Back when Warner Bros bet everything on the Suicide Squad, from producing a second movie and pushing out an ill-conceived live-service video game based on them, the studio even gave the team an anime series called Suicide Squad Isekai. However, not to be outdone by his former henchwoman, the Clown Prince of Crime will be getting his own anime series solving Batman's murder.
At this year's Annecy Animation Showcase, DC Studios and Warner Bros Animation announced that Sola Entertainment and Yasuhiro Aoki, previously collaborating with them on The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, will produce and direct a new anime series called Joker: Laugh Riot.
According to the official synopsis for the series, "Joker launches a ruthless crusade through Gotham's underworld to find [Batman's] killer," until he's sent into an existential crisis when he realizes "his violent quest for answers pushes him closer towards vigilante than villain."
"When Batman is murdered, the Joker launches a ruthless crusade through Gotham’s underworld to find the killer who took away his greatest adversary. But as his violent quest for answers pushes him closer towards vigilante than villain, Joker is forced to confront the truth that without Batman, he doesn’t know who he is."
Whether Batman's murder turns out to be a fakeout or not, the premise of the Dark Knight dying and his allies and enemies reconciling with his passing isn't actually new. It's been explored countless times in the comics, cartoons, and more, with Joker, not always, a focal point.
5 Stories Where Batman Dies
"The Man Who Killed Batman"
In one of the most acclaimed episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, "The Man Who Killed Batman," a nobody crook named Sidney Debris seemingly kills Batman by accident during a scuffle that ends in a deadly explosion. Hailed by the criminal underworld for doing what no one else could, the infamy quickly becomes deadly for the wannabe criminal.
Skeptical that his archenemy was truly gone, Joker stages a robbery with Sidney to draw Batman out. When he's a no-show, Joker accepts the sad reality, telling Harley, "Without Batman, crime has no punchline." He even holds a mock funeral for the Caped Crusader, bemoaning throughout how he wasn't the one to snuff him out, ending with him attempting to throw Sidney into a vat of acid.
Of course, Sidney was saved by Batman, who survived the explosion and merely stayed in hiding so Sidney could unwittingly lead him to mobster boss Rupert Thorne. While it was a fakeout, the episode was a perfect microcosm of the premise, showing how Gotham and its criminal underworld, specifically Joker, would react to Batman's sudden and untimely death.
Gotham Knights (Video Game)
Taking its title from writer Devin Grayson's Batman: Gotham Knights comics, this action role-playing game, which does not take place in the Arkham universe, begins with the Caped Crusader's death after blowing himself up along with Ra's al Ghul. In the aftermath of Batman's demise, he enlists Nightwing, Barbara Gordon's Batgirl, Red Hood, and Tim Drake's Robin from beyond the grave to protect Gotham and finish his investigation into the Court of Owls.
The team also has to grapple with multiple criminal turf wars plaguing the city in Batman's absence, as well as the League of Shadows, led now by Talia al Ghul. Strangely, Joker gets barely a passing reference in this game beyond Harley Quinn appearing, despite his obsession with Batman and the fact that two of his greatest victims, Jason Todd and Barbara Gordon, are among the core cast.
It could be a chance for Joker: Laugh Riot to rectify this missed opportunity, and the anime series could actually show how he would interact with Batman's closest allies after the hero's death. They might have to be the ones to rein in his "ruthless crusade through Gotham's underworld" despite their common goal of finding Batman's killer.
"Going Sane"
In one of the most famous examples of this premise, "Going Sane" by writer J.M. DeMatteis in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #65-68 explores what the Joker does with his life after he's believed to have killed Batman with one of his deathtraps. As the title suggests, without Batman to occupy his mind, Joker's insanity leaves him, unknowingly becoming Joseph Kerr. He gets a job and even marries a kind and innocent woman named Rebecca.
Joseph struggles with memories of the carnage and violence he inflicted as Joker, not recognizing it as his own actions, but thanks to Rebecca, he manages to cope and have a happy life for himself. Sadly, when he finally learns that Batman survived, Joseph has a breakdown, telling Rebecca he loves her before disappearing into the woods and falling into the river, only to reemerge as the Joker and back to his old ways.
The last line of the plot synopsis for Joker: Laugh Riot really stands out, with so many stories about Batman's absence reducing Joker to an empty shell. It happened in The Dark Knight Returns, briefly in Scott Snyder's run on Detective Comics, and he even ends up working at the DMV to fill the void in Gary Whitta & Greg Miller's story "Kill the Batman" in The Joker 80th Anniversary issue.
Gotham Knights (TV Series)
In an amazing coincidence, CW's Gotham Knights had absolutely nothing to do with the video game of the same name, despite also drawing inspiration from Grayson's spin-off comic and revolving around the death of Batman and a conspiracy involving the Court of Owls. But instead of staring at his closest allies, it focused on Bruce Wayne's original adopted son, Turner Hayes, and some of his enemies or so-to-be enemies' children solving his murder.
As expected by many Batman fans, the series was canceled after only one season. While it's regarded as an unmitigated failure, it's sometimes good to see how bad it can get. After all, Joker: Laugh Riot has an extremely low bar to clear not to be the worst execution of this premise, and it also has an easy shot at being a far better murder mystery, too.
Grant Morrison's Batman
At the end of Grant Morrison's Final Crisis event, Batman made an exception to his one rule and killed Darkseid to save the universe, who incinerated him in return with his Omega Beams. While it was quickly revealed that Batman was actually scattered throughout time, the rest of the world believed him to be dead, including Dick Grayson.
Bruce Wayne left the mantle of Batman to Dick Grayson, who reluctantly but eventually dons the cowl. Bruce's recently introduced son, Damian, also becomes Robin for the first time alongside Grayson's Batman as they continue fighting crime across Gotham in Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin.
Joker: Laugh Riot could address who the next Batman will be and the supervillain's impression of them, which could be fun. During Grant Morrison's run, Joker had manipulated both Grayson and Damian, using them as pawns against the villain Doctor Hurt, since he didn't see him as a worthy enough adversary for Batman. Perhaps Joker will use Batman's wards the same way to find the killer.
There are plenty more stories about Batman's death, but these are among the most well-known (for better or worse). Perhaps it's expecting too much from Joker: Laugh Riot, but the anime series has the chance to delve into multiple facets of this premise, with plenty of stories to draw on for inspiration.
