Joker’s New Origin???

If there has one comic that has been not only been consistently good, but consistently willing to break mythology in order to make the comic better, it would be Batman (note: Wonder Woman could also get similar praise).

Scott Snyder has been the writer of the main Batman comic since the New 52 began, and in now 38 issues, he’s seriously altered histories of many of the big players in Gotham City. Batman, Commissioner Gordon, Riddler, and more have got a rewrite under his pen. And as of the latest issue, Batman #38, it appears Joker has also gotten a very special new origin.

WARNING!!! SPOILERS FOR BATMAN #38 AHEAD!!!!

In the comic, it is revealed that Joker is actually immortal, using a similar ability as that of Vandal Savage and even Ra’s al Ghul (though to a different extent). Scott Snyder recently chatted about this new “revelation”.

“For me, I wanted to make something that felt real and was believable, while at the same time was mythologically big and epic, the way the story is, so that it is material that might have been here and might have done this to Vandal Savage and might be the basis for the Lazarus Pit, or Electrum — which is what keeps the Owls coming back from the dead, the Talons. It might have something to do with other figures as well, for Solomon Grundy… I wanted to create something that links all that. So the Joker says, “I knew this. I knew this part of it. I’m older than Gotham. I’m the Pale Man that walks these shores, and I’ve seen all of it. I’m the immortal person here. You are nothing. I let you believe it for a little while because I wanted you to come with me and become something important, but you had your chance in Death of the Family, and you threw me off a goddamn cliff. So… you’re done.”