The Joker

If one goes on a survey to ask people what first comes into mind when they hear the name "The Joker", more often than not words like "prankster", "villain", and "unatic" come out.

But only one other name is synonymous to The Joker and it's not found in a deck of cards.

The Joker is without a doubt the most popular comic book villain character EVER and has been portrayed in films by two great actors- Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger.

The Joker also goes by many other names: The Clown Prince of Crime; The Harlequin of Hate; The Ace of Knaves. But whatever moniker The Joker may be tagged with, the only certain thing about him is that he will forever be synonymous to the name of his arch nemesis- Batman.

He was created by the trio of Jerry Robinson, Bob Kane and Bill Finger for DC Comics in 1940. Although little is known about his origins, The Joker wasn't always the murderous lunatic that he is known as today.

One story goes that he was once a hitman named Red Hood who worked for the mob.

His first encounter with Batman happened in a botched robbery at a chemical plantation that led to a disastrous ending. Red Hood fell into a chemical vat while trying to escape from the Dark Knight, but he wasn't able to escape the effects of the toxic chemicals that transformed his physical features into what it is today- chalk white skin, green hair and a permanent lunatic smile. The person that emerged from that fateful disaster eventually became known as The Joker and since then, he has made life a lunatic joke for Batman.

An extremely intelligent character, The Joker is the only villain that frustrates Batman because of his unpredictability and murderous tactics.

Although he has no special powers, what makes The Joker dangerous is his unstable state of lunacy and carefree way of doing crime. He wreaks havoc around Gotham City just for the fun of it.

He gains more pleasure from it if the Batman is involved in trying to take him down. Like a game of cat and mouse, Joker enjoys every minute of getting under Batman's nerves. Although just a game to him, Joker's antics and witty tactics (although funny in some ways) is what makes Batman want to pull out his bat-ears out of frustration.

But despite all this, both hero and villain just don't seem to have the heart to kill the other. They are like two peas in a pod and the late Heath Ledger's Joker character said it best in "The Dark Knight" movie: "I don't want to kill you, what will I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, no! You complete me!"

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