Many of you know the story of a small boy named Bruce Wayne who turned to crime-fighting after witnessing the death of his parents. Soon after, he started facing a full cast of twisted villains bent on the destruction of the Bat. But only one was there since the very beginning: The Joker.
I am here to tell you a different tale.
After the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents, the young boy inherited his family’s company. However, wanting to push himself away from anything to do with the Wayne family and his parent’s deaths, he ran away in his teen years, believing he had grown a remarkable sense of humor. So, Wayne started going to bars and clubs, hoping to make it as a stand-up comedian.
During this time, he fell in love with a beautiful young woman named Jeannie, and was going to become a father. Unfortunately, his acting career was coming to an end before it could begin. Mr. Wayne was quite nervous in front of crowds, and thus wasn’t very good as a comedian. Because the comedic career was Bruce’s only hope for supporting his family, he was at a loss as to how to go on.
At this point, he was approached by two men with a proposition. Wayne would lead them through one of the WayneTech chemical plants (which had minimal security) to assist in a heist, and they would pay Wayne enough to feed his kid. Desperate for the money, he accepted, putting on a red cowl with pointed ears and a long red cape, to keep anonymous.
The night before the heist was to take place, Bruce was approached by police officers. They were very sorry, but an electrical accident had killed his wife. It was a million to one accident, but not to Bruce. In the shock of the news, he realized that it was not him, but the rest of the world, with a sense of humor. It was all a joke! Wayne’s life was meant to be a joke for the audience!
But the heist was not to be called off. Wayne put on the cowl, and began to lead the men through the plant. Walking through the plant that his family owned, that he owned, set his mind twitching. This was wrong. This was not the way to live. His wife and son were standing next to him, telling him so. He shouldn’t be doing this. He was a monster for standing by and committing crime after the death of not only his humanitarian parents, but of his innocent wife and unborn kid.
The mental conflict built, and Wayne stopped on one of the walkways above a large chemical vat. A shove from behind knocked Wayne to the floor. The men were getting impatient. One of them said something under his breath. Perhaps they planned to kill him too. Now that was funny.
Picking a crowbar off of a nearby maintenance bench, he turned and smacked one of the men upside the head. And hit him again. And again. Then, he started beating on the second one. Pounding, slapping, hitting, breaking, and pummeling the men, he looked up to see police officers. Out of nowhere. Bruce turned, and ran. Past the bodies. Past the maintenance bench. Past his parents, his wife, and his kid, all beckoning him to come back.
He looked behind him to see that everybody, even the police, had been replaced by a big, black demon in a horned cowl and with big, black bat-wings. Bruce kept running.
But then he slipped. Fell down, down, down into the vat below. He was adrift, being pushed, pulled, tumbled along until eventually washing up on a shore. He was outside the plant, all the city spread out before him on the moonlit night. He looked down to see a monstrosity.
His skin was bleached white. His hair had become the most vivid green. And yet, the cape and mask were dyed black. As black as the bat-demon standing behind him.
The bleached color eventually faded to it’s normal hue. He soon found that he had no sense of humor, that is, until an unearthly amusement took him and he laughed until that sadistic grin and garish color came back bringing with it….The Joker.
Rants of Geeks 