It has always been a problem for Batman, throughout the stories, the fact that Joker did not have an identity, because thus, without a specific target, Batman’s most famous villain remains to this day with his identity unknown to both Batman and the general public.
Previously, in certain stories in the DC Comics universe, it was revealed that Joker had three distinct versions, a complicated story for Gotham’s next vigilante.
The information was made public in the new issue of the magazine “DC Comics Flashpoint Beyond #5”, a limited series that is close to coming to an end, scheduled for next month, October. In its fifth issue, titled “The Clockwork Killer: Chapter Five”, it is revealed that Joker’s real name is Jack Oswald White.
This is a different moment for the publisher, after all, the character’s mystique is based on the assumption that he could be anyone. Thus, in addition to a physical form of a character, he could also be the very idea of Batman’s antagonist.
Now that the character’s name has been revealed in the comics, we have yet another version of who the Clown Prince of Crime might actually be.
The character is already popularly known for having multiple versions of himself in different universes within DC Comics, as well as within the world of his adaptations, after all he has been portrayed in different ways since the Batman stories began to undergo adaptations.
Among these versions of the character, many actors have given their image to play the villain, some being immortalized in the role, as is the case of the version of “The Dark Knight”, in which Heath Ledger plays the character from an anarchist perspective and wins over the general public.
Furthermore, regarding his identity, Christopher Nolan’s film itself presents many different origins for the villain, but without revealing his real name.
In the 2019 solo film, directed by Todd Phillips, Joaquim Phoenix plays the tormented Arthur Fleck who, having an unstable health condition and living as a street clown, ends up on a tragic journey that transforms him into a dangerous killer known as the Joker.
Not to mention Jack Nicholson’s version, which also presented an identity for the villain in the 1989 film, directed by Tim Burton.
Now, we just have to find out how this identity will be used in the character’s future stories, as well as how Batman can face the clown now that he knows his true identity. Despite this, the Joker’s tragic past has not yet been revealed to us, which ends up generating more questions and speculations that may be answered in the next comics.
