Overlords-verse: Joker evolution (read desc)

So this might be a new thing. Character evolutions, where they started all the way up to how they end. Came up with this through experimenting with different looks for the Joker, and before I knew it, I had six stages of his life. If I'm honest, this doesn't really need to be the overlords version, but I just thought this would be a nice way to flesh out characters that we won't see in the main story (he said, with little intention to come back to the main story). So, I'll only do a little bit of story, as I haven't really got that much for the Joker. Maybe future uploads like this'll have more, who knows. So, let's get on with it (L to R)

 

Failed comedian

 

Things weren't going well for Jack Napier. 30, unmarried, and a complete failure. Despite all this, he continued performing at the comedy club, earning what he could. Pittance. He took little joy from his work, often booed off stage and having drinks thrown at him. But there was something deep down inside him. A fire had been lit.

 

The Laughing man

 

Jack stood in the alley, drenched from head to toe. But he didn't care. The blood on his gloved hands, the rain dripping down his nose, none of this bothered him. He felt...empowered, like he could take on the world. He stood over his victim, a barmaid from the comedy club. She'd laughed at him. Not at his jokes no, but when a patron walked up to the stage and poured his drink over Jack. That was it. He snapped, and left. But not before swinging by the kitchen to take up a blade. This would be the first of many murders by the one referred, in hush tones, as 'The laughing man'

 

Arkham

 

After only months, Jack had been caught. There was a new force in Gotham, with a violent streak. The Batman. Jack had been caught, and there was nothing he could do about it. and yet he could not stop laughing. He was found criminally insane, and sentenced to life in The Arkham asylum for the criminally insane. And so that is where he remained, forging a new identity. This all came to fruition when a powercut, seemingly random, gave Jack the perfect opportunity for escape. He painted his face in the blood of a slain guard, and walked out, into the darkness, free again.

 

A gift for the Mayor

 

Now fully immersed in his new identity, the Joker set about making people laugh. First was the reservoir poisoning. Then came the laughing fish. But Christmas '92, that was the year the year the Joker became the most feared and talked about criminal in Gotham. It was the height of the Christmas celebration, and the countdown had just begun. despite the numerous threats the Joker had sent the Mayor, he had been ignored. This infuriated him. Still, at least this way he would get to enact his plan. 10 Boxes around Gotham Plaza began to tick. 9. People cheered excitedly, anticipating the firework show. 8. Latches began to unfasten 7. Batman found the van the Joke was watching the whole scene unfurl from. 6. The lids opened. 5. Batman beat the Joker, but got no answers. 4. Confetti shot out of the boxes. 3. Pink smoke hissed out of the boxes. 2. People standing near to the boxes began to fall to the ground 1. The boxes exploded, sending great plumes of pink smoke high into the air, spreading across the plaza, in an instant. 0. The laughter began. A terrible laughter. The laughter of everyone in Gotham Plaza, politicians, police, everyone, driven mad by the Jokers newest diabolical experiment: Laughing gas.

 

Jason Todd

 

It was hard to top the Christmas incident, Joker knew he'd have to pull something pretty spectacular to really get in Batmans head. Surviving the millennium war was an achievement in itself, but the Joker still wasn't fulfilled. He needed to see Batman driven truly mad. And so he hatched a plot. A devilishly clever plot, or so he thought. He laid a trap, and the new Robin sprung it perfectly. After two days of torture, the boy spilled all the juicy details. Including the best thing the Joker could possibly ask for: Batman was Bruce Wayne.

 

Incarceration

 

After the murder of Jason, the Joker was finished. His last hurrah. Though he'd initially gotten away with it, it was the first Robin, Huntress, who had been his downfall. She'd captured him, beat him, and he was pretty sure she was going to kill him. Until Batman got in the way. He'd gotten his wish. He had driven a wedge between the dynamic duo, a wedge that drove Huntress to join the regime. Batman stood over him, saddened at the decision of his former sidekick, but with a fire in his eyes. A burning anger that had been burning since the Joker took Jason from him. He picked up the crowbar, and beat the Joker with it. Beat him until he was a bloody mess, quivering on the ground. And then...he left. There were footsteps outside, and the Joker was bundled into the back of a car. He woke up a month later, in the new 'Arkham institute for the rehabilitation of the mentally unstable', which is where he resides to this day. he doesn't talk much, just the occasional wittering about bats and clowns.

 

So that's the full story of the Joker. It was fun coming up with a full story for him, don't often get to a do a story from start to finish like this. So, as always, lemme know what you think, and if you'd like to see more evolution stories like this in the future :D

 

Done