I want to know what makes the Joker such a great villain after all this time.
For me, it’s how, no matter who he fights, he’s always the most dangurous thing in the room and/or country. His cruel sadistic nature makes him fun to watch, but also horrifying to behold.
I think it’s the fact that he’s almost always completely unpredictable and rarely has any kind of redeeming qualities to him. There are a lot of villains who are sort of misunderstood or just made a few bad choices, but Joker is generally just evil and out to hurt people just to hurt them.
He can be unpredictable, never tell the truth, has a scary evil laugh, he can be deadly as well. That’s what makes him so dangerous, even Batman probably gets a chill in his spine knowingly he has to face this craze clown.
If anyone gets near him, nobody is safe, not even Harley Quinn or Bob the Goon!
Guess that’s what makes him a great villain.
Someone whose unpredictable and sadistic is definitely a threat, but it’s when you combine all that with how intelligent he is that makes the Joker as formidable as he is.
I even remember a scene in TDK where Jim Gordon was mentioning how the Joker had nothing in his pockets but knives and lint. In other words, the Joker has no earthly possessions and isn’t holding on to anything. All he has to offer is violence and a saddistic laugh.
hot take: hes not a great villan anymore, he’s overused and gets annoying and with the increased need to make batman more edgy he just gets more and more evil to the point where he loses his charm