YMMV / Batman: The Animated Series E34 "The Laughing Fish"

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Joker’s motivation. It’s not made clear if he legitimately thought he could copyright fish (since he might be a criminal mastermind but not necessarily well-versed in copyright laws, plus he’s nuttier than a fruitcake and prone to Insane Troll Logic), if he intended to murder bureaucrats until they made it legal to save themselves, or if his scheme was just an excuse to try and kill people and to flush out his favorite sparring partner, or if it started as the former but then turned into the latter.
  • It's also a very real possibility that even if he did want to copyright fish, profit was only a perk and the mere idea of having a brand name on a natural resource was the real goal, given the Joker's insatiable ego.
  • It's also possible that, even though it doesn't really fit Joker's character, profit was indeed the real goal, considering how in just a few years, Batman will have foiled all of his Gotham operations, leaving Joker broke to point of not having function equipment or even acid in his flower. Perhaps Joker had already started to suffer from this, and therefore, decided to obtain money from the Joker Fish in order to keep his operations maintained and not go bankrupt.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • This line from Harvey Bullock to Harley about the Joker, which turns out to be even more horribly true than he could have ever thought.
    Harvey Bullock: Come on, he was a demented, abusive, psychotic maniac.
  • Before The Reveal, it looked as though Batman was affected by the Joker venom (via cat scratch). He ends up getting affected for real in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
    • And even harsher, Batman succumbing to the Joker Venom in an alternate universe is essentially the origin story for The Batman Who Laughs.
    • Harsher still, Batman is infected with the Joker's blood and slowly starts to BECOME HIM in Batman: Arkham Knight.

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