Joker's 'Smile' Gag Is So Chilling, His Disappearing Pencil Seems Tame
In one of the most memorable moments of 2008's The Dark Knight, the Joker asks a room of mobsters if they want to see a magic trick. The payoff of the «trick» — the Joker making a pencil «disappear» in a brutal act of violence — is a perfect encapsulation of the kind of Joker the movie was going for. Heath Ledger's Joker was the scariest version of the character on film up to that point, and probably still is. Nonetheless, when Tom King and Mikel Janin depicted the Joker for his run on Batman, the depths of cruelty the Joker sank to were even more chilling.
King and Janin's Joker is introduced in «The War of Jokes and Riddles» as an uncharacteristically scowling crank who, a year into Batman's career, has lost any sense of humor in his fight with the Caped Crusader due to the predictability of losing to his pointy-eared adversary. As the story starts, the Joker is forcing comedians to try and make him laugh and murdering them when they inevitably fail. When the Riddler suggests the two join forces to kill Batman so that they won't have to fight each other for the right, Joker simply shoots him and sparks a gang war between the two Gotham villains.
Related: Even Joker Is Denying A Batman Writer's Villain Theory
In an effort to get rid of the Riddler in Batman #26, Jokercalls up Gotham's mafia don Carmine Falcone and demands that he have Riddler killed within an hour. Falcone frantically sends goons to do as the Joker commands but the Riddler manages to get the upper hand with the help of Poison Ivy. When the hour is over, Falcone finds the Joker at his desk. The Joker notes Falcone failed so he took the teeth from Carmine's mother and arranged them in a smile on his desk. He then opens fire, wounding Falcone and killing
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