, the Joker makes a pun about having "a card or two" up his sleeve. Cue the debut of the Royal Flush Gang.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Quoth the Joker, concerning his 'show': "Ooh! Medical drama, life and death stakes, compelling human conflict... RATINGS!" As it turns out, drawing in viewers is key to the Joker's real plot.
    • Joker's dialogue at the top of the broadcast (when everyone still thinks there's only a single bomb) also hints at this. He's insistent that only the Justice League can disarm his bomb and that he'll remotely detonate it if anyone else tries. As he confirms during The Reveal, Joker was counting on the "star power" of the League to generate interest in his "show".
  • While the name is a giveaway, we get an indication of Ace's power level during an interview segment. Queen grouses about not being team leader and boasts she's the most powerful member, but when the camera briefly pans over to Ace, she immediately corrects herself and does so in a much more pleasant tone.
    • J'onn's absence from the roster of this episode is also another subtle clue that the true final threat's a psychic. After all, if the Martian Manhunter were present, he could've shut down Ace easily once she got going.
  • Joker's raid on the government facility becomes a retroactive instance both for the Cadmus arc and for Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker after Seasons Three and Four. In the case of the former, "Fearful Symmetry" will reveal that this operation was one of the forerunners to Cadmus. In the case of the latter, "Epilogue" will reveal that the genetics technology Joker used on Tim Drake came from Cadmus (therefore implying this raid was when and where Joker acquired it).
  • Ace typically has a sad expression on her face. Unlike her teammates, she has a very tragic backstory.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: When the Joker's true plot is revealed, the screen fades to black as Ace continues to stare at you.
• Funny Background Event: As Joker talks about Ace's powers, a rat person carrying a cup of coffee walks across the stage in the background, indicating the effect Ace is having on the viewers.
• Genre Blindness:
  • After all these years, Harley didn't expect Batman to follow her back to the Joker's hideout. Joker even calls her on this.
  • He also calls out Green Lantern for not suspecting a trap while he's defusing a bomb. "See what happens when you don't watch enough television?"
• The Ghost: The Joker at one point mentions Amos Fortune (the original founder of the Royal Flush Gang) as the owner of the casino where the fight takes place.
• Government Conspiracy: The members of the Royal Flush Gang were being detained in a secret facility called Sector 12. While in custody, they were trained to hone their unique powers, which Joker says was to make them human weapons loyal to the government. Next season would reveal that this operation was a forerunner to Project Cadmus.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Ace turns on Joker after discovering that he had the band the institution used to disable her, reducing him to a drooling vegetable after he had planned to do the same thing to millions of his viewers.
• Hostile Show Takeover: Much of the episode is framed this way, with Joker talking directly to the audience, and showing us the action through security cameras.
• Honest Corporate Executive: A TV network executive who finds out that he was tricked into selling airtime to the Joker immediately stops the broadcast before Joker can go on the air. Unfortunately, Joker bought airtime on all of the other networks as well.
• Hope Spot: After Flash disposes of the last bomb, he's certain it's all over. Joker then reveals the true purpose of this scheme.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Having been raised to be a weapon means that Ace’s judgement is poor, with the Joker fooling her into thinking he was her friend.
• Hypnotic Eyes: Ace displays these when using her powers to drive people insane. After revealing his true scheme, Joker says that even her normal eyes have the hypnotic effect of keeping people from looking away.
• If It Bleeds, It Leads: The Joker's show is picked up by news broadcasters eager to cover the superpowered battle and possible destruction of the Vegas Strip. This is all part of the plan to maximize the number of viewers exposed to Ace's power.
• Innocent Innuendo: The episode opens with a shot of the Watchtower, and we hear this exchange between Green Lantern and Hawkgirl, when they're really just looking for financial records.
  Shayera: Uh-huh...that's it...right there.
  John: No, it's not.
  Shayera: I think I would know.
  John: Really?
• Insanity Immunity: The Joker announces that he has this in regard to Ace's powers. Turns out he was lying
• Intercom Villainy: The Joker uses his news broadcast to belittle and confuse the Justice League as they attempt to foil his bomb plot. He even put TV screens on the bombs, so the League has to watch his show! This all turns out to be a publicity stunt to get good ratings so he can brainwash as many people as possible.
• Interrupted Declaration of Love: The Joker gets bored and cuts away just as Hawkgirl is about to confess something to Green Lantern. Clearly, he doesn't think romance has the ratings appeal of violence.
• Invincible Villain: The Justice League is powerless against Ace's mental abilities. The most Batman can do is show her that Joker was using her. After she takes revenge on Joker for lying to her, she leaves, and Batman can't do anything to stop her.
• Ironic Echo: Ace to the Joker after she sees that he had kept the power-suppressing headband that was used on her when she was young. As a prelude to deciding of her own accord to do to him what he was trying to force her to do to the people watching.
  Ace: I know what it's like to frighten other people. That's why I'm not afraid of you. I'm the only one.
• Kinda Busy Here: Batman has to advise Flash how to defuse a bomb while in the midst of fighting Jack.
• Lame Comeback
  Joker: Even you can't disarm one of my bombs in time.
  Flash: Shut up!
  Joker: What kind of a retort is THAT? You're not even trying.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Since the Joker is airing a television special, most of the time it looks like he's talking right to the audience, including an ever-present countdown timer in the bottom-left corner. It gets even more explicit as he talks about the Unresolved Sexual Tension between Green Lantern and Hawkgirl.
• Leotard of Power: Queen wears a tight leather leotard with a prominent Cleavage Window. Ace wears a more modest one.
• Magical Security Camera: It's explained that Joker set up hundreds of cameras across Las Vegas to capture the encounter and draw a big audience, which would rival The Truman Show in terms of complexity of recording an event in real time. They also have a fast enough refresh rate to capture Flash in Bullet Time (he moves at a decent jog while others are barely moving, indicating a minimum fps in the thousands).
• Magic Countdown: Downplayed. At the cliffhanger when Green Lantern is caught in an explosion, the on-screen timer reads 7:00. At the start of the second part, as Hawkgirl is trying to dig GL out, the timer has jumped back up to 7:06.
• Male Gaze: The cameraman conspicuously scopes out Queen when she first appears.
• Mental Shutdown: The Joker claims Insanity Immunity when it comes to Ace's Mind Rape powers, but when she discovers he had been using her just like everyone else in her life had, she decides to test how far this goes and turns her powers up to the max. The result drives Joker into such a pit of madness he just collapses onto the floor, utterly catatonic and entirely gone. While chronologically this takes place before Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and thus he presumably recovered, this is the last time he's ever seen in the series.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: Batman tricks Harley Quinn into leading him back to the Joker by implying the Joker is in a relationship with Ace, who is only an adolescent.
• Mood Whiplash: Joker turns on the charm to appease a jealous Harley and then backhands her for not realizing that Batman surely followed her.
• Motive Misidentification: The League thinks Joker's plan is to blow up Vegas and kill countless civilians for his own perverse amusement. While that is an acceptable outcome and a bonus, that's not the Joker's real plan.
• Mythology Gag:
  • One of the casinos is called the Amos Fortune, who was an old time Justice League villain and the leader of the original version of the Royal Flush Gang.
  • The episode's name and general premise (Joker commandeering the Royal Flush Gang) may be a nod to the Joker's first - and only - appearance on Superfriends. Just to hammer it home, that episode was cowritten by DCAU producer Alan Burnett.
• Near-Villain Victory: The Joker was this close to driving millions of people permanently insane, including Superman and Flash. Batman himself was on the verge of breaking (as well suffering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown), and he just barely managed to show Ace that Joker had the power-suppressing headband in his jacket.
• The Nicknamer: The Joker shows his contempt for Stupidman and Batguano.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: When Batman is having his mind scrambled by Ace, Joker unleashes a brutal one on him, complete with an evil version of "London Bridge is Falling Down".
  The Joker: Big old bats has fallen down
  on the ground, mind unsound.
  Big old bats has fallen down.
  I'm so happy.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Hawkgirl starts to apologize to Batman for abandoning the bomb hunt to fly Green Lantern to a hospital. He cuts her off, telling her she did the right thing.
• Not What It Looks Like: When Batman pulls the headband power-dampener Cadmus used on Ace out of the Joker's jacket, Joker sees her Death Glare and tries to claim that he just kept it as "a souvenir". Ace doesn't buy it.
• Off Screen Villain Dark Matter: Joker had the money to buy airtime on multiple networks and set up a series of powerful explosives throughout Vegas. How he pulled that off is never explained but since he had a group of superpowered villains working for him it's probably thanks to their help.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Batman telling a network executive that he sold airtime to Gwynplaine Entertainment, which is a front for the Joker.
  • Batman when Joker detonates his bomb and he's at ground zero...except the bomb was a fake. This would shortly be followed by a Mass "Oh, Crap!" from the rest of the League when Superman scans the Vegas Strip for any more bombs, and counting 25 in total.
  • Joker when Ace (thanks to Batman) sees that he still has the power-dampening headband that was used on her as a child, most likely to use in case she ever tried to turn on him.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Ace turns on him, the Joker whimpers with fear.
• Pass the Popcorn: The Joker, of course, making a spectacle of the crisis at his literal enjoyment.
• Pay Evil unto Evil:
  • Joker murders the Cadmus goons who kidnapped the Royal Flush Gang as children and raised them to be living weapons. Not that he's any better, admittedly.
  • At the end of the episode, Joker is on the receiving end of this when Ace realizes that he's planning on using the Cadmus control headband on her and proceeds to Mind Rape him.
• Power Incontinence: A flashback shows that, as a baby, Ace accidentally sent her parents into a catatonic state.
• Properly Paranoid: Played for black comedy in the climax when Joker correctly concludes Batman followed Harley back to their broadcast center. He then starts looking up in the ceiling rafters, trying to locate his pointy-eared foe. When there's still no response or sign of him, Joker lampshades that he knows Batman's up there somewhere and to cut the bullshit already. He's vindicated moments later when Batman materializes (albeit he's actually already on the floor rather than up in the ceiling) and sucker punches him.
• Punch-Clock Villain: The camera crew the Joker hires to help him carries out their employment contract without either hesitation or malice.
• Race Against the Clock: The Joker threatens to explode a bomb (later revealed to be 25 bombs) in 22 minutes, fifty-one seconds. "Oh what where you expecting from me? A round number?"
• Relocating the Explosion: With only a few seconds remaining and the Joker's taunting only confusing him, Flash decides to forget about disarming the last bomb and simply use his super speed to carry it out of the city and into the desert.
  Superman: That was quite a stunt you just pulled off.
  Flash: I know. Can't wait to catch the rerun.
• Required Secondary Powers: Ten has Super-Strength and Nigh-Invulnerability to match Superman (explained as Feels No Pain, but depicted as more than that). Superman is unable to focus on the bomb with Ten harassing him and can't easily knock him down, so he uppercuts him into the sky, as Ten can't fly the physics involved gave Superman plenty of time to disarm the bomb before he came down.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: As the Joker explains Ace's origin, we get a flashback of her childhood. Joker asks if this innocent baby could possibly be a monster. Then the camera pans over to show what Ace accidentally did to her parents, to which the Joker asserts that he was speaking rhetorically.
• Sanity Slippage: Joker's ultimate plan is to use Ace's powers to drive millions of viewers permanently insane. He's positively ecstatic at the chance of breaking Batman in particular.
• Sarcasm Failure: Joker was left speechless after seeing the Flash take off with a bomb.
• Saved by Canon: More or less with Joker following his fate at the end of this episode. This is Joker's final appearance on the series (and in the production order of the DCAU) due to the Bat-Embargo of the following seasons. While we never actually see Joker snap out of his catatonic state, we know he'll eventually recover given this episode chronologically precedes the Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker flashbacks.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • The minute that Superman points out that everyone will be killed should a bomb go off, King runs for it.
  • After leaving the Joker in a catatonic state, Ace simply walks out of the building, with Batman too weak to do anything beyond asking her where she's going.
• Shipper on Deck: Played with. First, the Joker points out that Hawkgirl and Lantern obviously have a thing for each other. Then he subverts it: "Will true love conquer all? Not on my show!" (hits Big Red Button to set off bomb) Then, at the end, when they kiss, the old woman from earlier comments that "It's about time!"
• Shout-Out
  • Each member of the Royal Flush Gang is voiced by the same voice actors best known for voicing the Teen Titans. They even have somewhat similar roles and abilities—the one voiced by Scott Menville is a leader who wields a staff, for instance.
  • The plan used broadcast time purchased under the alias "Gwynplaine Entertainment", named for the protagonist of The Man Who Laughs, whose permanent rictus grin provided the visual inspiration for the Joker.
• Show Within a Show: Basically, it's the episode's Framing Device.
• Simple Solution Won't Work:
  • While Batman warning the tv executive that he sold airtime to the Joker is enough to get him to have his station cut the broadcast, it doesn't prevent Jokers scheme since he had the forethought to buy time in more than one network.
  • Flash likewise tries to physically move the bombs to prevent them from going off inside Vegas. Unfortunately, Joker knew one of the Leaguers would try this eventually and rigged them with motion detectors to go off in such an instance. The bombs have to be defused in order to take them out of play (though Flash eventually does this anyway with the last bomb when there's no time or choice left).
• Smokescreen Crime: The Joker takes over TV stations in Las Vegas and announces that he has placed a series of bombs that will destroy the Vegas Strip in 22 minutes and 51 seconds if they are not stopped by the Justice League. The League succeeds in locating and disarming the bombs, only for the Joker to reveal that the bombs were not the real threat — that would be his metahuman minion Ace who has the ability to hypnotize people through eye contact and since everyone in Vegas (to say nothing of 60-70 million people nationally) has been glued to the screen since the Joker's plan went into action, they are now under Ace's thrall. Thankfully, Batman is able to foil Joker's plan by turning Ace against him.
• Stealth Pun:
  • The Joker's most dangerous weapon is the telepath, Ace. It's just like him to always have an ace up his sleeve.
  • When Green Lantern and Hawkgirl do The Big Damn Kiss at the end (and perhaps a lot more), you hear the old woman in Vegas exclaims "Well, it's about time!" and it cuts to her finally hitting the jackpot. Which either GL or Hawkgirl could be said to have done in their Relationship Upgrade.
• Stunned Silence: On seeing a rerun of how Flash used his Super-Speed for Relocating the Explosion, the Joker for once can only say, "Huh..."
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: J'onn, as understandably the Martian Manhunter would easily have been able to shut down Ace had he been on duty when the League deployed to Vegas.
• Talk to the Fist:
  • Superman interrupts Ten's claims of superiority with a headbutt.
  • After backhanding Harley for leading Batman to his hideout, the Joker looks up at the rafters and tells his foe to stop sneaking around up there. Batman (already on the floor) punches him mid-sentence.
• Title Drop: The Joker referring to the Royal Flush Gang as "wild cards". It's both used to illustrate the playing card trademarks that they use for identities and the way they enter the scene unexpectedly, providing a chaotic distraction for the League to deal with throughout the two-parter. Ace also proves to be the Wild Card, turning against the Joker in the end.
• Tragic Keepsake: Ace regularly cradles the doll she had the day she was taken away by Sector 12 agents.
• Unexplained Recovery: Joker is left catatonic by Ace at the end of the episode, but he obviously got better eventually. This is in-keeping with many previous appearances, however.
• Villain Has a Point: When Harley returns to Joker's hideout, Joker berates her for leading Batman there. He's being the same Bad Boss he always is, but he's right.
• Villains Never Lie: When the Joker says the bomb can't be moved because it has motion sensors, Flash asks why he should believe him? Joker just tells him to call his bluff.
• Villain Respect: Upon seeing the slow-motion replay of the final bomb's detonation, and how the Flash was able to carry it out of the city at literally the last second, Joker is very unwillingly impressed.
• Unwitting Pawn: When explaining what his real plan was, Joker says that the Justice League's star power ensured there would be record ratings.
• We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: Joker's response to the Snowy Screen of Death when Harley's helicopter crashes.
• Wham Episode: Thanks to the Relationship Upgrade for John and Hawkgirl, and Dramatic Unmask for the latter.
• Wham Line: "In just over five minutes, you'll all be hopelessly, incurably insane."
• Would Hit a Girl: Not nearly as bad as the one in "Mad Love", but still shocking:
  Joker: And there's one other thing you're not getting.
  Harley: What?
  Joker: That you led Batman right to my doorstep! (smack) Tough love. Very effective. Don't you think so, Batman?
• Wire Dilemma: Flash has to disarm a bomb with the Joker yammering away at him.
  Joker: NOT THE BLUE ONE! YOU'LL BLOW US ALL TO SMITHEREENS! (Flash hesitates) Seriously, you were right. Cut the black one — I mean the red one! No, blue! That's it: black-and-yellow-striped one NO WAIT! Green... (Flash runs out of time/patience and tries Relocating the Explosion instead)
• Xanatos Gambit: The bombs Joker planted were just an exciting piece of bait for the tv show, which was NOT just to feed his sense of theatrics. Ace is revealed to be an immensely powerful psychic who can render people catatonic even through a tv signal. Whether or not ANY bombs went off was irrelevant, it drew massive viewers for Ace to manipulate.
• You Meddling Kids: Joker, of course, includes an adorable shout-out. "And they would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for me meddling with the kids!"

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