Villains who don't measure up

[Ziggy Stardust]

I feel everyone gets a "Dumbing" when it comes to the Joker. And we all know why. It's because he's Batman top rogue.

Don't get me wrong, Batman is my fave hero on most days of the week, but even I cannot stomach how everyone has to fear the Joker just because he causes Batman so many headaches.

[zemo]

I feel everyone gets a "Dumbing" when it comes to the Joker. And we all know why. It's because he's Batman top rogue.

Don't get me wrong, Batman is my fave hero on most days of the week, but even I cannot stomach how everyone has to fear the Joker just because he causes Batman so many headaches.

Because if some super-powered hero just easily defeats the Joker it becomes obvious that Bats is running with people that are several classes better than him, no matter the "world's greatest detective" or "prepare for everything" shtick. Basically, if Green Lantern isn't scared of the Joker and has problems defeating him, then the question remains why the guy who IS kind of scared and HAS problems with him should be on the same team. The Joker must be over-hyped because, in essence, Batman is. He just gets less complaints about it because he's cool :3

[The Mandarin]

They have shot the Joker. Repeatedly. He just happens to survive his wounds.

Now, what bothers me there is that, after they've shot him five times and he's helpless on the ground, none of the cops walk over and shoot him a few more times in the head "just to be sure." I'm not saying I approve of such an execution, but it's a believable, realistic reaction to all that he's done, and will continue to do, and I've always felt that even upstanding Maggie Sawyer really should have popped him a few extra times in Gotham Central.

I tend to think that the reason for that is related to the reason Batman doesn't kill him even after he's done so many vile things that even someone extremely anti-death-penalty would make an exception: the reason for both being that time doesn't pass in comics.

One of the side-effects of time never passing is that villains haven't escaped as many times as you think they have. That's not to say that any individual escape has been retconned, but somehow they add up to a much tinier number than you would think.

Somehow, someway, Joker has only been around about ten years and has only escaped a few times in those ten years. Somehow, someway, it's happened a small enough number of times that Batman still has real hope that Joker can be contained for good this time. And it's happened few enough time that cops still worry about ending their careers with an excessive force charge more than they want him dead.

The same magic math that stops Batman from getting old and dead also stops Joker's escapes and sheer volume of crime from getting completely ridiculous.

[Thequeerjock]

That's definitely a problem for alleged "criminal masterminds" and "master strategist archetypes," but as far as mad scientists who are just inventors with an attitude prolem? I can buy some those people losing repeatedly. "Doctor Surfatron - really good at building death rays; couldn't figure out how to order soup in a restaurant."

There is actually a really funny scene in Johns' first Flash run where Wally finally snaps and points out that if Cold and Mirror Master stopped dicking around and just decided to use their tech to steal stuff without all the theatrics, they'd probably be billionaires by now.