Joker's 10 Best Quotes In The DCAU Movies – Screen Rant
The Joker is one of the most memorable pop culture villains regardless of the medium, and these are some of his best quotes from the animated movies.
The critical and commercial success of Matt Reeves' The Batman has given the brooding hero yet another round of mainstream attention, but, to a lesser extent, the same could be said of the Joker. Now both Joaquin Phoenix and Barry Keoghan are poised to play theatrical, live-action Jokers, but the supervillain has had plenty of memorable depictions in the animated movies as well.
He's one of the most iconic pop culture villains out there, and whether it's through the interconnected DCAU movies or the standalone adaptations, the Joker has provided several quotes that balance both dark humor and insight into his psychotic mind.
Both animated adaptations of Frank Miller's acclaimed Batman comic The Dark Knight Returns do justice to his seminal source material. Part 2 sees the mayhem unfold of an allegedly reformed Clown Prince of Crime being released back onto the streets, and the final bloody fight between a grizzled Batman and the Joker is telling of the latter's greatest psychological desires.
This is a Batman that's grown more cynical in his older years after seeing the federal government abandon Gotham to its renewed misery, and he nearly breaks his golden rule against the Joker. The villain is eager to goad him into it, but, in killing himself, takes gross pleasure in tearing the Dark Knight down to a new low.
The Joker is one of Batman's most compelling villains for multiple reasons, and Mark Hamill's portrayal of the character throughout the interconnected DC Animated Universe shines a spotlight on several of those qualities. His grand revival in Return of the Joker was one of his finest moments, and it was executed tastefully and without feeling like tacked-on fan service.
More specifically, seeing Batman (Terry McGinnis) and Joker go one-on-one was immensely satisfying. It's a well-earned defeat for the clown, and this quote amplifies the drawbacks of his rampant narcissism. He can't imagine being someone's punchline.
Return of the Joker is some of the best material to come out of the DCAU, and on top of the meat of the movie's story, part of that praise also comes from hearkening back to the days of The New Batman Adventures TV series.
There's a solid 10-minute flashback scene to that time of the continuity that's just as gripping as the present story, and it expertly borrows the tragic elements of the landmark A Death in the Family comic book by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo. The Joker is revealed to have tortured and nearly ruined Robin (Tim Drake) for life and taunts Batman for never striking the finishing blow on him. It's another dark showcase of his abusive dynamic with Batman.
Mark Hamill is understandably revered by many longtime Batman fans as the definitive voice of the Joker, but actor John DiMaggio (of Futurama fame) did a superb job in his own right. The animated adaptation of Judd Winick and Doug Mahnke's Under the Red Hood is also seen as one of DC's finest works in animation, and the Joker is an exciting supporting role in every scene he features in.
In the tense climax between Red Hood, Joker, and Batman, the latter manages to thwart Hood's attempt to kill the villain, but it's all a delightfully chaotic show for the clown. The Joker has a unique brand of mocking, condescendingly dark humor that few other villains can match.
In the same aforementioned scene of Under the Red Hood, the Joker leans even harder into his sociopathic glee over the disastrous situation the three find themselves in. The core of this movie is the deeply troubled relationship between Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd, and how the Joker's brand of villainy cruelly ties them all together.
Batman deeply wants to help Jason heal from his trauma and right past wrongs, but the Clown Prince of Crime can't feel anything but sadistic joy in seemingly having things go his way — an explosive, violent end for all three of them. It's fittingly grim to hear from the Joker — and unironically happy from his perspective — as it highlights his twisted psyche.
Outside of Hamill's portrayal of the villain, one of the most important things about the Joker — especially when considering his name — is that, in a strictly morbid and fictional sense, he can be funny. It's an important aspect of his character on top of the darkly psychological aspect of his mind and his relationship with Batman, and Mask of the Phantasm sees the clown steal the shown in several scenes.
His introduction after a lengthy hiatus in the movie was a masterful combination of gloomy tension and comedic relief. This is perhaps the most well-rounded way to depict the Joker, something that even Heath Ledger's take in The Dark Knight nailed.
Another welcome part of the Joker's overall morbid sense of humor is the dash of self-awareness he occasionally throws into his one-liners, and that's on display thanks to Troy Baker's admirable performance in The Long Halloween, Part One.
It's quite the ask to adapt Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's The Long Halloween, often hailed as the greatest Batman comic book series, but both the adaptation and this incarnation of the Clown Prince of Crime colorfully execute how — especially with this quote — the villain can be both self-aware of his own insanity and narcissistic at the same time.
In the same final fight between Gotham City's Batman of the future and the Joker of the past, the former breaks the villain in both body and mind. Like Bruce advised Terry before this, the Joker loves to hear himself talk and keep his enemy distracted, and the young hero did a brilliant job of pushing past the noise and hitting him where it really hurts.
The clown made his return to score a definitive victory over the Dark Knight, but he's instead reduced to a beaten coward throwing childlike tantrums. Joker refuses to accept that, in his eyes, a young pretender is the one who metaphorically put the nail in his coffin.
Admittedly, and even though it had Mark Hamill and the late — and great — Kevin Conroy reprising their respective roles, The Killing Joke animated movie was largely panned for being a distasteful adaptation of Batman and Batgirl.
Even so, the portion of the movie that sticks to the script brought some iconic moments from Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's comic to life. One of them is this clever half-humorous, half-psychologically nuanced joke about the Joker's origins. It's emblematic of how the ambiguity behind how the Joker came to be is part of what makes him so fascinating.
Several of the most iconic lines of dialogue in Moore's original writing managed to make it into the faithful portion of the animated movie, and this brief, harrowing quote to Barbara Gordon/Batgirl was one of the most important. The message he conveys contains the crux of what makes The Killing Joke — the comic, at least — work as a character study.
His vicious crippling of Batgirl and grueling torture of Commissioner Gordon were all done in a twisted attempt to prove to Batman that everyone's ultimately just as warped in the head as him. Of course, this reductively nihilistic worldview is dismantled by the Caped Crusader and Gordon all the same.
Guillermo Kurten is a journalism graduate from the University of Houston. Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, he now resides in Houston. He is a fan of pretty much anything involving nerd culture. Video games, comics, movies, TV, anime, manga, you name it. He also has experience writing about soccer, specifically, the German team Bayern Munich.