Editing Joker (character) (section)

==={{anchor|Modern age}}Modern Age===
Years after the end of the 1966 television series, sales of ''Batman'' continued to fall and the title was nearly cancelled. Although the 1970s restored the Joker as Batman's insane, lethal archenemy, it was during the 1980s that the ''Batman'' series started to turn around and the Joker came into his own as part of the "Dark Age" of comics, with mature tales of death and destruction. The shift was criticized for moving away from tamer superheroes (and villains), but comic audiences were no longer primarily children.{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=182}}<ref name="ImpactCBR2"/> Several months after ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' launched the era by killing off Silver Age icons such as the [[Flash (DC Comics character)|Flash]] and [[Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)|Supergirl]] and undoing decades of continuity,<ref>{{harvnb|Manning|2011|p=183}} <q>DC birthed the Dark Age with the twelve-part Crisis on Infinite Earths. Not only did the series kill off Silver Age icons the Flash and Supergirl, it cleared out decades of continuity bramble...</q></ref> [[Frank Miller]]'s ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' (1986) re-imagined Batman as an older, retired hero<ref name="ModernAge2"/> and the Joker as a lipstick-wearing celebrity<ref name="BronzeAge9"/>{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=183}} who cannot function without his foe.<ref name="ModernAge4"/> The late 1980s saw the Joker exert a significant impact on Batman and his supporting cast. In the 1988–89 story arc "[[Batman: A Death in the Family|A Death in the Family]]", the Joker murders Batman's sidekick (the second Robin, [[Jason Todd]]). Todd was unpopular with fans; rather than modify his character, DC opted to let them vote for his fate and a 72-vote plurality had the Joker brutally beat Todd with a crowbar and trap him in a room with a bomb, killing him. This story altered the Batman universe: instead of killing anonymous bystanders, the Joker murdered a core character; this had a lasting effect on future stories.<ref name="ModernAge5"/>{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=108}} Written at the height of tensions between the United States and Iran, the story's conclusion had Iranian leader [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]] appoint the Joker his country's ambassador to the United Nations (allowing him to temporarily escape justice).<ref name="InfoDoG1"/>

[[Alan Moore]] and [[Brian Bolland]]'s 1988 graphic novel ''[[Batman: The Killing Joke|The Killing Joke]]'' expands on the Joker's origins, describing the character as a failed comedian who adopts the identity of the Red Hood to support his pregnant wife.<ref name="SilverAge1"/><ref>Greenberger and Manning, p. 38: "Offering keen insight into both the minds of the Joker and Batman, this special is considered by most Batman fans to be the definitive Joker story of all time."</ref> Unlike ''The Dark Knight Returns'', ''The Killing Joke'' takes place in mainstream continuity.{{sfn|Manning|2011|p=188}} The novel is described by critics as one of the greatest Joker stories ever written, influencing later comic stories (including the forced retirement of then-[[Barbara Gordon|Batgirl]], Barbara Gordon, after she is paralyzed by the Joker) and films such as 1989's ''Batman'' and 2008's ''[[The Dark Knight]]''.<ref name="ModernAge10"/><ref name="ModernAge11"/><ref name="ModernAgeCBR"/> Grant Morrison's 1989 ''[[Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth]]'' explores the psychoses of Batman, the Joker and other rogues in the [[Arkham Asylum|eponymous facility]].<ref name="ModernAge12"/><ref name="ModernAge13"/>

The 1992 animated series introduced the Joker's female sidekick: [[Harley Quinn]], a psychiatrist who falls for—and ends up in an abusive relationship with—the Joker, becoming his [[supervillain]] accomplice. The character was popular, and was adapted into the comics as the Joker's romantic interest in 1999.<ref name="ModernAge15"/> In the same year, [[Alan Grant (writer)|Alan Grant]] and [[Norm Breyfogle]]'s comic book ''[[Anarky (comic book)|Anarky]]'' concluded with the revelation that [[Anarky|the titular character]] was the Joker's son. Breyfogle conceived the idea as a means to expand on Anarky's characterization, but O'Neil (by then the editor for the ''Batman'' series of books) was opposed to it, and only allowed it to be written under protest, and with a promise that the revelation would eventually be revealed incorrect. However, the ''Anarky'' series was cancelled before the rebuttal could be published.<ref name="Anarky"/> The Joker's first major storyline in [[The New 52]], DC Comics' 2011 reboot of story continuity, was 2012's "[[Death of the Family]]" by writer [[Scott Snyder]] and artist [[Greg Capullo]]. The story arc explores the [[Symbiosis|symbiotic relationship]] between the Joker and Batman, and sees the villain shatter the trust between Batman and his adopted family.<ref name="GoldenAge2"/><ref name="ModernAge14"/> Capullo's Joker design replaced his traditional outfit with a [[utilitarian]], messy, and disheveled appearance to convey that the character was on a mission; his face (surgically removed in 2011's ''Detective Comics'' (vol. 2) #1) was reattached with belts, wires, and hooks, and he was outfitted with mechanics overalls.<ref name="ModernAgeDOTF"/> The Joker's face was restored in Snyder's and Capullo's "[[Batman: Endgame|Endgame]]" (2014), the concluding chapter to "Death of the Family".<ref name="NewsaramaEndgame"/><ref name="Guardian"/>

The conclusion of the 2020 "[[Joker War]]" storyline by writer [[James Tynion IV]] and artist Jorge Jiménez sees the Joker leave Gotham after Batman chooses to let him die.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Polo |first1=Susana |title=The Joker War is over, but it changed Gotham City |url=https://www.polygon.com/2020/10/6/21504314/batman-joker-war-ending-death-dc-comics-harley-quinn-punchline |website=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] |access-date=December 18, 2020 |date=October 6, 2020}}</ref> This led to a second ongoing ''Joker'' series, beginning in March 2021 with Tynion writing and Guillem March providing art.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Holub |first1=Christian |title=The Joker is getting his own monthly comic from DC |url=https://ew.com/books/the-joker-comic-dc/ |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date=December 18, 2020 |date=December 15, 2020}}</ref>