It seems that the worst problems facing Gotham will never improve as long as Joker is around. A new villain exposes how the Joker's presence is actively making Batman's city a worse place by making new villains to inhabit it.
Despite the Dark Knight's attempts to improve the city he loves so much, Gotham is mired in tragedy and darkness. Aside from Gotham's history of organized crime and devil worship, the metropolis is known for the high number of costumed supervillains that come from its dark streets. From Scarecrow's mad experiments with fear to the dark flora powers of Poison Ivy, Gotham is lousy with villains that keep the city and its citizens paralyzed in terror. Sure, Batman is around to keep the threats facing Gotham at bay. But it seems no matter how much the Caped Crusader tries, there are an endless supply of villains haunting his city.
And it looks like the one person responsible for Gotham's steady decay is none other than the Clown Prince of Crime. Damian Wayne may have stumbled upon the Joker's secret mission in DCU Halloween Specil '09 #1's short story "Cavity Search" by Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen. It’s Halloween and Robin Damian Wayne is banned from superhero activity for the night. Not that that dissuades him, as Damian is already searching through his father’s files to gather information on a new villain that is going around stealing teeth from some and killing others. Nicknamed 'Sugar Tooth', Dr. Sander Sharp was once a prominent dentist in Gotham until his twin daughters were kidnapped and killed by the Joker. His children's gruesome murders caused Sharp to snap and become a villain bent on stealing the tooth from every smile he comes across.
Joker Is Actively Making Gotham Worse With New Villains
The idea of Joker creating new villains isn’t new territory. The Three Jokers miniseries revealed that Joker’s ultimate operation was tweaking and refining what the Joker was in order to make a better nemesis for Batman. While Sugar Tooth is more of an unexpected byproduct of the clown's chaos, it reinforces the idea that the Joker is the worst blight on Gotham. Not only is he one of the most legendary villains in the city, his evil is spreading to others and turning them into villains.
It’s no argument that Gotham already has a number of problems that lead to the creation of its villains. Whether its never-ending crime or something in the water, Gotham is just a breeding ground for decay and corruption. In many ways, Joker symbolizes the awfulness Gotham is capable of, and when his dark influence rubs off on someone else, it's no wonder a new villain comes out of the experience. Sure, Joker isn’t the only villain around, but he’s certainly doing his best to ruin as many lives as possible. Gotham may never be able to improve as long as the Joker is around help ‘create’ new, terrifying villains.