Warning! Spoilers for Future State Gotham #1 below
Punchline just dropped a bombshell that a new version of the Joker is coming to DC Comics. In the latest issue of Future State: Gotham, Punchline, Harley Quinn, and Hunter Panic got into an epic fight that ended with the Joker's first girlfriend trapping his newest partner. However, after chaining up Punchline, the villain reveals Harley made a colossal mistake, and the "Next Joker" will be coming for both of them.
When it comes to successors to the Joker, DC Comics has rarely tried to mix in new versions of the supervillain. The original Joker is more than scary and menacing enough and has become Batman's biggest ongoing challenge and adversary since debuting more than 80 years ago. Few bad guys in comics are more iconic. The Joker is an abusive, unpredictable killer who lives to make Batman's life his own Hell. But, in the future, where there's a new Batman, DC just suggested there's also a new version of the Joker.
In Future State: Gotham #4 by Dennis Culver, Nikola Cizmesija, and ALWS' Troy Peteri, Punchline, and Harley Quinn duke it out after the former escaped prison. In DC's near-future, where the Magistrate has made vigilantes an enemy of the state, Hunter Panic (a new take on Mother Panic) gets hired to take down Harley and Punchline. Quinn makes it clear she wants to kill Punchline, who sees and talks to the Joker's ghost. After successfully stopping Punchline, the villain reveals that Harley should have killed her, as "when he gets here we're all gonna wish we were dead instead." When Harley tells Punchline to stop talking to the dead Joker, Punchline reveals that she's actually talking about the "Next Joker."
No further details are shared about the "Next Joker," but the fact someone in Gotham's future has taken his name, just as Jace Fox has become the "Next Batman," is concerning news, to say the least. Punchline sounds terrified by the newest Joker, as she's more concerned about what they will do with them than facing death against Harley.
Punchline seemed like the natural choice to succeed the Joker in DC's dark future. But, it seems someone else took the mantle before she could ascend as the new Clown Princess of Crime. Is the "Next Joker" someone DC Comics fans already know? Is it a brand new character? Readers will find out in future issues of Future State: Gotham. The first four issues are available online and in comic book stores now.