The sanest of all comic book characters
When most people think about the Joker, they think about the insane serial killer who goes on murderous rampages just because. However, is he really insane? All evidence seems to suggest the contrary, especially with his rather complicated plans to incapacitate the Batman. Can an insane person keep track of all the moving parts of an intricate plan? We guess not.
Maybe he is hiding in plain sight, we say, and maybe his insanity is just a façade. Maybe he is fed up with seeing everything as it is, and that is why he goes on killing as many people as he kills.
And we don't say that without backing our words. Grant Morrison even said that Joker is sane. Better yet, an easier explanation comes from Christopher Nolan "“ his Joker simply states that he is ahead of the curve. Which means that he has outgrown the human condition towards something else.
Basically, the Joker (in all of the iterations to date) feels no moral restraint. And this isn't the same with saying that he doesn't know what good and evil are "“ these are just hollow concepts of no interest to him. Introducing the super-sanity is DC's way of saying that the Joker knows he is in a comic book, that he sees all the strings.
Sanity is a fitting explanation for how the Ace of Knaves has escaped, and even beaten, the Dark Knight so many times.
The Ace of Knaves
Speaking of this alter-ego, there must be a way to find out where it all began. So the most widespread legend is that Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson (the character’s creators) based his appearance on actor Conrad Veidt from The Man Who Laughs. But, as emphasized, this is just a legend. And the truth is that the Joker has no (certain) origin.
In other words, the creators of the character cannot agree on a point of origin. Bill Finger said that it all began with the aforementioned actor. Bob Kane says that the character was born after seeing a simple playing card. Lastly, Jerry Robinson says that he just drew a character which happened to resemble Conrad Veidt.
We guess that the truth is out there somewhere, known only to the Joker himself.
Speaking of starting points, we must also add that the most agreed upon story is that the Joker used to be an enforcer called Jack Napier (just like the Jack Nicholson version from Tim Burton's Batman). And this is interesting, since Jack Napier is just a pun itself, a word-play for jackanapes (a smart-mouthed, dishonest person).
To make it even more interesting, the Ace of Knaves (which is a nickname for the character) is also the title of a collection of mystery novels featuring Simon Templar, aka The Saint. And, if you didn't know, the first time The Saint appeared in Leslie Charteris' writings he was called the Joker. Go figure.
But we guess the Joker would like that. After all, he did say that the question regarding his beginnings shouldn’t have just one answer.
