Since fan interest in the Joker first peaked in DC Comics, there has always been a sect of the fandom that actually looked up to the villain rather than understanding that the Joker is not an ideal role model, but these fans were just called out by Joker’s former top fan-girl Harley Quinn. The Joker is easily one of Batman’s most popular rogues as he represents the opposite of what Batman stands for considering the Joker’s entertaining hijinks and horrific forms of comedy. While the Joker is a great villain and an all around interesting character, he has his share of toxic fans who wrongly idolize him, but Harley Quinn just put them all on blast.
In The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox #10 by Matthew Rosenberg, Freddie E. Williams II, and Ulises Arreola Palomera, the storyline of the overall series continues as the Gotham City Police Department interviews the Joker along with a number of other Gotham high-profile villains to help them solve a murder. When it comes time to speak with Harley Quinn, she tells the police about a meeting between her, the Joker, and the other villains in question during which the Joker lays out a plan that involves them all. As she generalizes the conversation in her usual unreliable form and fashion, Harley, in a way, breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the reader about how truly terrible a person the Joker really is.
During the interview with the police, Harley creates a few lines of dialogue that the Joker likely never spoke which generalizes how she views his persona. Harley tells the police that the Joker said, “Blah blah blah… toxic masculinity. I’m a boring and juvenile attempt as seeming both crazy and edgy. Life’s all a joke and only I get it. Isn’t that cool and unique? Aren’t I misunderstood?” Harley then, while technically speaking with the police while also addressing the reader says, “You guys know he’s a real piece of $#!%, right?” She then goes on to say that, while the other villains also fall under that category, the Joker is the worst and pure evil. She compares him to other villains who have some redeeming qualities while she believes the Joker has none.
In her version of events, Harley makes the Joker say (in the most derogatory way) what some fans have said in defending the Joker as a genuine role model. Not unlike other characters that have wrongfully been looked up to such as Fight Club’s Tyler Durden and A Clockwork Orange’s Alex DeLarge, some fans idolize the Joker for his evil deeds because of his anti-established and nihilistic outlook. Just as Harley called out, the Joker thinks the whole world is a joke and he’s the only one that gets it, so nothing he does matters and every evil deed he commits is just funny. The Joker has been perceived as a voice for those who feel like they don’t fit in or feel the world doesn’t get them, so they idolize a character who laughs at the world for that very reason.
Putting a positive spin on the Joker and using him as a way for people to feel accepted and understood even within their own small sect of the fandom is, on the surface, a good thing. But, the problem is that some fans are idolizing a mass murderer with seemingly no redeeming qualities. Harley tells fans that the Joker isn’t that cool and shouldn’t be idolized, and based on the horrible crimes the Joker has committed throughout his comic book career (including the abuse Harley Quinn suffered by his hand when the two were in a relationship) she is absolutely right.