I'm thinking about The Joker

Because we’ve been working through BTAS

And I think a key thing of what makes BTAS Joker work

Aside from Mark Hamill’s incredible performance

Is that he’s kind of a loser

I’ve seen a lot of other jokers that are like “he may look funny but he’s the MOST TERRIFYING AND DANGEROUS MAN IN GOTHAM!!!”

“Witness as he plays the entire city for fools with his intricate plots and sinister plans”

But the joker I grew up with entered a stand up comedy contest (in disguise) and LOST

And then kidnapped all the judges a year later so he could force them to declare him the funniest man in Gotham

The episode ends with him stumbling down Main Street with his pants around his ankles showing off his polka dot boxers while the entire city laughs at him as the police drag him away

gestures also at '66

He’s smart and slippery as hell and genuinely dangerous but like

He’s also a HUGE loser

Flawless

And an extremely petty fuckhead with an easily bruised - something multiple people have exploited (like the guy who purposely pisses Joker off to commit insurance fraud, or Bat taunting him how Harley did his shtick better) - it makes him both very dangerous, but also again, used against him

*easily bruised ego

the climax of Return of the Joker was incredible

Terry making fun of him

Terry McGinnis VS Joker (Batman Beyond) HD 1080p

yeah, it shows Terry is absolutely not Bruce and how pathetic Joker is under the facepaint

BTAS Joker works so well because he isn't Batman's greatest enemy - arguably, Batman doesn't have one.

I'd argue that since then, only The LEGO Batman Movie has gotten The Joker right (he's only as dangerous as he is there because he organizes two separate Shitloads Of Villains...)

(... Which ironically makes him EXACTLY opposed to Modern Comics Joker who pretty much every villain hates)

(Both of those Jokers have in common that you can believe they'd be terrified of the IRS.)

Really, I dislike the whole Law/Chaos Batman vs Joker dichotomy DC has been trying to do for decades - Batman isn't Lawful and Joker isn't as chaotic as he seems, and their thematics don't mess that well

Unpretty's spreadsheet fic

(if Batman had an arch enemy in DCAU it's Ra's al Ghul, but even then Ra doesn't appear that often and it's definitely more one-sided on Ra's end

(in the sense of true Nemesis-hood

Bruce had a spreadsheet that was just a list of things he hates

And one of them was "People who think the Joker 'completes' me, like i don't have anything better to do than chase around an asshole clown"