The Joker as Satanic Figure

There’s a new Batman movie coming out in March of 2022. In fact, there’s almost a yearly new Batman or Joker movie. Batman (if he really existed) could rightfully call himself one of America’s favorite superheroes. Yet, he’d be wrong if he claimed all the viewers come just to see him. The Joker draws at least as many people. In 2019, The Joker became the top-rated R-movie of all time. Someone who had never heard of Batman might scratch their head.  A movie about a mentally-ill, murderous clown becomes box-office gold? In fact, we all might scratch our heads if we thought about it.

The Joker is popular for many reasons. Principally, I think he is a satanic figure and, therefore, fascinating. He shares at least three traits with the devil. First, the Joker represents the disenfranchised–but not in the way Jesus did! Second, he is a cunning liar. Third, he delights in evil.

Rebel

The Joker can be seen as a rebel for the disenfranchised in several different ways. Wikipedia writes, “The most common interpretation of the character is that of a man who, while disguised as the criminal Red Hood, is pursued by Batman and falls into a vat of chemicals that bleaches his skin, colors his hair green and his lips red, and drives him insane.“ Thus, the Joker is a physical outcast either by an injury or by purposefully appearing as a clown. In the 2019 film, the Joker is an outcast from society through mental illness and poverty.  Thus, the Joker is an outcast and a rebel; the devil is also an outcast and a rebel for the cause of sinners.

The Joker might attract some sympathy initially as an outcast, but soon his disenfranchisement becomes more existential. Like Satan, he becomes a rebel against the capital “s” system. Indeed, in almost all stories and movies, the Joker strikes back at society by launching a war against it and rallying an army of capitalist-hating clowns behind him. His real ambition seems to lie not in creating a beautiful socialist society but more in plain and simple destruction and chaos. Of course, the Joker’s disenfranchisement is only a reflection of Satan’s as is his desire for the destruction of the system, of any order or goodness.

Liar

The Joker is a cunning liar. Lying is his native language, and it is the devil’s language. As Jesus says to his opponents in the Gospel of John 8:44, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires”. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” In many of the films mentioned previously, the Joker lies at key points or, maybe more accurately, twists the truth whether through disguises or outright false information.

I could list actual lies, but I want to talk about the spirit of deceit surrounding the Joker. In a memorable scene from the 2019 film, he acts the part of a happy clown entertaining sick children until a gun falls out of his costume. Nothing more happens in the scene, but the scene impresses on the audience the fact that the Joker’s appearance conceals the truth.

Frequently, the Joker also uses his humor as a way to lie about or distort reality. Christopher Nolan’s Joker is famous for asking “Why so serious?” before committing acts of cruelty. It is hard to explain why this phrase began appearing on so many shirts after the movie, but, perhaps, to many, it invoked the Joker’s vision of reality in which there is no real up-or-down, no real seriousness or hilarity. This brings us to the last point.

One Who Delights in Evil

The Joker delights in evil. His humor is based on laughing at pain, suffering, and destruction. In this way, he often comes across as a daredevil. While his laughter may gain him a following of laughing disenfranchised clowns, ultimately, the Joker’s laughter sows division. Likewise, his daring is more recklessness than virtue. Satan’s name in Greek means “accuser” or “adversary.” The Joker’s name calls to mind a person who makes jokes that are at the expense of others–adversarial jokes that confuse and hurt others. His delight in evil is nihilistic as are his ends. The devil delights in the same things as the joker because he pursues the same nihilism. Likewise, the devil can seem to be a daredevil, and breaking with the Church’s teaching can look like courage. At the end of the day, though, the laughter and the bravery ring hollow.

It’s hardly surprising that in our time as in so many others before a fascination with the devil exists. Milton’s Lucifer was something of a tragic hero  in those days. We see echoes of Milton’s creation in the Joker, but with one important difference. The Joker as he’s been imagined of late seems far more interested in tearing down than creating. I think this reflects the nihilism and hopelessness of the age, a nihilism which hadn’t ripened (or rotted) fully in Milton’s day.