The 3 in 1 Joker...

[Zero Hunter]

We all know the 3 jokers was not well revieved, but one thing it did remind of was how much I like the more stable criminal Joker. What if they decided to instead of having 3 different people the Joker just had those 3 different personalities in his head. The current joker is boring because he is just crazy for crazy sake, but it might be fun to see him switching back and forth between personalities each time he shows up. It would be fun to see the more serious "criminal" Joker hatching schemes again or the "clown" doing goofy stuff just to piss of bats, along with the "comedian" being the usual bloodthirsty psychotic self. Batman would never know who he is dealing with personality wise each time the Joker showed up.

[Adekis]

Hmm, I can kind of get behind this.

What if the personalities had beef with each other?
Like, I don't think the Golden Age mastermind Joker really had any personal interest in Batman... Batman was just the guy that always stopped him, so Joker had to be prepared for that. By contrast, the contemporary bloodthirsty Joker is well known for his obsession with Batman. What if Mastermind Joker was pissed that Bloodthirsty Joker keeps getting them caught, because he's made it "personal" and insists on confronting Batman every time they meet?

[blunt_eastwood]

Didn't Morrison already introduce the idea of Joker reinventing himself over time to explain why there have been so many differences in his appearance and personality?

[ironman2978]

Didn't Morrison already introduce the idea of Joker reinventing himself over time to explain why there have been so many differences in his appearance and personality?

Yes.

Grant Morrison first introduced their idea of Joker's "super-sanity" in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. It was that Joker was "differently sane", that he could mould his persona and his psyche to suit different situations.

Morrison reintroduced this idea in their Batman run, where his basic premise was "what if everything is canon?" and how could that be explained. Over Morrison's run, the "super-sanity" is used to explain Joker's different depictions over the decades, from the murderous gangster to a harmless prankster. The 4th wall stuff is part of it for some writers, but in the Morrison Arkham comic that introduced the idea, "super sanity" was described as the unique way the Joker processed experience. He basically allows himself to go with the flow of information completely, remaking his own personality as circumstances change. One day, he's basically just a gang leader with a gimmick, another he's a comical public nuisance, another he's a nihilistic terrorist.

The name "super sanity" comes from the fact that unlike a normal "sane" person, the Joker will never experience information overload and can not be traumatized. Everything that happens to him is immediately assimilated into his mind, which rapidly reshapes itself in response. He is completely at home in whatever circumstances he finds himself in.

But not many, if any, writers capitalized on that idea in the same way Morrison did.

We all know the 3 jokers was not well revieved, but one thing it did remind of was how much I like the more stable criminal Joker. What if they decided to instead of having 3 different people the Joker just had those 3 different personalities in his head. The current joker is boring because he is just crazy for crazy sake, but it might be fun to see him switching back and forth between personalities each time he shows up. It would be fun to see the more serious "criminal" Joker hatching schemes again or the "clown" doing goofy stuff just to piss of bats, along with the "comedian" being the usual bloodthirsty psychotic self. Batman would never know who he is dealing with personality wise each time the Joker showed up.

Honestly I thought about that idea, and writing something in that similar capacity. Instead of having multiple Jokers(like Gotham or Three Jokers), have a Joker with multiple personalities but to the next extreme.
More specifically what if you had different Joker’s interacting with each other in your head, kind of like the Incredible Hulk. How would that mindscape look?

It would be fun seeing the cold, calculating architect who murdered but was a big picture guy (Jeremiah) vs the gangster with a sadistic sense of humor (Napier) , while the comedian (Arthur) and the clown (Jerome) battle over who’s day is it to ride the body and the psychopathic cult leader (Charles or or the Pale Man or Aaron or J) is vying for control so he can enact his nihilistic fantasy on Gotham. And in the middle is poor John Doe trying to keep it together.

I agree with Adekis , it would be fun if they had personal vendettas with each other, seeing their personal views on Batman, or the ultimate end goals. Not to mention it would be interesting to see more depth and differences between the different clown princes. Like instead of terrorist trying to send a message or crazy killer clown , and really explore different aspects of their respective personality and relationship with himself.

[Restingvoice]

I prefer him consciously reinventing himself
Like faking a personality disorder
He's certainly smart enough for that and have enough acting skill to pull it off
I don't want him to genuinely have multiple personality disorder because we already have a villain for that
Joker already took the criminal Gotham and Batman fears when it's supposed to be Scarecrow's thing I don't want him to take Two-Face's thing too

[ironman2978]

I prefer him consciously reinventing himself
Like faking a personality disorder
He's certainly smart enough for that and have enough acting skill to pull it off
I don't want him to genuinely have multiple personality disorder because we already have a villain for that
Joker already took the criminal Gotham and Batman fears when it's supposed to be Scarecrow's thing I don't want him to take Two-Face's thing too

I mean there are different type of ways to portray DID in fiction. Faking is one take (Paul Dini wrote it masterfully), but like there’s a difference between how Moon Knight and Hulk portrays D.I.D. (however well or poorly it may be depending on each writer), there could be a difference between Joker depiction of mental illness/multiple personalities and Two Face.