Joker's Adopted Son is Still His Greatest Insult To Robin
Joker has always taken malicious joy in poking fun at the Boy Wonder, but his ultimate insult of Batman’s trusty sidekick Robin involved training a monkey to be his own sidekick. As the insults and slights have piled up through the years, Joker is very clearly out to damage Robin in any way that he can, whether it be physically, emotionally, or mentally. The lengths he goes to for this specific joke mark a new low in his perpetual taunting of Robin.
To show that Robin was nothing more than a trained monkey, Joker kidnapped a baby gorilla and conditioned it to be his kid sidekick in 2007’s Batman #666 by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert. This pokes fun at the Caped Crusader's perpetual need for a sidekick, which also draws attention to Batman's questionable history of one too many Robins. In this special issue, set in a grim future, the gorilla Jackanapes proved to be a formidable opponent for Damien Wayne’s Batman, displaying Joker’s penchant for violence and criminal mayhem. The primate sidekick’s origin story is expanded upon in the New 52 by Joker himself, a notoriously unreliable narrator. In Batman Vol 2 #23.1: The Joker by Andy Kubert and Andy Clarke, Joker says he abducted the baby gorilla from its mother during a visit to the zoo and a bad trip down memory lane.
The existence of Jackanapes, as shown in Batman #666 and his brief appearance in the New 52, serves as a devastating insult to Robin, showing that Joker’s punchlines pack a punch. Using the primate as a costumed accomplice is quite the follow-through on a running gag, proving his dark sense of humor yet again and that Joker’s misdeeds always have an audience in mind. Whereas Batman is rushing to the scene with an acrobatic and altruistic young hero by his side, Joker is joining the fray with a literal trained monkey in tow. This is symbolism that cannot be lost on the Boy Wonder, who must feel the sting of the comparison.
To compound this insult to Robin, Jackanapes appears to die in the New 52 and Joker could not care less. When he seemingly dies after not deploying his mechanical wings during a fall from a plane, Joker laughs off the demise of his adopted son, saying he will just get another gorilla. This again makes a mockery of Robin, taking aim at the bond between the Caped Crusader and his trusty sidekick, showing that he views the link as a meaningless attachment. Though Robin is essential to the DC Universe, Joker makes light of his very existence. It is also another dark joke, highlighting how when a Robin dies or quits, a new one takes the previous one's place.
Ultimately, enlisting Jackanapes as his own sidekick goes far beyond the visual of using a monkey in a costume as Joker’s Robin equivalent. This allows the Clown Prince of Crime to savage the very notion that Batman should have, and care about, a sidekick at all. Joker’s efforts to troll Robin by literally using a trained monkey in his role serves as his defining slap in the face to the Boy Wonder.
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