The Joker War almost went much differently, as writer James Tynion IV revealed he originally intended on killing the Joker and scarring Batman in the recent comic arc. Tynion revealed that his Batman: Death of the Joker arc (which was never approved by DC Comics) that never came to be would have seen the Joker killed in a final battle with the Dark Knight and that Bruce Wayne would have been permanently scarred from the battle.
James Tynion announced earlier this month he is leaving DC Comics to pursue creator-owned work with Substack. Tynion, who teamed up with Jorge Jimenez and Tomeu Morey for a stellar run on Batman, is now dropping details on his Substack page of which of his ideas never came to fruition. In his recent newsletter on Substack, Tynion shared details about an alternate plan for The Joker War, which would have ended with the Joker's death - but that the plan never came to be - even if he tried to add in it later as well.
Tynion's newsletter revealed that the Joker - like in The Joker War - would have used Batman's own tech against and money against him, but issue #100 would have ended with his death. While Tynion doesn't reveal how the Joker would have died, he did suggest Batman would have been given a scar from a knife wound ("ideally on his face") that would have made it impossible for him to wear the cowl while tying him to the Joker forever.
One of the biggest obstacles for the Joker never being killed was that the planned 5G initative - which would have seen Jace Fox take over the role of Batman - never happened in the main continuity. The sales of the series kept Tynion on the title much longer than he originally anticipated. Also, when Tynion learned Tom King would kill off Alfred Pennyworth, it led to new storytelling potential for his later Batman run. Tynion did try to kill the Joker a few more times, though.
I had no idea whether they would actually let me DO it, of course. Beyond that, let me just be clear that DC at no point in this process approved me killing the Joker (though I tried a few more times, as you'll see in the next few newsletters).
Killing off the Joker and leaving Batman with a permanent scar would have been an epic finale to Bruce Wayne's time as Batman as the 5G event would reset the title under a new Dark Knight. But, once 5G was shelved, the plan didn't make as much sense, as fun as it would have been to see play out. Ultimately, Tynion's Batman run would continue for more than a year, and he'd even pen a wildly popular Joker miniseries for DC Comics. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne's Batman and the Joker are still significant parts of DC Comics stories. It's wild how different things might have been if the 5G initiative happened.
Source: Bleeding Cool/James Tynion - Substack