The Joker from The Dark Knight.
A clown is someone who likes to dress up in elaborate makeup and wear colorful clothes. Kinda like Boy George. As a professional occupation, a clown may be required to tell jokes, perform magic tricks or otherwise engage in general bufoonery. Some clowns may even perform in rodeos. A high school student who likes to play pranks or make a comedic spectacle of himself may be considered the "class clown". Clowns have also been represented as dolls and other types of merchandise.
Let's face facts though. Clowns are creepy-ass bastards. They are not cute. They are not funny. They are evil incarnate and exist solely to traumatize the youth of the nation, and perhaps even touch them inappropriately.
One cannot speak intellectually about clowns in movies, without first referencing one of the most infamous killer clowns of all time - The Joker. The Joker, who is not actually a clown, but whose face is chalk white with red-stained lips and green hair due to a chemical accident, is the arch-nemesis of the caped crusader known as Batman. First introduced in Batman #1 back in 1940, he has been a mainstay villain for decades, appearing in nearly every media iteration of the franchise. In the 1989 feature film version of Batman, the Joker was actually a gangster named Jack Napier, who was played by Jack Nicholson. After being driven insane following a fall into a vat of chemicals, the Joker sought to commit mass murderer by contaminating household products with his deadly Smilex, which caused his victims to literally laugh themselves to death. [1]
A more macabre incarnation of the Joker was presented in the 2008 film The Dark Knight, where the Joker was played by the late actor Heath Ledger. Unlike Batman, this version of the Joker was not given a proper name, and his origin was only hinted at, mostly through the Joker's own account, which changed dramatically with each retelling. This Joker was more clown-like in that he actually wore make-up, rather than having his features disfigured due to an accident. The Joker caused quite a stir when he mounted his own two-pronged large-scale attack against Gotham City's organized crime cartels as well as members of the Gotham City Police Department. He was ultimately captured by Batman and taken into custody. [2]
A different version of the Joker appeared in the 2016 film Suicide Squad where he was played by actor Jared Leto. In this film, the Joker was recruited into a secret government agency called the Suicide Squad, which employed known villains because they were expendable. [3]
Creegan from Cleopatra 2525.
Another type of clown is the character of Creegan, who was a recurring antagonist on the syndicated science fiction/action series Cleopatra 2525. He was played by actor Joel Tobeck.
Creegan was a mutant and the leader of a criminal mutant cartel living beneath the suraface of the Earth in the year 2525. Despite his clown-like appearance, there was nothing ever funny about Creegan or his motives. He was singularly responsible for slaughtering the family of warrior woman Helen Carter.
In 2525, he learned the location of Carter's laboratory headquarters as well as the fact that she associated with a robot scientist known as Mauser. Creegan led a raid on the laboratory and succeeded in capturing Mauser, bringing him back to his subterranean lair. He attached a siphon filter to Mauser's neural network and began downloading all of Mauser's memories, including sensitive information relating to Hel and her companions Sarge and Cleopatra. He was able to hack into Hel's voice receptor, countermanding the flow of communication between Carter and her mysterious leader, the "Voice". He was able to increase the amplitude of the receiver, causing Hel excruciating pain. Through the efforts of Sarge and Cleopatra, they were able to temporarily remove the auditory implant from Hel's ear and save her life.
Hel and the others tracked Creegan back to his lair and fought up against his mutants. They succeeded in securing Mauser, severing the download of his network so Creegan ended up gaining no information from him. During the fight, Creegan activated a flying grenade drone and aimed it at Carter, but she kicked it back towards him. Sarge fired a blast that detonated the device just as it impacted against Creegan's force field. The blast sent him flying through the wall into the Shaft. Though his plan was foiled, Creegan would return to plague the warrior women anew. [4]
Characters[]
| Name | Source |
|---|---|
| Corky Franklin | Marvel Universe |
| Eliot Franklin II | Marvel Universe |
| Pennywise | IT |
| Rainbow Rodney | DC Universe |
| Slappy the Clown | Rising Stars |
Appearances[]
Comics[]
- Batgirl Vol 4 20 - Rainbow Rodney in flashback.
- Batman 387 - Bill Modell in costume at Bruce Wayne's masquerade ball.
- DC Comics Presents 52 - A clown balloon at a Metropolis parade.
- Detective Comics 529 - Waldo Flynn.
- Incredible Hulk 3 - Eliot Franklin of the Circus of Crime.
- Rising Stars 0 - Slappy the Clown.
Films[]
- Demonic Toys - Jack Attack
- Demonic Toys 2 - Jack Attack
- DevilDolls - Jack Attack
- Dollman vs. Demonic Toys - Jack Attack
- Suicide Squad (2016) - Joker and Harley Quinn