SPIDER-MAN vs. THE JOKER!!!
You might be thinking, "Dude, Joker doesn't stand a chance one on one against Spidey." To that I say, "No shit." The Joker is not much of a fighter, and has no super powers, but my favorite part about writing these posts is by showcasing the extreme strength of each character. And the Joker's biggest strength is his pyschological games he plays with Batman. So my question is, what would happen if the Joker came to New York City and got to just do his thing against a hero that was unfamiliar with his tactics?
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:
SPIDER-MAN - Peter Parker was only 15 years old when he was bitten by a radioactive spider and was given super powers. The bite gave him the strength, speed, and agility comparable to a spider along with a "spider-sense" that alerts him to whenever there is danger. The "spider-sense" is an incredibly powerful asset to Peter. It can be very specific about the danger he's in at a certain time. For example, Spidey could arrive on scene with his spidey sense tingling, and as he looks around for the trouble, the sense could go off stronger as, say someone shoots a gun at him. The sense (alerting him at just the right moment) combined with his speed and agility makes Spider-Man very difficult enemy.
Then you add the strength of Spider-Man, which believe it or not, is often overlooked. Spidey fights a lot of super villains and therefore is often fighting with what appears to be all of his might, but he's actually only using about 1/2 to 3/4 of his full power. Spider-Man knows that his punches, even at half power, could kill a human being; and even though he's fighting super villains, he doesn't want to accidentally kill anyone and so therefore he must rely on ALL of his abilities to win the day. This is one of the reasons Spider-Man is in my top 3 favorite super heroes of all time.
Spider-Man is also incredibly smart. He designed and created his own webshooters and webbing and has faced most of Marvel Comics' worst villains and has always come out the victor.
THE JOKER
There's not much to talk about for Joker's origins. What I was led to believe was that, before becoming the Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker was a failing stand-up comedian who was down on his luck. One day he was approached by some gangsters with an offer to act as The Red Hood (a faceless criminal that popped up occasionally in the early years of Batman's crime fighting career). The Joker was married at the time, and they were getting desperate to make some money. The story goes that the Joker had one REALLY bad day, and at the end of it, he found himself floating in a vat of chemicals after a confrontation with Batman (read THE KILLING JOKE by Allen Moore for the full story).
The Joker would go on to become one of the most dangerous and well known super villains in comic book history. In the comics today, it's been revealed that there were actually 3 different Jokers during Batman's career. I love this idea, because looking back through those comics, the Joker really did go through 3 very different personalities (Classic long faced Joker was more into stealing and pranks, Gangster/Crazy Joker was a mass murderer that we're probably most familiar with, and the INSANE/removed his own face Joker that is most recent version of the character).
You could also look at the movies to support this as well. Think of Cesar Romano in the Adam West Batman show from 1966, a clown who was more into robberies and stealing stuff than anything else. Then came Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton's 1989 BATMAN movie as the gangster version of the Joker. He was a bit darker and actually killed people while also coming up with grand elaborate plans. But it was Heath Ledger in Christopher Nolan's 2nd Batman movie, THE DARK KNIGHT, that gave us the version of the character that modern comic fans were most familiar with. The wild and crazy Joker, who's schemes were more about messing with people's minds and causing chaos then they were to make money. The brilliant part about this version is that those schemes also had an outcome beneficial to the Joker and his crew that were not exactly what Batman and the police expected. Like when Joker lit the giant pile of gangster money on fire rather than keeping it for himself.
As I said, he's not much of a fighter, but his evil plans are better than almost anyone else. Joker wouldn't jump headfirst into a fight with Spidey, but would put him through some challenging situations in order to tire out Spider-Man and weaken him enough to be able to deliver a killing blow.
OVERVIEW:
So what would happen if these 2 met face to face? Well, this fight wouldn't be a one and done, that's why I'm changing the format around this week. The Joker's approach would be to come up with a plan and set it in motion, with a final confrontation coming only after Spider-Man was put through the ringer. The Joker would reveal himself in one way, but distract Spider-Man away from his main goal of stopping the Joker with other more immediate danger situations.
Spider-Man would most likely underestimate the Joker and his schemes. But as he finds himself moving further away from actually stopping the Mad Clown, he would figure out a way to get at him. If it comes down to a physical confrontation, the Joker doesn't stand a chance.
Come back tomorrow to see what happens when the Joker comes to New York City and takes a shot at our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!
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