In the world of comics, nothing gets even remotely close to the rivalry between Batman and Joker. However, Over the past few decades, their enmity has somewhat evolved into a very weird kind of friendship. Both of them have come to realize one fact that without the latter, the other has no purpose in life. The weird chemistry between these two has also given rise to several incidents, which focus on how they through history have helped each other out several times. Many of these incidents even included, them working together on the project to increase the rate of success. So, here is a list of 10 times when ‘The Clown Prince of Gotham’ has worked in tandem with the ‘Caped Crusader’ to solve a case.
Both Needed A Cure
In the Batman: Europa limited series, we witness both Batman and Joker getting plagued by a deadly virus. The two are then seen going on a Da-Vinci code-styled mission across Europe in search of the cure. But, once they get the cure, they resume their old enmity.
Batman Assumed Joker Was Framed, But Wasn’t
In ‘The Brave and the Bold #111’, the Joker gets accused of slaughtering a family, however, Gotham’s Harbormaster confirms an alibi, NotT placing Joker on the scene of the crime on the night of the killings. Batman calls in a truce with Joker in an attempt to hunt down the suspected killer, Burt Slade. Although towards the end of the narrative it turned out, that it was Joker who had killed the family and had framed the murder on Burt Slade. Batman eventually oversaw the entire plot and took Joker to prison, but it somewhere had to hurt Batman’s pride, for being unable to see it.
Joker Framed For Killing Penguin
The premise of this narrative unfolded in ‘The Brave and the Bold #191’, where Joker is framed for killing the penguin. However, Joker pleads not guilty by inquiring about the kind of motive he would need to kill the smelly fowl. It is, later on, discovered that ‘The Penguin’ had faked his death so that he could kidnap the Catholic Cardinal. A special shout out to ‘The Penguin’ for dressing up as a nun, for this act.
The One Where Joker Was Framed
In ‘The Joker: Devil’s Advocate’ narrative we witness the US postal services introduce a line of new postal stamps, depicting the all-time famous comedians, but for some reason, Joker is not one of them, Then out of the blue, a bunch of people starts dying after licking the back of these new stamps. What’s more intriguing is the weird way, in which these people die with a huge grin on their face resembling the Joker’s smile. Joker is arrested but pleads his innocence to the US judiciary, no one listens to him except Batman. A further investigation reveals a storage facility containing stolen Joker venom and the new stamps, proving Joker’s innocence.
When They Faced Red Skull
During the Marvel and DC crossover, we witnessed the caped crusader tie-up with the first avenger, and with this we also witnessed the Joker and the Red Skull come together as a team. However, in a sudden turn of events, readers witness a sudden change in Joker’s heart, and Joker turns against Red Skull. According to Joker even though he may be a remorseless, stone-cold ruthless killer, but he is an American criminal. And one line that Joker has taken pride in never crossing, is what differentiates him from being an American criminal and a Nazi.
They Were Merged Into One
In ‘The New 52: Future’s End’ we witness a super-intelligent AI, somehow fuse the body of Batman and Joker into one superbeing called the ‘Jokerborg’. With Batman’s high intellect and Joker’s malice combined into one being, the ‘Jokerborg’ became nearly unstoppable. However, Terry McGinnis aka Batman Beyond intervened at the right time and dismantled the evil abomination.
Batman Resuscitated The Joker
In ‘Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #145’ we witnessed the Joker and Ras Al Ghul play a friendly game of chess while contemplating on a team-up. But as the ‘Clown Prince’ did not fit into the plans properly, was shot by Talia Al Ghul. In an attempt to find what the ‘League of Shadows’ was up to, Batman threw Joker’s body into the Lazarus Pit. Now in the storyline, it has been long known that the Lazarus pit can revive the dead, but the resuscitation will cost the person his mental stability. But, in the case of the Joker, he was already unstable before he was thrown into the pit. So, when Joker came back he was fully cured of his madness and was able to help Batman out with tracing the Al Ghul’s. But also went into the remorse state, recollecting the countless innocent people that he had killed over the past few years.
When They Fought Punisher
In the crossover of ‘Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights, the Joker and the Batman for a very brief moment are seen teaming up to put a stop to Frank Castle. During the narrative, the readers witness a particular scene where Frank Castle is about to shoot Joker in his face, that too at a point-blank range. This is when we witness Batman intervene, and hold off Frank Castle. As the two vigilantes battle it out, Batman tells the Joker to scoot and make his escape. This act alone, depicts how firmly the Bat follows his ‘No Kill’ policy, even to let go of the moment, that would have witnessed the Joker being killed off by someone else, but him.
Joker Posed As Oberon Sexton
In Grant Morrison’s run of ‘Batman & Robin’, Batman is nowhere to be seen, and thus his absence is covered by Dick Grayson portraying Batman and Damian Wayne as the Robin. However, in issues 4-13, the dynamic duo starts getting some aid from a masked British crime author known as Oberon Sexton. Sexton was even seen helping Damian fight off a band of assassins. It is later on revealed that the Joker is the one who had killed off the real Oberon and had been masquerading as the British author helping the new Batman look for the members of the Black Glove. On being inquired about his weird act, he claimed that with the real Batman gone, his own identity as the ‘Clown Prince’ was being questioned. Thus, the Joker not only teamed up with Bruce Wayne, but he also teamed up with Dick Grayson. Making it official for having teamed up with two Batmen.
Justice League Of Arkham
In the ‘Justice Leagues’ story arc of 2001, the readers witnessed several key members of the Justice League of America form their versions of JLA. With Diana heading the ‘Justice League of Amazons’, we witnessed Arthur Curry lead the ‘Justice League of Atlantis’. But the weirdest one was the ‘Justice League of Arkham’, which consisted of not only heroes but also a few villains from batman’s rogue’s column. And a few of these characters were the Joker and The Riddler. The team came together to stop a plot, from poisoning the main water supply of Gotham city, and as soon as the mission was accomplished the group was disbanded almost instantaneously.
