WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the first six episodes of Young Justice: Phantoms, streaming now on HBO Max.
In the Young Justice series, while Joker hasn’t gotten a lot of screen time, in the moments he’s shown up with the Injustice League, he’s definitely stolen the show. It’s no surprise, given how impactful the sadistic character has been across so many movies, cartoons, games and, of course, the books. However, Young Justice: Phantoms deals Joker a major and very embarrassing blow by revealing the Clown Prince of Crime was indeed hurt and broken — but not by Batman.
Joker and the Bat are forever locked in this dance, trying to break each other and ensure their respective symbols no longer influence people. However, the clown does enjoy keeping it going as he believes the Dark Knight completes him. But in the latest episode, “The Lady, or the Tigress?,” we see a Joker less gleeful, and more emotional as he reveals how Vandal Savage damaged his heart and pride with a brutal lie of omission.
Joker takes over a United Nations meeting in a flashback that details how Batgirl got crippled and became Oracle. He’s live, confessing that he wants to cause anarchy and stick it to Vandal and Lex Luthor, who were making headway with the U.N. Joker hates how Vandal was leading him and his buddies in the Injustice League, only to realize they were a shadow front for the Light, Vandal’s real group.
He’s insulted, claiming he should have been in the premier team as he’s an A-lister. The clown’s ego can’t take how he was nothing more than mere misdirection for law enforcement, as Vandal knew the Justice League and Young Justice heroes would focus on a crew that had Joker running amok. This enabled the Light to work on world politics, run science experiments secretly and begin plans for the Reach’s alien invasion.
As such, Joker wants the U.N. to pay to send a message, as not even the Caped Crusader would lie, manipulate and use him like a pawn like this. Simply put, the narcissist can’t handle being a tool as he’s usually the puppet master, so he does come off like a massive hypocrite.
To rub salt in Joker’s wounds, Riddler knew about Vandal’s two sinister societies, and how Joker’s team was a prop, which pisses the clown off as he thinks Riddler’s beneath him. As such, Riddler should never have been privy to such details ahead of Joker.
His outburst is something the Bat would certainly laugh at, but while Joker’s stopped and humiliated, he does get the last laugh as Barb’s injured in the fracas. Still, it’s a small victory as everyone finally gets to see how weak, insecure, desperate and needy Joker can be, despite pretending to be a macho alpha all the time.
To see a broken Joker, the first six episodes of Young Justice: Phantoms are streaming on HBO Max.
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