The Clown Prince of Crime’s feelings toward Nazis have been brought up (yes, again) in the pages of DC Comics, specifically in the new Injustice: Zero Year series.
Injustice: Zero Year is a 2020 prequel series to the popular NetherRealm Studiosfighting game of the same name. Injustice is a game where alternate versions of DC Comics’ heroes and villains fight for the fate of the world.
The fourth issue of the digital first series, written by Tom Taylor and drawn by Cian Tormey (available to purchase and download now) revolves around the Justice Society of America (JSA) and WWII. Joker and Harley Quinn are being told one story of what happened during the war when the villain asks the story-teller to speed up the story… so they can get to when the Nazis are being killed.
Confused, the story-teller tells the Joker that he thought he liked the Nazis, which leads to this epic line, “I’m American, I [redacted] hate Nazis. I’m a homicidal maniac, not a traitorous bigot.”
Fans have been quick to point out that this is not the first time the Joker has voiced his disdain for the members of the third reich.
Back in the 90s, DC Comics and Marvel did a series of crossover comics called Elseworlds. These alternate versions of their characters allowed for both publishers to tell new stories that let their most iconic heroes and villains interact without affecting their “main” universes.
In 1997, Captain America and Batman had a crossover issue written by John Byrn and drawn by Patricia Mulvihill where The Joker and The Red Skull teamed up. However, when Joker realizes that the Red Skull is an actual Nazi, their alliance shatters.
Tom Taylor revealed on Twitter that when writing that the scene from the 1997 comic was definitely on his mind.
To promote the new issue, Taylor posted the panel of Joker showing his hatred towards Nazis on Twitter, and while most of the responses have been positive (with many wanting Mark Hamill the voice of the Joker on Batman: The Animated Series to record this line) there were some who were inexplicably miffed.
“This may be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen….” wrote one Twitter user. “I could never have imagined the Joker saying something this silly,” wrote another. There’s also a two-year-old Reddit thread on the 1997 issue with, sadly, more responses like this trying to explain why the Joker wouldn’t have this opinion on Nazis.
If you’re thinking that a fictional character who murders without bias should have the same views or not be disgusted by a real life group who have murdered based on race, sexual orientation, among a myriad of other reasons, you may want to sit this one out.
