Punchline (DC)
Punchline is a female comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Alexis Kaye was a female human born in the modern age where she came to live in Gotham City. She claimed to had been an ordinary girl once where she went to school and earned decent grades. One day, she attended a field trip to a news station that was a target of the Joker. He had killed a number of people and kept the attendees as hostages which included Alexis who was being forced to make demands for the Clown Prince of Crime on air. She was saved by the arrival of Batman though the encounter had forever affected her psyche. She then created a blog as she tracked the Joker's activities over the years. This led to her growing obsession with the Joker that culminated in her adopting a costumed guise similar to him and her taking the name of Punchline. Kaye also began to experiment in the use of Joker Toxin where she caused the death of numerous people but their corpses failed to recreate the mad grin with this being that her formula was not correct for the venom. Eventually, she attracted the attention of the Joker and impressed him enough that she was allowed to work for him. (Punchline v1 #1) Kaye later came to study at Snyder College that was located forty miles north of Gotham. (The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular v1 #1) Since school, she had seen the world fall apart yet people simply pretended that everything was normal with this driving her crazy. This was the case until she saw a video by the Joker and heard him speak. She then decided to seek him out and it took an entire year until she came to find him and wanted to join his cause in bringing down a fake society. (Batman v3 #98) Alexis came to learn the formula for laughing gas from the internet and tested it on numerous homeless people beneath the overpass. The Joker though came to want proof that she was serious to join his gang and said she had to prove her worth and to show that she was not some simple crazed creepy fangirl. During this time, her roommate Sarahs brother died alongside three of his co-workers during a laughing gas attack in Gotham. Afterwards, the college held a 'dress as your hero' day in an effort to lift spirits on campus. Alexis decided to go to college whilst wearing a shirt that was a portrait of the Joker with this getting a negative response from people. The college board was displeased at the incident with the Dean having a talk with her about her behaviour. Alexis used the laughing gas in her cigarette to kill Dean Bob and intended to leave his corpse in her roommates bed in an effort to scar her mentally on a permanent basis. (The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular v1 #1)
Joker War
During his battle against the Batman Who Laughs, Lex Luthor sought the aid of the Joker who had warned the businessman to not trust the being from the Dark Multiverse. In this time, Punchline had taken Mercy Graves hostage but the Joker decided to let her and Luthor depart as he stated that their fight was simply a joke all along whilst Lex got what he needed from their encounter. (Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen v1 #3)
She then accompanied the Joker who went to meet Deathstroke to hire him for a job. Slade, however, refused unless he knew the details with the Joker deciding to reveal his plan which was to target the Wayne fortune. (Batman Secret Files v1 #3)
Punchline kept an eye on Batman and his allies as they went to the graveyard as they were investigating the scheme of the Designer. (Batman v3 #89) She along with some henchmen were stationed at the underground base of the Underbroker who was handling control over the Wayne fortune. (Batman v3 #92) The two were engaged in a long fight with Quinn gaining a gun but Punchline closed the distance with Harley where she slit her throat. With her blooding pouring out, Alexis had her henchmen throw the former Joker sidekick into the water to drown in the sewage. She then decided to redirect her attention to Catwoman where she snuck into the site of the Underbroker who was secretly working with the Joker. They waited until Catwoman inputted her codes to the Wayne fortune whereupon Punchline knocked her out. They then transferred the money to the Joker who had now become a billionaire and intended to bring war to Gotham City with this fortune. (Batman v3 #93) Afterwards, she joined the Joker as they took over Wayne Enterprises and took Lucius Fox hostage as they prepared to create havoc for the city. (Batman v3 #94)
She then went to Bludhaven where she followed Dick Grayson and during his meeting with Batgirl he attacked Barbara Gordon. Grayson stopped the fight but only because he had been brainwashed by the Joker and wanted to kill Batgirl himself. After knocking out Batgirl, the Joker arrived where he was happy to have a family with him as he enacted his schemes against the Bat Family. (Nightwing v4 #72) She was present when the Joker forced the brainwashed Grayson to fight Batgirl where during this time Punchline was dispatched to destroy the Alfred Pennyworth Children Hospital. (Nightwing v4 #73) Around this time, the brainwashed Grayson was sent to help Punchline fight the Red Hood Jason Todd that involved Alexis dressing a homeless girl as Duela Dent and torturing her to draw out the vigilante. This saw so that an explosion killed the girl and making Todd believe that he failed to save the Joker's Daughter. (Red Hood and the Outlaws v2 #48)
With Wayne Enterprises under Joke's ownership, Punchline headed operations in managing it where she captured Lucius Fox and tortured him for Batman's secrets. This included finding a basement where Batman's equipment was made along with the location of all the hidden micro-caves within it. She waited in one of them that where she ambushed Batman who intended to gather some equipment there where she poisoned him with a new toxin she had created for their fight. (Batman v3 #95)
She was later sent to the docks in order to pick up supplies of chemicals that were to be sent to the Ace Chemicals plant to be refined into a new batch of Joker Toxin. Around this time, she was informed that members of the Jokers gang had been killed in the Narrows by a new vigilante called the Clownhunter. Alexis told Joker of this information where he had her dispatched to kill Harley Quinn and informed her the means of her hurting his former sidekick. (Batman v3 #97) This saw her tracking down Harley to an underground garden made by Poison Ivy that was a safe haven for the pair. Once there, Punchline found Harley attempting to use the plants there to de-toxify the poisoned Batman. Alexis then used a flamethrower to burn down the garden and had a second round of fighting with Quinn. During their fight, Punchline wanted to prove that she was right in that she understood the Joker and looked to murder Batman whilst he was unconscious. However, the cure he had ingested caused him to recover and he managed to regain consciousness where he knocked Alexis unconscious whereupon he and Harley left the burning garden. (Batman v3 #98) The Dark Knight left Punchline cuffed for the police to arrest her but some of the Joker's clowns came to free her. She then contacted the Joker where she apologised for failing her mission but the Clown Prince of Crime was not concerned. He was at the Ace Chemicals plant where he intended to ship the new batch of Joker Toxin to theatres around the city that were to be packed with people whilst he prepared for his confrontation with Batman. (Batman v3 #99) Around this time, an explosion happened at the factory with this worrying Punchline as it was ahead of schedule and she attempted to contact the Joker but there was no response. The Underbroker then arrived to end his association with the clowns as all the money the Joker had stolen had been taken from them and thus he was no longer being paid for his services. Nightwing then arrived on the scene leading to a fight between him and Punchline with her summoning the clowns to reinforce her. However, Nightwing called in support from the Bat Family where they defeated the clowns and Punchline was arrested. Weeks after the Joker's release, Punchline became the focus of media attention with many believing that she was a willingly accomplice to the Clown Prince of Crime and did not suffer from any psychiatric issue with her not being sent to Arkham Asylum. During this time, Alexis released an online video claiming that she was a victim of the Joker and attempted to deflect scrutiny away from her by stating she had been used by the Clown Prince of Crime. (Batman v3 #100)
The Gotham Game
She later attended a court appearance that was tasked with determining whether she was mentally fit to stand trial. Alexis claimed that she did not suffer from any psychological trauma and believed herself to be innocent. This was despite multiple charges and evidence against her with her potentially facing capital punishment. Dr. Leslie Thompkins was in attendance to provide expert evidence on Alexis Kaye's psychological state and believed she was fit to stand trial. She was then taken to a prison vehicle for transport where the guards were actually loyal to the Joker and looked to help her. Kaye then sent a live video feed as she claimed she was innocent and that she was a victim of the Clown Prince of Crime in order to gain public support. As the date was set for her trial, Punchline's growing fame, attention and sympathy led to large crowd attending the event. At the same time, her most dedicated followers began hunting down witnesses that would testify against her and murdered them. (Punchline v1 #1) After the trial, she came to be transported to Blackgate Penitentiary where Queen of Spades of the Royal Flush Gang attempting to assert her authority over her fellow prisoners. (The Joker v2 #1) This led to the Queen of Spades arranging for Orca to be sent back into the prison where she was used to attack and injure Punchline as a lesson. (The Joker v2 #2) Alexis came to ambush her attacker but was injured and knocked out leading to her being in the medical wing to recover. (The Joker v2 #3) It was then that she was visited by the Queen of Spades who looked to take out Kaye but Alexis had convinced Orca to join her side. This led to her usurping control over the prison from the Queen of Spades. (The Joker v2 #4)
From within prison, Alexis orchestrated a trap to eliminate the Clownhunter but Joker henchmen failed in their mission. (Batman Secret Files: Clownhunter v1 #1)
After she released an apology video on her social media, she came to be seen in court. Whilst there, the judge had to decide whether she should be deemed not guilty due to insanity, or given capital punishment for all the murder and torture she has committed. Alexis proclaimed herself to be innocent much to the disgust of everyone in the courthouse. Her psychiatrist stated she believed Alexis was of sound mind and could stand trial. Meanwhile, Cullen Row who was livestreaming the event was told by a guy nicknamed 'Bluff' to listen to Punchline's podcast where she detailed her research on Joker. Somehow, listening to her drone on and on about the wretchedness of society prompts him to call her innocent. Her podcast becomes a global sensation which sparks protests around the courtroom to let Punchline go free into society. Meanwhile, Punchline converses with her psychiatrist and tells her that her manipulation scheme worked and now everyone thinks she's innocent. Her doctor warned her if her mental state were left unchecked then terrible things would happen but Punchline told her to just 'wait and see'. (Punchline v1 #1)
Puncheline's release was met with much controversy among the media with the villain seemingly returning to civilian life. One evening, she was at a party in the Bowery where she stopped a person live-streaming a party from being killed by some thugs dressed as clowns. The police arrived to breakup the event with Punchline escaping with the live-streamer in order to use his audience to increase her popularity. To accomplish this, she decided she needed more content to entice viewers. For that, she contracted 1-0 to find retired members of the Royal Flush Gang starting with Rex Quintain and his wife Regina Quintain. She tracked the pair to their home where they were living as civilians after abandoning the criminal life. She decided to test the two in a brief fight before recruiting them offering them fame and fortune in return. (Punchline: The Gotham Game v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Alexis was a young attractive woman with long black hair where she changed her appearance into a more comedic clown-like form with make-up. (The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular v1 #1)
Previously, she was noted to had led an ordinary live and never drew attention from others. According to Dr. Thompkins, Alexis was found to be a deeply complex person who had likely lived with an undiagnosed personality disorder for most of her life. This was further complicated and compounded by PTSD from trauma she had suffered in the past. (Punchline v1 #1)
Alexis had said that she did not like small talk and instead preferred to be assertive and direct. (Punchline: The Gotham Game v1 #1)
She was noted for being abusive and was aggressive to the authorities. Alexis blamed any person of authority including her parents, academic teachers and even the television for her problems. To her, society was falling apart because of the previous generation and that only a few of them had the guts to throw some chaos into the mix. Punchline said she did not want to live in the slow decay of the world created by society. Instead, she wanted her own world and did not really care if that meant hurting other people. Alexis felt that the whole world was a joke and that she was the punchline. (The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular v1 #1) She was enamoured with the Joker who she believed showed the faults in the world and that the only path forward was to tear it down. (Batman v3 #93)
Alexis felt people were hypocrites for not allowing them true choice as she never wanted to be the good guy. (The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular v1 #1) Punchline stated that she had issues that were the result of the current state of the world. (Batman v3 #93) She saw society as living a fake life and did not acknowledge how the world was falling apart around them. (Batman v3 #98) By her own admission, Punchline was an agent of chaos and the product of a hyper-violent world. (Punchline: The Gotham Game v1 #1)
She believed in the Joker's cause and what he stood for where she intended to be by his side as he killed the Batman as well as tore down society. (Batman v3 #98)
Punchline had a grudge against Harley Quinn and her former relationship with the Joker. According to her, the only person closer to him was the Batman and despite that contact Quinn had attempted to fix him and make him better. To Alexis, this was an attempt to water him down to nothing and she felt that this was a betrayal of the Jokers ideals. As a result, she felt that Harley Quinn held him back with Punchline liking him the way he was and did not want him to change. She believed that Harley never understood the truth about the Joker namely that he was out in the world changing it where he showed that society was run by clowns and that people should laugh at death whilst tearing civilisation down. It was this reason that Punchline wanted to kill Harley Quinn and to be her replacement as the Jokers right hand. (Batman v3 #93)
Powers and abilities
Punchline as an ordinary human with no special abilities though she had a keen mind and had trained her self to attain certain skills. (The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular v1 #1) It was said that she was too smart to leave evidence that she did not want found. (The Joker v2 #1)
She was showing as being skilled in acrobatics allowing her to evade and outmanoeuvre opponents. (Nightwing v4 #72) Punchline was also capable in basic hand-to-hand combat and was able to use two daggers with a degree of skill to cut her foes. (Batman v3 #93)
Alexis was skilled in the creation of poisons and was able to make unique blends for various purposes. (Batman v3 #95) She came to learn the recipe for laughing gas from the internet and was able to mix it into other objects such as cigarettes. Alexis had multiple attempts using numerous chemicals until she got the mixture correct. With a smoke, she could blow out the gas that included its paralytic component to kill people. (The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular v1 #1) She once created a blend of Joker Toxin mixed with both Venom and Fear Toxin in order to give it an addictive effect that left those exposed to it in a manic terrified state. Punchline had built an immunity to the poison and could coat it on her knives. (Batman v3 #95)
Notes
- Punchline was created by James Tynion IV and Guillem March where she made her first appearance in Batman v3 #89 (April, 2020).
- In an interview on Comics Beat, Tynion commented on the characters creation, "Since the start of the New 52, the Joker has operated solo. He hasn’t had a gang and he hasn’t had henchmen. I started writing scenes where Joker had these clown-masked henchmen that were helping him do really horrible things. We don’t fully know what those clown people are doing at the end of #85, they’re filling teddy bears with razor wire. Who knows what the hell Joker’s up to with that one? I realised, “Oh, I really, really love this dynamic, but there’s a figure missing.” And the figure that’s missing is the chief henchman, the number two character... I’d landed on the kind of description where if Harley was the twisted angel on Joker’s shoulder, Punchline is the devil on the other shoulder."
- On Newsarama, Tynion said, “So, back in December, when discussions were starting about 'Joker War,' I knew I needed Joker to have a lieutenant in that war. A Number Two. We started cooking up the idea of a polar opposite to Harley Quinn, and Jorge designed Punchline. The design was fucking awesome and I didn’t want to wait to use her in a comic.”
- On SyFy, Tynion said in an interview, "She is his top lieutenant who’s going out into the world and getting done what needs to be done to start 'Joker War'. And this is when she intersects into that story, this is her first meeting with Harley Quinn, and this is the real start of that drumbeat that ends with 'Joker War.'"
- On IGN, Tynion revealed the characters last name in an interview where he said her last name was 'Kaye'.
Alternate Versions
- In DC vs. Vampires v1 #10 (2022), an alternate version of Punchline appeared in the world designated as Earth-65 in the new Multiverse.
In other media
Video games
- In DC Legends, Punchline was introduced as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.
Appearances
- Batman v3: (2020)
- The Joker 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular v1:
- The Joker v2:
- Punchline v1:
- Punchline: The Gotham Game v1:
- The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing v1:
External Links
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