Joker Venom
Joker Venom is a toxin that features in DC Comics.
Contents |
History
Pre-Crisis
The Joker claimed on radio that he intended to kill millionaire Henry Claridge and steal the Claridge Diamond. This saw him secretly injecting a solution the night before that took effect twenty four hours later leaving Claridge dead with a grotesque smile on his face. He later conducted similar acts with the venom where he targeted Jay Wilde to steal the Ronkers Ruby and killed Judge Drake for sending him to prison in the past. (Batman v1 #1)
Post-Crisis
The toxin was said to had been developed by Melvin Reipan who was a blonde-haired young man who developed it on behalf of his cousin who had become the Joker. Unknown to Melvin, the Joker decided to test it on his pet cat which died with a smiling rictus face. The Joker then used the poison to kill Henry Haight when he was giving a speech at the Chamber of Commerce. The success of the Joker Venom brought the Joker allies in the criminal underworld who began to rally after seeing his success. He then made a threat against George Partridge with him telling the police that the man would become his next victim. Despite police protection, Partridge himself was killed by a time-delayed use of the poison that was administered to him the night before he was taken in by the GCPD. (Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #50)
The crime lord Maxie Zeus found an old cache of Joker Venom and began mixing it with ecstasy to make a new drug called Chuckles. It became a popular drug in Gotham around clubs before to towards the suburbs. Time magazine called it the worst drug epidemic since crack in the late 1980's. A number of people began to die from overdose on the drug but it brought a large fortune to Maxie Zeus. Upon discovering this development, the Joker was left angry and escaped Arkham Asylum to get revenge on the crime lord. (Batman: Cacophony v1 #1)
Among the criminals infected by the 'Jokerification' was Doctor Polaris who already suffered from split-personality with the Venom making him more dangerous. He became a world killing threat when he attempted to use his magnetic powers to destroy the planet but was captured by Plastic Man. (JLA v1 #59)
At some point, a variant of the substance was produced known as Joker Juice that the Jokerz were passing through viral messaging of the web address on the internet. (Detective Comics v1 #867) It was later modified with steroids that induced rage and increased combat potential of their users. Despite the dangers, people were still making use of it as a recreational drug. (Detective Comics v1 #868)
The Joker later created a new version of the toxin that was much more vicious than the original pathogen and tailored it to affect each member of the Justice League who attacked Batman. (Batman v2 #36) Another was airborne and dispersed into the air with the infected spreading it even further in Gotham with all previous cures made by Batman being ineffective against this train. The infected were turned into laughing lunatics that attacked anyone around them. (Batman v2 #36)
Whilst investigating the disappearance of Martin Stein, the Jason Rusch Firestorm was ambushed by Killer Frost who was later assisted by the Injustice League where Joker was a member of the supervillain team. They aided Frost with the Joker spraying specially prepared Venom at Firestorm causing him to laugh uncontrollably leading to his defeat as he could not neutralise it with his powers. Afterwards, he was recovered and taken to St. Vincents hospital where he was getting treatment for the paralysis. Batman and Red Arrow arrived to investigate where they learnt that numerous supervillains were teaming up and targeting superheroes. (Justice League of America Wedding Special v2 #1)
- In a possible future, Damian Wayne became Batman where this time had weaponised Joker Venom infected in climate control creating neurotoxic rain called the Laughing Death that turned people into Jokerzombies who laughed themselves crazy and causing them to run amok. (Batman v1 #700)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
A canister of Joker Toxin was kept in storage with Task Force X led by Rick Flag with Harley Quinn alongside as support being dispatched to dispose of it. However, the Joker Gas canister was booby trapped causing it to be released and driving the soldiers insane where they attacked Harley Quinn. Quinn managed to save Flag by taking him outside before the gas transformed him but the rest of the soldiers were irreversibly transformed into laughing maniacs. (Suicide Squad v5 #4)
The Joker was later offered a position within the Legion of Doom which he accepted though secretly he worked to destroy its members as part of a grand joke on them. Thus, he created a new formula for his toxin that was tailor made for various supervillains. He deployed it at the Hall of Doom when the Legion went on a recruitment drive. This version of the toxin made those affected docile and obedient to the Jokers commands with the gas being purposely made to not affect Lex Luthor. The various supervillains worked to help capture Luthor for the Joker who allowed Lex to live as he departed the Legion of Doom and reversed the effects of the gas on them. (Justice League v4 #13)
Leslie Thompkins was infected by a deadly mutated strain of the Joker Laughing Gas that was immune to Batman's various anti-toxins and led to her death. (Detective Comics v1 #995)
Overview
Normally fatal, it operated by constricting the facial muscles to give a grotesque grin. (Batman v1 #545) It could be activated through body heat with the poison being introduced into the blood through the skin. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #50) The Joker could tailor the formula to affected superpowered individuals or even make certain people immune to the gas. (Justice League v4 #13) Part of the formula involved chlorides bonding with a hydrocolloid derivative that operated with a protein catalyst. (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #50) A component of the toxin was a substance that was known as Smylex. (Harley Quinn v3 #57)
The solution could be distilled into a variety of forms including a spray that does not kill but paralyses targets whilst concentrated venom could be treated on a dart that was fatal if it struck its target. (Batman v1 #1) Nerve paralysis was the last thing to wear off for those that managed to survive a dose of the venom. (Justice League of America Wedding Special v2 #1)
Its effects on some people led to them being subservient to someone in the same state of madness as them with such people following the orders of such a person. (Suicide Squad v5 #4)
There were a number of derivatives of Joker Venom that included:
- Chuckles : by mixing ecstasy with it, the Venom was diluted to give a great giggly high that gave the drug its name. It had dangerous side effects that included lockjaw, paranoia, and psychosis. (Batman: Cacophony v1 #1)
- Joker Juice : superficially resembled Joker Venom but was a derivative which was much less toxic. In fact, the key ingredient of the Venom which was hydrogen cyanide was missing in its chemical makeup. However, strychnodide was present that caused the muscle convulsions which produced the hallmark ricus sardonicus grin. This was combined with methamphetamine, MDMA, and nitrous oxide which produced the effects of euphoria, mild hallucinations, increased energy levels, uncontrolled hilarity and muscular spasms. It was believed that Joker Juice was likely to be psychologically addictive after a single dose. (Detective Comics v1 #867) The Juice was later modified with several steroids to increase aggression along with acting as a powerful pain suppressant. (Detective Comics v1 #868)
These were some of the variants of the normally fatal Joker Juice with another version being non-lethal that turned the affected into having a similar appearance as the Joker himself At the same time, it manipulated the lower limbic system to lull them into an obedient trance to make them follow the orders of the Clown Prince of Crime. (Batman v1 #545)
There was an antidote that when injected made the user immune to the effects of the Venom. (Batman v1 #1) After a certain duration, it was noted that the anti-serum no longer worked for those infected by the Venom. (JLA v1 #59) A combination of various types of narcotics made certain drug users able to survive exposure to Joker Venom as it partially blocked its lethal effects. (Detective Comics v1 #868)
Victims
- Melvin Reipan : blonde haired young man from New Jersey who was an idiot savant skilled in chemistry that had the mind of an 8-year old and whose mother told him he was ugly even though he had handsome features. He believed his mother despite her being admitted into an asylum with him being convinced by his cousin who had become the Joker to develop a formula that killed people but left a smiling rictus on their face. Melvin had done it thinking the Joker would help fund plastic surgery to change his face. Ultimately killed b the Joker who dressed his body as himself in an effort to make people think he had died when their car fell off a bridge and into the river. (Legends of the Dark Knight v1 #50) In the Post-Crisis story, he was shown as being the developer of the toxin
- Virgil Myers : male who owned a joke store in Tricorner who suffered an allergic reaction to the first batch of Joker gas and needed an extreme tracheotomy to survive whereupon he operated as the Mute and joined the Victim Syndicate. (Detective Comics v1 #944)
Notes
- Joker Venom was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane where it made its first appearance in Batman v1 #1 (June, 1940) with it initially being called a solution or venom.
- Writer David Hine during his 'Imposters' arc in Detective Comics commented, "Their mood is enhanced with Joker Juice, a watered-down version of Joker Venom. For a half-hour, the Juice induces facial distortions, like the original Joker Venom, along with a sense of euphoria and hilarity, but without the unfortunate side-effect of the original Venom. You don’t actually die."
In other media
Television
- In Young Justice, Joker Venom appeared in the animated television series in the episode "Revelation". It was bonded to giant plants controlled by Poison Ivy with these enhanced by Kobra-Venom. This allowed the Joker to remotely trigger the plants causing them to release the spores that spread Joker Venom to infect people. After the Injustice League's defeat, the Joker attempted to kill the villains and the heroes by releasing Joker Venom spores but these were transported elsewhere by Doctor Fate.
- In Justice League Action, Laughing Gas was mentioned in the animated television series in the episode "Galaxy Jest". Joker created super-laughing gas intending to unleash it on Gotham City but he was abducted by Mongul.
- In Powerless, Anti-Joker Toxin was shown in the live-action comedy television series where it was a product of Wayne Security.
Films
- In Batman, a toxin was shown in the live-action Tim Burton film where it was created by the newly born Joker to terrorize Gotham that causes its victims to be in a permanently laughing state leading to death. A television commercial was played by the Joker showcasing these new and improved Joker Products where he claimed that the secret ingredient of the venom was Smylex that were dropped into the city from giant balloons.
- In Batman and Harley Quinn, Joker Venom briefly appeared in the animated film with Harley Quinn keeing a low-grade version of it on a ring that she used to poison her enemies allowing her to knock them out. She used this on Nightwing and though she lost the fight she managed to knock him out after he succumbed to the toxin's effects.
Video games
- In Batman: Vengeance, Joker toxin made an appearance in the 2001 video game set in the DC Animated Universe. Joker had Gotham Chemical rebuilt in order to mass-produce his own signature Joker toxin.
- In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Jokers special abilities in the video-game made use of Laughing Gas canisters with Joker Venom not being mentioned.
Appearances
- Batman:
- Justice League v4:
External Links
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