Warning! Contains disturbing imagery and spoilers from Batman/Spawn #1!He's been hiding it for years, but the Joker has finally shown fans what lies beneath his most horrific look ever. Batman/Spawn #1 features a return of the Clown Prince of Crime's "Death of the Family" appearance, and reveals a gruesome visage that will leave readers cringing.
Like any other comic book character, the Joker has had a few modifications to his image over the years. While he's almost always dressed in his iconic green and purple garb, adjustments to his clothing and iconic grin have been made. But the villain's most drastic change comes from the "Death of the Family" storyline that saw Joker wearing his own face like a mask after it was removed by the Dollmaker. Though fans could see peeks of the bone and muscles that lied beneath his rotting mask, they were spared the undoubtedly grisly image of Joker's faceless head during the disturbing storyline.
However, a decade after Joker's terrifying redesign made its debut, fans are finally getting a glimpse at what the clown has been hiding all this time. The reveal made its appearance in the crossover special Batman/Spawn #1 by Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo. The titular heroes have been manipulated by the Court of Owls, and after an initial fight between the two, Bruce Wayne and Al Simmons decide to put their differences aside to take their shared enemies down. Both Batman and Spawn gather information from various criminal elements, but their different paths take them to the same destination: A confrontation with the Joker. Once again wearing his face like a mask, the Joker teases the two heroes as they press for information. As Spawn starts to threaten the Joker, the villain removes his face, revealing the nightmare-inducing sight beneath.
Why Joker Is Showing His Grossest Secret Now
While anyone else without a face would look exactly like the Joker in this scene, this is a pretty big reveal nonetheless. Throughout the “Death of the Family” crossover, the Joker, for all the stomach-churning imagery he displayed, was never shown without his decomposing face. Sure, there were hints as to what the Harlequin of Hate looked like, but readers were thankfully spared the disturbing vision during its initial outing. With that story now a decade old, it seems that DC finally thinks readers can handle the unsettling sight.
Though ten years doesn’t seem like a long time ago, a decade is practically an eternity in comic book time. While “Death of the Family” wasn’t exactly R-rated material, the image of a Joker wearing his own detached face is admittedly a bit much. It’s understandable that DC may have felt that showing the results of Joker’s face removal would be a bit too much at the time. But it’s a new era, one where DC has acknowledged its mature readership with more mature content. 2012 might have been a bit too early to show a faceless Joker, but it's nothing readers in 2022 can’t handle. While it may not be his permanent look, fans can finally put a face to Joker’s creepiest design.