Jack Napier, also known as the Joker, is a character and the main antagonist of Tim Burton's 1989 superhero film Batman, in which he is primarily portrayed by Jack Nicholson. Based on the DC Comics supervillain the Joker, this version is notable for being one of the first adaptations of the character to have a distinct alter ego and past. His name is a play on the word Jackanapes, as well as a reference to the names Jack Nicholson and Alan Napier, the latter having portrayed Alfred Pennyworth in the 1960s Batman TV series and died a year prior to the film's release. Jack Napier is introduced as a psychopathic gangster and the right-hand man of Gotham City crime boss Carl Grissom. During a confrontation with the vigilante Batman, Napier falls into a vat of chemicals that bleaches his skin white, turns his hair green and lips red, and leaves him with a rictus grin; the resulting disfigurement drives him insane. Napier takes the name "Joker", kills Grissom, and begins terrorizing Gotham with "Smylex" — a deadly chemical that causes its victims to die laughing. After learning that Napier is responsible for the murder of his parents years ago, Batman kills Napier by using a grappling hook to attach his leg to a crumbling gargoyle, causing Napier to fall to his death. Ever since Nicholson's portrayal in the film, the name Jack Napier has been used as an alias by various adaptations of the character, including Batman: The Animated Series and Batwoman, in which he is respectively voiced and portrayed by Mark Hamill and Nathan Dashwood, and the Murphyverse.
Fictional character biography
Early life Even as a child, Jack Napier was psychologically unstable, but extremely intelligent, showing an advanced knowledge of chemistry, art and science; he was also in and out of juvenile detention facilities for crimes such as arson, assault, and grand theft auto. Napier was charged with assault with a deadly weapon at age 15. As a young man, Napier and his accomplice Joe Chill tried to rob Thomas and Martha Wayne in the alleyway behind the Monarch Theatre, and while Chill seeks to steal Martha's pearl necklace with no desire of harming anyone, Napier murders the couple for his sadistic pleasure, leaving their young son Bruce as the only survivor. Napier prepares to kill Bruce as well, saying to the boy, "You ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?" – his favorite thing to say with a maniacal grin right before killing someone. Chill entreats him to run before the police arrive, however, so Napier spares Bruce and leaves, saying in passing, "See ya around, kid."
Becoming the Joker Years later, Napier moves up in the ranks of the Gotham City mafia, eventually becoming the right-hand-man of crime boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance). He carries a deck of playing cards pierced from front to back by an earlier gunshot, and often performs sleight-of-hand with them or tosses them into his hat during idle moments. Napier privately dislikes Grissom, dismissing him as a "tired old man", and carries on an affair with his boss' moll Alicia Hunt (Jerry Hall). Grissom finds out about the affair and sets him up to be killed by Lt. Max Eckhardt (William Hootkins), a Gotham City Police Department cop on his payroll. The killing is to occur at Axis Chemicals, one of the mob's front companies, where Grissom sends Napier under the pretense of stealing incriminating documents. Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon (Pat Hingle) and the masked vigilante Batman (Michael Keaton) intervene separately, disrupting the theft. Napier kills Eckhardt and shoots at Batman, who deflects the bullet with one of his gauntlets so that it ricochets back at Napier, wounding him in the face. Reeling from the pain, Napier stumbles and topples over a railing; Batman tries unsuccessfully to pull him up, and he falls into a vat of chemicals. He survives, but the chemicals turn his skin chalk-white, his lips red, and his hair green, while a botched attempt at plastic surgery leaves him with a permanent rictus grin that coincidentally makes him look like the Joker from his cards. Driven insane by his reflection, Napier – now calling himself "Joker" – kills Grissom and takes over his criminal empire.
Styling himself as "The World’s First Fully-Functioning Homicidal Artist", Joker becomes obsessed with "outdoing" the Dark Knight, whom he believes is stealing the spotlight from him. Aided by his right-hand man Bob (Tracey Walter), Joker massacres the rest of Grissom's associates at a press conference and begins poisoning cosmetic products with "Smylex", a chemical agent that causes its victims to laugh hysterically as they die, leaving their corpses with a permanent smile. He also turns Alicia into one of his "masterpieces" by disfiguring her face and drugging her into submission; she eventually commits suicide, with Joker being unconcerned with her death, instead eyeing Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger). Joker becomes obsessed with her, and attacks her while she meets with her boyfriend, billionaire Bruce Wayne – Batman's alter ego. Believing Wayne to be harmless, Joker taunts him with his signature line and shoots him. Wayne survives, having been wearing makeshift body armor under his jacket, and recognizes Joker as his parents' killer.
Downfall and death Joker announces via television broadcast that he plans to give out $20 million at Gotham City's 200th anniversary parade, and challenges Batman to meet him there. Joker keeps his promise of giving away the money, before releasing an airborne toxic version of Smylex onto the crowd via parade floats, killing dozens of people. Batman arrives in the Batwing and removes the balloons before Joker uses a revolver to shoot the plane out of the sky, causing it to crash on the steps of the Gotham City Cathedral. Joker kidnaps Vale and takes her to the roof of the cathedral, pursued by Batman. As they fight, each admits that he is responsible for the existence of the other. Batman knocks Joker off the roof, but Joker pulls him and Vale after himself and leaves them dangling from a ledge. As Joker attempts to escape via helicopter, Batman fires a cable that ties a heavy stone gargoyle to his ankle. The gargoyle breaks free of its mounting, dragging Joker off the helicopter rope ladder and causing him to fall to his death. Gordon finds Joker's corpse, with an activated laugh-box in the pocket of his tailcoat.
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