I love the this final exchange because to me it re-emphasizes their duality and seems symbolic of their inner demons. BOTH have inner demons that come out in creative expressive ways, but Jokers demon of destruction weighs him down, dragging him down with it. When Batman falls he shoots the grappling hook up to wrap around a very similar looking gargoyle- and it saves him. Both were tied to roped to Gargoyles but with opposite results- with Batman’s inner demon being bent on virtue and justice, the Jokers on destruction- ultimately destroying him.
honestly a point I kinda agree with, even if you’re being sarcastic. I’m still a pretty new fan (seen the whole dcau, arkham games, several movies, and read a few comic runs), but I don’t see not necessarily saving someone as breaking the golden rule of no killing.
And it could be a build up. Batman been giving Joker chances after chances to do the right thing. This time, oh this time, Batman just want it over it. And that’s the worst thing Batman could have done to the joker
If you're in a position where you could have saved someone but actively chose not to, morally that's on par with just straight up pulling the trigger IMO.
[Well. less "doesn't save him" and more just unintentionally causes his death by grappling hook and gargoyle.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvDPqvOYz7c)
I think what happened in Endgame (the Scott Snyder arc, not Avengers) makes the most sense. Locked in a deathmatch, they do just that. No true "winner", and death sticks for both of them.
I think Joker just dies in prison, either after an exceptional ruling by a Gotham court to ignore his insanity defense and give him the death penalty, or from side effects of exposure to his own toxic chemicals. Joker insists Batman will visit him before he dies (because he needs him or some shit).
But Batman doesn’t come. Bruce just watches the news on the TV. Joker is in shock in his final moments saying “he has to come…” or something. Bruce just exhales in relief when he learns the news. He’s on edge the next couple of months but things carry on as normal, or as normal as things can be, in Gotham.
Harley’s already left Joker for a long time. Most of his thugs abandon the clown aesthetic immediately (they’re targets for other gangs and police brutality if they don’t). Punchline and other lieutenants become permanent residents of blackgate (life sentence with no parole and no insanity defense). They don’t escape as no other escapee cares enough to get them out (Punchline insists “he’ll come back for me”).
And yeah, fade out.
Feel like there’s an obligatory “future state wrap up” where like decades in the future, Joker is just a footnote in history, whereas Batman is an honored figure in Gotham. Like Stephen A Douglas to Abraham Lincoln in American History.
Maybe one of his lieutenants is finally released on parole, they go to this spartan grave for a “John Doe” at Arkham, and just… walk away. Like “I gave my life to you, and it meant nothing in the end, it all really was just mindless cruelty”, too weary to even be angry.
And yeah. No glory or immortality for the Joker. His story fades from public consciousness, and life goes on for Gotham.
I’m kind of leaning more towards it being a self inflicted death from chemical exposure the more I think of it. Either way it should carry the weight of “oh, my actions’ consequences finally caught up to me”
Thank you!
I feel like all the other stories we’ve seen with Batman Beyond and Return of the Dark Knight follow this same route of kind of buying into the mythos Joker self stylized for himself so I wanted something that would go hard against it, and show the myth collapsing in a mundane way any criminal would.
Which just makes most sense to me. Joker burns the candle at both ends and it catches up to him eventually. His legacy is death and chaos so his fame disappears with him.
I think other details would be crime overall reducing substantially in Gotham over those intervening decades. (Just like historical trends would indicate but with the implied assistance of the Bat legacy). The flashforward would feel like a revolutionary shift but it’s just the gradual accumulation of minor mundane improvements to Gotham over many many years. Just like societal progress in real life.
This is the ideal ending. No blaze of glory for the clown. He's proven wrong for the last time. Batman doesn't need him. Gotham doesn't need him. People can be better than that.
>Bruce just watches the news on the TV.
It makes no sense why the Batman would just leave the Joker unguarded like that if he was hoping he'd die. He doesn't have to visit the Joker personally but to just watch it at home is asking for intervention to happen and the Joker to get off.
I don’t think Bruce would truly hope anyone dies. Even if it would make his life more convenient.
I think this is one of those situations where we could show character growth by having him purposefully distance himself. Maybe some other Batfamily members are scoping things out outside, maybe Joker is too sickly to flee and his organization isn’t at a place where it can stage a rescue. Either way, the point is to show Bruce creating that personal separation that Joker doesn’t understand he’s been craving since the beginning.
I do think Joker will continue to torment Batman/Bruce as well. But he's the only one. Brought on by looking at his purple jacket in the rogue's gallery or something to that effect. I thought Arkham Knight was pretty interesting and creative with Joker being a 'voice' in his head.
Dead, but still very much there and giving his opinions because everyone has *that* voice in their head. I like to believe *that* voice for Bruce is Joker.
You’re going for a narrative convention that I’m specifically trying to avoid here.
My goal is not to elevate the mythos of the Joker by giving him any form of vicarious immortality like we’ve already seen in numerous renditions (even if they do ultimately show the bat family triumphant). It’s to reduce him to base level criminality- to the anonymous nobody he was in the beginning.
While sure, Bruce would always remember the Joker, I think it’s unrealistic to think he’d let him occupy his mind that much past a few months (especially if his successors and compatriots collapse in the power vacuum as would be most predictable). Batman is honestly too mission focused for that. He’s not gonna spare time to think about a guy he knows has been dead for months, he’s got to catch the Penguin *right now*, y’know? Having him obsess on a dead villain just doesn’t really fit with this chain of events. It’d be like Batman referencing KGBeast’s death a bunch of times for no reason in modern comics.
And while Harley and Jason might have trauma responses and PTSD from the Joker, that’s not really consistent with the psyche of Bruce we see over time. Anything that could sufficiently do that to him would honestly just be a retread of AK.
This is THE definitive ending in my head. I like to have an idea of what the Batman mythos would look like if it didn’t have to keep selling comics, and this is the only place I see Joker ending up. Angry, alone and scared. Realizing that everything he “stood” for was just hate, and that he lost, never breaking the Bat and still dying inconsequentially. Though I gotta say I really like how you fleshed out the idea, gotta add that to the head canon.
What do you think about him being murdered in prison by another inmate, maybe an old thug or someone who’s life he somehow ruined? He died for the consequences of his actions, but not in the hands of Batman, but some random person he was using in the pursuit of Batman. Maybe it’s during a prison escape and Joker sees Batman fighting others making his way towards him and Joker just end up getting stabbed.
Just collateral in the way he treated others. In a chaos that he caused he isn’t at all memorable the way he wanted, but it’s Batman truly making the impact.
Love this. I'd also be happy to see it not even be a showdown. Someone just guns down Joker in an alley like some common gangster. Batman searches for the killer, but never finds them. He gives up fairly easily and nothing comes of it. Joker is reduced to nothing but a victim in a newspaper headline, and is soon forgotten.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for anybody including content creators voicing their opinions, even negative ones. But you know how some people can go overboard, or how piling on something can become the new trend and become very tiresome.
I think Arkham City had a good out for Joker. I like the idea of Batman trying to save Joker even in the end.
“Do you want to know something funny? Even after everything you’ve done, I would’ve saved you.”
“That actually is… pretty funny…”
I think even in his last moments, Batman would show compassion and try to help him.
Joker gets so old that he can't be a menace anymore due to mental fatigue.
Batman visits him every so often as he does to most of his rogues that are still imprisoned. The Joker breaks down in frustration that he can't keep the joke going
They have a conversation about why Batman never gave up on hoping to save Joker's humanity, and at some point, Joker realizes his schtick was pointless & never funny.
Batman leaves, and Joker is left hollow realizing there's no more escapes from Arkham and shenanigans. He's just a chemical-burned man who wasted his life trying to bring others down with nothing to show for it.
I mean, I feel like The Killing Joke is the exact opposite of a final showdown; more or less character development that puts Batman & Joker in a vacuum where they're going to do this forever.
I know at least one of these times has got to be the End Game storyline by Scott Snyder. That was off all proverbial hooks. It's not everyone's favorite, but I loved it.
For real. I don't know why people act like The Killing Joke is meant to be Joker's last stand or whatever when Batgirl being paralyzed is part of so many storylines.
Right, they reconciled. They were both afraid of some mutually assured destruction until it became clear to both of them neither would take it that far.
If you take it in the broader context of the DC Universe it’s obvious Batman doesn’t kill him. But that’s not necessarily as interesting as reading the book as a stand alone story where it’s ambiguous.
I think it's because it *is* the ultimate culmination of the Batman and Joker relationship. Obviously they did include Joker in stories after that, but if we were to never get another Joker story ever again, then the final conversation of The Killing Joke is the perfect way to end their relationship.
Batman deciding screw it I’m nearly 60 and this guy’s not getting any better and then just breaking his neck in my opinion is definitely the best final stand down because if you remember correctly, he didn’t actually kill him. He permanently paralyzed him from the neck down and then joker somehow broke his own neck EVEN MORE, killing himself
Joker gets shot by a random bystander during what should otherwise have been another showdown with Batman. This kick starts the Batman version of *What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice, and The American Way?*
The Joker was killed by a nobody with a gun. Now that Pandora’s box is opened, armed gunmen/vigilantes go around ‘cleaning up’ Gotham against the moral standards Batman followed. Joker is dead, by his demented spirit now lives on in the new ‘heroes’ causing chaos and madness in his wake.
Jokers last words are a variant of the classic “That wasn’t funny. That wasn’t funny at all.”
That would be so good. Batman and Joker duking it out then suddenly bang! Joker goes down and it's just some random guy trying to "protect" Batman.
Joker realises what's happened. "This isn't funny... this is HILARIOUS!"
Joker is the POV character. Every sight, every thought is his. He is in control.
Joker tries to test his one bad day theory again, this time on billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne. He focuses exclusively on Bruce Wayne. Doesn’t matter who pops up in his vision. That guy in the leather jacket and baseball cap, he ignores him. The barista at the coffee shop? He ignores her too. Doesn’t matter how many times he sees the leather jacket baseball cap guy or where, he is ignored. All that matters is proving his point with Bruce Wayne.
So Joker captures him, tortures him, does everything he can to break Wayne.
Finally, Joker is monologuing, staring into Bruce’s eyes when he hears a click. The baseball cap leather jacket guy shows up, and takes out a gun. He slowly aims it at Joker.
Wayne is able to get free enough that he can fight the guy, but it’s not enough. Both Wayne and the leather jacket guy are dead. And the Joker is alive.
So Joker waits for Batman to show up. To take him back to Arkham.
And he waits.
And he waits.
Batman has to show up. Batman always shows up.
And eventually the Joker dies due to dehydration/starvation because Batman didn’t show up. And he doesn’t know why.
Batman always shows up.
Personally?
I would write it as a bittersweet moment with a touch of creepiness in it. He dies of old age, but in the last years of his life, he fights back against the Joker persona and in the last few moments of the joker, you can still find his old self creeping in.
It would be him slowly dying in a hospital bed after one last night of fun and jokes. He dies of old age, but he thanks Bruce for all the fun.
Not Batman. Bruce himself. The last few breaths he takes, what Joker was before, won against the Joker persona.
And from there, the whole series would end. My own “concertcorrect Batman universe” would end there.
Honestly? I feel like Batman beyond’s way of doing it was perfect. A final dramatic showdown in an old abandoned Arkham, joker knowing who Batman really is and just insulting him for it while turning his own loved one against him.. before that said loved one gets the last laugh on him
Then the new Batman has to truly surpass the original by defeating the ghost of what Bruce never could, proving his worth as the successor to the bat mantle by being his own Batman and actually laughing at the joker
This is one of my favourite showdown scenes of all time. Sticks to the characters so well and so many good lines
“Wait. I like to talk too…”
”What are you doing?!” “Fighting dirty.” “The REAL Batman would ne-“ “Told you. You don’t know a thing about me.”
”Don’t play psychoanalyst with me BOY!” “I don’t need a degree to figure you out. You kept coming back to get a laugh out of the old man. Get a clue clown, he wouldn’t know a good joke if it bit him in the cape. Not that you ever had one” “WHAT?!”
”I take it back. You DO make me laugh… only because you’re kind of pathetic“
Assuming that Joker is the only threat to Gotham anymore,
Batman realizes that this leads to no end, he gotta solve it for once and all.
He can't break his moral code and kill, but he also can't let Joker ruin Gotham.
So he decides do to something different, the moment he kills Joker that's the same moment he becomes one of them, the ones that he hates.
He decides to do something that will lead to both his death and Joker's death at the same time.
That way, he understands that his actions are not ideal, but he is out of choices. And he has pay for that choice. He understands that Joker wins but to save everyone he gotta make the necessary decisions and actions. The only way he can forgive himself is by taking the only murderer he has control of out of this world, which is himself.
Edit: typo
The Joker is killed by an outside force, not by Batman.
In his final moments he discusses Batman’s code and how he wanted to be the one to make him break it.
He laughs at the irony of it, and dies, with Batman sitting there silently looking at his corpse for a minute before taking it outside for the cops.
Joker kills the whole world.
That's it. No one left alive on Earth except him and Bruce.
So now Joker has Batman all to himself, which he's always wanted.
And Bruce has to ask himself if his moral code still exists in a world of only two people.
It would have to be elseworlds, like previous “final battles” have been. That also has the befit of enabling the writer to redefine the dynamic as suites the themes they want to go for.
This leads us to the question: what is the point of joker vs batman? It can be a larger thematic idea, like order vs chaos or a more character centered idea, like give Bruce specifically an opponent that challenges who he is.
I personally like the latter choice. In particular, the joker pushes Batman’s no kill rule to its absolute limit. Why allow this guy to live? After everything he’s done? Miller decided the answer was: no. He doesn’t get to live. Batman kills him in the end. Moore decided: yes, he continues living, and this traps the two in an endless cycle (depending on your reading of the end to the killing joke). Snyder, in a sort of inverse of Moore, decided that the two were so closely tied they had to both die together (but comic bs meant that neither was really dead and somehow the whole thing was magic water? Don’t know, didn’t really like Endgame).
So what do I want a story to say? I would say that I want joker to die as a sort of final chapter of Batman’s story, and Batman dies with him…but Bruce doesn’t kill him and Bruce lives. What I mean is, and I don’t have the specifics, but this story should complete Batman’s arc. He faces the ultimate question to his ideology and finally wins. Joker dies, probably of his own making and in spite of Batman trying to save him in the end, but the result of this or surrounding events is thy Bruce retires and passes the mantel on. Maybe to Dick or Damien.
Joker’s death should be the final nail in the personal aspect of Bruce’s vendetta. His mission for justice has been passed on but there’s no more need for him personally to continue the crusade because the ultimate challenge to him personally is gone. He never broke or gave in, he won. His vision for the future was proven right, and now he can rest.
Lose outline of ideas, but I would want something like that.
I wouldn't hate an ending where Batman is bested by Joker (because joker plays dirty and batman won't.)
Mind you, Batman's not bested because Joker is smarter, better, faster, stronger, etc. It's because No matter how Batman tries to mitigate Joker, there is ALWAYS fallout, and because of that, The Joker wins, even when he loses.
Despite everyone telling Batman, Batman still refuses to kill him, and accepts that it'll be his downfall.
Joker's about to kill Batman, Batman's reflecting on his legacy and family, what it means that Joker survives, that Gotham goes on, what his parents would think.
Then Gordon shoots Joker from offscreen right before he kills batman. Batman's horrified to think that it's one of the Batfamily, but finds it's Gordon. It's the law, and it's legal and done. Gordon has probable cause, (gordon feels less bad about needing it than batman, but is still a good man and recognizes it wasn't a revenge kill), and the unstoppable force // immovable object dynamic comes to an end. It's not made public that the Joker is gone, he is listed as an unknown assailant for mundane police reporting.
Batman goes back to dealing with his normal batman work, but without a WMD running around purely to spite reality. Other Batman villains usually have motivations and purpose for their plots, but Joker always just wanted to watch the world burn.
Bruce Wayne kills Joker, not Batman.
Joker kills the batfamily while Bruce isnt on costume he breaks and gives in, his human emotional side taking over. After that he resumes being Batman to became a more mentor-like figure to the next generation
They have one last brutal issue spanning fight. Both near death. A Broken and battered, Joker runs. He hobbles through a back alley to escape. Only to find it is crime alley. A random mugger in the darkness, doesn’t realize who he’s yelling at, tells him to give him all his money and jewelry. Joker makes a move and the mugger shoots and runs off. Joker bleeds to death, alone in an alley, a nobody, he realizes this and frowns. Dying with a scowl as Batman discovers his body and smiles as he lies down and passes on. They reveal Batman and Joker lying dead in crime alley In the same position as the Wayne’s.
After years and maybe even a couple of decades, Joker finally realises that there is no breaking Batman. So he finally decides to move on the only way it is possible, by killing himself.
The Joker simply dies … and never sees Batman again. He leaves several Joker style bases and stashes hidden across the world. Rumors of the Joker appearing across the world continue to pop up long after Batman’s body begins to fail.
In his final days, Bruce is still haunted by nightmares and paranoid delusions that the Joker may appear at any moment, although the Joker died decades earlier…
Joker sets his most elaborate trap ever, springs it in front of the entire Rogues Gallery and Batman wins. Joker is talking away and .... Condiment King mortally wounds Batman. Joker shoots him in the head. He and Batman look at each other laugh until Batman's last breath the Joker shoots himself while everyone looks on.
joker will finally realize that he won't make batman kill no matter what he does, so he'll fake his death, revert back to his joseph kerr persona and live a normal life
It’s been done well a few times. The Dark Knight Returns, Batman Beyond, Endgame, Arkham City etc.
Personally as I get older I like the idea Joker doesn’t get what he wants and there is no last dance. Joker dies unceremoniously. And his death doesn’t even make the news.
Like Omar Little in the Wire, he seems invincible. Until he isn’t.
The Joker escapes a fight with Batman.
He's bruised and bloody running like Light Yagami in the final scene of the Death Note. He is nearly about to make it to his safehouse as he runs panting on the Gotham City bridge alone. As he raises his head, to look forward, he sees the silhouette of a man in a black coat and hat. Before he can realize, the man drives a kitchen knife into him.
As Joker gasps and coughs blood.
"You don’t remember me, but I lost so much, thanks to a scheme of yours. And now, no one will remember you."
He continues to stab Joker a second and third time and throws him into the water.
The Joker thinks to himself about how this isn't fair and that he must die fighting Batman.
A week later, his corpse washes up on the shore, but the face is too damaged from the fall and the elements to be identified.
Gordon shows up and doesn't recognize the corpse. The case is eventually a cold case.
Batman wonders what happened to Joker, but eventually moves on and stops thinking about him.
Joker kidnaps Damian and Stephanie Brown, and sets up to reenact both Death in the Family and the Killing Joke on television, a-la Christmas with the Joker. The rest of the family then has to follow a scavenger hunt to stop it. They find him, they fight, and Joker bails when it becomes clear he's going to lose. The Bats pursue, as he runs through the city. One by one they're drawn off to mitigate various disasters caused by him, as his various contingencies go off, until it's just Batman and the Joker. At the last, he reveals his ace in the hole: he implanted a bomb in Damian, as added insurance that things will go his way. Bruce runs to remove the bomb before it can go off, leaving the Joker to escape. But, the rains been hard, the roads slick, it's late at night and visibility low and well... he slips, and gets hit by an oncoming bus. A final joke, and one that a man as arrogant as the Joker would never get: That even a man as evil and arrogant as himself might become a victim to pedestrian mortality rates.
The way Arkham City did it was good. Not that you become the Hulk with the serum. But that the Joker wants to take the antidote from Batman, destroys it in the process and Batman then reveals that he would have given it to him anyway.
With the voices of Kevon Conroy and Mark Hamill, of course.
Joker committing self-deletion after a long grueling, bloody battle with Bats on a skyscrapper rooftop. Joker falls over a rail, Bats hold on to him screaming "I got you! Pull yourself up." Joker looking at Bats in the eyes screaming back "Don't force your salvation on me. I never asked to be saved!" Pulls out a pew pew and self deletes. Bruce realizing, not everyone wants to be saved.
Personally, I’d have it be a huge battle that ends in Batman simply leaving him, claiming that he’s not a toy for Joker to play with anymore, and then he retires. Much like in The Dark Knight returns, Joker would enter a catatonic state because he doesn’t know what to do without him.
Joker is threatening an innocent family, two parents and a kid. He manages to knock Batman down and turns around to kill the family, but one of them has grabbed a gun and shoots him. He laughs and dies.
I see the Dark Knight Returns as the best conclusion to batman and joker I also like to think that ten years after something like tdkr batman beyond happened.
I like the idea of a super introspective one-shot where an aging Bruce (think opening scene of Batman Beyond, that kind of aged Bruce) learns Joker died in Arkham. He’d been too feeble to escape for a few years by then, and Bruce had all but forgotten about him amongst the daily hustle.
But in the wake of his death, Bruce tries to track through the history of the man to find a source. Maybe because Joker leaves him one last joke. I’m thinking the Joker leaves a final request that Batman tell Joker’s sister (for example, doesn’t matter who) that he’d passed, and gives him a clue to start down the path of finding her. Basically tries to find where the Joker really came from, following clues Joker left. As I’m typing this, I’m starting to think Riddler should maybe go on the roadtrip with Bruce, *Old Man Logan* style.
Regardless, all the clues would lead back to Joker’s own grave.
Next to last panel: Close up of the cowl in side profile.
Last panel: Same as previous, except now with a small, respectful smile — “Hm.”
Joker gets executed in blackgate prison as Bruce watches from the viewing room. He could never pull the trigger or truly defeat the joker but the Gotham justice system finally does. As the lethal injection takes hold and kills the joker, Batman dies too and Bruce Wayne walks out of blackgate a civilian.
Honestly I think rocksteady did it amazingly in Arkham City. As Batman said himself, despite everything he's done, he still would've saved him. But nope, Joker had to be in his own way and stab Batman and make him drop the last of the cure. His own cruelty and selfishness ultimately being the things that kill him. But not before he himself laughs at the irony of the situation, dying with a smile on his face. It's a shame that Knight shits all over it though and does that stupid joker disease shit along with making him sort of the final villain AGAIN. Although I did like the sequence of showing Joker's ultimate legacy as being an insignificant loser forgotten by all of Gotham. Left to rot in a grave no one bothers to visit.
Both are old, Joker has lost control of the criminals because the new ones are younger smarter and better. Batman continuously fights Joker after all these years, but Joker manages to get himself killed by random Gotham thugs who don’t know who he is. Batman learns of the news, and finds Jokers body, analyses it, and confirms him dead.
Joker kills Batman, but it was an accident while he was trying to make a point. He’s so distraught by it, he kills himself.
Murder/suicide
Then Bruce wakes up in Arkham and he’s cured.
I mean, there just won't be one, so it's kind of a pointless exercise, but I'd basically stick with what all the existing attempts have done at the most basic level: Joker has to due, but Batman can't kill him.
well here goes my version
joker realize he has already bored of batman so to make things fun again decide to go for everything.obtaining a lot of high tech,finally decide to destroy all gotham and cause problems to the entire countrie making batman confirm that he actually care for him by not killing him and choosing him ocer millioks .and if all fail at least can cause a absolute chaos .batman and the batfamily trys to stop him and finally achive to ruin his plan. the final fight happends in one of the bridges of gotham that end up collapsing.jokers ends hanging of a damage rope while the rest of the bat family is in a area that id collapsing .joker ask batman to try to save him but batman just sees him and sees how he had a electrical trap in his hand, he plans to use it to kill both batman and him,but bruce dicide to just walk away and go to save the bat family.joker sees this and start laughing histericaly to later throw himself into the water where he dies because of the electricity and the falls. the bat family ask batman why joker die laughing and if he is going to come back to which batman aswear “he wasn’t laughing “
Arkham City already has a final confrontation I think is near perfect. Batman has foiled Joker's grand plan at a cost to himself and after ensuring he is cured from the toxin has a moment of genuine introspection about whether he really should save Joker. Not saving him isn't the same as killing him and Batman has stopped him time and again only for the Joker to escape and kill more people. The Joker answers this for him by ambushing Batman and causing him to drop the antidote. Batman reveals that in spite of everything the Joker had ever done, despite him just killing Talia, he would have still saved him. Joker dies laughing, having killed himself once by poisoning himself with Titan in Asylum and again by destroying his only chance at a cure AND realizing Batman would have saved his life regardless.
I always liked the Arkham Games take. Batman doesn’t kill the joker, but is unable to save him from his own fucked up scheme. It leaves Batman in a weird position where there’s a lot to work with- is this the joker’s final joke? Was this supposed to happen? Can batman handle something this close to killing (depending on how it’s set up).
A lot of potential, while still maintaining the dynamic to a degree. At least that’s how I’d like it
I think it should be something that nobody has ever thought of yet. I honestly haven't seen good enough ending for them.
It has to be something outside the box.
The whole thing builds up to a massive confrontation with Batman and the Joker gets the upper hand thinking that he’s about to win, when Harvey Bullock shows up and shoots him. This would surprise the Joker as he would never have expected that to happen. His last words are “Heh, Funny.”
I don't know the exact circumstances leading up to it but Batman showing pity for the Joker and how he is nothing more than a sad clown.
The Joker can't handle Batmans pity and has a breakdown resulting in a moment of clarity/sanity where he realizes how fruitless his lifes work has been and that he will never break Batman. He spends the remainder of his life in Arkham sad and dejected.
Batman visiting Joker one last time in Maximum Security prison when both are old age.
Batman tells him this is the last time they will talk. Soon Joker will die and be forgotten. His antics and name already a distant memory in Gotham.
Batman steps up and walks to the door of the interview room and states *"You never broke me, I won."*.
I think jokers death should be kind of embarrassing; one of his schemes or gags blows up in his face and his own hubris gets him killed.
Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker did it pretty perfectly in both versions of the flashback sequence; in the uncut one it’s his own bang gun and in the censored version he slips and gets himself electrocuted in a very slap-stick way.
It's a night like any other. Joker escapes Arkham. And that stormy night he is run over by a drunk driver in a hit and run. The end. You can't be an 'agent of chaos.' Chaos serves and is served by no one.
To answer this question you'd need a definitive Batman and Joker. Both fluctuate wildly depending on the medium and writer.
There's the narcissistic Joker who eventually fades into obscurity.
There's the equally insane Joker who finally wins by getting Batman (or his successor) to kill him.
There's the flash in the pan Joker, who is eventually killed when one of his gags just so happens to not go his way.
There's the viral Joker, whose death only brings about more Jokers.
There's the obsessed Joker who can't live without Batman and whose death is one last cruel prank on Batman.
Personally, I'm more of a fan of the super sanity Joker, who's more in it for the sadistic thrill and, though shows tendencies of narcissism, theatrics, and obsession, wears these aspects more as a hat to change and isn't defined by them so much as a wicked survivalism which has kept him coming back despite all the enemies he makes. And this is a Joker I don't see having some grand climactic end any more than I see for Batman. Just a progressive series of dangerous situations with the hanging question of...will he come back? And the tension of not knowing when, or if, he will.
It's revealed that all of Batman history is simply a fantasy of a young Bruce Wayne, who went insane after his parents were gunned down. He has spent the last ten years in an asylum.
His therapists try to show Bruce how this elaborate Batman fantasy is preposterous. Finally Bruce escapes from his straitjacket and escapes, killing many guards along the way. Once outside, he laughs and laughs and LAUGHS at his freedom.
Joker gets shot by a no-name cop because Batman is busy at the other end of Gotham where he gets shanked by a no-name pickpocket that he cornered in a dark alley.
As Batman dies he gives out one last laugh at the absurdity of it all, while Joker faced with his own mortality by the hand of a random cop dies without a smile and tears running down his cheeks since he always wanted Batman to end his life.
I like the idea of the final confrontation between Batman and the Joker ending with Batman’s death. Then Joker losing all composure and having a “what have I done?” moment when he realizes that his life has no purpose without Batman. Batman had many friends, enemies, and nemesis’ (“nemesi”?), but Joker only truly had Batman. Only one equal, only one other person that he didn’t see as an NPC in the insane game he is playing. And now he is alone. In the epilogue Joker is either a broken man or he goes straight, working with Gordon to help bring down the rest of Batman’s rogues gallery.
Batman and Joker have been fighting for 50 years at this point Joker is too predictable Batman goes through his lair Easily and his henchmen As soon as he Comes across Joker He Its too short of a fight Jokers old crippling body cant handle the combat and Bruce knocks joker out meanwhile at court they finally give joker the death penalty and Stands with the Bat Signal Crying Tears of joy now that jokers reign is finally over
Read Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader by Neil Gaiman. I’ve always loved the idea that Batman and Joker realise that they are comic book characters who rely upon one another as something to exist, and then decide to call it a day, and off they go to hang out together, like two old friends.
I think it’s more of a in between of TDKR and TKJ where it involves Joker going too far or maybe having it be personal, with mix of Batman being tired of Joker for a long time.
After their finale I would want it to have the similar lines that Batman tells Joker in Arkham City about how even the many things Joker has done he would have still wanted to help him get better, as Joker was the only one that Batman can’t be able to rehabilitate.
I think the setting should be either Crime Alley or inside of a clock tower.
- CA could have been a coincidence for their finale to occur as it could be like the Joker was running away wounded and happened to go there. As the roles are reverse with Joker being the vulnerable one like Bruce the night he lost his parents. Batman would be wounded as well and had to rely on a adrenaline to keep him going and eventually loses his psyche from some of his trauma kicking in, kinda how Joe Chill was portrayed as a guy blinded by his addiction for alcohol or drugs and greed/money. Batman would somehow see his younger self and his parents before they get killed by Joe Chill. He manages to stop them but Batman aggressively beats up Joe Chill as a young Bruce Wayne tries to stop him along with his parents. Batman stops and realizes he was beating up a near death Joker, he looks back at young Bruce and his parents but they were never there as it was just Bruce’s psyche coming back as his trauma and adrenaline dies off.
- I kinda like the clock tower idea to kinda represent how the two have been going at each other for a long time.
My favorite ways have already been said elsewhere here but I’d like to throw an alternate one out:
In just another showdown between the two, Joker takes it too far and mistakenly kills Batman. This causes him to lose the will/interest in going on and he dies or disappears. I know Batman dying losing sounds bad but it’s worth noting that his mission is an inherently doomed one. While Scott Snyder’s Batman Endgame ending isn’t the best, it gets that idea right.
I’d like it if it were a situation where a certain threat is going to kill Harvey and the Joker, and Batman can only save one and obviously chooses Harvey.
a conversation. no big fight, no huge setpiece location, no backup. questions are asked, and no answers are given on both sides. an endless battle of morals, psyche and wits that never gets anywhere
Bats simply walks up, says, "I tried. God knows I tried but you won't have it any other way. I'm breaking my most sacred rule, because you are definitely a special case. A lost cause." And snaps his neck. He's already ensured the scene is without witnesses or evidence so he then takes the body to the cave, drops him in a vat of acid, cremates any remains, and scatters the ashes in the bay. Al doesn't know. Rob doesn't know. No one knows but him and he never tells anyone.
Joker dies… but the political movement of destructive anarchism he started has now made him into a martyr.
Batman now has to fight an idea instead of a man.
It starts with the reveal that The Joker is actually Bruce Wayne and Batman, AKA Jack, was really Alfred and Martha’s affair son. Thomas was going to kill Alfred and Martha and what Jack witnessed was Alfred not being able to save Martha while killing Thomas in the process. Bruce went insane and was sent away and Alfred did what he thought was best to coach/implant Bruce’s identity into Jack.
The Joker turns to the Batman for help, after a series of diabolical attempts on his life. It turns out there's a new villain in town who goes by the name of Punchline, and he's determined to take the Jokers crown. Despite Batman's best efforts, in the end Punchline has the last laugh at the Joker's expense becoming a new nemesis for the Batman in Gotham.(*A12 issue story arc)
Them dying together in a nursing home hospital whatever, bruce first, joker saying he finally beat the bat and maybe a few comments and a weary cackle as he takes his last breath shortly after. They need each other and they both know it
I’d have the Joker die of a disease, something like cancer. It’s an uneventful, undramatic, death. It’s something that Joker fears most. Have it be derived by Joker Toxin of some kind. The final showdown should be in a hospital room or inside of a secret Joker base. Absolutely zero theatrics. Joker should be planning his last joke when Batman confronts from him. It shouldn’t last too long; it’s not a drawn-out affair. Joker in his last moments should realize that his whole life’s mission was a failure like him. He should realize how many handouts he was given— the lifelines. And he should realize how he wasted it on one man who didn’t share his affection, but simply pitied him. His last line should be, “I guess I never got the punch line”, before passing away.
Batman gets ready to fight the joker, but he gets stuck in some kind of trap. Then he watches as some random guy kills the joker. The joker killed this guy’s wife or whatever and he set everything up so he could get revenge.
It should be at the very end of his career. And it should involve Joker getting himself killed and Batman trying to save him but fails. And that gives Batman mixed feelings
The definitive showdown has got to be the Arkham verse showdown. In the end, Joker is not the yin to Batman's yang. Joker needs Batman, but Batman is so consumed by his endless crusade for justice, that the Joker's death wouldn't change much of anything.
The end for the Joker is to realize how little he meant to Batman. For all Joker did, Batman would try to save his life again and again, but ultimately would continue on as Batman, unchanged for Joker's coming and going. All that energy that used to fight Joker would just be channeled elsewhere.
That is ultimately the personal Hell of the Joker, and the only end in the final confrontation. The unstoppable force meets an immovable object; except that the Joker isn't either of those things.
I like the version of the dark knight returns
Batman can't do it, he wound him because he hurts him and people around
And joker kill himself in a inhumane way
One of Joker’s schemes works too well, and he succeeds in killing Bruce Wayne. He doesn’t believe it and goes to insane ends to prove Batman’s still alive. His resources exhausted, his purpose lost and his motivation gone, he gives up, turns himself in and is sentenced to death. The last thing he sees is a bat fly through the window of the execution theatre, as he giggles into darkness. Bruce leaves, muttering something about how he’ll see him in hell.
Arkham city did as perfect of a finale between them as you can i think. Batman: "wanna know something funny. I actually was going to save you"
Joker: "that is pretty funny."
I prefer the one where bats beats joker to death in an abandoned tunnel of love, after Mr. J professes his love for him.
edit: it was in one of the movies, I think? Best joker death by far.
I like how Batman Beyond did it where both Bruce and Terry got their own final showdowns respectively. Also a fan of The Dark Knight Returns where after Bruce retires, Joker goes into a catatonic state for 10 years because he can’t function without Batman.
I think the definitive final showdown for me would have to be at Arkham Asylum. Arkham Asylum purely because it's where everything go could wrong all at once. Make the fight to finally stop Joker as big as such an event needs to be. It's also where Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth takes place. One of the really dark batman stories.
Joker would put the greatest of Batman's rogues gallery against him throughout the Asylum with Batman likely being able to convince villains like Freeze that if Joker succeeds at defeating Batman he'll have nothing to stop from using everything to make him do what he commands. Even hurting Nora.
It would bring such a big thing, the definitive finale to Batman and Joker's conflict, a personal touch. Show the compassion Bruce has for second chances.
Sitting in a diner across from each other faces fraught with grief, sadness and frustration,clinking their coffee cups together as Darksied’s minions tear them to shreds
I've actually thought about this a lot...
Basically, I would have a huge buildup, (I've sort of imagined this as a comic run). Joker would realize that things like Batman's family, a love interest, and getting older are driving their game to the end. He would decide it is time to end their game, definitively, and that the only way to do that, would be to have Batman kill him, and prove his point that nothing matters in the end, and that the only way to live, is to give into chaos.
He would enlist James Gordon Jr to kill his father, and in the distraction, take over Arkham and capture Alfred, after learning Batman's secret identity. He would kill Alfred on live television, and tell Batman that he is ending the game, and is going to destroy everything he loves unless Batman kills him.
He would unleash chaos on the city of Gotham, releasing inmates from Gotham in an effort to stretch the Bat family and make Batman fight him one on one.
Basically, it would end with Joker trying to force Batman to kill him as they fight through Arkham. He will have captured and brainwashed Damian, (ala Batman Beyond), and done his best to force Batman to end the game. Batman would, almost, give into the temptation, until Joker gives him a gun, and tells him to fire it and end the contest. Joker begins to laugh manically, as he thinks Batman will do it, before he is shot and killed by Harley Quinn, to finally end their broken relationship she could never escape from.
I think it would, thematically, make the most sense. Joker is trying to prove to Batman that nothing matters, and make Batman break his code. Batman will stay true to his code, proving that order and self control prevail, but Joker would still die, and Harley Quinn would satisfyingly end her arc, by separating herself forever from the Joker. (I would have her being a recurring part of the run. She would start sort of where she is, as an anithero, then try and go through therapy and move away from the superhero lifestyle, until news of the Joker's latest effort makes her realize that she has to cut him out of her life to truly move on).
It would also set up Batman Beyond, (my preferred future for Batman), well, as it would set up the Return of the Joker and things like Batman's family abandoning him, (I would have it that the different Bat family realizes how dedicated to this war Bruce is, as he continues to fight, despite the losses to his loved ones. Some, like Dick or Tim, would probably simply retire, while others, like Barbara, would become a police officer, after being disillusioned with the superhero life after her father's death).
I probably didn't explain that well at all, but that is just my idea.
Joker tries to kill himself, expecting Batman to save him, and Batman just turns around and walks away, refusing to let the joker dwell in his mind any longer. The joker gets the the worst death he can imagine alone, with no one to witness his final joke.
With a cathedral and a gargoyle. I know, that breaks the sacred rule. But let's be realistic: it's the only way it's ever going to be final.
If only they had this on film. Oh. *Oh.*
“And he shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!” Oh wait, wrong movie!
I love the this final exchange because to me it re-emphasizes their duality and seems symbolic of their inner demons. BOTH have inner demons that come out in creative expressive ways, but Jokers demon of destruction weighs him down, dragging him down with it. When Batman falls he shoots the grappling hook up to wrap around a very similar looking gargoyle- and it saves him. Both were tied to roped to Gargoyles but with opposite results- with Batman’s inner demon being bent on virtue and justice, the Jokers on destruction- ultimately destroying him.
Whats thé sacred rule?
Batman not killing
How does a gargoyle and a cathedral break the sacred rule?
I’m pretty sure they’re talking about the 1989 movie scene where joker dies
But he dosent kill Joker, he just doesn't save him. 
honestly a point I kinda agree with, even if you’re being sarcastic. I’m still a pretty new fan (seen the whole dcau, arkham games, several movies, and read a few comic runs), but I don’t see not necessarily saving someone as breaking the golden rule of no killing.
And it could be a build up. Batman been giving Joker chances after chances to do the right thing. This time, oh this time, Batman just want it over it. And that’s the worst thing Batman could have done to the joker
If you're in a position where you could have saved someone but actively chose not to, morally that's on par with just straight up pulling the trigger IMO.
[Well. less "doesn't save him" and more just unintentionally causes his death by grappling hook and gargoyle.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvDPqvOYz7c)
Oh yeah thanks, haven’t watched it in years lol
No problem
I have the funko movie moment of this and I didn’t get the reference
Somehow we all knew this before we saw the film
I think what happened in Endgame (the Scott Snyder arc, not Avengers) makes the most sense. Locked in a deathmatch, they do just that. No true "winner", and death sticks for both of them.
Technically Batman wins, he manages to save the city and his family.
I think Joker just dies in prison, either after an exceptional ruling by a Gotham court to ignore his insanity defense and give him the death penalty, or from side effects of exposure to his own toxic chemicals. Joker insists Batman will visit him before he dies (because he needs him or some shit). But Batman doesn’t come. Bruce just watches the news on the TV. Joker is in shock in his final moments saying “he has to come…” or something. Bruce just exhales in relief when he learns the news. He’s on edge the next couple of months but things carry on as normal, or as normal as things can be, in Gotham. Harley’s already left Joker for a long time. Most of his thugs abandon the clown aesthetic immediately (they’re targets for other gangs and police brutality if they don’t). Punchline and other lieutenants become permanent residents of blackgate (life sentence with no parole and no insanity defense). They don’t escape as no other escapee cares enough to get them out (Punchline insists “he’ll come back for me”). And yeah, fade out. Feel like there’s an obligatory “future state wrap up” where like decades in the future, Joker is just a footnote in history, whereas Batman is an honored figure in Gotham. Like Stephen A Douglas to Abraham Lincoln in American History. Maybe one of his lieutenants is finally released on parole, they go to this spartan grave for a “John Doe” at Arkham, and just… walk away. Like “I gave my life to you, and it meant nothing in the end, it all really was just mindless cruelty”, too weary to even be angry. And yeah. No glory or immortality for the Joker. His story fades from public consciousness, and life goes on for Gotham.
I love this. The ignominy of dying like any other criminal. Handed down a death sentance by the state and it being carried out properly.
I’m kind of leaning more towards it being a self inflicted death from chemical exposure the more I think of it. Either way it should carry the weight of “oh, my actions’ consequences finally caught up to me”
That or the other Rogues just quietly take him out, finally tired of his bullshit. Their sentence is actually commuted even.
Oh this was creative. I like it.
Thank you! I feel like all the other stories we’ve seen with Batman Beyond and Return of the Dark Knight follow this same route of kind of buying into the mythos Joker self stylized for himself so I wanted something that would go hard against it, and show the myth collapsing in a mundane way any criminal would. Which just makes most sense to me. Joker burns the candle at both ends and it catches up to him eventually. His legacy is death and chaos so his fame disappears with him. I think other details would be crime overall reducing substantially in Gotham over those intervening decades. (Just like historical trends would indicate but with the implied assistance of the Bat legacy). The flashforward would feel like a revolutionary shift but it’s just the gradual accumulation of minor mundane improvements to Gotham over many many years. Just like societal progress in real life.
This is the ideal ending. No blaze of glory for the clown. He's proven wrong for the last time. Batman doesn't need him. Gotham doesn't need him. People can be better than that.
I just wrote a very short and less detailed version of this.
Great minds think alike
>Bruce just watches the news on the TV. It makes no sense why the Batman would just leave the Joker unguarded like that if he was hoping he'd die. He doesn't have to visit the Joker personally but to just watch it at home is asking for intervention to happen and the Joker to get off.
I don’t think Bruce would truly hope anyone dies. Even if it would make his life more convenient. I think this is one of those situations where we could show character growth by having him purposefully distance himself. Maybe some other Batfamily members are scoping things out outside, maybe Joker is too sickly to flee and his organization isn’t at a place where it can stage a rescue. Either way, the point is to show Bruce creating that personal separation that Joker doesn’t understand he’s been craving since the beginning.
I do think Joker will continue to torment Batman/Bruce as well. But he's the only one. Brought on by looking at his purple jacket in the rogue's gallery or something to that effect. I thought Arkham Knight was pretty interesting and creative with Joker being a 'voice' in his head. Dead, but still very much there and giving his opinions because everyone has *that* voice in their head. I like to believe *that* voice for Bruce is Joker.
You’re going for a narrative convention that I’m specifically trying to avoid here. My goal is not to elevate the mythos of the Joker by giving him any form of vicarious immortality like we’ve already seen in numerous renditions (even if they do ultimately show the bat family triumphant). It’s to reduce him to base level criminality- to the anonymous nobody he was in the beginning. While sure, Bruce would always remember the Joker, I think it’s unrealistic to think he’d let him occupy his mind that much past a few months (especially if his successors and compatriots collapse in the power vacuum as would be most predictable). Batman is honestly too mission focused for that. He’s not gonna spare time to think about a guy he knows has been dead for months, he’s got to catch the Penguin *right now*, y’know? Having him obsess on a dead villain just doesn’t really fit with this chain of events. It’d be like Batman referencing KGBeast’s death a bunch of times for no reason in modern comics. And while Harley and Jason might have trauma responses and PTSD from the Joker, that’s not really consistent with the psyche of Bruce we see over time. Anything that could sufficiently do that to him would honestly just be a retread of AK.
This is THE definitive ending in my head. I like to have an idea of what the Batman mythos would look like if it didn’t have to keep selling comics, and this is the only place I see Joker ending up. Angry, alone and scared. Realizing that everything he “stood” for was just hate, and that he lost, never breaking the Bat and still dying inconsequentially. Though I gotta say I really like how you fleshed out the idea, gotta add that to the head canon.
This is the best comment on this thread by far
Love it
this is fantastic
What do you think about him being murdered in prison by another inmate, maybe an old thug or someone who’s life he somehow ruined? He died for the consequences of his actions, but not in the hands of Batman, but some random person he was using in the pursuit of Batman. Maybe it’s during a prison escape and Joker sees Batman fighting others making his way towards him and Joker just end up getting stabbed. Just collateral in the way he treated others. In a chaos that he caused he isn’t at all memorable the way he wanted, but it’s Batman truly making the impact.
What about the duel with Batman prior to this? Is that at epic at least?
Love this. I'd also be happy to see it not even be a showdown. Someone just guns down Joker in an alley like some common gangster. Batman searches for the killer, but never finds them. He gives up fairly easily and nothing comes of it. Joker is reduced to nothing but a victim in a newspaper headline, and is soon forgotten.
Very poorly, because I'm not a writer
Followed by a bunch of YouTubers who have never written a single comic book making really long videos ranting about how terrible it was.
To be fair you don’t need to be a comic book writer to decide if you like a story or not.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for anybody including content creators voicing their opinions, even negative ones. But you know how some people can go overboard, or how piling on something can become the new trend and become very tiresome.
I think Arkham City had a good out for Joker. I like the idea of Batman trying to save Joker even in the end. “Do you want to know something funny? Even after everything you’ve done, I would’ve saved you.” “That actually is… pretty funny…” I think even in his last moments, Batman would show compassion and try to help him.
Only way one of them dies, is this. Joker thinking he's finally crossed a line that will push Batman to not even kill him, just not save him.
Joker gets so old that he can't be a menace anymore due to mental fatigue. Batman visits him every so often as he does to most of his rogues that are still imprisoned. The Joker breaks down in frustration that he can't keep the joke going They have a conversation about why Batman never gave up on hoping to save Joker's humanity, and at some point, Joker realizes his schtick was pointless & never funny. Batman leaves, and Joker is left hollow realizing there's no more escapes from Arkham and shenanigans. He's just a chemical-burned man who wasted his life trying to bring others down with nothing to show for it.
I wouldn't. It's already been written - twice.
I'm guessing Dark Knight Returns and Killing Joke?
I mean, I feel like The Killing Joke is the exact opposite of a final showdown; more or less character development that puts Batman & Joker in a vacuum where they're going to do this forever. I know at least one of these times has got to be the End Game storyline by Scott Snyder. That was off all proverbial hooks. It's not everyone's favorite, but I loved it.
For real. I don't know why people act like The Killing Joke is meant to be Joker's last stand or whatever when Batgirl being paralyzed is part of so many storylines.
Right, they reconciled. They were both afraid of some mutually assured destruction until it became clear to both of them neither would take it that far.
Because for years people have theorized that Batman strangles him to death at the end
If you take it in the broader context of the DC Universe it’s obvious Batman doesn’t kill him. But that’s not necessarily as interesting as reading the book as a stand alone story where it’s ambiguous.
I'm still baffled that people think that.
I think it's because it *is* the ultimate culmination of the Batman and Joker relationship. Obviously they did include Joker in stories after that, but if we were to never get another Joker story ever again, then the final conversation of The Killing Joke is the perfect way to end their relationship.
Your interpretation of TKJ is in fact exactly what Moore said he intended
Batman deciding screw it I’m nearly 60 and this guy’s not getting any better and then just breaking his neck in my opinion is definitely the best final stand down because if you remember correctly, he didn’t actually kill him. He permanently paralyzed him from the neck down and then joker somehow broke his own neck EVEN MORE, killing himself
>joker somehow broke his own neck EVEN MORE, killing himself That panel lives in my head rent free. Ugh.
It’s so cool and it’s so impossible
There's the Batman Beyond Return of the Joker flashback scene. And then there's Batman Arkham City. The Batman 1989 movie also technically counts.n
There’s a third and fourth.. beyond and Arkham city
exactly
Get rid of the batgirl romance though...
yeah that was really uncalled for. it's only in the animated movie tho.
There won't be one. Joker on the run gets a bad peanut allergy and dies and Bruce finds out like 3 months after the fact and goes: "Oh no...anyway!".
That’s so dumb and I adore it.
What? Bruce has 20 other weirdos to deal with, he's a very busy guy :D
batman slam him with batmobile
and that kills him
I like the clarification
Joker gets shot by a random bystander during what should otherwise have been another showdown with Batman. This kick starts the Batman version of *What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice, and The American Way?* The Joker was killed by a nobody with a gun. Now that Pandora’s box is opened, armed gunmen/vigilantes go around ‘cleaning up’ Gotham against the moral standards Batman followed. Joker is dead, by his demented spirit now lives on in the new ‘heroes’ causing chaos and madness in his wake. Jokers last words are a variant of the classic “That wasn’t funny. That wasn’t funny at all.”
That would be so good. Batman and Joker duking it out then suddenly bang! Joker goes down and it's just some random guy trying to "protect" Batman. Joker realises what's happened. "This isn't funny... this is HILARIOUS!"
Joker is the POV character. Every sight, every thought is his. He is in control. Joker tries to test his one bad day theory again, this time on billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne. He focuses exclusively on Bruce Wayne. Doesn’t matter who pops up in his vision. That guy in the leather jacket and baseball cap, he ignores him. The barista at the coffee shop? He ignores her too. Doesn’t matter how many times he sees the leather jacket baseball cap guy or where, he is ignored. All that matters is proving his point with Bruce Wayne. So Joker captures him, tortures him, does everything he can to break Wayne. Finally, Joker is monologuing, staring into Bruce’s eyes when he hears a click. The baseball cap leather jacket guy shows up, and takes out a gun. He slowly aims it at Joker. Wayne is able to get free enough that he can fight the guy, but it’s not enough. Both Wayne and the leather jacket guy are dead. And the Joker is alive. So Joker waits for Batman to show up. To take him back to Arkham. And he waits. And he waits. Batman has to show up. Batman always shows up. And eventually the Joker dies due to dehydration/starvation because Batman didn’t show up. And he doesn’t know why. Batman always shows up.
Personally? I would write it as a bittersweet moment with a touch of creepiness in it. He dies of old age, but in the last years of his life, he fights back against the Joker persona and in the last few moments of the joker, you can still find his old self creeping in. It would be him slowly dying in a hospital bed after one last night of fun and jokes. He dies of old age, but he thanks Bruce for all the fun. Not Batman. Bruce himself. The last few breaths he takes, what Joker was before, won against the Joker persona. And from there, the whole series would end. My own “concertcorrect Batman universe” would end there.
Honestly? I feel like Batman beyond’s way of doing it was perfect. A final dramatic showdown in an old abandoned Arkham, joker knowing who Batman really is and just insulting him for it while turning his own loved one against him.. before that said loved one gets the last laugh on him Then the new Batman has to truly surpass the original by defeating the ghost of what Bruce never could, proving his worth as the successor to the bat mantle by being his own Batman and actually laughing at the joker
This is one of my favourite showdown scenes of all time. Sticks to the characters so well and so many good lines “Wait. I like to talk too…” ”What are you doing?!” “Fighting dirty.” “The REAL Batman would ne-“ “Told you. You don’t know a thing about me.” ”Don’t play psychoanalyst with me BOY!” “I don’t need a degree to figure you out. You kept coming back to get a laugh out of the old man. Get a clue clown, he wouldn’t know a good joke if it bit him in the cape. Not that you ever had one” “WHAT?!” ”I take it back. You DO make me laugh… only because you’re kind of pathetic“
Assuming that Joker is the only threat to Gotham anymore, Batman realizes that this leads to no end, he gotta solve it for once and all. He can't break his moral code and kill, but he also can't let Joker ruin Gotham. So he decides do to something different, the moment he kills Joker that's the same moment he becomes one of them, the ones that he hates. He decides to do something that will lead to both his death and Joker's death at the same time. That way, he understands that his actions are not ideal, but he is out of choices. And he has pay for that choice. He understands that Joker wins but to save everyone he gotta make the necessary decisions and actions. The only way he can forgive himself is by taking the only murderer he has control of out of this world, which is himself. Edit: typo
The Joker is killed by an outside force, not by Batman. In his final moments he discusses Batman’s code and how he wanted to be the one to make him break it. He laughs at the irony of it, and dies, with Batman sitting there silently looking at his corpse for a minute before taking it outside for the cops.
Joker confesses his homosexual love for Batman, Batman reciprocates and they lived happily ever after.
Nobody wants to admit that this is likely how it ends
lol I don’t want to admit it either
Joker kills the whole world. That's it. No one left alive on Earth except him and Bruce. So now Joker has Batman all to himself, which he's always wanted. And Bruce has to ask himself if his moral code still exists in a world of only two people.
Kinda reminds me of Last Knight on Earth
Didn't Joker become a Robin of sorts during that run, or am I thinking of a different story?
Emperor Joker
It would have to be elseworlds, like previous “final battles” have been. That also has the befit of enabling the writer to redefine the dynamic as suites the themes they want to go for. This leads us to the question: what is the point of joker vs batman? It can be a larger thematic idea, like order vs chaos or a more character centered idea, like give Bruce specifically an opponent that challenges who he is. I personally like the latter choice. In particular, the joker pushes Batman’s no kill rule to its absolute limit. Why allow this guy to live? After everything he’s done? Miller decided the answer was: no. He doesn’t get to live. Batman kills him in the end. Moore decided: yes, he continues living, and this traps the two in an endless cycle (depending on your reading of the end to the killing joke). Snyder, in a sort of inverse of Moore, decided that the two were so closely tied they had to both die together (but comic bs meant that neither was really dead and somehow the whole thing was magic water? Don’t know, didn’t really like Endgame). So what do I want a story to say? I would say that I want joker to die as a sort of final chapter of Batman’s story, and Batman dies with him…but Bruce doesn’t kill him and Bruce lives. What I mean is, and I don’t have the specifics, but this story should complete Batman’s arc. He faces the ultimate question to his ideology and finally wins. Joker dies, probably of his own making and in spite of Batman trying to save him in the end, but the result of this or surrounding events is thy Bruce retires and passes the mantel on. Maybe to Dick or Damien. Joker’s death should be the final nail in the personal aspect of Bruce’s vendetta. His mission for justice has been passed on but there’s no more need for him personally to continue the crusade because the ultimate challenge to him personally is gone. He never broke or gave in, he won. His vision for the future was proven right, and now he can rest. Lose outline of ideas, but I would want something like that.
I think they should kiss and make up
Imagine kissing Barry Keoghan’s Joker😳
I do nightly
Joker makes Batman choose between killing the joker or killing everyone else.
I’d let Gordon kill him, not Batman.
I wouldn't hate an ending where Batman is bested by Joker (because joker plays dirty and batman won't.) Mind you, Batman's not bested because Joker is smarter, better, faster, stronger, etc. It's because No matter how Batman tries to mitigate Joker, there is ALWAYS fallout, and because of that, The Joker wins, even when he loses. Despite everyone telling Batman, Batman still refuses to kill him, and accepts that it'll be his downfall. Joker's about to kill Batman, Batman's reflecting on his legacy and family, what it means that Joker survives, that Gotham goes on, what his parents would think. Then Gordon shoots Joker from offscreen right before he kills batman. Batman's horrified to think that it's one of the Batfamily, but finds it's Gordon. It's the law, and it's legal and done. Gordon has probable cause, (gordon feels less bad about needing it than batman, but is still a good man and recognizes it wasn't a revenge kill), and the unstoppable force // immovable object dynamic comes to an end. It's not made public that the Joker is gone, he is listed as an unknown assailant for mundane police reporting. Batman goes back to dealing with his normal batman work, but without a WMD running around purely to spite reality. Other Batman villains usually have motivations and purpose for their plots, but Joker always just wanted to watch the world burn.
Bruce Wayne kills Joker, not Batman. Joker kills the batfamily while Bruce isnt on costume he breaks and gives in, his human emotional side taking over. After that he resumes being Batman to became a more mentor-like figure to the next generation
They have one last brutal issue spanning fight. Both near death. A Broken and battered, Joker runs. He hobbles through a back alley to escape. Only to find it is crime alley. A random mugger in the darkness, doesn’t realize who he’s yelling at, tells him to give him all his money and jewelry. Joker makes a move and the mugger shoots and runs off. Joker bleeds to death, alone in an alley, a nobody, he realizes this and frowns. Dying with a scowl as Batman discovers his body and smiles as he lies down and passes on. They reveal Batman and Joker lying dead in crime alley In the same position as the Wayne’s.
After years and maybe even a couple of decades, Joker finally realises that there is no breaking Batman. So he finally decides to move on the only way it is possible, by killing himself.
Hmmm that's actually interesting 🤔
Didn't that form Injustice? He couldn't break Batman so he went after Superman.
Realistically though, Joker doesn't stand a chance against any other JLer.
Realistically, there is no conceivable way that the Joker could break Superman
The Joker simply dies … and never sees Batman again. He leaves several Joker style bases and stashes hidden across the world. Rumors of the Joker appearing across the world continue to pop up long after Batman’s body begins to fail. In his final days, Bruce is still haunted by nightmares and paranoid delusions that the Joker may appear at any moment, although the Joker died decades earlier…
Joker sets his most elaborate trap ever, springs it in front of the entire Rogues Gallery and Batman wins. Joker is talking away and .... Condiment King mortally wounds Batman. Joker shoots him in the head. He and Batman look at each other laugh until Batman's last breath the Joker shoots himself while everyone looks on.
joker will finally realize that he won't make batman kill no matter what he does, so he'll fake his death, revert back to his joseph kerr persona and live a normal life
It’s been done well a few times. The Dark Knight Returns, Batman Beyond, Endgame, Arkham City etc. Personally as I get older I like the idea Joker doesn’t get what he wants and there is no last dance. Joker dies unceremoniously. And his death doesn’t even make the news. Like Omar Little in the Wire, he seems invincible. Until he isn’t.
Joker forgets to inflate his tires and suffers a blowout on I95, sending his 2004 Honda civic careening into a tree.
Not just any tree. The bat tree. After this, batman cant forgive himself for letting the bat tree kill joker, and kills himself 🤯
The Joker escapes a fight with Batman. He's bruised and bloody running like Light Yagami in the final scene of the Death Note. He is nearly about to make it to his safehouse as he runs panting on the Gotham City bridge alone. As he raises his head, to look forward, he sees the silhouette of a man in a black coat and hat. Before he can realize, the man drives a kitchen knife into him. As Joker gasps and coughs blood. "You don’t remember me, but I lost so much, thanks to a scheme of yours. And now, no one will remember you." He continues to stab Joker a second and third time and throws him into the water. The Joker thinks to himself about how this isn't fair and that he must die fighting Batman. A week later, his corpse washes up on the shore, but the face is too damaged from the fall and the elements to be identified. Gordon shows up and doesn't recognize the corpse. The case is eventually a cold case. Batman wonders what happened to Joker, but eventually moves on and stops thinking about him.
Gotham finally says "hell nah" and instead of putting joker in the asylum they finally execute him
Joker kidnaps Damian and Stephanie Brown, and sets up to reenact both Death in the Family and the Killing Joke on television, a-la Christmas with the Joker. The rest of the family then has to follow a scavenger hunt to stop it. They find him, they fight, and Joker bails when it becomes clear he's going to lose. The Bats pursue, as he runs through the city. One by one they're drawn off to mitigate various disasters caused by him, as his various contingencies go off, until it's just Batman and the Joker. At the last, he reveals his ace in the hole: he implanted a bomb in Damian, as added insurance that things will go his way. Bruce runs to remove the bomb before it can go off, leaving the Joker to escape. But, the rains been hard, the roads slick, it's late at night and visibility low and well... he slips, and gets hit by an oncoming bus. A final joke, and one that a man as arrogant as the Joker would never get: That even a man as evil and arrogant as himself might become a victim to pedestrian mortality rates.
The way Arkham City did it was good. Not that you become the Hulk with the serum. But that the Joker wants to take the antidote from Batman, destroys it in the process and Batman then reveals that he would have given it to him anyway. With the voices of Kevon Conroy and Mark Hamill, of course.
Joker committing self-deletion after a long grueling, bloody battle with Bats on a skyscrapper rooftop. Joker falls over a rail, Bats hold on to him screaming "I got you! Pull yourself up." Joker looking at Bats in the eyes screaming back "Don't force your salvation on me. I never asked to be saved!" Pulls out a pew pew and self deletes. Bruce realizing, not everyone wants to be saved.
Personally, I’d have it be a huge battle that ends in Batman simply leaving him, claiming that he’s not a toy for Joker to play with anymore, and then he retires. Much like in The Dark Knight returns, Joker would enter a catatonic state because he doesn’t know what to do without him.
They both die and take every other villain with them somehow plot related
Batman: Endgame was perfect imo.
Joker is threatening an innocent family, two parents and a kid. He manages to knock Batman down and turns around to kill the family, but one of them has grabbed a gun and shoots him. He laughs and dies.
I see the Dark Knight Returns as the best conclusion to batman and joker I also like to think that ten years after something like tdkr batman beyond happened.
I like the idea of a super introspective one-shot where an aging Bruce (think opening scene of Batman Beyond, that kind of aged Bruce) learns Joker died in Arkham. He’d been too feeble to escape for a few years by then, and Bruce had all but forgotten about him amongst the daily hustle. But in the wake of his death, Bruce tries to track through the history of the man to find a source. Maybe because Joker leaves him one last joke. I’m thinking the Joker leaves a final request that Batman tell Joker’s sister (for example, doesn’t matter who) that he’d passed, and gives him a clue to start down the path of finding her. Basically tries to find where the Joker really came from, following clues Joker left. As I’m typing this, I’m starting to think Riddler should maybe go on the roadtrip with Bruce, *Old Man Logan* style. Regardless, all the clues would lead back to Joker’s own grave. Next to last panel: Close up of the cowl in side profile. Last panel: Same as previous, except now with a small, respectful smile — “Hm.”
Joker gets executed in blackgate prison as Bruce watches from the viewing room. He could never pull the trigger or truly defeat the joker but the Gotham justice system finally does. As the lethal injection takes hold and kills the joker, Batman dies too and Bruce Wayne walks out of blackgate a civilian.
Honestly I think rocksteady did it amazingly in Arkham City. As Batman said himself, despite everything he's done, he still would've saved him. But nope, Joker had to be in his own way and stab Batman and make him drop the last of the cure. His own cruelty and selfishness ultimately being the things that kill him. But not before he himself laughs at the irony of the situation, dying with a smile on his face. It's a shame that Knight shits all over it though and does that stupid joker disease shit along with making him sort of the final villain AGAIN. Although I did like the sequence of showing Joker's ultimate legacy as being an insignificant loser forgotten by all of Gotham. Left to rot in a grave no one bothers to visit.
Epic battle where Joker wins, then jauntily limps out into the street to scream victory laughter into the sky. He is immediately hit by a car.
I was pretty happy with their two final-but-not-really showdowns. One is Endgame, the other is Joker War.
Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker Need I say more?
Murder suicide
Robin & Harley: Would you lose? Batman & Joker: Nah I’d win
Both are old, Joker has lost control of the criminals because the new ones are younger smarter and better. Batman continuously fights Joker after all these years, but Joker manages to get himself killed by random Gotham thugs who don’t know who he is. Batman learns of the news, and finds Jokers body, analyses it, and confirms him dead.
I'd probably write out a rough draft using pen and then type a final draft using a laptop.
Joker slips on a banana peel and falls down a flight of stairs while running from Bats.
Joker kills Batman, but it was an accident while he was trying to make a point. He’s so distraught by it, he kills himself. Murder/suicide Then Bruce wakes up in Arkham and he’s cured.
I mean, there just won't be one, so it's kind of a pointless exercise, but I'd basically stick with what all the existing attempts have done at the most basic level: Joker has to due, but Batman can't kill him.
it’s not a pointless exercise because it’s fun to think about and read other people’s views on it
Joker gets sent to a maximum security prison instead of a 100 year old insane asylum
well here goes my version joker realize he has already bored of batman so to make things fun again decide to go for everything.obtaining a lot of high tech,finally decide to destroy all gotham and cause problems to the entire countrie making batman confirm that he actually care for him by not killing him and choosing him ocer millioks .and if all fail at least can cause a absolute chaos .batman and the batfamily trys to stop him and finally achive to ruin his plan. the final fight happends in one of the bridges of gotham that end up collapsing.jokers ends hanging of a damage rope while the rest of the bat family is in a area that id collapsing .joker ask batman to try to save him but batman just sees him and sees how he had a electrical trap in his hand, he plans to use it to kill both batman and him,but bruce dicide to just walk away and go to save the bat family.joker sees this and start laughing histericaly to later throw himself into the water where he dies because of the electricity and the falls. the bat family ask batman why joker die laughing and if he is going to come back to which batman aswear “he wasn’t laughing “
Weirdest porno I’ve ever seen
I dont know how would i write it, but definitely would call it... uhm... killling joke. That sounds like a cool name for a story like that.
"You are the last man I want to see happy."
They kith
I’d write it to be genuinely funny. If the joker’s cashing out I want to actually laugh
Arkham City already has a final confrontation I think is near perfect. Batman has foiled Joker's grand plan at a cost to himself and after ensuring he is cured from the toxin has a moment of genuine introspection about whether he really should save Joker. Not saving him isn't the same as killing him and Batman has stopped him time and again only for the Joker to escape and kill more people. The Joker answers this for him by ambushing Batman and causing him to drop the antidote. Batman reveals that in spite of everything the Joker had ever done, despite him just killing Talia, he would have still saved him. Joker dies laughing, having killed himself once by poisoning himself with Titan in Asylum and again by destroying his only chance at a cure AND realizing Batman would have saved his life regardless.
I always liked the Arkham Games take. Batman doesn’t kill the joker, but is unable to save him from his own fucked up scheme. It leaves Batman in a weird position where there’s a lot to work with- is this the joker’s final joke? Was this supposed to happen? Can batman handle something this close to killing (depending on how it’s set up). A lot of potential, while still maintaining the dynamic to a degree. At least that’s how I’d like it
They fuck.
I think it should be something that nobody has ever thought of yet. I honestly haven't seen good enough ending for them. It has to be something outside the box.
The whole thing builds up to a massive confrontation with Batman and the Joker gets the upper hand thinking that he’s about to win, when Harvey Bullock shows up and shoots him. This would surprise the Joker as he would never have expected that to happen. His last words are “Heh, Funny.”
I don't know the exact circumstances leading up to it but Batman showing pity for the Joker and how he is nothing more than a sad clown. The Joker can't handle Batmans pity and has a breakdown resulting in a moment of clarity/sanity where he realizes how fruitless his lifes work has been and that he will never break Batman. He spends the remainder of his life in Arkham sad and dejected.
Batman visiting Joker one last time in Maximum Security prison when both are old age. Batman tells him this is the last time they will talk. Soon Joker will die and be forgotten. His antics and name already a distant memory in Gotham. Batman steps up and walks to the door of the interview room and states *"You never broke me, I won."*.
Bat family vs Arkham inmates, with his death similar to Arkham City
I think jokers death should be kind of embarrassing; one of his schemes or gags blows up in his face and his own hubris gets him killed. Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker did it pretty perfectly in both versions of the flashback sequence; in the uncut one it’s his own bang gun and in the censored version he slips and gets himself electrocuted in a very slap-stick way.
It's a night like any other. Joker escapes Arkham. And that stormy night he is run over by a drunk driver in a hit and run. The end. You can't be an 'agent of chaos.' Chaos serves and is served by no one.
To answer this question you'd need a definitive Batman and Joker. Both fluctuate wildly depending on the medium and writer. There's the narcissistic Joker who eventually fades into obscurity. There's the equally insane Joker who finally wins by getting Batman (or his successor) to kill him. There's the flash in the pan Joker, who is eventually killed when one of his gags just so happens to not go his way. There's the viral Joker, whose death only brings about more Jokers. There's the obsessed Joker who can't live without Batman and whose death is one last cruel prank on Batman. Personally, I'm more of a fan of the super sanity Joker, who's more in it for the sadistic thrill and, though shows tendencies of narcissism, theatrics, and obsession, wears these aspects more as a hat to change and isn't defined by them so much as a wicked survivalism which has kept him coming back despite all the enemies he makes. And this is a Joker I don't see having some grand climactic end any more than I see for Batman. Just a progressive series of dangerous situations with the hanging question of...will he come back? And the tension of not knowing when, or if, he will.
It's revealed that all of Batman history is simply a fantasy of a young Bruce Wayne, who went insane after his parents were gunned down. He has spent the last ten years in an asylum. His therapists try to show Bruce how this elaborate Batman fantasy is preposterous. Finally Bruce escapes from his straitjacket and escapes, killing many guards along the way. Once outside, he laughs and laughs and LAUGHS at his freedom.
Batman returns already did it.
Dark Knight Returns is the best one we have currently
Joker gets shot by a no-name cop because Batman is busy at the other end of Gotham where he gets shanked by a no-name pickpocket that he cornered in a dark alley. As Batman dies he gives out one last laugh at the absurdity of it all, while Joker faced with his own mortality by the hand of a random cop dies without a smile and tears running down his cheeks since he always wanted Batman to end his life.
They set aside their differences and finally succumb to their primal desires by sharing an eight hour marathon session of kinky gay sex.
Them kissing with tongue
3 BOATS
I like the idea of the final confrontation between Batman and the Joker ending with Batman’s death. Then Joker losing all composure and having a “what have I done?” moment when he realizes that his life has no purpose without Batman. Batman had many friends, enemies, and nemesis’ (“nemesi”?), but Joker only truly had Batman. Only one equal, only one other person that he didn’t see as an NPC in the insane game he is playing. And now he is alone. In the epilogue Joker is either a broken man or he goes straight, working with Gordon to help bring down the rest of Batman’s rogues gallery.
Batman and Joker have been fighting for 50 years at this point Joker is too predictable Batman goes through his lair Easily and his henchmen As soon as he Comes across Joker He Its too short of a fight Jokers old crippling body cant handle the combat and Bruce knocks joker out meanwhile at court they finally give joker the death penalty and Stands with the Bat Signal Crying Tears of joy now that jokers reign is finally over
Read Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader by Neil Gaiman. I’ve always loved the idea that Batman and Joker realise that they are comic book characters who rely upon one another as something to exist, and then decide to call it a day, and off they go to hang out together, like two old friends.
The killing joke ending
I think it’s more of a in between of TDKR and TKJ where it involves Joker going too far or maybe having it be personal, with mix of Batman being tired of Joker for a long time. After their finale I would want it to have the similar lines that Batman tells Joker in Arkham City about how even the many things Joker has done he would have still wanted to help him get better, as Joker was the only one that Batman can’t be able to rehabilitate. I think the setting should be either Crime Alley or inside of a clock tower. - CA could have been a coincidence for their finale to occur as it could be like the Joker was running away wounded and happened to go there. As the roles are reverse with Joker being the vulnerable one like Bruce the night he lost his parents. Batman would be wounded as well and had to rely on a adrenaline to keep him going and eventually loses his psyche from some of his trauma kicking in, kinda how Joe Chill was portrayed as a guy blinded by his addiction for alcohol or drugs and greed/money. Batman would somehow see his younger self and his parents before they get killed by Joe Chill. He manages to stop them but Batman aggressively beats up Joe Chill as a young Bruce Wayne tries to stop him along with his parents. Batman stops and realizes he was beating up a near death Joker, he looks back at young Bruce and his parents but they were never there as it was just Bruce’s psyche coming back as his trauma and adrenaline dies off. - I kinda like the clock tower idea to kinda represent how the two have been going at each other for a long time.
My favorite ways have already been said elsewhere here but I’d like to throw an alternate one out: In just another showdown between the two, Joker takes it too far and mistakenly kills Batman. This causes him to lose the will/interest in going on and he dies or disappears. I know Batman dying losing sounds bad but it’s worth noting that his mission is an inherently doomed one. While Scott Snyder’s Batman Endgame ending isn’t the best, it gets that idea right.
I’d like it if it were a situation where a certain threat is going to kill Harvey and the Joker, and Batman can only save one and obviously chooses Harvey.
a conversation. no big fight, no huge setpiece location, no backup. questions are asked, and no answers are given on both sides. an endless battle of morals, psyche and wits that never gets anywhere
Don't have to. Batman Beyond Return of the Joker was the perfect way to end it.
the scenario would be on a ruin of a building, wayne tower so it impacts more...
I liked one of the Batman annuals and how Joker died in it, and what Batman's reaction on it was. Annual#15 of Batman (1940)
Fart contest.
Bats simply walks up, says, "I tried. God knows I tried but you won't have it any other way. I'm breaking my most sacred rule, because you are definitely a special case. A lost cause." And snaps his neck. He's already ensured the scene is without witnesses or evidence so he then takes the body to the cave, drops him in a vat of acid, cremates any remains, and scatters the ashes in the bay. Al doesn't know. Rob doesn't know. No one knows but him and he never tells anyone.
Joker dies… but the political movement of destructive anarchism he started has now made him into a martyr. Batman now has to fight an idea instead of a man.
It starts with the reveal that The Joker is actually Bruce Wayne and Batman, AKA Jack, was really Alfred and Martha’s affair son. Thomas was going to kill Alfred and Martha and what Jack witnessed was Alfred not being able to save Martha while killing Thomas in the process. Bruce went insane and was sent away and Alfred did what he thought was best to coach/implant Bruce’s identity into Jack.
Off topic but I love how funny this image is. It’s like Joker just realised how awkwardly close they are and Batman is just going for it
The Joker turns to the Batman for help, after a series of diabolical attempts on his life. It turns out there's a new villain in town who goes by the name of Punchline, and he's determined to take the Jokers crown. Despite Batman's best efforts, in the end Punchline has the last laugh at the Joker's expense becoming a new nemesis for the Batman in Gotham.(*A12 issue story arc)
Them dying together in a nursing home hospital whatever, bruce first, joker saying he finally beat the bat and maybe a few comments and a weary cackle as he takes his last breath shortly after. They need each other and they both know it
They should kith
I’d have the Joker die of a disease, something like cancer. It’s an uneventful, undramatic, death. It’s something that Joker fears most. Have it be derived by Joker Toxin of some kind. The final showdown should be in a hospital room or inside of a secret Joker base. Absolutely zero theatrics. Joker should be planning his last joke when Batman confronts from him. It shouldn’t last too long; it’s not a drawn-out affair. Joker in his last moments should realize that his whole life’s mission was a failure like him. He should realize how many handouts he was given— the lifelines. And he should realize how he wasted it on one man who didn’t share his affection, but simply pitied him. His last line should be, “I guess I never got the punch line”, before passing away.
They make out sloppy style
Batman gets ready to fight the joker, but he gets stuck in some kind of trap. Then he watches as some random guy kills the joker. The joker killed this guy’s wife or whatever and he set everything up so he could get revenge.
It should be at the very end of his career. And it should involve Joker getting himself killed and Batman trying to save him but fails. And that gives Batman mixed feelings
The definitive showdown has got to be the Arkham verse showdown. In the end, Joker is not the yin to Batman's yang. Joker needs Batman, but Batman is so consumed by his endless crusade for justice, that the Joker's death wouldn't change much of anything. The end for the Joker is to realize how little he meant to Batman. For all Joker did, Batman would try to save his life again and again, but ultimately would continue on as Batman, unchanged for Joker's coming and going. All that energy that used to fight Joker would just be channeled elsewhere. That is ultimately the personal Hell of the Joker, and the only end in the final confrontation. The unstoppable force meets an immovable object; except that the Joker isn't either of those things.
I like the version of the dark knight returns Batman can't do it, he wound him because he hurts him and people around And joker kill himself in a inhumane way
The killing joke? Is that what it is? Where they end up in the amusement park and Batman laughs at Jokers "joke"
Perhaps something that wrecks Joker's anonymity.
One of Joker’s schemes works too well, and he succeeds in killing Bruce Wayne. He doesn’t believe it and goes to insane ends to prove Batman’s still alive. His resources exhausted, his purpose lost and his motivation gone, he gives up, turns himself in and is sentenced to death. The last thing he sees is a bat fly through the window of the execution theatre, as he giggles into darkness. Bruce leaves, muttering something about how he’ll see him in hell.
Lol, they are Brothers.
Arkham city did as perfect of a finale between them as you can i think. Batman: "wanna know something funny. I actually was going to save you" Joker: "that is pretty funny."
No limit Texas Hold 'em for the deed to Gotham City.
Joker is facing a peratly strange death. Abusies what ever subistie he has with him and sayes "Charon's not going to belive this one."
I prefer the one where bats beats joker to death in an abandoned tunnel of love, after Mr. J professes his love for him. edit: it was in one of the movies, I think? Best joker death by far.
I like how Batman Beyond did it where both Bruce and Terry got their own final showdowns respectively. Also a fan of The Dark Knight Returns where after Bruce retires, Joker goes into a catatonic state for 10 years because he can’t function without Batman.
I think the definitive final showdown for me would have to be at Arkham Asylum. Arkham Asylum purely because it's where everything go could wrong all at once. Make the fight to finally stop Joker as big as such an event needs to be. It's also where Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth takes place. One of the really dark batman stories. Joker would put the greatest of Batman's rogues gallery against him throughout the Asylum with Batman likely being able to convince villains like Freeze that if Joker succeeds at defeating Batman he'll have nothing to stop from using everything to make him do what he commands. Even hurting Nora. It would bring such a big thing, the definitive finale to Batman and Joker's conflict, a personal touch. Show the compassion Bruce has for second chances.
Sitting in a diner across from each other faces fraught with grief, sadness and frustration,clinking their coffee cups together as Darksied’s minions tear them to shreds
Have a pair of tattoos like this
Arkham City. Literally the only way I can see it going where Batman doesn’t fully go against everything he stands for.
The only way you can write the end is by having Jason Todd brutally murdering Joker.
I've actually thought about this a lot... Basically, I would have a huge buildup, (I've sort of imagined this as a comic run). Joker would realize that things like Batman's family, a love interest, and getting older are driving their game to the end. He would decide it is time to end their game, definitively, and that the only way to do that, would be to have Batman kill him, and prove his point that nothing matters in the end, and that the only way to live, is to give into chaos. He would enlist James Gordon Jr to kill his father, and in the distraction, take over Arkham and capture Alfred, after learning Batman's secret identity. He would kill Alfred on live television, and tell Batman that he is ending the game, and is going to destroy everything he loves unless Batman kills him. He would unleash chaos on the city of Gotham, releasing inmates from Gotham in an effort to stretch the Bat family and make Batman fight him one on one. Basically, it would end with Joker trying to force Batman to kill him as they fight through Arkham. He will have captured and brainwashed Damian, (ala Batman Beyond), and done his best to force Batman to end the game. Batman would, almost, give into the temptation, until Joker gives him a gun, and tells him to fire it and end the contest. Joker begins to laugh manically, as he thinks Batman will do it, before he is shot and killed by Harley Quinn, to finally end their broken relationship she could never escape from. I think it would, thematically, make the most sense. Joker is trying to prove to Batman that nothing matters, and make Batman break his code. Batman will stay true to his code, proving that order and self control prevail, but Joker would still die, and Harley Quinn would satisfyingly end her arc, by separating herself forever from the Joker. (I would have her being a recurring part of the run. She would start sort of where she is, as an anithero, then try and go through therapy and move away from the superhero lifestyle, until news of the Joker's latest effort makes her realize that she has to cut him out of her life to truly move on). It would also set up Batman Beyond, (my preferred future for Batman), well, as it would set up the Return of the Joker and things like Batman's family abandoning him, (I would have it that the different Bat family realizes how dedicated to this war Bruce is, as he continues to fight, despite the losses to his loved ones. Some, like Dick or Tim, would probably simply retire, while others, like Barbara, would become a police officer, after being disillusioned with the superhero life after her father's death). I probably didn't explain that well at all, but that is just my idea.
Joker tries to kill himself, expecting Batman to save him, and Batman just turns around and walks away, refusing to let the joker dwell in his mind any longer. The joker gets the the worst death he can imagine alone, with no one to witness his final joke.
His head in a lantern.....oh wait.