PLAYBILL.
i escape...
After murdering his psychologist and escaping Arkham State Hospital, Joker had to think fast. The apartment he shared with Penny was seized after her death and his admission to Arkham. Short on both options and cash, Joker crashed the only place he knew would be safe: GARY’S flat. He lived with Gary for over half a year and protected him.Joker’s influence has spread like poison. Those who followed him and partook in the riots are willing to die and kill for him and the “cause” that they believe he inspired. They safeguard him at whatever cost. Joker doesn’t consider himself to be their "boss." He doesn’t command. They choose to protect his location and person. Joker also does not pretend that he’s on any side. His motives are deeply personal and entirely his own.
into the world...
Joker soon began receiving "anonymous" donations from followers all over the world. Initially they were shoved in Gary’s mailbox. Gary also received things like fingers with rings still on them in manila envelopes that Joker pawned for cash. It wasn’t a king’s ransom, but Joker is smart with money and used what they were given for living expenses.Unbeknownst to any but the few involved, Joker has become a successful musician who sells his piano, guitar, and violin pieces for money that goes into a secret account under a pseudonym. I’ve detailed how it works HERE. Joker's pseudonym and how he lives as a private citizen in spite of his celebrity status can be learned about HERE.
with claws and teeth...
Joker’s formidable status and charisma also caught the attention of Gotham’s crime families, who initially tried to acquire his services as a hitman so he would remain under their control. Joker refused, thus sparking a war with the major families that turned violent and will continue to get uglier. He’s already proved that he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and also outmuscles the mob in terms of numbers, a fact that he’s learning to harness very quickly for his own protection. He’s quasi-aligned with the Russians due to childhood ties with that community and learned that it’s best to let the trash take itself out.
to protect the sheep...
Joker then found a 15-month-old girl stuffed in a trash bag. He took her home with him and promised to find her parents.Long story short, Joker and the toddler became so attached that separating was becoming more impossible, yet he did the right thing and ran her footprint at the hospital. With it, he learned her real name, that she was born addicted to methamphetamines, and both her parents were still alive and had not reported her missing.All but needing his suspicion confirmed, Joker tracked down her parents, confronted them, and murdered them when it came to light that they were the ones who attempted to murder an innocent child. While Gary disposed of the bodies, Joker gave the toddler a choice: stay with him or let Gary take her to the police to be fostered. The toddler chose him.Presented with an urgent request, Carmine Falcone's right hand, Oswald Cobblepot struck a deal with Arthur to forge her records both digitally and on paper so her original identity never existed and Arthur is her birth father...in exchange for the Maroni Family Restaurant, which was owned by rival crime boss Salvatore Maroni. Arthur, through quasi-aggressive negotiations, was able to secure the deed so ownership was transferred and his debt to Falcone was paid through Penguin.
from themselves.
Just when things couldn’t seem to get crazier, an underground fight club and criminal organization known virally as Skizm sent their top player Nix Degraves to "kill" Joker in what she didn’t realize was her own death sentence. Joker not only spared her life, but fell in love with her.With Gotham more chaotic and lawless than ever, the viral "show" that live streamed real gladiator matches between criminals and anyone that they could draw in was on the rise. It was all over the news, internet, and pretty much viewed ( and secretly enjoyed ) by anyone with a phone or laptop whether they admitted it or not. Its top killers are internet famous as well as infamous with the law.While Joker was not a player himself, he received hefty compensation for taking out whoever Skizm sent. He was its star guest feature. Then he learned of Nix's history with its leader, Riktor, and vowed to set her free.To accomplish this, he started by starving Skizm of its precious resources that included a cocaine dealer's blacklist that Nix and all Skizm personnel were on. He intercepted arms and drug shipments, then redistributed them to the "clowns" of Gotham for no profit himself. This made him even more sacrosanct in the people's eyes.An unlikely turn led him to Nix's estranged father, GCPD's 13th Precinct's Detective Sergeant, Grant Degraves. Under the agreement that Joker would end the man who killed his family and destroyed Nix, Degraves had the GCPD turn a blind eye to Joker's cocaine and arms redistribution. He also formed a close paternal bond with his future son-in-law.Together Joker and Nix lease a garden-level apartment in Old Gotham that he proposed to her in. As a sobriety project, Nix is decorating and remodeling the place herself. Evelyn attends a special needs preschool in the Coventry. Joker also signed his assets over to Nix and made her his beneficiary.
are you prey?
A final raid led him and Nix together into an old oil refinery that operated as Skizm's headquarters. The couple dismantled the organization and assassinated Riktor. Joker was promptly arrested afterward, but rode with Nix to Gotham General since he is the cardholder for her health insurance.Nix lost two fingers during the siege that were successfully reattached after hours of surgery. It was also revealed that she is seventeen weeks pregnant, a shock to the couple. They had been trying for a baby to what they thought was no avail.Joker was then taken back to Arkham State Hospital while pregnant Nix is left alone to raise two-year-old Evelyn one-handedly. The cocaine trafficking side venture that he partook in reluctantly and solely to force Nix to get clean was handed off to Penguin.While at Arkham, Joker suffered cruel and unusual punishment. The full writeup of his torture can be found HERE.When the time was right, Detective Sergeant Degraves arranged his son-in-law's emancipation by staging an appeal hearing that Joker had not applied for himself. A police-grade handgun was stashed in the backseat, which Joker then turned on his accompanying officers save for Degraves, who was filing false paperwork inside the hospital. Joker then fled home to Nix and Evelyn.
i'm hunting.
Life after Arkham State Hospital saw the birth of Joker and Nix's second daughter, Lilac Irina Fleck, but also the decline of his mental state and physical well-being. Joker hardly gained back any of the weight that he lost in Arkham and was haunted both by the aftershock of literal torture and Dr. Crane's experimental Fear Toxin flows through his veins at catastrophic levels, subjecting him to its potent hallucinogenic effects. It led to lapses in judgment such as maiming innocent citizens / his own followers by accident under the belief that they were a threat.
but you can't hide.
Another attempt to contain the spread was to quietly incarcerate Joker in Arkham State Hospital. With his sudden absence, the movement's momentum waned and seemed to even lull. This tactic hid him away for several months until a riot, which officials are certain was staged, led to Joker and a group of the hospital's most dangerous patients' escape. Joker reunited with his family and, upon his reemergence, a new morale was instilled to keep fighting the battle he never wanted take part in to begin with.Unbeknownst to Joker, Penny's letters to Thomas were unearthed by master strategist and Zodiac-style serial killer, Edward Nashton. The revelations in those letters were appalling so he dug deeper. He also found that Arthur Fleck not only lived at Wayne Manor for a short window of his life, but that Penelope Fleck worked there at the time that he would've been born. Nashton's conclusion? Joker, Gotham's symbol of the forgotten and catalyst for change, is in fact a Wayne: a fraud.Through a series of gristly murders live-streamed and filled with clues, Edward Nashton revealed Thomas Wayne's coverup of his affair with Penny Fleck and all who were complicit as well as those behind the Gotham Renewal Fund's demise. Riddler then went on to flood the city. Arthur's every attempt to kill him was thwarted by Batman, his younger brother.Full arc writeup through its conclusion can be found HERE.All current interactions take place in Gotham.