Warning: contains spoilers for Batman/Superman #10!The Joker has committed many unforgivable crimes in his time as Batman's arch enemy, but one of the darkest things he ever did has recently been given a shocking new twist by DC Comics - putting Joker's murder of Robin in a much darker light.
Readers get to see a startling revelation in Mark Waid and Dan Mora's Batman/Superman #10. Joker has kidnaped Superman's new sidekick, Boy Thunder. While it's never a good thing to get kidnaped by the Joker, the most disturbing part is that Joker is continually brandishing a crowbar in all his interactions with Boy Thunder. This is concerning since a crowbar played an iconic role when Joker murdered Jason Todd. But it goes from concerning to terrifying when considering the fact Batman/Superman #10 is set during Dick Grayson's time as Robin, which is years before Jason even met Joker.
Way back in Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo's iconic Batman: A Death in the Family, Jason Todd was looking for his long-lost birth mother. Unfortunately, he discovered that she was being blackmailed into working with Joker. When Jason found out, he tried to save her, only for her to betray him and hand him over to Joker, who proceeded to beat Jason to within an inch of death before killing him with an explosive bomb. Jason's death was heartbreaking for Batman and readers alike, but it was also treated as an opportunistic crime by Joker, who couldn't believe his luck when the Boy Wonder fell into his hands. However, Joker's behavior to Boy Thunder suggests he always planned a murder like the one in A Death in the Family.
Joker Always Planned To Kill A Sidekick
Boy Thunder came onto the picture long before Jason Todd became Robin, but Joker clearly already has his heart set on killing the teen sidekick of a major hero. This makes Jason's death tragic in a whole new way, as he didn't just fall afoul of the villain while trying to do good, but finally gave Joker the opening for a years-old plan. Even the lines in the original story take on new meaning with this reveal - especially Joker saying that killing Robin is "something I've wanted to do for years." This, it now seems, wasn't an idle thought, but a goal Joker had worked towards with Boy Thunder. This adventure adds an extra layer of tragedy, because it confirms that Batman and Dick Grayson had witnessed many of the elements of Jason's death long before they played out - no wonder the Dark Knight blamed himself after Joker actually got his wish.
The Joker killing Jason Todd was a horrifying moment that almost destroyed Batman, and now fans understand it on a new level - not as an unforseeable tragedy that the second Robin tragically wandered into, but as a primary goal Joker attempted to carry out with Boy Thunder years earlier, and which Batman still couldn't stop happening to his ward.
Batman/Superman: World's Finest #10 is on sale now from DC Comics.