YMMV / Batman: The Killing Joke

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Readers of the original graphic novel have always been split on the question of whether Joker raped Barbara Gordon or "merely" crippled her, stripped her naked, and took photographs of her to use to torment her father. Alan Moore eventually made it clear it was the latter. However, this adaptation adds fuel to the fire by adding a scene in which a group of prostitutes tell Batman that the Joker usually seeks out their services shortly after escaping from Arkham but hasn't this time around and speculate that he's "found himself another girl". It could refer to Barbara, or is merely a nod to Harley Quinn.
• Awesome Music: Even the fans who absolutely despise this adaptation are prone to thinking Joker's Villain Song "I Go Looney" is an absolute treat. The fact that he makes a Break Them by Talking lecture into a song, and a catchy one at that, that he sings while torturing Jim Gordon with an amusement park ride from hell, just adds to the Refuge in Audacity feel of the song. It is also one of the few points where Mark Hamill grabs the chance to really play up the showman side of the Joker with both hands, as the character is otherwise strangely subdued for most of the rest of the film.
• Broken Base:
  • There are those who like the art style of the film and those who think it's too different and simplified from the original comic. It doesn't help that the art style is largely based off of the also divisive Deluxe Edition re-coloring and the animation itself is considered some of the weakest of the movies with stilted movements, simplified layouts and storyboarding, rough CGI, and questionable aesthetic changes to elements like Joker's baby doll throne.
  • Overall, reception towards the film has been highly polarizing. Some find it to be a satisfying adaptation that stays true to the source material after the first half-hour, with the high point being Mark Hamill's performance. Others consider it to be among the worst Batman adaptations, with much of the criticism aimed at the writing and direction of the prologue, the Squick nature of the Batman-Batgirl sex scene, as well as the animation and voice acting in some parts.
  • The movie's rating. Some feel that it's well-deserved while others say that just a few mere changes will pretty much make it PG-13 material.
  • Batgirl's more hot-headed nature has come under fire. You either think it works good enough since she's still young and trying to figure herself out, or you could think she's far too unlikable to even be considered a Jerkass Woobie.
• Designated Hero:
  • Batgirl comes across as this since she openly admits that the only reason she became a superhero was because she did it all to impress Batman and gain his love. It doesn't help that she views each of her missions in the film as a step to get closer to that goal as opposed to actually bringing justice. In fact, she randomly assaults a man in broad daylight to blow off steam since Batman never called her back after sex. Nevertheless, we're supposed to view her as a tragic heroine for not getting her way.
  • The common complaint is how the movie made both Batman and Batgirl so out of character that they lacked any of their heroic traits in the process.
• Evil Is Cool: Mark Hamill's performance as Joker definitely makes the film memorable by doing full justice to the monologues in Alan Moore's original.
• Fanon Discontinuity: The prologue is already being ignored by viewers due to the sex scene between Batman and Batgirl, partly due to its Squick nature, partly due to what they feel is poor characterization of Barbara as a Clingy Jealous Girl and Batman as a creepy older man. A common recommendation is to just skip the first half-hour altogether, especially since it has almost nothing to do with the actual Killing Joke storyline.
• Fetish Retardant: The Batman/Batgirl sex scene, considering their age difference^note Barbara states that her father told her about Batman and Joker's first encounter when she was a kid. and father-daughter/mentor relationship.
• Franchise Original Sin: This is not the first time that Bruce Timm put Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon together into a romantic relationship. However, while still negatively-received the first time 'round, it at least took place between the characters offscreen once they were Older and Wiser, rather than while Barbara was still a fairly young crimefighter under his tutelage. The blow was also softened by the inclusion of several hints that both Bruce and Barbara had several regrets about their romance in retrospect and looked back at it as somewhat of a mistake. At the time, Bruce Timm even admitted that it was thrown in for shock value, as a testament to the Darker and Edgier tone of Batman Beyond.
• He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: Being a heavily anticipated adaptation of a well-known story with a fan-favorite cast, the backlash and negative criticism towards the film's Adaptation Expansion produced its own backlash. Many reviewers who found the adaptation to be more blatantly sexist than the original source material (which was already considered problematic among comic critics and even Alan Moore himself) were harassed or flamed with angry comments. Writer Brian Azzarello himself participated in this, calling a critical fan a "pussy" during a panel.
• He Really Can Act: Mark Hamill's voice-acting was never for a second in doubt. But who could have guessed he was just as great at singing? Not the staff, that's for sure.
• Informed Wrongness: For all the crap Batgirl gives him about "not taking her seriously", Batman's concerns are actually valid. Every single instance we see Batgirl take on Paris Franz, she nearly gets killed in the process while Batman rescues her.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • While the movie is a mixed reception towards many with some even despising it, many agree they would watch it again, mainly because of Mark Hamill voicing the iconic villain once again. Many have agreed that he was the best part of the movie, despite its flaws.
  • While not as much as Mark Hamill, some fans would also watch the movie because of Kevin Conroy voicing the Batman once again. Some even admitted that besides Hamill as the Joker, Conroy as the Batman was among the best parts of the movie.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • When Batman and Batgirl have sex, the scene pans upward showing a gargoyle statue watching over them, which is often joked about being a creeper or even Satan enjoying the scene before him.
  • Doug Walker ranting about how Batman having sex with Jim Gordon would make more sense than Batman having sex with Batgirl led to the Internet joking about other Batman Crack Pairings that would make more logical sense and produce less Squick than "Batcest".
  • Given the audience reception, many who joked that the viewers who watched the movie all had their "one bad day".
• Misaimed Fandom: There are plenty of shippers who mistook the prologue as a romantic story, even though the film itself portrays the relationship as a bad thing.
• Misblamed: Because Bruce Timm allegedly held a fondness for Bruce/Barbara (as previous works in the DCAU had hinted at them dating or having dated), he gets most of the blame from fans for the Bruce/Barbara subplot, including the scene of them having sex. While Timm is not entirely blameless, according to an interview, the Bruce/Barbara subplot was a decision made by him, Alan Burnett, and screenwriter Brian Azzarello, with Azzarello allegedly being the one to propose the idea.
• Narm:
  • Batgirl's sexual encounter with Batman. With a mere change of her eyes, she goes from being angry to being lustful, kissing him and stripping her clothes off, out in the open. Also, her Wangsting about how he doesn't take her seriously (which given her obvious incompetence is fair enough on Batman's part), especially the scene where she shouts out about her "Yoga instructor" in public.
  • Batman's line that Batgirl hasn't stared into "the abyss... Where all hope dies" is also unintentionally hilarious, nearer to the version of Batman from All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder. The line delivery is also awkward as if Conroy is trying to keep a straight face as he's saying this B-Movie line out loud.
  • The fact that the antagonist of the prologue is named "Paris Franz", which feels like it'd be more at home in the 60s Adam West series and not one of the most notoriously dark Batman stories ever.
• Never Live It Down: Bruce Timm, thanks to this film, is forever associated with Bruce/Barbara as a ship and all the No Yay that comes with it. Timm's DC works tend to pair Batman with just about every female character he interacts with, but between this film and the oblique mentions of it in Batman Beyond (which were canonized fully by a comic written without his input), practically any mention of Timm will usually be followed by commentators joking about Bruce/Barbara.
• No Yay:
  • Paris Franz and Batgirl. He's a perverted sociopath with a Villainous Crush on Batgirl and it's implied that he intended to rape her after dosing her with Knockout Gas. Disturbingly, Batgirl finds his interest in her cute. At least until he comes after her mentor.
  • Batman and Batgirl's relationship has immediately triggered a lot of disgust with some people because of the fact that they're co-workers, have a father-daughter like connection, and have a great age difference, never mind how this very idea would affect Jim Gordon, who's friends with Batman.
• Older Than They Think:
  • A Barbara/Bruce relationship originated in Bruce Timm's Batman Beyond. In Beyond, set decades in the future with older characters the relationship (which ended on a bad note) was treated as a Noodle Incident and it was intended to have taken place years after Batgirl and Batman fought crime, with the latter driving away all his remaining allies and/or Love Interests and Barbara (long broken up with Nightwing) essentially becoming their final chance at love which they then threw away, after which Bruce to become a reclusive hermit. Here it happens while Barbara is still at college and hardly a superhero for a long time. The relationship was received negatively back then, though not nearly as vocally, as it was less noticeable. ^note The Loose Canon Batman Beyond 2.0 comics reveal that their relationship occurred while Barbara and Dick were still together, with Bruce and Babs hooking up while Nightwing was away in Blüdhaven; not only that, she was also pregnant with Bruce's sons, but suffered a miscarriage.
  • The above relationship was first mentioned back in Batman (Vol. 1) #511, a Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! tie-in, which features an alternate timeline version of Batgirl (in her timeline's version of The Killing Joke, The Joker kidnapped Barbara after he shot and killed her father).
  • There's some people that thought Barbara being a librarian was a reference to Tara Strong's role as Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, who spent the first four seasons living in a library. However, this is more than likely a Mythology Gag to Barbara's earliest appearances, as she was introduced as a librarian.
  • Likewise, some people say that Barbara retiring from the role of Batgirl before she was crippled undercuts the tragedy of what happened since she couldn't be Batgirl. A one-shot, Batgirl Special No. 1, was published shortly before TKJ and ended with Barbara deciding to quit being Batgirl, thus she was already retired when the Joker shot her.
• One-Scene Wonder: The Joker's wife has one scene in the whole movie, but it provides a lot to his character.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The prologue pretty much overshadows the rest of the movie, which is ironic since everyone expected the latter to be the truly controversial part of the movie. Adding fuel to the fire was writer Brian Azzarello's own admission that "The thing about this is that it's controversial, so we added more controversy."
• Rated M for Money: Many of the changes to the source material (especially the prologue) can be viewed as being added just for the sake of pushing the film towards an R rating. Screenwriter Brian Azzarello admitted that they added controversy for the sake of controversy.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: Batgirl's obsessive crush on Batman culminates in a sex scene played for fanservice, which detracts from the main plot of the prologue, which has her falling into the darkness chasing after the criminal Paris.
• The Scrappy:
  • Barbara's Gay Best Friend Reese has got some intense dislike from fans (both homosexual and not) for essentially being a walking stereotype and having absolutely nothing plot-related except for being a shoulder for Barbara to cry on. It doesn't help that he doesn't even visit her in the hospital at all after she's crippled by the Joker.
  • Paris Franz is near-universally hated by fans for being a two-dimensional, repellent sleazeball with no redeeming or interesting qualities and for having no relevance to the rest of the plot past the prologue. And not to mention his ridiculous Punny Name that's totally out of place in such a dark story.
• Signature Scene: The infamous Batman-Batgirl sex scene became more memorable than the Nightmare Fuel that is the Joker's Sanity Slippage.
• Signature Song: I Go Looney.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: The intro is just there to flesh out Batgirl and the plot only starts at the 30-minute mark.
• Squick:
  • The sex scene between Batman and Batgirl is this for many people due to their age difference, their teacher-student relationship, and Batman's relationship to her father. Bruce Timm blaming the incident on Batman's poor "parental skills" does not help matters.
  • The prostitutes' suggestion that the Joker "found himself another girl" lends heavily into the theory that he raped Barbara after crippling her.
  • Paris throughout the entire prologue. His rapey crush on Barbara, with some over-the-top misogynist remarks to boot, were cringe-worthy for many, and only added fuel to the fire.
  • Everything about Paris' lust for Batgirl. He actually goes so far as to hire prostitutes to dress up as her.
• Tear Jerker: The ending to the film, really gives the tragedy of this infamous rivalry.
  • Batman offering Joker one more chance for help. Joker, who is responsible for so much destruction and pain, even to Batman's closest friends, is taken aback by this, really showing that, ironically, Batman truly is the only man in the world who cares for Joker enough to help. However, Joker knows he's committed far too many atrocities to ever turn back now, and politely declines the offer. In a rare moment, Joker actually seemed sane, which is tragic that it had to end with him rejecting the help he desperately needed.
    Batman: You don't need to be alone, we don't have to kill each other. Let me help you.
    Joker: ...I'm sorry, but no. No, it's far too late for that.
    • Batman really doesn't want it to end with him and Joker killing each other, and eventually will have to decide whether he has to. He's trying desperately to avoid that, and makes the final scene all the more heartbreaking.
  • Joker's one final joke in the end, which also works for his reasoning on why he doesn't believe that Batman would help him. Joker starts laughing, but not soon after, Batman starts laughing as well, even leaning on Joker they laugh in the rain, before we only hear Batman. Just the sight of two bitter enemies laughing with each other, knowing full well they are doomed to continue their battle until the bitter end.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Don Francesco is established as Paris' straight boss uncle who wants his nephew to control his sadistic habits and start falling in line with his practices. However, he's Killed Offscreen after less than 2 minutes of screen time.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The film introduces a prologue section not included in the comics that's supposed to flesh out Barbara's backstory more. However, critics complain that the prologue and the second half of the film feel completely disconnected from one another, the stuff that happens to Barbara in the first half is never brought up at any point during the second. The prologue fails to build up Barbara as a character, and instead just establishes her as Ms. Fanservice, while mucking up the friendship that she had with Batman in the comics. Some felt that if the movie had to extend its story for the running time, they should've added more flashbacks to the Joker's backstory, like showing how the stand-up comedy routine failed or what he did after he emerged from the polluted river.
  • Rather than use the addition of a Batgirl prologue to amend the lack of focus she got in the original story and how she coped with being left crippled, which Alan Moore regretted, or to alter the context to provide a better alternative to just Joker shooting her to spite Batman, it instead spends all its time on a sleazy plot disconnected from the main story. There was an opportunity to have Barbara undergo a unique arc that lead to her drawing Jokers wrath on her own, such as her undergoing a brief disillusionment with the vigilante lifestyle that leads her to put aside the batsuit for a spell, only to spring into action to help thwart a Joker plot while out of costume, making Joker's attack, very in-character, revenge on a Heroic Bystander, with him using it to torment Batman being just a twisted afterthought.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: Amid the criticisms over the writing, animation, and voice acting, many critics do agree that Mark Hamill had a standout performance, and was arguably the only redeeming quality of the film.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: The prologue featuring Batgirl does very little to make her sympathetic, despite the writers' claims that it makes her a stronger character. Common criticisms include her character arc being too dependent on her pining after Batman and then acting like a jilted lover, ultimately coming off like a thrill-seeking Stalker with a Crush who even went as far as to beat up a man in broad daylight out of anger for not receiving a call from Batman after they had sex. Batgirl fans say that she's Barbara Gordon In Name Only, and seems to have more in common with Jason Todd or the original Kathy Kane.
• Wangst: Barbara's whining about how Batman "doesn't take her seriously".
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: As if the previous PG-13 ratings aren't violent enough, this film takes it up to eleven by being the first R-Rated animated DC film, and it earned it through its intense violence and sexuality.
• The Woobie:
  • Batgirl has a rough time in the film. She gets too emotionally invested in taking down Paris Franz that she has to retire, only to get shot, crippled, stripped down, sexually assaulted, and (most likely) raped by the Joker.
  • Commissioner Gordon doesn't fare much better. In the middle of a weekly father-daughter get-together with Barbara, he has to watch in horror as she is grievously wounded by the Joker out of nowhere and finds himself brutalized by the Crown Prince of Crime's lackeys not long after. Then, he awakens in an abandoned amusement park, is stripped naked, and subjected to psychological torture by Joker and his sideshow carnival goons, including having his friendship with Batman—a vigilante operating outside of the law—tested in a Kangaroo Court because of his principles as a member of law enforcement and being forced to look (and scream) at photos of his daughter during her above ordeal. The shock of that last bit is so great it briefly renders him catatonic. Like his daughter, however, Jim does rebound, and makes it clear to Batman before letting him go apprehend Joker that they have to do things "by the book" to show the Joker that their way works (and thus refute his views).

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