Revealing the final words of his most infamous victim, the Joker may have finally pushed one of Batman’s allies beyond the breaking point.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman: Three Jokers #1 by Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, Brad Anderson and Rob Leigh, available now.
One of the greatest tragedies to ever befall the Bat-Family was the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd, at the hands of the Joker. This trauma has lingered within the heroes ever since, and it may have finally just broken one of them once and for all.
It’s been revealed that Jason todd begged for his life and even offered to betray Batman if Joker spared him all those years ago – and that shame was just coupled with the ultimate betrayal of Batman’s ethical code.
In a long career of villainy, cruelty, and mayhem, perhaps the Joker’s most infamous crime was the murder of the second Robin, Jason Todd. During “A Death in the Family” by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo, Joker used Jason’s estranged mother as the bait to lure into a trap. But instead of revealing some gag weapon or elaborate death machine as he would have done in the past, he just beat Jason with a crowbar until the young man was a bloody pulp. Pummeling him to near death, Joker left Jason (and his mother) locked in the building, which was rigged to explode. Ultimately, Batman wasn’t able to reach Jason in time, and the second Robin died in the explosion. Jason Todd would later be revived, going on to become the anti-hero Red Hood.
In Three Jokers, Jason finally gets the chance to confront his killer head-on after he, Batman, and Batgirl, captures one of the titular Clown Princes of Crime. After learning of another Joker on the move, however, Batman leaves the Clown in the custody of Red Hood and Batgirl. Unfortunately, it appears that the Clown turned out to have been the specific Joker who beat him to death with a crowbar all those years ago. The Clown is able to get inside their heads, forcing Jason to relieve the worst night of his life.
Even Jason’s attempts to own what the Joker did to him fail. When the former Robin argues that his death only made him stronger, Joker taunts that he wanted Jason to survive. If he’s dead, then the Joker can’t torture him anymore. Instead, Jason gets to be a walking, breathing, murdering reminder of how destructive the Joker can be on people. The finals straw is when Joker mocks Jason, recalling his last words, choked out between smashes of the crowbar to his head: “Please stop, please. If you let me live, I’ll do anything you say. I’ll be your Robin.” Seeing who Jason has become, the Clown can only laugh – becoming a murderer and ruining Batman’s life are exactly the kind of things that make Jason the Joker’s ideal partner after all.
Ultimately, the Joker has a point. Jason has been broken by his trauma, becoming everything Batman tried to teach him not to be. While it’s understandable why the terrified and beaten young man would beg for his life, his promise to do whatever Joker wanted is likely a moment of shame that still haunts the former Robin. In that moment, the oath he swore to Bruce Wayne to help him fight evil in all its forms failed. The fact that even years later, the Joker’s crimes have led directly to Jason breaking the cardinal rule of Batman by committing murder could be seen as the ultimate victory for the Clown. Even with a gun pointed at him, Joker was able to take the power in the situation away from Jason – breaking him down and verbally controlling the room, even goading Jason into finally pulling the trigger and breaking Batman’s greatest rule.
Everything he’s ever done to Jason has made the Red Hood one of Batman’s greatest failures, proof that for some people, there’s just nothing Batman can do to stop them from being who they are. And now, the Joker has solidified that fact. Even if he’s dead, the Joker just got a very large win over the Dark Knight and proved that some days, evil does end up winning.
