Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is a 2000 feature-length tie-in of Batman Beyond, the third film in the DC Animated Universe.

Terry McGinnis has taken up the mantle of Batman in a future Gotham, where his mentor is the original Batman, an 80-year-old Bruce Wayne. After investigating a series of industrial thefts by a low level Jokerz gang, ones who style themselves on the famed supervillain The Joker, it is revealed that The Joker himself is behind their actions. Bruce insists that Joker died 40 years ago, but this figure is awfully convincing and states his intention to continue his pranks on Gotham. Terry is ready to investigate this new mystery, but Bruce refuses to let him get involved because he doesn't want to underestimate his old Arch-Enemy. Joker proceeds to target Terry and Bruce personally, forcing Terry into learning the story of the Final Battle between Batman and the Joker decades ago. This unravels a long-kept secret of what split the Bat-Family apart and they still have to figure out how Joker is still alive.

The movie had the unfortunate timing of being produced right after the Columbine shooting, so several scenes were changed mid-production to lessen the violence. Warner Bros. held onto the original print, however, and later distributed it as the "uncut" version of the film.^note This is the version almost universally seen on TV nowadays, not to mention pirate and streaming sources; the edited version is a lot harder to find, legally or otherwise.

Return of the Joker includes the following tropes:

• 10-Minute Retirement: Terry quits being Batman partway through the movie, because Terry does not know why Bruce keeps him Locked Out of the Loop when he asks about the Joker.
• Acquired Poison Immunity: Downplayed, but in spite of his old age Bruce still manages to survive the poison the Joker injected him with long enough for Terry to return to Wayne Manor then find and administer the antidote. Either Bruce has already inoculated himself (Bruce was brewing the anti-toxin before Joker attacked) or he fought it out courtesy of the years of experience in their rivalry.
• Actually Pretty Funny: When Matt says that there's a stranger in his house while pointing at his brother, their mother can't help but smile at the quip.
• Adaptational Self-Defense: In the original version, Tim turns the gun Joker gave him to shoot Bruce on the Clown Prince himself before firing. In the edited version, Tim tosses the gun away and tackles the Joker, ultimately getting the villain doused with water and entangled in wires. Slipping, Joker inadvertently grabs a lever connected to the wires in the process, electrocuting himself to death.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: A necessity given the edited version. If you compare both versions, few more plotholes come up thanks to Joker's death being greatly toned down to please the censors. This also happened when some items didn't translate from script to storyboard:
  • The script had Joker holding a Jolly Jacks jar while taunting Terry close to the climax. This was how Terry knew how to go to the abandoned factory, as the director's commentary noted with a Lampshade Hanging. Unless you see that Joker's escape vehicle at the Wayne gala had the Jolly Jacks logo, a viewer may be confused as to how Terry knew to look for it. If you see the logo, then one may ask why neither Terry nor Bruce followed up on that lead in the first place. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini themselves admit they don't know how that clue didn't end up in the final cut.
  • Originally, Joker uses a knife to slash Batman's chest and stab his legs; Joker simply punches him down in the edited version. While you can see Joker holding the knife he pickpocketed from Batman in a Freeze-Frame Bonus, it seems unlikely that Joker would be able to surprise him with a "Hey, You!" Haymaker the way that Batman was holding him. 
  • Bruce was stabbed in the leg, and knocked down, meaning he couldn't go to comfort Tim until Joker let go of him. Even then, he was visibly staggering to his feet given how deep the knife was in his leg. His injuries are relatively lighter in the edited version — punched in the face and knocked down— making one question why Bruce didn't get up and try to help Tim fight against the Joker since their grappling was much longer than the gunshot. 
  • There is also the fact that despite the fact that Bruce was proud that Tim fought back against the brainwashing and grappled with the clown, as given by his Smile of Approval, their relationship apparently foundered anyway because Bruce still blamed himself for the Joker getting his hands on Tim and torturing him for three weeks. Tim himself says in both versions that he doesn't hold Bruce responsible for "the gory details", admitting he misses the "old man" and is happy to see him again while recuperating. In the original cut, it made more sense that Bruce didn't know how to handle the guilt because Tim was forced to kill the Joker to save Batman.
• Advancing Wall of Doom:
  • The first time Batman learns of Joker's satellite is when he has to outrace a tidal wave while carrying Jordan Pryce.
  • When Joker's satellite starts chasing the Batmobile throughout the city. Whichever direction Terry went, the satellite's crosshairs are right in his heels. And during the climax, the satellite goes out of control, rendering another path of destruction heading straight towards Joker's headquarters, where Batman willingly trapped himself inside with his adversary.
• All There in the Manual: The Jokerz seen here all have backgrounds, real names, etc., which are only given in supplementary material like their bios on the now defunct official website.
  • Ghoul's real name is Stewart Carter Winthorp III, he's 19 and he came from a wealthy family, joining the Jokerz out of boredom.
  • Bonk's real name is Ben Knox and is 23 years old.
  • Chucko's real name is Charles Buntz and his age is 24.
  • Woof's real name and age are unknown, but he used to be a human Jokerz thug and became a hyena-man due to splicing.
  • The Dee Dee twins are 16.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: In one of the film's most iconic sequences, the Joker successfully invades the Batcave (vandalizing it and spray-painting "HA HA HA!"s all over the walls) and almost kills Bruce.
• Alliterative Name: Delia and Deidre Dennis (better known as "Dee Dee").
• Always Identical Twins: Dee Dee (real names Delia & Deidre Dennis).
• Animation Bump: Done by TMS, one of the best animation studios in Japan, and the results shine through. In the DVD Commentary, the creators will occasionally just pause to watch the show, Bruce Timm and the other DC Animated Universe regulars being unaccustomed to that kind of quality for most of their projects.
• Any Last Words?: Said by the Joker during his final confrontation with Terry. Terry uses his "last words" to sic Ace on him.
• Arc Welding: Retroactively. As a result of being in the distant future, events in the chronologically earlier Justice League hint towards certain developments that would culminate in the story of this movie. "Epilogue" eventually came full circle via tying the Cadmus story and explicitly explaining where Joker got the technology to perform a digital Grand Theft Me on Tim.
• Arch-Enemy: Subverted and deconstructed. Joker is indeed Batman's greatest enemy, but Bruce makes it clear that it's not a glamorous position. In a much more realistic take on the Batman/Joker dichotomy, Batman dismisses the notion of having an archrival and thinks of Joker as no more than a horrible, insane man. He points out that whatever heinous crimes Joker did were all for the express purpose of making the Dark Knight laugh (i.e. turning him insane). That Joker tortures and mentally breaks Tim also makes Batman very reluctant to speak about the clown, trying his best to Un-person Joker and let his crimes fade from all memory. Later on, Joker dismisses Bruce as a Worthy Opponent. Terry also mocks his fixation with Batman.
  Terry: It's funny. I know about all your other major enemies, but you never mention him. He was the biggest, wasn't he?
  Bruce: It wasn't a popularity contest. He was a psychopath, a monster.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When discussing the Joker, Terry asks a question that results in Bruce asking him to return the bat suit.
  Terry: So how is it possible he could still be around after all this time?
  Bruce: It's not possible. He died years ago.
  Terry: You're sure?
  Bruce: I was there. (begins to walk away)
  Terry: You killed him, didn’t you?
  (Bruce stops and hangs his head, but still doesn't look at him)
  Terry: He was gonna do something so terrible that you had no other choice. That was it, wasn't it?
• Art Evolution: The flashback sequence features yet another re-design for The Joker that combines the elements of his traditional Joker look for Batman: The Animated Series design while modifying the "grinning skull" idea from TNBA (his eyes became more natural looking and he regained lips to outline his smile, even if colored black, but retained the sharper jawline and streamlined character model, in addition to the TNBA costume). This design was re-used for his chronologically earlier appearances in Static Shock and Justice League.
• Ass Kicks You: Dee Dee does this to Dana when they are dancing with Terry to get her out of the way so they can gang up on him.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Bonk, in both the original and edited cuts. Never, ever trash talk the Joker.
  • Joker himself too, since he tortured Tim Drake into becoming a mini-Joker, and prior to that, he taunted Bruce over the death of his parents, making his death at the hands of Drake completely well-deserved. He becomes Deader than Dead after Terry fries the microchip controlling Tim with his own joy buzzer.
• Assimilation Backfire: A corporate example. Powers Technology successfully took over Wayne Enterprises and merged it into itself prior to the series as Wayne-Powers. After the scandals of both Derek and Paxton Powers, Bruce's return to executive duties, and Jordan Pryce's arrest, Wayne-Powers returned to being Wayne Enterprises, now with all of Powers Technology's assets under its belt.
• Attention Whore: Bruce points out that Joker always wanted to make him laugh and that it wasn't a "popularity contest." Terry exploits the Monster Clown's vanity against him by snidely calling his jokes lame.
• The Atoner: Harley Quinn is implied to be this in her brief appearance near the end. She apparently settled down to start a family after her apparent death at Arkham, and she tried her hardest to keep her granddaughters from going down the same path that she did. The last part didn't exactly work out.
• Ax-Crazy: The Joker, of course. It’s more pronounced than his other appearances in DCAU too since he's allowed to actually kill people.
• Back from the Dead: The Joker via a time-share.
• Badass Boast: When the final fight begins, the Joker mocks Terry for trying to take him on.
  The Joker: You're out of your league, McGinnis. I know every trick the original Batman and Robin knew at their peak.
• "Bang!" Flag Gun: This being the Joker's weapon-of-choice, it's more dangerous than one might think; while the initial pull of the trigger only deploys the titular "BANG!" flag, pulling the trigger a second time launches the flag like a harpoon with enough force to deal lethal damage (and it's laced with Joker Venom on top of that). In the original uncut version, this is also how the Joker himself was killed.
• Batman Cold Open: Lasts for nearly six minutes before the opening credits begin.
• Batman Gambit: Terry pulls a gambit off that makes Bruce proud. He finds out that Joker has taken over Tim's body via a microchip, and has a ring buzzer strong enough to incapacitate Ace. Terry realizes that Joker is too focused to give him the means to destroy the chip, and must distract him. So he kills the lights, grabs the joy buzzer, and starts taunting Joker about how he's not funny. The clown suffers a Villainous Breakdown and tosses bombs to knock down Terry before trying to strangle him with his bare hands. This was exactly what Terry wants, because the Joker leaves himself vulnerable, thinking he's won. Terry reveals he's now wearing the joy buzzer and presses it to the villain's ear, where the microchip is located. Cue the Joker dying again, and Terry rousing a semi-conscious Tim.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: How badly did the final encounter between the original Batman and Joker go? Upon seeing the Jokerized Tim Drake, Batman throws his cutting knife straight at the Joker with killing intent and later, he declares that he'll break the Joker in two when he has the clown in his grasp.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: Bruce cautions Terry to ignore Joker's gloating. Terry instead spins it around and deliberately riles the clown to a Villainous Breakdown by dissing his fixation with Batman and calling his jokes dull. It's all a distraction so Terry can get a hold of the joy-buzzer and fry the microchip that is controlling Tim, thus permanently ending the clown's reign of terror.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: The Joker always wanted to make Batman laugh. When the new Batman does laugh, it's to ridicule how pathetic the Joker and his obsession really is.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Zigzagged. Tim Drake is tortured/mutated/brainwashed into becoming "Joker Junior". This is subverted when he shakes it off, refuses to hurt Batman, and turns on the Joker instead. Then this is subverted when it's implied that, years later, Tim turned evil again and became the new Joker, probably as a result of the original torturing/brainwashing. Then that is subverted when it turns out that Tim has been completely unaware of the recent unfolding schemes; he only turned into the new Joker because the original had planted a microchip in his brain, thus causing his transformations.
• Berserk Button: Joker hates being told off. Bonk learns this the hard way, but Terry exploits it viciously by insulting him to a Villainous Breakdown.
• Big Bad: The Joker, having seemingly returned from the dead to enact his revenge on Batman.
• Big Brother Instinct: Despite Matt complaining that Terry is a stranger in their house, a prone Terry clenches his fist when Joker threatens his family.
• Big Damn Heroes: Ace attacks the Joker out of nowhere and removes the electrocution cuffs Joker slapped on Batman. Just as Joker prepares to electrocute Ace fatally with a joy buzzer, Terry returns the favor and tackles the clown.
• Big Damn Movie: While the film's scope is on par with a particularly high-stakes episode of the show, the focus of the film pertained to a foe far more fearsome and personal than anything Terry or Bruce had ever encountered together before. The producers understood when they were given the green-light for a Batman Beyond movie, it had to star the return of Batman's Arch-Enemy as the Big Bad in order to justify its greater length and budget.
• Big "SHUT UP!": The Joker invokes this after one too many taunts from Terry.
• Bill... Bill... Junk... Bill...: When Ghoul shows the Joker a list of potential places to rob, Joker runs his finger down the list, verbally dismissing each candidate until he finds one he thinks will be fun.
• Black Comedy: Deconstructed. Joker provides it by the bucketful, but Terry calls his gags lame, which the clown takes it as an insult. Turns out the great comedian himself cannot see himself ridiculed at. It's all a distraction so Terry can get a hold of the joy-buzzer and fry the microchip that is controlling Tim, thus permanently ending Joker's reign of terror.
• Blood from the Mouth: The Joker, when he gets tackled and punched by Batman after the latter finds out about how he tortured and brainwashed Robin in the original version. Batman has this too afterward when he gets knifed by the Joker.
• Blown Across the Room:
  • Terry, a couple of times.
  • Joker when he gets spear-gunned in the flashback.
• Bond One-Liner: "Double-down", after Terry beats Dee Dee.
• Boring Insult: Terry realizes the Joker's true weakness is being an Attention Whore whose sole motive for his rivalry with the original Batman was to make Bruce laugh. The Monster Clown becomes a real monster when Terry verbally calls him a pathetic oaf who wasted his time and energy on a fruitless cause.
  Terry: [Bruce] wouldn't know a good joke if it bit him in the cape. Not that you ever had a good joke...I mean, joy buzzers, squirting flowers—lame! Where's the "A" material? Make a face, drop your pants, something!
• Bowdlerise: The frenzy surrounding Columbine in 1999 resulted in extensive debates on media influences, which put some pressure on Warner Bros. Despite having a completed film, executives feared backlash on releasing a particularly violent animated movie and had certain scenes reanimated (which is different than normal, as it resulted in new material being written instead of simply cutting scenes). The original film was released later under a PG-13 rating but even the edited version isn't particularly “kid-friendly”: the majority of the differences is minor edits including digitally removing blood, changing bits of dialogue implying death/insanity/sexuality/swear words and trimming some of the more bone-crunching violence (including turning the “bang” flag gun murder of Bonk into a gas gun). The most significant edit comes in the flashback sequence when Tim shoots the Joker with the “bang” flag gun: whereas in the edited version he throws the gun away and tackles the Joker, pushing him into the lab space where he ends up soaked in water and covered in exposed power cables. When the Joker attempts to retaliate, he slips and grabs the power switch, electrocuting himself to death, though the audience only hears his distant scream as the point of view goes back to Barbara elsewhere in the asylum.
• Break the Comedian: Terry exploits Joker's vanity against him to take him down for good. For all his bravado and snark, Joker can't stand being the punchline.
• Break Them by Talking: Terry disses the Joker in a way Bruce has never done so before. He tells the clown that he's boring and the only reason for his rivalry with Bruce was to make him laugh. It works.
• Brick Joke: Batman's opening line telling the Jokerz he's going to have to call their folks. At the end of the movie, at least one legal guardian (of the Dee Dees, to be exact) did get informed of their activities.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Terry foils Joker's grand comeback scheme to use a Kill Sat to carve a giant smiley face into Gotham, Joker just shrugs his shoulders and says he'll just have to think of something else for next time. Of course, Batman's not just going to let the Joker walk away to kill again.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: When Terry quits being Batman out of anger at Bruce, Joker sends his gang to attack him and Dana while out at a club. While this is going on, Joker makes a personal house call to Wayne Manor. Dana is hospitalized, Ace is injured, and Bruce is poisoned by Joker toxin and almost killed.
• Call-Back: The "HA-HA"s spray-painted in the Batcave call back to when the same "HA-HA"s were found at the crime scene of Warren McGinnis, which probably adds an even higher traumatic tension for Terry.
  Terry: Please, God, no…
• Calling the Old Man Out: Terry calls out Bruce and Barbara for thinking he can't handle the Joker, especially after the Jokerz put Dana in the hospital.
• Came Back Strong: Due to inhabiting Tim Drake's body, the Joker has access to his training from his Robin days, allowing him to give Terry a tough fight.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: A variation in the climax. The biggest handicap Terry has going into the final fight is that he can't actually kill the Joker or seriously injure him (as it's still ultimately Tim Drake's body). This is why Terry comes up with a plan on the fly for getting within striking distance of the microchip — brutally roast the clown with a steady stream of put-downs and call his MO amateurish. This sends the clown into a flying rage at being mocked.
• Can't Take Criticism: Terry manages to exploit a weakness of Joker's that Bruce himself had been too terse in combat to discover: the "Clichéd Villain" Accusation. Joker has a massive Villainous Breakdown when Terry insultingly calls him a piss-poor comedian who failed to break the Bat.
• Cardboard Prison: Acknowledged in the flashback with Arkham Asylum. Given how infamous Arkham is for embodying this trope, it’s no surprise when Barbara states the old Asylum was finally shut down in favor of a newer and, more important, high-security facility. If anything, the only surprise is that this didn't happen sooner in-universe.
• Cartesian Karma: Averted. Barbara knows that Tim was brainwashed by the Joker via microchip and covers for him. She tells Tim it wasn't his fault and he was "along for the ride".
• Cast as a Mask: The Joker (Mark Hamill) is actually revealed to be Tim Drake (Dean Stockwell) possessed by Joker. To make it more surprising, there is a Red Herring suspect who both looks a lot like Joker and is also voiced by Hamill.
• Casting Gag: Dean Stockwell as adult Tim Drake, inspired by one of his earliest roles as the lead in The Boy with Green Hair as a child actor.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The Joker's orange-tipped "Bang!" Flag Gun. In a flashback sequence, the Joker tosses it to a brainwashed Tim Drake, who uses it to kill the Joker. It's a piece of easy to miss foreshadowing.
  • Terry wondering how the Joker is still alive and kicking — clone, robot double, human clownsicle — until Bruce told him to cut it out. It's revealed that, technically, Terry was right on the very first guess.
  • One of the Joker's hover-forklifts has a Jolly Jacks logo, complete with a matching design. Terry remembers this at the end of the movie and asks the Bat-computer to look up Jolly Jacks, getting an address to find the clown and notify Barbara. 
  • In the flashback, Joker and Harley sarcastically mention they didn't want to conceive a child, so they "borrowed" one to make into a Joker Jr. Joker wasn't kidding - he reveals later he implanted a microchip on Tim to make him into another Joker in the case the Batman encounter went wrong.
  • About halfway through, Terry dodges one of the Joker's booby traps by tricking it into destroying its own power source. The Kill Sat goes the same way when Terry and the Joker accidentally short out the controls.
• Chekhov's Gunman: A middle-aged man watches in alarm at the news broadcast of Joker's attack during the party at Wayne Enterprises, and later visits Barbara. Halfway through the film he is revealed to be an adult Tim Drake.
• Chekhov's Skill: Though Terry was known for belittling his opponents in the series, the opening fight scene shows it when he goes up against Joker's goons during their attempted heist. This becomes very important during the climax, where he roasts Joker by calling his jokes lame and sending him into a Villainous Breakdown that not even the original Batman could achieve.
• Childish Villain, Mature Hero: Terry points out that for his grandstanding, Joker is an childish oaf who failed to make Batman laugh. The clown throws a huge Villainous Breakdown at this insult.
• "Clichéd Villain" Accusation: Noting that Joker is an attention-seeking egomaniac, Terry openly mocks his Sisyphean quest to make Batman laugh. The humiliation of someone mocking him enrages the clown for good.
• Clone by Conversion: Tim was forcibly brainwashed and turned into a Mini-Me version of the Joker.
• Clownification: A flashback reveals that the Joker turned Tim Drake into "Joker Jr.", a madly grinning, giggling, miniature replica of the Joker, via physical and mental torture. By the "present day" of the film, the changes have apparently been undone, leaving Tim traumatized but sane and normal-looking. However, during his torture, the Joker implanted Tim with a microchip containing the Joker's DNA and consciousness, periodically hijacking Tim's mind and body to transform him into essentially a reborn Joker.
• Combat Parkour: The Dee Dee twins often tag-team Batman, using flips and high jumps to avoid his attacks and/or to gain a more advantageous position behind him from which to strike. He eventually gets around this by using the suit's cloaking device.
• Combat Pragmatist: Terry is this in general.
  • When dealing with the Jokerz in the club, he quickly moves to knocks down the giant lava lamp to drench them before going to punch them. This has the added benefit of shorting their Tasers. Very justified since all four of them started a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown and badly injured Dana. 
  • In the climax, he refuses to fight fair with the gang. Terry uses the Batwing to knock down Chuckles, and sets Ace on Woof. Knowing the Dee Dee twins are too dangerous to tackle head-on, he turns himself invisible and knocks them into each other. Once they figure out where he is, Batman opens a giant box of jawbreakers to make them slip. 
  • He delivers a low blow in his fight with the Joker. Twice. ^note  It's implied to be a knee to the groin. This is a warning sign that the clown has drastically misjudged his foe.
    Joker: What are you doing?
    Terry: Fighting dirty.
    Joker: The real Batman would never— AAGH!!!
    Terry: Told you you didn't know me.
• Comedic Spanking: After Nana Harley bails the Dee Dee twins out, she reprimands them for getting involved with the Jokerz and proceeds to spank her granddaughters using her cane.
• Comic-Book Adaptation: The film received a comic book tie-in in a one-shot that was published a couple of months after the film's original release.
• Connect the Deaths: Played with. After the Joker marks his first three targets — all locations where Terry's loved ones resides — he uses them them to plot a giant smiley face which he'll carve into Gotham. This doesn't have any greater significance other than Joker doing it For the Evulz (virtually any three distinct points could be used to replicate this effect).
• Continuity Cameo: Tim Drake's blonde wife is a nod to Stephanie Brown, Tim's long-time girlfriend in the comics. She's even wearing black and purple, the main colors of her superhero costume as The Spoiler. It was acknowledged in the DVD commentary of the movie.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Commissioner Jim Gordon, Dick Grayson/Nightwing and Leslie Thompkins are mentioned, but they are not seen. Also, in the uncut version, Bruce is practicing his batarang-throwing against replica statues of some of his old Rogues Gallery.
  • When Bruce is comparing audio files to determine if the Joker that appeared at the party is the same as the one he fought, the first sample he examines is from a threat video Joker made back in the episode "Holiday Knights".
  • When Tim Drake (really Joker in control of Tim's body) tells Bruce he wants Bruce to watch as he transforms Tim's body into his own, he says "It's a killer", echoing Dick Grayson's advice to Tim the first time they met way back in the TNBA episode "Sins of the Father".
  • In the original version of the flashback sequence, Batgirl questions her informants from the TNBA episode "The Ultimate Thrill". (cut from the bowdlerized version, presumably because they appear to be hookers.)
  • The Joker's plot ultimately relies upon stolen microchips that brainwash his victims into both doing his bidding and overwriting their DNA with his own. Joker mentions that he stole the basis for this technology from various places over the years, with the first instance coming from the BTAS episode "Make 'Em Laugh", where he steals mind control chips from Mad Hatter.
• Continuity Overlap: The film was released at the end of 2000 and concurrently with Beyond's final Season. The film takes place some time after the events of "King's Ransom" (wherein Paxton Powers finally went down, thereby leaving Wayne-Powers open for Bruce to reclaim control of his family's company).
• Conveniently Empty Building: While the Joker is trying to blast the Batmobile with a Kill Sat, the beam passes over what seems to be an abandoned building. Originally, it was a full, operating movie theater, until the animators were forced to change it.
• Cooldown Hug: In the flashback showing Joker’s death, Tim Drake, whom Joker had brainwashed into becoming a miniature version of him, starts crying after shooting Joker. Barbara goes up to Tim and tries to console the poor boy with a hug.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Jordan Pryce, a young executive looking to own Wayne-Powers, is none too happy that Bruce returns to his company again and hires the Jokerz to take him out.
• Couldn't Find a Pen: A scene involves Bruce being found after an attack by the Joker with "Ha! Ha! Ha!" written on the ground in red. It was changed to purple in the censored version to avoid looking like this trope.
• Cow Tools: During the flashback sequence, there's a shot of some innocent junk lying around (a toilet plunger, for example). Word of God says originally Joker's tray was originally going to have bloody surgical instruments, but the execs put their foot down.
• Crazy-Prepared: In the course of performing lethal experiments on the poor kid, the Joker implants a microchip in Tim Drake containing his memories and DNA template, despite having no idea that he would die that night. This is what ultimately sets off the plot of the movie, as the Joker's preparations allow him to resurrect himself years later and cause havoc.
• Creator Cameo: The film's writer Paul Dini voices an ineffectual guard at the beginning.
• Creepy Circus Music: Heard in the flashback after Batman (Bruce) arrives at Arkham.
• Criminal Doppelgänger: Jordan Pryce is introduced as a Red Herring in determining Joker's real identity. Implying that Pryce has deduced Bruce's secret, he also physically resembles the Joker in build, hair and facial expressions (yet obviously not with the clown coloring) and is voiced by Mark Hamill. However, while not actually Joker, Pryce did work in connection with him and is turned in to Gotham PD by Terry.
• Cruel to Be Kind: After Joker makes his return, Bruce orders Terry to turn in the Batsuit, calling him a "stupid kid" when he refuses, at which point Terry angrily throws the suit at him and storms out of the cave. It's clear that Bruce just didn't want Terry to be targeted by Joker, having seen firsthand what the clown did to one of his prior prodigies, but unfortunately it doesn't work, as Joker sends his goons to kill Terry regardless.
• Cry Laughing: A deadly serious example in the second Robin, Tim Drake, in the flashback sequence. the Joker applied ample amounts of Cold-Blooded Torture to Tim, leaving him Brainwashed and Crazy. When ordered to kill Batman, after The Joker has him in a position he wouldn't be able to protect himself, Tim breaks through the brainwashing and murders The Joker instead, laughing like a maniac the whole time. Once the Joker succumbs to his injuries and Batgirl arrives, Tim's laughing abruptly turns into uncontrollable sobbing, as the weight of everything that transpired suddenly sets in. The flashback sequence ends with Barbara/Batgirl trying to console him.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Terry's final fight against the Jokerz gang consisted of one move on each of them: crashing the damaged Batmobile underneath Chucko's high perch, getting Dee Dee to knock each other out, siccing Ace on Woof, and a Batman classic on Ghoul.
• Darker and Edgier: In comparison to both the series (although it certainly had its moments) along with the other DC Animated Universe installments.
• Death by Irony:
  • Joker kidnapped, brainwashed, and mutilated Tim Drake to be Joker Jr. And Tim kills Joker with the ol' weaponized BANG gun gag. His last words are “That’s not funny…that’s not-”
  • In the censored version, where Joker dies by accidentally electrocuting himself while fighting Tim. What was it he did to Tim in order to break him again?
  • And again in the climax. Joker attained immortality (sorta) by encoding himself onto a chip that let him ride shotgun in Tim Drake, and sometimes take the wheel. He dies to another successor of Batman, who Joker thought of as a wannabe. Terry uses one of Joker's own Signature Weapons to destroy the chip: an amped-up joy buzzer. And also mockery. Turns out the great comedian can't take his own medicine.
• Death by Secret Identity: The Joker "dies" shortly after learning Batman's identity.
• Death of Personality: Discussed. Even after 40 years, Joker’s microchip still hasn’t gained full control of Tim’s body. It can hijack it, rewrite Tim’s genetic code, and suppress Tim’s consciousness — but only for limited periods of time. That said, Joker’s slowly getting stronger and can now induce the change at will. Joker’s thus confident he’ll soon be able to permanently take over Tim’s body and effectively invoke this trope on his host.
• Deconstructor Fleet:
  • The flashback sequence presents why having a child fight crime is a terrible idea.
  • In-universe, the characters Break Them by Talking offering deconstructions of their enemies.
    • The Joker points out that, for all the fear he invokes being The Cowl, Batman is nothing more than a pathetic Manchild crying out for mommy and daddy after all those years. During their final fight, Terry hurls this insult right back at Joker by calling his clown-related gags lame.
      The Joker: I must admit, it's sadly anti-climactic. Behind all the sturm and batarangs, you're just a little boy in a playsuit, crying for mommy and daddy! It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic.
    • Tim Drake deconstructs the Kid Sidekick as a "Well Done, Son" Guy pathetically trying to please The Hero because I Just Want to Be You. When that doesn't happen, there comes the Fan Disillusionment:
      Tim: We gave our best, but in the end that wasn't good enough for the old man. When I was younger, part of me thought I would go on and on and someday...ah, capes, costumes, playing hero—it was kid's stuff! Bruce probably did me a favor. In the end, I was so sick of it I never wanted to see that stupid Robin suit again...!^note However, this may actually be subtle interference from the Joker's mind control chip embedded in Tim's head, influencing the former Robin's mind. For all of Joker's Foe Romance Subtext and playful attitude towards Batman, it's easy to forget: He fucking hates the man who always spoiled his fun.
    • Terry admits that the Joker is a successful supervillain, but a pathetic comedian: he never made Batman laugh, nor corrupt or break him. He never was Affably Evil, just Faux Affably Evil. And after all, the natural enemy of a comedian is The Heckler. This insult sends Joker off the edge.
    • Harley Quinn deconstructs the Perky Female Minion into Cute and Psycho after helping the Joker torture Robin, showing us that she was just another criminal. Harley was perfectly okay with the Joker torturing and killing Harvey Bullock, Charlie Collins, Sid the Squid, Carl Francis, Thomas Jackson, Batgirl's own father Commissioner Gordon, etc, but the idea she would torture Robin is something Batgirl never thought she could do and is unable to forgive:
      Batgirl: How could you help Joker do it, Harley?
      Harley Quinn: Okay, so he roughed the kid up a little. But I'll make it right.
      Batgirl: Yeah, you're Mother of the Stinkin' Year!
    • The Cowl is deconstructed because while Batman is completely devoted to his mission, the Bat-Family and Harley want to grow up, have families, and get much more out of life than playing the infinite Cycle of Revenge that will eventually leave Batman Lonely at the Top. The disturbing conclusion is that the only relationship that ultimately will ever last for Batman is the Foe Romance Subtext he has with the Joker. As we see at the page quote, The Joker was truly special for Batman; he's the only one fully willing to forever accept and embrace Batman's role as the Determinator.
    • The Chessmaster is deconstructed when everyone of the grown-up Bat-Family distrusts the Batman for his manipulative tendencies.
      Batman (McGinnis): (after his interview with Drake) Were all of you that bitter when you left?
      Barbara Gordon: Comes with the territory, McGinnis. Look up Nightwing someday; has he got stories.
    • Kid Hero: Batgirl seems to think Even Evil Has Standards and Harley Wouldn't Hurt a Child. And Robin:
      Tim: Fun and games. Boy Wonder playing hero. Fighting the bad guys and no one ever gets...oh God. (I killed him./I did it.) I didn't mean to. I tried so hard to forget. But I still hear (the shot/his scream). Still see his (dead/frozen) smile. Every night, the dreams get stronger...he's there when I sleep. Whispering! Laughing! Telling me I'm just as bad as he is! We're both the same!
  • Locked Out of the Loop also gets a painful deconstruction, because the old Bat Family's refusal to come forward with the truth Terry needs about the Joker gets him fed up to the point where he quits. Of course it doesn't stick, but the damage the Joker does in the short span of time ends with Dana hospitalized and Bruce and Ace nearly dead. Terry eventually coaxes the story out of Barbara, citing that he's involved in this mess whether they like it or not, and convincing Bruce to allow him to face the Joker.
  • Arch-Enemy is also deconstructed, as while Batman talked about most of his Rogues Gallery, he specifically avoided mentioning Joker because of what he did to Tim Drake. Bruce points out that it "wasn't a popularity contest", claiming that Joker only sought to make him "laugh" and dismissed the Foe Romance Subtext he had with the clown. In the end, both Terry and Bruce viewed Joker as nothing but an insane nut who hurt others For the Evulz.
• Decoy Damsel: Harley Quinn, in order to capture Tim Drake.
• Deface of the Moon: The Joker plans to use his hijacked Kill Sat to carve a giant smiley-face into Gotham City (taking out Terry's family, Wayne Manor, and the hospital Dana is staying at along the way) as a way of showing everyone once and for all that "this is Joker territory."
• Designated Girl Fight: Harley vs. Batgirl. It ends tragically as Harley plummets to her death while Batgirl looks in horror. Or so we think.
• Didn't See That Coming: Going into the final confrontation, Bruce and Terry were so convinced that Tim Drake was working for the Joker that neither of them considered that Tim might actually be the Joker. Both Batmen can only watch the transformation in horrified Stunned Silence.
• Didn't Think This Through: Bruce firing Terry and pushing him away after Joker seemingly returns. [[spoiler:Bruce is terrified of Terry ending up like Tim Drake and is trying to protect him. The thing is, Joker's dialogue during the Wayne Enterprises attack heavily implies he knows Bruce's secret (which is later confirmed when Joker storms the Batcave). So if Joker knows, then it won't be hard for him to deduce Bruce's Personal Assistant must be the new Batman (if he hasn't already). That means Terry isn't out of danger yet and is at risk in his civilian identity (which is indeed what happens when the Jokerz come after him and Dana). If anything, forcing Terry to give back the Batsuit leaves him even more defenseless (and without it, Terry has to rely on his wits during the club fight). This can all be justified by Bruce's Joker-related PTSD and guilt (not to mention his long-established problems with basic communication and interpersonal relationships) overriding his objectivity and common sense.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the uncensored movie, Robin shoots Joker with his own gun to kill him while the censored version goes down differently with Robin attacking Joker and knocking him into a vat of water, which then leads to Joker electrocuting himself to death when he accidentally pulls down on a lever.
• Disappointed by the Motive:
  • Invoked by Terry during his battle against Joker by deliberately riling the clown. It works.
    Terry: So you fell in a tank of acid, got your skin bleached, and decided to become a supervillain. What, you couldn't get work as a rodeo clown?
  • Which is something of an Ironic Echo from the Joker's own disappointment upon learning Batman's identity.
    Joker: It's true, Batsy - I know everything. And kind of like the kid who peeks at his Christmas presents, I must admit, it's sadly anticlimactic. Behind all the sturm and batarangs, you're just a little boy in a playsuit crying for mommy and daddy. It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic. (Beat) Oh what the heck, I'll laugh anyway!
• Disney Death: Harley Quinn. In the flashback, Harley falls into a deep pit after fighting with Batgirl. She does not show up again for the rest of the flashback, so you can assume—like Barbara did—that Harley died. But she did survive—and she had her family, too, as the Dee-Dees refer to her as "Nana Harley" and a guard calls her their grandmother.
• Disney Villain Death: Subverted by Harley who appears to fall to her death but is revealed to have survived.
• Don't Explain the Joke: Exploited. Joker flips out when Terry deliberately trolls his fixation with Batman during their final battle so Terry can finish him off for good.
• Double Meaning: "That's also how we did it in my day." in the uncut version. Initially, seems to just be The Joker remarking on his own death. Then comes the reveal that the current Joker is Tim Drake, who was also the triggerman that killed The Joker.
• The Dreaded: Even through it's been decades since Joker was last seen, when he first reveals himself to Gotham, everyone present is terrified, even more so than when his minions attacked. While he told Terry about his Rogues Gallery, Batman never talked about the clown, pointing out that "it wasn't a popularity contest."
• Driving Question: Why are Bruce and Barbara adamant the Joker is dead? What really happened decades ago during the final confrontation between the Bat Family and Joker and Harley? And if the Joker truly is dead, then how can he back and seemingly unaged (let alone how does he know the Bat Family's secrets)?
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Terry is annoyed that Bruce and Barbara are keeping him Locked Out of the Loop, Bruce for fear of the Joker targeting Terry, Barbara to protect Tim's privacy. He tells Bruce that he's not that vulnerable, and once Barbara tells him what happened to Tim, Terry manages to get a few leads on how to find the Joker. Later on, when Bruce admits he was scared of Terry being tortured the way Tim was, Terry says no offense but he was never a sidekick and he knew what the Batman job entails.
• Due to the Dead: Discussed only by Barbara at the end of the flashback (in the uncut version, that is):
  Commissioner Barbara Gordon: We buried the Joker deep beneath Arkham. The only other person who knew what happened that night was my father, the first Commissioner Gordon. He promised to keep our secret.
• Dumb Muscle: Bonk. In the opening heist he's more focused on fighting Batman than getting their objective (to the point where him going off to go after Terry ends up causing the device they were there to steal to blow up, and almost kills one of the Dee Dees), then mouths off to the Joker because instead of doing petty robbery he's having them get high-tech machinery for something he won't tell them about. Unsurprisingly, the Joker doesn't appreciate this stupidity and kills him.
• Dumbass Has a Point: While Bonk is stupid enough to start mouthing off at the Joker, he ironically does raise some valid points during his rant. Joker has had the gang running around for a month now ripping off advanced tech, but with no return on investment. Moreover, the gang’s been kept in the dark about the Joker’s ultimate endgame; they only have his word there actually is a plan. From the looks on the rest of the gang’s faces, they’ve clearly been entertaining the same thoughts; everybody was just too scared to raise them before now. And nobody raises them again after Joker executes Bonk as a warning to shut up and get in line.
• Dying Smirk: In the censored version, The Joker dies via electrocution, and it's mentioned that he has a grin on his face. (Averted in the released version, as he does not laugh or grin during his death and he even says "That's not funny. That's n—" before keeling over.)
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The movie (and series) came before Justice League, which functioned as an Interquel between The New Batman Adventures and Batman Beyond and features Batman having an expanded roster of allies to call upon in addition to changes in characterization and character designs. The movie operates more as a Fully Absorbed Finale for TNBA that has to take place after Justice League, such that the timeline is pretty much irreconcilable.
• Earn Your Happy Ending:
  • The Joker is FINALLY dead and Tim Drake has restored his friendship with Bruce.
  • Harley Quinn, at some point after the Joker's death she became a normal, decent law-abiding person (likely due to the Joker not being alive to abuse her or tempt her into evil). Downplayed, as her granddaughters are part of the Jokerz gang, much to her dismay.
• Electric Joybuzzer: The Joker's usual weapon is back in this installment. And it is used by Terry to destroy the chip that allowed him to control Tim Drake.
• Electric Torture: Tim suffers and breaks under it, as well as Joker drugging him with serums. In both the uncut and censored version, either Terry or Tim makes Joker pay for it via the same method.
• Emerging from the Shadows: When we first see the Jokerz speak with their leader, he is partly concealed in the shadows at first, except for his red Glowing Eyes of Doom and his grin, but then, after shooting Bonk dead for his complaining, he emerges from the shadows, revealing himself to be the newly-resurrected Joker.
• Engineered Public Confession: "I gave you the security codes..."
• Entertainingly Wrong: Terry asks Bruce how the latter is certain that the Joker is dead. When Bruce says he's sure because he was there when the Joker died, Terry theorizes that Batman was forced to break his Thou Shalt Not Kill rule and kill the Joker before he did a terrible thing. What actually happened was much worse - the Joker abducted and tortured Tim for three weeks on end, culminating in the erstwhile Robin snapping and killing the Joker.
• Epileptic Trees: In-universe, Terry suggested "theories" about how Joker is still alive and kicking.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • The Joker establishes his when he shoots Bonk. He even comes out of the shadows for it.
  • The opening scene serves as one for Terry for any viewers that haven't seen the series. His fight with the Jokerz shows that he's skilled enough to toy with them but also inexperienced enough to let the Dee-Dees get the drop on him because they played possum. Most importantly, his quipping with the Jokerz establishes that he likes to trash talk his enemies (unlike the original Batman), which proves crucial in his climactic fight with the Joker.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Terry has not one, but two in this movie:
  • "Nothing against your old partners, but I'm a completely different Batman. I was never a Robin, I never—" Terry notices the Robin costume is the only one out of all the other suits that was trashed, and remembers what Tim told him about his days as Robin.
  • When Bruce advises Terry to ignore Joker's taunts and not respond, Terry realizes he's not Bruce. He has his own style.
    Terry: He's tough. Any suggestions, boss?
    Bruce: Joker's vain and likes to talk. He'll try to distract you, but don't listen. Block it out and power on through!
    Terry: Wait... I like to talk, too.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: When the Joker breaks into Wayne Manor, Ace immediately detects him from down in the Bat Cave and furiously rushes to attack him. Unfortunately, the hound is no match for the Clown Prince of Crime, although he redeems himself in the final battle.
• Evil Gloating: Despite Joker's penchant for gloating, Terry brutally roasts the clown with a Boring Insult. For a comedian, the only thing worse than a silent audience is The Heckler. It was deliberately done so Terry can take him down for good by frying the microchip that was controlling Tim.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: An interesting combination of the "lack of humor" and "sick sense of humor" types. As much as Joker loves messing with people, he can't stand being the butt of a joke, which Terry uses against him.
• Evil Is Petty: Aside from his grand, city-destroying scheme and trying to gas Bruce to death, Joker takes his time to ransack Wayne Manor just for the hell of it.
• Evil Laugh: One of the originals.
  • Later on, Joker has a massive freak-out when Terry brutally roasts him for failing to break Batman. The clown always wanted to make Batman laugh, but when he finally hears Batman's laugh, he is instead spooked out.
• Exact Words:
  • During the Joker's first scene, Bonk reaches his limit and demands, "I want out." Joker graciously accepts his resignation... by shooting Bonk and killing him. After all, Bonk never actually specified he wanted to get out alive (though of course Joker was going to kill Bonk anyway both because he mouthed off and to make an example of him to keep the rest of his crew in line.)
  • The Joker in the flashback sequence was in A-Grade form:
    Batman: (pinning the Joker with a Neck Lift) I'll break you in two!
    Joker: (laughs) Oh, Batman, if you had the guts for that kind of fun, you would have done it years ago. I, (slowly sweeps his right hand outward, palm up) on the other hand....(instantly draws a switch blade with his left then slices Batman across his chest and stabs him in the patella, blade stuck-tight)
  • Just before the climax, Joker states that Tim Drake is indeed in his employ. This is true and Tim is indeed working for the Joker...because the Clown's hijacked Tim's body and, as Joker puts it, is using it as a time-share. Likewise, Joker also then states that it took Tim a few years before he finally figured out who ran the real winning team. This is also true...because it took years for the Joker's microchip to subtly influence Tim enough to gain enough control over his body.
  • Later, Terry turns this around on the Joker himself; the Joker always wanted to make Batman laugh...but he never specified which Batman...or whether Batman was laughing with him or at him.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: After getting ambushed by the Jokerz, Terry calls Bruce only to get the answering machine instead. Terry quickly relates what happened until he realizes that Bruce would never leave the manor at this time of night and he fears the worst may have happened (and it did).
• Expy: Dee Dee are based on Double Dare, a pair of scantily-clad acrobatic sister thieves from Nightwing's rogues gallery.
• Failed a Spot Check: Justified with Tim Drake and his failure to recognize any evidence of the Joker hijacking his own body. Tim mistakenly believes any lingering memories from when Joker’s in control are actually just bad dreams rooted in his PTSD. While it’s not outright stated, it’s also not hard to imagine that the microchip may be subconsciously influencing Tim to ignore other signs that can’t just be chalked up to bad dreams.
• False Flag Operation: How Tim gets captured in the flashback. Joker and Harley stage a fake mugging to lure in the Boy Wonder.
• The Family That Slays Together: Joker and Harley's intentions when they kidnap, brainwash and torture Tim Drake for the sake of modeling him as their own son, dubbed "Joker, Jr.", would have allowed them to effectively become one of these families. Only it didn't work.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: The Joker is killed off fairly early in the story. There are actually two versions of the death scene. Originally, Robin shot the Joker with his gag gun; the Moral Guardians thought this was too violent, so the scene was reanimated to show the Joker getting wet and tangled up in wires, slipping, and accidentally electrocuting himself. The Scream Discretion Shot used winds up having the same, if not worse, impact as the unedited take, which was probably the writers' intent.
• Fatal Flaw: Exploited. Despite mocking others' misery, Joker's Attention Whore status is what brings him down. Terry points out his fixation with the original Batman was lousy, and for being an infamous supervillain, he's nothing but a stupid manchild once the props are removed. Joker views this as an insult.
• Fight Fire with Fire:
  • A variation. Sick of dealing with Woof, Terry finally brings in his own furry, snarling backup (i.e. Ace) during the final battle. It works.
  • Another variant. Batman tells Terry to ignore Joker's gloating, but Terry counters the clown by calling his jokes lame. Cue an epic Villainous Breakdown.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Dee Dee does this occasionally, befitting their Always Identical Twins.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Tim Drake calls Batman by his real identity, Terry. Then when Terry points out that he never introduced his secret identity to Tim, the former further calls him by the Joker's "pet" nickname for him, right before he traps Batman and finally reveals himself. "Tim" also follows that Wham Line with an extremly odd statement ("Old nasty memories twisting inside me like bad oysters"), which is another clue Joker's now in control of Tim's body. He’s still trying to sound normal to sucker Terry into lowering his guard...but as it's the Joker, the Clown's humor is already asserting itself.
• Flashback: There's a flashback sequence that is about what happened in Bruce's last confrontation with the Joker.
• Flaw Exploitation: Terry exploits Joker's vanity against him deliberately so he can be taken down for good.
• Forced to Watch: Joker in the climax intends to make Bruce watch through the Batsuit camera as he destroys Terry's home, the hospital where Dana is recovering, and Wayne Manor. He also incapacitates Terry so he can watch as well. Fortunately, Joker forgot about Ace; Terry orders, "Sic him!".
• Foreshadowing:
  • Or rather "Backshadowing". Joker's "That's also how we did it in my day" and one half of Dee Dee almost dying the way her grandma supposedly died.
  • Another part of "backshadowing": The background music that plays when Bruce demands that Terry return the Batsuit because it's dangerous for him to face the Joker (impostor or not), despite the fact that the Clown Prince of Crime died years ago is "Terry Relieved of Duty". When played again as a Dark Reprise near the end of "Arkham Mayhem", we now understand the reason: because the Joker Mind Raped Robin into divulging his secrets about Bruce Wayne as Batman, the Clown Prince of Crime tainted the Bat-Family with compromise and deception "in his last act of cruelty" that led to his demise at Robin's hands and to Barbara and Tim quitting the Bat-Family because of it.
  • When Joker first publicly reappears, Terry notes he's pretty spry for a guy who should be in his mid-Eighties. He speculates if this could be due to Joker possibly being a clone, a robot, or having been placed in suspended animation. Bruce disregards and ignores Terry's brainstorming (since he already knows firsthand it can't be any of these theories because he watched Tim Drake shoot the Joker decades ago. It's later revealed that Terry was actually on the right track with the Cloning Theory. The new Joker is a clone (or at least after a fashion) thanks to the original Joker using Tim as a genetics experiment.
  • When The Joker crashes Bruce Wayne's press conference, he mockingly calls Bruce "Brucie". While The Joker has met Bruce Wayne on a few occasions, their interactions weren't substantial enough that The Joker should remember his face after 40 years, much less have an Affectionate Nickname for him, hinting towards the reveal that Joker found out Bruce was Batman before their final battle all those years ago.
  • The Dee Dee twins are revealed to be blonde when they attack Terry out of costume at the club. Makes sense, since they're the granddaughters of the similarly blonde Harley Quinn.
    • Similarly, and speaking of Harley, she's curiously absent from the "Our Family Memories" footage during the flashback (or alternately, she's off-screen managing the camera). However, her absence turns out to be somewhat important, because Joker reveals that while he does now know Bruce's true identity, Bruce's secrets are his alone to know. This means Joker withheld the revelations from Tim's interrogation from Harley, which makes sense given Joker's long-established selfishness; of course he'd covet such a prize and hoard it for himself. But this also means that even if Harley did somehow survive her plunge into the pit and is still alive in the Present Day (which is eventually confirmed), being locked out of the loop ironically eliminates her as a potential suspect. After all, if Harley didn't know Bruce Wayne was Batman, then logically the new Joker likewise shouldn't know the secret either. Yet he somehow does, meaning Harley can't be involved or behind the new Joker.
  • When Joker sent the satellite laser after the Batmobile and is laughing all the while, he stops and starts profusely sweating, making an excuse about needing to sit down before he busts a gut. Later, Tim sweats the same way before he transforms into the Joker again, most likely a warning indicator when one side gains control.
  • When Joker taunts an incapacitated Terry with threats towards his loved ones, he "justifies" it with thinking every hero needs a bit of tragedy to give their background flair — with no acknowledgement to the fact Terry's already suffered through tragedy with the murder of his father by Derek Powers. This alludes to his lack of respect for Terry and refusal to acknowledge him as anything but a "bat-fake", as it suggests Joker only did surface-level research on Terry to learn of his current connections and didn't look into his personal history. This sets up for his ultimate downfall as, since Joker doesn't actually know anything about Terry as a person, he gets completely thrown-off by how different Terry is from Bruce with his willingness to laugh off his reputation and mock him openly.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • During the flashback, Joker gleefully mocks Batman for being motivated by the deaths of his parents.
  • While threatening to target Terry's family and girlfriend, Joker notes major heroes always have a "defining element of tragedy" as part of their motivation.
    • Terry later invokes this against Joker by taunting the clown's origin story and fixation with Batman. It works.
      Terry: So you fell in a tank of acid, got your skin bleached, and decided to become a supervillain. What, you couldn't get work as a rodeo clown?
• Funny Background Event:
  • A few patrons at the nightclub pause and gawk at the disguised Dee Dees, at the same time annoying their dates.
  • After Terry hands over Price to the police, with evidence that he conspired with the Jokerz to kill Bruce, he turns away - just missing one of the cops saluting him.
• Genre Blindness: Though this trope tends to protect every superhero's identity to some degree, takes this to new extremes when the Joker sends his gang of Jokerz to attack Terry at a nightclub. In a world where everyone wonders who Batman's true identity is, nobody in the group pieces together that the young man with the same proportions and voice as Batman, who is a skilled martial artist and acrobat, and clever Combat Pragmatist, who The Joker wants taken out, just might be the Bat. Chucko even casually remarks that he can't understand why they've been sent after some "random" kid, but shrugs it off because it's at least fun.
• Genre Savvy: Joker has shades of this while working on his plan. Knowing that Batman is only a single person, he uses his reveal as a distraction so that his henchmen can steal some technology uninterrupted. Even during his escape, the Joker throws two party goers off the edge of a building, forcing Batman to save them while the Joker makes a getaway.
• Godzilla Threshold: Terry assumes this. Why else would Batman break his One Rule unless the Joker couldn't be stopped any other way?
• Gone Horribly Right: Joker spends the entire film dissing Terry. He's understandably fixated on the old Batman and Robin and dismisses the Tomorrow Knight as nothing more than a punk. Unfortunately for Joker, this backfires in the climax when Terry realizes he can’t fight the Clown as Bruce would; he has to play to his own strengths. And before he became Batman, Terry was (and to an extent still is) a punk and so he embraces that. He proceeds to fight dirty and wiseass the Joker. This mockery leads to Joker’s Villanious Breakdown, which then gives Terry his opening to destroy the microchip.
• Gory Discretion Shot: The edited version of Joker's death involving water, wires, and a lot of electricity. Because the camera cuts away as he's dying, all we hear is his scream. For this reason, some people consider it worse than the uncut version, as it leaves more to the imagination. Knowing the writers, this was likely deliberate.
• Grand Theft Me: How the Joker survived all these years.
• Great Detective: Terry's forced to take the lead on the investigation after Bruce nearly gets killed by the Joker. Once he's run down all current leads, he laments to Ace that this is one aspect of the Batman legacy he hasn't quite been able to master.
  Terry: I don't know, pup. If I was the Batman I was supposed to be, I would have cracked this by now. Would've punched exactly the right data into the computer or remembered that one little clue that everyone else overlooked.
  Bruce: It's rarely that simple.
• Groin Attack:
  • Terry received one from one half of Dee Dee when the Jokerz ambush him. This was cut in the televised airings, because it could be considered an "imitable act".
  • Terry pulls one on the Joker, the first sign that the clown drastically misjudged his new foe.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Woof is a human spliced with hyena DNA.
• He Knows Too Much: With the rest of the scheme prepared, Joker sends his goons out to eliminate Jordan Pryce for being "a loose end" that could reveal all sorts of damaging information.
• The Heckler: Terry discovers this is Joker's weakness: being heckled at. It's something Bruce was too stoic to do, but Terry relished the opportunity. After all, it's a comedian's worst nightmare.
• Heel–Face Turn: After helping Joker kidnap and torture Tim, and falling down a pit, Harley disappears. She then adopts a civilian life and starts a family, while trying to keep her granddaughters from repeating her mistakes.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: The resurrected Joker wears a bodysuit made of dark leather.
• Heroic Willpower:
  • Uncut version and downplayed. Tim starts to fight back against the brainwashing, shaking his head and he stops smiling. When Joker orders him to do it, Tim ends up redirecting the gun at the clown.
  • Edited version plays it straight. A brainwashed Tim Drake tosses the "Bang!" Flag Gun immediately when Joker orders him to fire on an incapacitated Batman. Then Tim proceeds to tackle Joker, actually knocking him back a few feet and smashing the wires that Joker used to electrocute the boy.
• High-Voltage Death:
  • This happens to The Joker in the censored version. After The Joker kidnaps Tim Drake (Robin) and brainwashes him into being insane like himself. The Joker tries to get Tim to to kill the Batman and prove Tim is like him. In the censored version of the scene, Tim pushes The Joker into a glass container full of water, breaking it, which causes him to get tangled in electrical wires attached to the container. The Joker slips on the water and accidentally pulls an electrical switch, and the wires electrocute him to death.
  • In both versions, Terry destroys the microchip that was planted in Tim Drake's neck that allows the clown to return after his "death" with his own Electric Joy Buzzer, putting an end to the Joker's reign of terror forever.
• History Repeats: Both versions of the movie play with this in regard to Joker's death.
  • In the uncut version, The Joker is killed by Tim Drake shooting him to death with his own speargun. Decades later in the Beyond era, the now Jokerized Tim Drake shoots someone else with a similar gun, bitterly remarking "That's also how we did it in my day."
  • In the censored version, The Joker is killed by Tim Drake shoving him into his torture equipment, soaking him in water and causing him to slip, activating a lever that shocks him to death. Later in the film, Terry "kills" The Joker again by electrocuting him with his own joy buzzer, destroying the chip he was using to transform Tim Drake.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • The Joker is killed by Tim Drake using his own speargun in the uncut version that he gave Tim to kill Batman.
  • Terry destroys the microchip with the Joker's own joy buzzer, killing him once and for all.
    • Joker also always wanted to make Batman laugh. During their final fight, Batman does laugh, but at how lame his jokes really are.
• Horrifying the Horror: Or rather mocking the Monster Clown. Joker freaks out when Terry gives him a dose of his own medicine.
• Hospital Visit Hesitation: Invoked when Bruce Wayne visits Tim Drake in hospital after the Joker is defeated. It's treated as a big deal, as it represents his willingness to finally swallow his pride and reach out to his former sidekick ^note Tim had retired as Robin decades in the past, mostly due to the psychological wounds of being tortured into madness by the Joker and then killing the Clown Prince of Crime. Bruce being Bruce blamed himself for what happened, and cut off ties with Tim completely. Barbara Gordon, being the former Batgirl, is also present and both she and Drake immediately recognise the significance of Bruce's presence.
• The Hyena: Woof actually is part-hyena. His "dialogue" mostly consists of raucous laughter like his namesake, even though a scene not in the film (instead left in the script) reveals he's still eloquent.
• Hydro-Electro Combo: How The Joker bites the dust in the censored version: when Tim Drake rebels from his electroshock-induced brainwashing, he pushes Joker into glass tanks of water, shattering them. As he tries to get up to chase him, Joker slips and accidentally pulls the lever and reactivates the electrode machine, leading to his horrifying death by electrocution.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: Matt complains about Terry being at home because he's used to being an only child. Terry in response flicks some cereal at him. When Joker threatens Matt and their mother, however, Terry clenches his fist and sics Ace on Joker.
• Hypocritical Humor: Despite his cruel mockery of others, Joker ironically hates being laughed at, particularly when Terry trolls his fixation with Batman.
• I Did What I Had to Do:
  • Terry at first assumes this when Bruce says that he's pretty sure the Joker is dead. He's not too far off.
    Terry: You killed him, didn't you? He was gonna do something so terrible that you had no other choice.
  • Bruce, in forcing Terry to quit. After Terry revealed that Barbara told him the whole story, Bruce says that's the reason why he didn't want Terry to face the Joker, even if he's an imposter.
• I Shall Taunt You: Terry is probably one of the best examples out there, breaking the Joker in a manner the original Batman couldn't do. In fact, it is a brilliant callback to his own taunting of the original Batman after finding out his identity, mocking him for being "a little boy in a play suit crying for mommy and daddy", with the insult being thrown right back at his face.
• If I Wanted You Dead...: Flashback-Joker uses the inversion.
  Batman: I'll break you in two!
  Joker: (laughs) Oh, Batman, if you had the guts for that kind of fun, you would have done it years ago. I, on the other hand...
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Deconstructed. Yes, Tim Drake still is in there somewhere, but he's so damaged he'll never be quite the same again.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: When Bonk angrily mouths off to the Joker, Joker impales him with his flag gun. The Joker died by getting impaled with the same gun by Tim Drake in a flashback.
• Inadequate Inheritor: The Joker sees Terry as one for the role of Batman; his priorities are made clear when he sends his lackeys to take care of Terry while he himself attacks Bruce in the Bat-Cave. Terry later proves this spectacularly wrong during their final fight.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Dean Stockwell as the 50-60-something Tim Drake.
• Ironic Echo:
  • In spirit, if not exact wording:
    Joker to Batman (Bruce): It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic. (beat) Oh, what the heck, I'll laugh anyway.
    Batman (Terry) to Joker: You make me laugh...but only because I think you're kinda pathetic.
  • When the Joker berates his henchmen, he says, "Why, in my day..." to which Bonk retorts, "Your day is over, old man!" After the Joker shoots Bonk he quips, "That's also how we did it in my day."
• Ironic Last Words:
  • The Joker has spent years terrorizing Gotham for laughs. His final battle with Batman has him brainwash Robin into a miniature version of him, with the intent of having Batman's own partner be the one to finish him off. When Robin regains slight control at the last second and shoots Joker instead of Batman, his last words are "That's not funny...that's not..." before collapsing, dead.
  • Terry throws the Joker's jokes right back at him by calling him a stupid manchild whose jokes are stale once the props are gone. Joker doesn't take Terry's disrespect lightly. This was done so Terry could deliberately rile Joker and fry the chip mind-controlling Tim with the joy buzzer to make sure he is Deader than Dead.
• It's All My Fault: Barbara mentions at the end of the flashback that Bruce blamed himself for causing Tim to be tortured by the Joker, and that the reason he asked Tim to give up his Robin suit was so that he would never put another accomplice in such a horrible situation again. Tim doesn't blame Bruce for what happened, and mentions that it was probably for the best that he gave up the cowl. This is also the reason Bruce is reluctant to let Terry find the Joker, and tells him he shouldn't have forced the burden of Batman on him, since he fears it will cause Terry to suffer Tim's fate as well.
• Joker Immunity:
  • Finally averted. The Joker actually dies for good twice in the film (the first time is when he's killed by Tim Drake in the modern day and the second time is when Terry fries the chip containing Joker's consciousness and DNA coding attached to Tim Drake's neck in the future).
  • Played straight with Harley Quinn, though.
• Karma Houdini: Harley may be The Atoner now, but she still basically got away scot-free with everything she and Joker did to Tim. It's possible she was caught and already served her time by the time we see her at the end (as a decent, law-abiding senior citizen by this point).
• Karmic Death:
  • The Joker's first death; in fact (in the uncensored version), when he's shot, he can only say, "That's not funny...". His second and final death topped this however by turning Joker’s own Breaking Speech schtick against him, reducing him to a raving lunatic obsessed with ending Terry at all costs, before giving him some very well needed electroshock therapy with his own joy buzzer straight to the chip in his neck housing Joker’s consciousness, putting him down for good and saving Tim’s life and sanity.
  • The Bowdlerised version was pretty karmic too: Joker is electrocuted to death by the very device he used to torture Tim.
• Kick the Dog:
  • In the flashback sequence, the Joker shows Batman a video of him torturing Tim Drake and then reveals that, after a few weeks, his mind snapped and he revealed Batman's identity to Joker. Joker then proceeds to mock Batman over the death of his parents. Bodily injury soon followed.
  • After breaking into the Batcave and gassing Bruce, the Joker re-creates the "HA HA HA" graffiti from the murder of Terry's father just to torture him.
• Kid Hero: Deconstructed with Robin's fate. Barbara also seems to think that Harley Wouldn't Hurt a Child. Both seem to consider crime fighting like a great adventure. Bruce would never have such illusions.
• Killed Off for Real: In an aversion of the very trope named after him, The Joker got this treatment in this installment. He proved to be as much of a survivor in the DC Animated Universe as his comic book counterpart via being every bit the "no one" in No One Could Survive That! — but this installment took the big leap and put him down once and for all. After he dies, but manages to cheat death by implanting a microchip containing his DNA and memories into Tim Drake, transforming him into the Joker unknowingly at random times, the chip is destroyed by Terry, finally making sure he can never come back.
• Kill Sat: Government-issued Hyperion class defense satellite.
• "Kiss the Cook" Apron: The Joker shows Batman recordings of him torturing and brainwashing Robin. He frames the recordings like home movies, even donning a "Kiss the Cook" apron and pulling his torture equipment out of a faux grill to complete the sadistic scene. According to the DVD Commentary, the apron originally said "Kill the Cook", but Warner Brothers Home Video understandably asked them to change it.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Harley spent her youth refusing redemption whenever the Joker called, and aided him in multiple schemes. Her reward for this was constant abuse, and finally falling down a pit; even though she survived, she needs to use a cane afterwards. As an old lady, she finds out that her granddaughters are spending their youth as part of a Jokerz gang, and have even found "Pudding".
• The Last Thing You Ever See: After The Joker injures Batman in the flashback sequence, he says, "You've lost, Batman. Robin is mine. The last sound you'll hear will be our laughter", before attempting to do so.
• Laughing Mad:
  • It's The Joker! What did you expect?
  • Also, J.J. (a.k.a. Robin/Tim Drake) suffered from it to the extent that the only vocabulary he could give was maniacal laughter. Given what he had to go through, it's not surprising.
• Laughing at Your Own Jokes: Discussed and deconstructed. Outmatched by Joker's taunts of him being a Batfake, Terry asks for Bruce's help, who states he should ignore the clown's gloating. Terry then realizes he is his own Batman and proceeds to do the thing Joker always wanted the OG to do: laugh, but at his failure in doing so. The sight of Batman deriding him causes Joker to have a massive Villainous Breakdown.
• Lean and Mean: Ghoul.
• Leitmotif: Terry's theme is carried over from the series. Shirley Walker's BTAS theme likewise briefly returns at the beginning of the flashback sequence (albeit in a more somber rendition to underscore the tragedy Barbara's about to recount to Terry).
• Lethal Kid Hero: Invoked and played with. In the original version, flashbacks show that a young Robin/Tim Drake was tortured and brainwashed by the Joker into becoming a mini version of him, as a way to hurt Batman at his core. Joker planned to have Tim shoot Batman, but Tim resists just enough to turn the gun on the Joker and kill him instead, ending his hero career due to the trauma of the whole ordeal.
• Little "No": Batman's horrified reaction to Joker showing him what's behind the curtain at Arkham.
• Locked Out of the Loop: This is sort-of inverted—the old Bat-Family has the Dark Secret rather than Terry himself, but they keep a lid on it for his sake because they believe he cannot handle the Joker. This approach backfires on all of them.
  • Played straight, if downplayed, with Joker towards Harley in the flashback. Joker withheld the secrets he extracted from Tim from Harley — including the knowledge of Batman's true identity. While it's not explicitly pointed out in the film, this means that even if Harley somehow survived her plunge into the pit, she can't be behind or involved with the new Joker (since he knows Bruce was Batman and Harley was left ignorant of the secret).
• Logical Weakness: Terry mocks Joker's motives for villainy and obsession with making the original Batman laugh via an epic Boring Insult. Joker doesn't take this insult lightly. It was deliberately done so Terry can take him down for good by frying the microchip that was controlling Tim.
• Made of Explodium: Everything explodes in this installment. In the opening battle, Chuckles fires a laser at Terry, which at first melts the construction hook he was sitting on. The hook then explodes. But this is nothing to complain about, as the explosions in this film look gorgeous.
• Make an Example of Them: While Joker kills Bonk primarily for mouthing off at him, it also serves as an additional purpose: a warning to the rest of the Jokerz gang to shut up, fall in line, and don’t even think of trying to get out.
• Manchild:
  • Joker points out to Bruce that for all the fear he invokes by being The Cowl, he is really this trope.
    Joker: I must admit, it's sadly anti-climactic. Behind all the sturm and batarangs, you're just a little boy in a play-suit, crying for Mommy and Daddy! It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic...oh, what the heck, I'll laugh anyway! [Mad Laughter]
  • Terry throws Joker's insults right back at him by pointing out that he, not Batman, is this trope: his fixation with the OG Batman was rather flimsy, and once the makeup and props are removed, he's nothing but an idiot trying to make people laugh at jokes that lack any humor. This sends Joker off the deep end.
• Mind Rape: Joker captured Tim and tortured him until he went insane, remolding him into Joker Junior. He eventually mostly recovered, but he was never the same afterwards.
• Mini-Me: Joker's goal was to make a "Joker Junior" by torturing Tim Drake into making him insane like he is. It almost worked too, but the mostly Jokerfied-Tim managed to eventually overcome it.
• Missing Mission Control: After The Joker incapacitates Bruce, Terry is forced to rely on his own detective work for the last 3rd of the movie. This leads to Terry having to chase down leads he thought up on his own, and it's only when Bruce recovers and talks with him does Terry manage to have an epiphany and deduce the Joker's true identity.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • After Bruce "fires" him, Terry goes to hang out with Dana at their nightclub. She snuggles as they slow-dance, while Terry promises there's more time for them...and then the Jokerz appear, to kill Terry.
  • In the flashback sequence, Batman busts in on Joker and Harley at Arkham as they are acting out what appears to be a cheesy 1950s sitcom. They announce their intention to start a family and the mood is quite goofy. Then, The Joker peels back a curtain and reveals what he did to Tim Drake.
• Monster Clown: The Joker obviously qualifies, but the Jokerz all deserve special mention. The Dee-Dees dress themselves up like ragdolls, Ghoul dresses like a ghastly scarecrow (evoking another longtime Batman villain), Woof spliced himself with hyena DNA, Bonk is a giant rage case, and Chucko wears a creepy mask.
• Moral Myopia: The flashback sequence shows the Joker kidnap Robin, disfigure and Mind Rape him into "Joker Junior", and ultimately hand the kid a gun and tell him to shoot Batman. At the last minute, "J.J." shoots Joker instead, and the Clown Prince of Crime's last words?
  Joker: T-that's not funny! That's not...
• Motive Misidentification: Early in the film, Bruce mistakenly concludes the Jokerz have been stealing high-tech machinery to fence it; after all, he knows first hand that corporate espionage is big business. He and Terry don't realize until late in the film that the true purpose of the thefts was for the Joker using Tim Drake's own technical expertise, to build a jamming system capable of hijacking military defense satellites.
• Ms. Fanservice: The Always Identical Twins of the Jokerz, Dee Dee. Dressed in short shorts, knee-high boots, and midriff exposing tube tops, complete with being as flirtatious in dialogue and posing as a PG-13 rating will allow them. Their entrance into the club scene is classically Femme Fatale, as they dress in form-hugging dresses, turn heads as they approached Terry, and press themselves against him in a clear ploy to seduce him; though naturally it doesn't work for even a second. And do we even have to mention the yacht scene?
• Mugged for Disguise: One of the Dee-Dees briefly poses as Jordan Pryce's girlfriend Amy. The real Amy is left bound and gagged at the docks.
• Mugging the Monster: When the Jokerz attack Terry, they mention their boss didn't mention why he wanted the young man dead. While they injure Dana so that she has to go to the hospital, Terry manages to beat them all with some improvisation, without the suit. By the end of it most of them are half-drowned and Terry takes out Chucko with one punch.
• Must Make Amends: Bruce shows up at the hospital Tim is staying in (with Barbara visiting him) so he can make amends with them and relieve himself of his decades-long guilt.
• My Biological Clock Is Ticking: From Harley: "That old clock's a-ticking!"^note Since she has twin granddaughters, she clearly did have children at some point.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The shredded Robin costume is a reference to the infamous story arc "A Death In The Family".
  • The flashback storyline as a whole is essentially the DCAU's spin on "A Death In The Family" as both stories involve the second Robin being kidnapped and tortured by The Joker. The main difference is that in this version, Robin lives, while the Joker doesn't.
• Never Found the Body: In the flashback, Harley Quinn falls into a deep pit at the end of her fight with Batgirl. Barbara mentions this trope by name, but immediately follows up with savviness by adding, "But I doubt she'd be starting trouble now." The ending shows that Barbara was right: Harley survived the fall and settled down for a quiet life. Too bad her grandchildren ended up becoming Jokerz.
• Never-Forgotten Skill:
  • Bruce may not have been Batman for years, but he never forgot his skills. One such skill: How to make a batch of anti-venom for Joker's personal poison. In the uncut version of the film, he shows that he is still capable of using a Batarang as if he were in his prime.
    Bruce: Still Got It.
  • Tim Drake has been retired from his position as Robin for 40 years, but he still retains some measure of his old skills by hearing a cloaked Batman coming "from a mile away".
    Tim: I'm no Boy Wonder anymore, but that old training never goes away, even at my age.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Bruce forbidding Tim to be Robin and foisting him onto Leslie Thompkins. While Bruce was thinking of Tim's recovery and future, he's still pushing Tim away out of guilt. If he hadn't (or blocked any attempts at a reconciliation), Bruce would very likely have spotted the Joker's microchip sooner.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!:
  • Terry and Bruce already had a falling out somewhere near the middle of the movie. But then Joker orders his Jokerz go after Terry while he himself attacks Bruce. The unprovoked attack made Terry more determined to get the whole truth, and he rushes back to Wayne Manor. If he hadn't, Bruce might have actually been killed by Joker 's toxin.^note Remember that Bruce lives in isolation; it will take a long time for someone to wonder about his absence, and by then it would have probably been too late.
  • During his monologue to Bruce and Terry about how he survived and what he's going to do to Gotham, the Joker makes the decision to show Terry where he put the microchip he used to control Tim Drake. If he hadn't, Terry might not have been able to stop him for good (since there would've been no other way to stop the Joker without screwing over the innocent Tim along with him).
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: When the Joker reveals to Batman how he tortured and brainwashed Robin, Batman attacks him with a fury that leaves Bruce's intent laid fully bare.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Word of God states that Michael Rosenbaum deliberately made Ghoul sound like Christopher Walken. As Timm states on the DVD commentary, Rosenbaum (who voiced multiple roles on Beyond prior to being cast as the Flash) first broke out the Walken impression in-between takes during recording sessions. Timm and company thought it was hysterical and were determined to get it into the show somehow. When the casting began on this movie, they decided Rosenbaum's Walken would be a perfect fit for Ghoul and the rest is history.
• No Endor Holocaust: When Joker runs his Kill Sat laser through Gotham City, it causes massive collateral damage over much of the city, including a park area with clearly-visible bystanders, but it does not seem to have killed anyone (or at the very least, the utter devastation is totally glossed over in the ending).
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Traditionally, Batman always follows the Thou Shalt Not Kill rule, even when Joker gets into the game. He even saves the crook's life a few times. In this installment, the Joker shows Bruce the end result of all that mercy.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: While Batman chases Joker through Arkham, Batgirl gives Harley mutliple haymakers for her role in all this. Harley has to flee outside because of this.
• No Sense of Humor: Terry believes the reason why Joker wants to make Batman laugh is because Bruce has no sense of humor, and Joker saw it as the ultimate challenge. For all his mockery of his victims, Joker ironically hates being laughed at, something which Terry also exploits and invokes.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: Finding himself outmatched with Joker's taunts of him being a Batfake, Terry realizes Bruce always ignored the clown's gloating and roasts him by doing exactly what he always wanted Batman to do: laugh at him for his corny jokes.
• No Sympathy: Subverted when Terry sees an unconscious Tim Drake in the Jolly Jack's abandoned factory. While saying that he knows Tim is working for the Joker, a confused Tim rouses and says that the Joker's gone, and asks how he ended up here. Terry helps him to his feet and notes that he's not lying, according to the Batsuit monitoring Tim's heartbeat. Tim then starts rambling about how he gave up all this "kid's stuff" ages ago and playing with one of the abandoned toys and saying it was all fun and games until...that night. Terry immediately gets worried, realizing that Tim is Not Himself, and offers to call an ambulance when registering that he's suffering a flashback. When Joker reveals that he's been taking over Tim's body and plans to make the change permanent, Terry changes his agenda to save Tim by shorting out the microchip that allows for it.
• Non-Action Guy: Out of all the Jokerz, Ghoul has the least impressive success record in fighting Batman man-to-man.
• Noodle Incident:
  • The circumstances of how, when, and where the original Joker acquired the cutting-edge genetics technology he used on Tim Drake. Justice League would later answer this during the Cadmus Arc.
  • Fresh off his first meeting with Tim, Terry wonders if all of the ex-partners were as jaded as he was at Bruce. Barbara tells him to someday look Dick Grayson up; "has he got stories".
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Harley was a completely willing participant in the Joker's torture and remolding of Tim.
• Not Listening to Me, Are You?: Between his regular life and being Batman, Terry hasn't gotten much sleep lately. While out at a club dancing, his girlfriend Dana notices and proclaims that her head is on fire, to which Terry only responds that she looks good.
• Not Quite Dead: After Joker attacks Bruce at Wayne Manor, Terry comes in to find the house a wreck and Bruce slumped over the Batcomputer with the telltale rictus grin of Joker venom. As Terry checks his pulse and heartbeat, Bruce springs back to life long enough to tell Terry about the antitoxin, which ultimately saves Bruce's life.
• Not So Stoic: The look of shock and absolute horror on Bruce's face when Joker first presents himself, especially after Joker indirectly confirms his identity by addressing him personally.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Discussed. Terry notes that despite his infamy, Joker was the only member of Bruce's Rogues Gallery that he never told him about, correctly deducing that it was because he was the worst of them all for torturing and brainwashing Tim into becoming Joker Junior.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Wrapping up the flashback, Barbara explains that Tim eventually recovered from the whole ordeal, but Bruce refused to allow him to be Robin again.
• Obliviously Evil: Implied with Harley: She apparently thinks the Joker torturing and brainwashing Tim Drake will allow them to become a real family. Judging by the Joker's own response to Batman he doesn't seem to be under any such delusions and just did it For the Evulz. Given that Harley nearly died from her confrontation with Batgirl and later gave up the villainous life for good, this tendency no longer applies when she's an elder, as we see when she smacks her granddaughters for becoming Jokerz gang members. Barbara explicitly mentions that Harleen has been inactive for forty years since the tragedy and is too old to continue her Insane Troll Logic.
• Off with His Head!: This is parodied in the opening of the uncut version—after the credits, Bruce throws a Batarang that cuts the head off of a wax statue of Two-Face in the Batcave.
• Offhand Backhand: Batman practically invented this trope. Terry does a fine job of carrying on the tradition.
• Oh, Crap!: Batgirl over Harley's sleeve ripping, thus causing the jester to fall into the pit.
• Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers: When Terry hands off Jordan Pryce to the police with evidence Jordan was involved in the Jokerz’s crimes, Jordan Pryce demands his lawyer.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You:
  • This could be played straight, depending on your point of view. Joker wanted the brainwashed Tim Drake to physically be the one to kill Batman, but Joker himself masterminded the whole situation.
  • This is unquestionably played straight in that Joker only ever wanted Bruce to be the one who defeated him—and the only one he would ever try to make laugh. The clown reacts negatively when Terry mocks his failed attempts to make Bruce laugh.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Acknowledged in-story by Terry after the prologue robbery. This is the third such attempted heist in a month involving this particular Jokerz gang. Terry observes this is very weird behavior, as the Jokerz have little use for high-tech machinery. Bruce (mistakenly) concludes the Jokerz are probably just fencing the goods, pointing out that corporate espionage is big business.
  • Bruce has a look of pure terror on his face when he sees the Joker make his public return at the Wayne Enterprises reception - not even Darkseid was ever able to make the OG Batman look as scared as he does in that moment.
  • The flashback sequence is one of the very few times in the DCAU that Batman looks as if he is willing to kill; in particular, when he first sees what Joker has turned Tim into, he throws a knife at the clown's head.
  • Joker genuinely loses his temper when he is taunted by Terry playing The Heckler. The Smug Snake Monster Clown façade crumbles under Terry saying that Joker is just not funny. Only the monster remains from that point on.
• Out-of-Character Alert: Tim at first has a Freak Out when Terry finds him in the climax, sweating and reliving the night he killed the Joker. Batman says he's calling an ambulance, only for Tim to address him by his first name and say the memories are like "bad oysters." Terry points out he never revealed his secret identity to the man. It's the Joker taking over Tim's body, who proceeds to incapacitate Terry and transform, before explaining he implanted a microchip on Tim.
• Outside-Context Problem:
  • Terry becomes this to defeat the Joker once and for all. Joker is so used to dealing with the stoic, honor-bound OG Batman that the clown loses it when Terry openly jeers at him. Terry also has no problem fighting dirty—and in revoking Joker Immunity.
  • Zigzagged with the Joker to Terry. By this point in the show, Terry has encountered and fought several of Bruce's surviving original foes (and racked up his own rogues gallery as well). But none of them matched the Joker's depravity. However, Terry also doesn't have the personal connection or trauma Bruce and the others did to the Clown, so once Terry figures out how to deal with the Joker, he holds his own.
• Outside-the-Box Tactic: Bruce states Terry should ignore Joker's gloating. But that gives Terry an idea — he likes to Trash Talk, too. Cue the younger Batman openly mocking Joker with a "Clichéd Villain" Accusation — and finishing him off with his own joy buzzer.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Seeing what Joker has done to Tim Drake proves to be the one thing that convinces Bruce to finally try and kill Joker. (Being mocked over his parents' deaths probably pushes a few buttons, too.)
  • Bruce prefers not to involve Terry with the Joker, so he has to ask the latter to retire as Batman.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Averted with the Dee Dee twins. They wear bobcut wigs that are red, but in civilian guise have long blond hair. Thus when they "cut in" and bump Dana away from the dance floor, Terry is confused but doesn't realize who they are until they attack him.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Misinterpreting Bruce's motives for trying to make him give up being Batman, Terry angrily quits and cuts off any ties with him. Unfortunately this leaves the mansion and Bruce himself open for a personal visit by the Joker.
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • Bruce at first doesn't tell Terry why he wants the latter to hang up the Batman suit, at first saying that he pushed Terry too hard to take on such a burden. When Terry later finds out the real reason, he's sympathetic when Bruce admits that he was scared of the Joker torturing Terry and breaking him. Even so, Terry tells him he's not going to go that way, and they agree the police are no match for the clown. This time, Terry has an Ace up his sleeve (in this case, in the Batmobile) and Bruce's guidance.
  • While Terry's learned about the old villains, Bruce has never discussed the Joker with him (and for good reason given all the pain and trauma the Clown inflicted). This hole in Terry's 'education' backfires here when the Joker seemingly returns...and Terry doesn't initially take him seriously. Terry thinks the Joker was just a wackjob who threatened people with squirting flowers and whoopee cushions (and his percpetion's also being influenced by his own encounters with Joker's 'legacy', i.e. the Jokerz Street Gangs). It's only after the Jokerz attack him and Dana (and after Joker almost kills Bruce) that Terry finally wises up and starts understanding why the Bat Family fears and loathes the Joker so much.
    • Ironically, this poor communication is also part of what allows Terry to eventually beat the Joker. Because he lacks that context (and, more importantly, the shared trauma from those battles that emotionally crippled Bruce, Barbara, and Tim), Terry is thus able to view and analyze Joker strategically — and in a way that even Bruce, for all his understanding of the Clown, never could. It thus allows Terry to counterattack in a way the Joker would never have anticipated or expected coming from 'his' Batman.
• Post-Mortem Comeback: The two mysteries of the film are how The Joker died and how he came back to life.
• Pragmatic Hero: Being a Smug Snake Attention Whore, Joker has lofty notions about what "the real Batman" should be and thinks the Batfake can't match up to the OG. Terry ends up agreeing... and using this to his favor by laughing at the clown with a Boring Insult and kicking him in the balls.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  • While fighting on a high-speed hovercraft flying high in the city, Bonk has Terry by the throat. Terry, while struggling, sees behind himself (where the hovercraft is flying) and he tries to warn his opponent of a "flgpkl".
    Bonk: What did you say?
    Batman: Flag...pole! (KLONK!)
  • And later in the movie...
    Joker: C'mon, McGinnis! Laugh it up now, you miserable little punk! LAUGH!
    (Terry gasps)
    Joker: I can't hear you!
    Terry: Ha. Ha. (electrocutes Joker with his own joy buzzer)
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Ha. Ha."
• Pre-Violence Laughter:
  • When the Joker threatens Bonk at gunpoint, he pulls the trigger revealing a Bang Flag. He chuckles, indicating it was a joke, and the rest of the gang sigh with relief. The Joker then pulls the trigger a second time, and the flag shoots out like a harpoon, killing Bonk.
  • A tragic example happens during the flashback sequence. The Joker throws a gun to the brainwashed Tim Drake, ordering him to kill Batman. Tim start to laugh uncontrollably, but breaks out of his brainwashing and kills the Joker. His laughter then escalates till he breaks down crying.
• Present Peeking: The Joker compares finding out about Batman's secret identity to peeking at Christmas presents—and finding the contents "sadly anticlimactic".
• Pretender Diss: Joker repeatedly throws these at Terry, but it's entirely due to his own inflated ego. When he flat-out yells "YOU'RE NOT BATMAN!", it's a sign Terry's gotten under his skin in a way Bruce himself never managed.
• Pretty Spry for a Dead Guy: The Joker is actually inhabiting the body of Tim Drake. But Terry says the trope phrase word-for-word after first seeing The Joker.
• Pun: The Joker uses two rather clever puns in the flashback sequence:
  • When making fun of Batman's tragic backstory, he says "Behind all the sturm and batarangs..." this is a reference to the German Romantic art movement from the 18th century, called Sturm und Drang (Storm and Desire).
  • When Batman threatens to break him in two, the Joker points out, he would've done it a long time ago, if he had the guts for it. He then claims "I on the other hand" seemingly referring to his own enjoyment of murder, and pulls a knife while Batman keeps an eye on The Joker's other hand.
• Properly Paranoid: Because of what happened with the Joker, Bruce forbids Terry from wearing the suit and going after him. He admits it's because he didn't want Terry to suffer Tim's fate. This is even worse if you go by the events of "Epilogue". Bruce feared the Joker torturing his biological son.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Joker's reaction to seeing someone laugh at him is a temper tantrum. To highlight his immaturity, he blows a raspberry when he dismisses Batman as a Worthy Opponent.
• Put Their Heads Together: When the Dee Dees come at him from opposite sides after their Slippery Skid, Terry neatly pulls an invisible act worthy of Door Judo, causing them to smash into each other in this way.
• Pygmalion Snap Back: The Joker captures Tim Drake (who was the current Robin) and gives him a "personality makeover" that’s based in Joker's own image. "J.J." ends up snapping back just long enough to kill Joker, but this traumatizes him even further. Tim undergoes years of therapy to recover, yet even that is not enough to fully heal his mind...which is exactly what Joker was counting on.
• Pyrrhic Victory: The ending and ultimate outcome of the Flashback sequence. Yes, the Joker is finally, if unexpectedly dead, and his threat to Gotham and the Bat Family has ended (and Harley is likewise presumed dead as well despite never locating her body). But it ain't much of a win, because the damage is done. Tim has been irreparably traumatized by being kidnapped, tortured and brainwashed, and ultimately killing the Joker. Between this and the ensuing deception they had to employ to keep the secret of that fateful night, the Bat Family effectively collapsed (with Bruce pushing Tim away out of guilt and Barbara ultimately retiring as Batgirl and refocusing herself towards law enforcement rather than vigilantism). Furthermore, Joker's legacy will endure as the Jokerz street gangs will adopt his iconography as their own. As the older Barbara bitterly observes, Joker ultimately got the last laugh on all of them.
• Rapid-Fire "Shut Up!": Joker gives off several of these during his Villainous Breakdown after Terry belittles him for pathetically failing to break Bruce.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Bruce hasn't wanted Terry to investigate the Joker, fearing that the clown will go after his protge. Then Terry gets a "Eureka!" Moment about the Robin suit being shredded, and that the parts Joker stole could assemble a hijacking device for a satellite, with Tim Drake having gone into engineering. He says that Tim is the most likely suspect for helping the Joker, that perhaps the trauma affected him more badly than he initially revealed. Bruce doesn't like the implications, but he tells Terry to suit up and visit Tim in his lab, with backup, because further investigation can't hurt.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The film features a rather epic one delivered by Terry to the Joker by dissing his attempts to mentally break Batman and calling him a pathetic comedian who chose supervillainy.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Joker now has red-colored eyes in both the flashback sequence (i.e. the present) and the future.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: Again, The Joker at first while he is seated in the shadows.
• Red Herring:
  • Jordan Pryce's voice, physical features, and motive for trying to get rid of Bruce Wayne exist mostly to make you (and Batman) assume Pryce is the "new" Joker.
  • The story also later seems to be implying that the Joker's brainwashing of Tim decades ago was successful after all and he's take up the persona of the new Joker. However, while he technically is the Joker, the brainwashing had really nothing to do with it; the Joker had planted a DNA-coded microchip into Tim's neck years ago that was literally turning Tim into the Joker without him knowing.
• Remember the New Guy?:
  • The Joker's Jokerz gang, which never appeared on the show. It's a justified instance, as the series had established there were dozens of street gangs all operating under the Jokerz umbrella (and Terry's personal clashes had been limited to the J-Man and Terminal's Jokerz gangs).
  • Corporate Executive Jordan Pryce, who would've been Paxton Powers' successor (and thus part of the Powers old guard), has never been mentioned or appeared until now. This too can be justified due to Paxton being the primary Wayne-Powers POV character after Season One (and the show's corporate intrigue storylines having been abandoned after Season One).
• Resignations Not Accepted: This is how The Joker responds to Bonk's demands to quit his organization.
• Resolved Noodle Incident: The flashback sequence, among other things, finally answers one of the show's oldest mysteries: Why Bruce walks with a limp. Joker stabbed him in the leg during their final fight and the injury never fully healed.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Jordan Pryce uses his position within Wayne Enterprises to help the Jokerz to steal from the company. In exchange, he gets their cooperation in getting rid of Bruce and becoming the company's new CEO. When Joker decides to tie up loose ends, The Jokerz try to kill Pryce. Batman saves him—and turns over evidence of the betrayal, as well as Pryce himself, to the police.
• Riddle for the Ages: Downplayed, but the reveal in the final scenes that the now-elderly Harley Quinn is the grandmother of the Dee-Dees. Was it sheer coincidence that the Joker recruited them of all people as his Jokerz? Or was Joker aware of their heritage all along and intentionally "enlisted" them to mock Harley's attempts to reform following his original death?
• Sanity Has Advantages: After realizing Joker's irrational fixation with making Batman laugh is his ultimate Fatal Flaw, Terry roasts him mercilessly about it by calling it lame. This causes Joker to make a critical error that ends the fight in Terry's favor.
• Sarcasm Failure: Noting that Joker is an Attention Whore who loves to gloat even if others don't care, Terry calls his fixation with the OG Batman, his origin story, and even his skills as a comedian lame. After all, a comedian's worst enemy is The Heckler.
• Save the Villain:
  • Terry saves one of the Dee-Dees from falling to her death.
  • Batgirl tries to save Harley from falling down a deep chasm at Arkham, but fails. The film's climax reveals that she survived.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: At first, Bruce wants Terry to leave the Joker to the police, fearing he's too dangerous for Terry to take on. But later, after Terry figured out the Joker's identity and what his agenda is (as well as the Jokerz attacking Terry in his civilian identity anyway), Bruce tells Terry to suit up.
  Terry: What happened to leaving it to the cops?
  Bruce: Not their game.
• Scream Discretion Shot: In the censored version, Joker's death by electrocution cuts away just as he accidentally flips the switch that turns the power on to Barbara hearing his screaming from down the hall.
• Secondary Adaptation: Released in 2000, it is a feature-length episode of Batman Beyond, a 1999 cartoon based on the DC Comics character, Batman.
• Selective Obliviousness: Despite knowing who Terry McGinnis is, Joker makes absolutely no effort to learn anything about him beyond people that he's close to. This leads to him being surprised by Terry's stark differences from Bruce and the Batfamily in the final battle, ultimately leading to his defeat.
• Sharing a Body: It's eventually revealed that Tim Drake and the resurrected Joker are the same person, though this isn't a willing example on Drake's part. He's been implanted with a microchip containing the Joker's memories and DNA, which means the Joker can hijack the former Robin's body whenever he wants in order to create widespread chaos.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Tim Drake. Considering what happened to him, no one should be surprised that he still has some effects forty years later. This goes From Bad to Worse when The Joker hijacks him through a DNA chip on his neck and commits crimes through his body, all while Tim's mind believes he is reliving a nightmare.
  • This is also why Bruce and Barabara respond so ineffectively to the Joker's return in the Present Day. Even decades later, they're both likewise still too traumatized and broken from their battles with the Joker and his final defeat. Terry, by contrast, doesn’t have that Joker-related PTSD and thus is ultimately able to rise to the occasion without that emotional baggage weighing him down.
• Shout-Out:
  • Word of God explicitly states the orbital satellite laser was inspired by AKIRA. What makes this one particularly interesting is that the DVD commentary reveals the entire satellite sequence was overseen by TMS Entertainment animator Hiroyuki Aoyama. By sheer coincidence, not only had Aoyama worked on the Akira film adaptation, but he had actually animated that very satellite weapon sequence. So Aoyama was faced with the challenge of having to top his own iconic sequence over a decade later.
  • One of Terry's wild guesses on how the Joker survived is that he was frozen in a block of ice for decades.
  • The poster, seen as the page image above, features a giant green Joker head, closely mimicking one of the posters for The Man Who Laughs, the film which inspired the Joker.
  • After Terry has saved Bruce's life, one Looney Tunes cartoon Ace is watching is the Bugs Bunny short "Hare Ribbin'", known for its controversial ending (which is also shown)^note in which a Russian stereotype dog, in his "My God, What Have I Done?" moment, laments that he has apparently killed Bugs Bunny and that he himself should have been the one to die; his lamentation is also heard in the audio, but only in the uncut version.
  • To Shakespeare: When Bonk gets angry at the Joker and calls him a fake, the Joker replies, "Ah, brave new world...that has such [putzes/yutzes] in it." This is a parody of a line spoken by Miranda in The Tempest: "O, wonder!/How many goodly creatures are there here!/How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world/That has such people in't" (V, i).
  • According to Bruce Timm on the DVD Commentary, the Joker's red eyes and slicked-back hair that he has in the future were inspired by Hannibal Lecter. Similarly, Joker's strangler hands and black fingernails were also inspired by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein (1931) (as Timm, by his own admission, is a huge Karloff fan).
  • When the Joker is about to finish off Ace, he says "End of the line, Snoopy."
  • The Joker's transformation is a shout-out to at least one film version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: it's accomplished with subtle misdirection and a clever fade.
  • The title of the film itself could be seen as a reference to Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi only with Mark Hamill returning as a villain instead of a hero.
• The Shrink: Dr. Leslie Thompkins needs a year to bring Tim "back to sanity" after Joker's torture.
• Sinister Suffocation: Joker shows a clear predilection for asphyxiation as an assassination method. His weapon of choice is a poison that causes victims to laugh uncontrollably until the respiratory system ceases to function. During the final battle, he even tries to strangle Terry when the latter insults him.
• Slasher Smile: With Joker and his venom around, this is inevitable. This time, the horror (and creepy) factor is amplified, especially with poor Tim.
• Small Name, Big Ego: As Terry snidely points out, Joker genuinely thinks he's the greatest comedian (aka supervillain) ever, when pretty much all of his supposed jokes are amateurish and that he failed to break Batman. Joker doesn't take this insult lightly.
• Smug Snake: Joker regards Terry as a Batman wannabe and takes constant amusement in taunting him, thinking he's incapable of defeating the Clown Prince of Crime. Terry proves him spectacularly wrong with a Boring Insult.
• Snarky Villain, Earnest Hero: Inverted. Joker flips out when Terry heckles his fixation with Batman, clown-themed modus operandi, and even his penchant for cracking jokes on others' misery bland.
• So Happy Together: Terry surprises Dana at the dance club after being fired as Batman. They get a little banter and a sweet dance together...then the Jokerz crash the party and almost kill both of them.
• Something Only They Would Say: When the Joker announces his return to Neo Gotham, Bruce is absolutely stunned, muttering "it can't be". Joker assures Bruce he's the real deal because "who'd know me better than you". This also foreshadows the later reveal that Joker managed to figure out Batman's secret identity in the past.
• So Proud of You:
  • In the edited version of the film, Bruce gives a silently approving smile when Tim throws away the gun given to him by The Joker.
  • Bruce at the end of the film, after seeing Terry defeat the Joker.
• Sore Loser: Joker absolutely hated it when the so-called Bat-fake got under his skin in a way the original Batman could never think about: roasting him via the Trash Talk Boring Insult.
• Soul Jar: The DNA/Microchip package Joker implanted in Tim Drake during the weeks he was holding him captive.
• Spanner in the Works: Bruce ironically ends up being this to Jordan Pryce. With the downfall of Paxton Powers (in "King's Ransom"), Pryce was next in line for the CEO role. Bruce unexpectedly regaining control of Wayne Enterprises destroyed those plans (and prompts Jordan's actions in this film).
• Spared by the Adaptation: Played With. In the censored version, Bonk is still shot by the Joker at the beginning of the film. But in that version, the gun is filled with Joker gas and it (only) ends up driving him insane, instead of killing him outright, as opposed to his fate in the uncensored version, where Bonk is impaled in the heart by the mini-spear gun. He doesn't appear for the rest of the film either way.
• Spotting the Thread: Terry does this a number of times throughout the film, reflecting how he's come into his own as Batman.
  • Even before the Joker reveals himself and his plan, Terry correctly realizes something weird is going on with this particular Jokerz gang. They’ve been hitting multiple high-tech firms over the last month, but Jokerz don’t use or need that kind of equipment (never mind that these heists are far above their normal petty larceny). Bruce agrees with Terry’s assessment, but mistakenly concludes they’re just playing corporate espionage and trying to fence the goods. The stolen equipment is actually being used to construct a satellite jamming system.
  • Terry notes that Joker should be Bruce's age, in his 90s, but he looks "spry" given he was able to match the new Batman blow-for-blow. He floats some possibilities — clone, robot, suspended animation — but Bruce doesn't want to follow that line of thought because the Joker shouldn't be alive, and hinted he'll be going after Terry. Terry investigates both Tim Drake and Jordan Pryce rather than assume this Joker is a ghost risen; it turns out he was right that Joker is a "clone". The clown reveals that he implanted a microchip into Tim Drake's brain, to transform him unwillingly and unconsciously into the Joker.  
  • Terry points out that, for everything that Bruce shared about all his other past foes, he never once talked about the Joker. This informs Terry that Joker must have been the worst of the original Rogues' Gallery, if Bruce is that determined not to speak of a single man out of a whole gaggle of colorful villainous foes even long after he should have been dead.
  • In the film's final third, Terry notices that Joker shredded the Robin costume in his raid on the Batcave while only smashing the cases for the rest - including that of his lifelong archenemy Batman. Seeing no reason why the real Joker wouldn't just destroy them all or why he'd single out Batman's "sidekick", Terry deduces that the "brains" behind Joker's return must be someone with a stronger grudge against Robin than against Batman - which reminds him of Tim Drake's bitterness about his past life of crimefighting. This in turn reminds Terry of Tim's background as an engineer and communications technician, giving him a breakthrough on why the Jokerz were stealing computer tech and affirming his suspicions of Tim's involvement (though it turns out to have been both unwitting and involuntary on Tim's part).
• Stealth Hi/Bye: It's Batman. This is Lampshaded by Tim Drake when Terry pulls one:
  Tim Drake: Some things never change.
• Stealth Pun: The Joker is reduced to screaming as he chokes out Terry, demanding Terry laugh. Terry forces out a, "Ha. Ha." before zapping the microchip, killing the Joker for good. In other words, Terry gets the last laugh.
• Still Got It: In the Batcave, Bruce passes the time by throwing a Batarang across the cave. It neatly decapitates a statue of Two-Face and returns to his hand as smoothly as it did in his Glory Days.
• The Stool Pigeon: Poor Tim. He didn't mean to since he was tortured and drugged for three weeks. Joker commented that Tim held out for longer than the clown expected.
• Strapped to an Operating Table: Tim Drake. This is easily the most disturbing moment in DC Animated Universe history. The censored version cuts out the actual torture.
• Strong as They Need to Be: A feature of Terry’s batsuit is that it enhances his strength and reflexes yet, somehow, the Joker is able to fight him hand-to-hand and even gain the advantage. This is never explained although it could be a secondary effect of the technology he used to bring himself back to life, and Joker explains he has Bruce and Tim's knowledge and the latter's training combined.
• Stupid Evil: Oh Joker, if only he didn't point to the DNA chip that allowed him to pull a Grand Theft Me on Tim.
• Superior Successor: When Bruce explicitly tells Terry to ignore Joker's gloating, Terry realizes he's got his own style and proceeds to verbally deconstruct the clown.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: As Bruce's slimy corporate rival for his company, Jordan Pryce is practically a stand-in for either of the Powerses.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Or laughing him to death. Joker hates both options. Who knew the clown had No Sense of Humor when he is the punchline?
• Tap on the Head:
  • Averted with Dana. When she bumps her head after being tossed by Ghoul, she's unconscious and has to be taken to the hospital.
  • Played straight with the Jokerz. Terry knocks them out on more than one occasion and they aren't the worse for wear.
• Targeted to Hurt the Hero: Joker deliberately targets those closest to Terry, including Bruce Wayne, his brother Matt and mother Mary and his girlfriend, Dana, who gets sent to the hospital after some members of the Jokerz gang attack her. When Joker gets a hold of a military satellite, he tells Terry that he has a choice of who he can save, as he is targeting Wayne Manor, the apartment building where he lives with his family, and the hospital Dana is in.
• That Man Is Dead: Tim is very sour towards his time as Robin. He says one day he hoped to become like Batman, but that time has long passed.
• Theme Twin Naming: The Dee-Dees.
• These Hands Have Killed: Tim starts crying uncontrollably after he kills The Joker, which is proof that Joker's brainwashing is wearing off. Tim reveals in the climax that he harbored guilt and nightmares for killing The Joker for years and The Joker personality’s which is programmed into the chip that has been implanted in Tim's neck used that guilt to take over. Bruce, upon hearing how Tim was haunted by voices telling him "he's as bad as Joker", is visibly shaken.
• This Cannot Be!: Bruce is positively stunned to see The Joker in the flesh again.
  Bruce: It can't be.
  Joker: Oh, no, your old eyes do not deceive you, Brucie. After all, who'd know me better than you?
• This Is Gonna Suck: Barbara after Terry demands answers about what happened the last time the Joker and the Bat Family fought each other 40 years earlier. Barbara knows that Terry's right; while she and Bruce had the best intentions, locking the new Batman out of the loop has backfired spectacularly. Terry's now involved in this and he needs to know this information. But Barbara also understandably is resigned about having to revisit the Bat Family's Darkest Hour and all its accompanying trauma.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Averted in this movie.
  • Bruce was going to kill The Joker as evidenced by Bruce throwing a knife at Joker's head.
    Batman: (murderously angry) I'll break you in two!
    Joker: Oh, Batman, if you had the guts for that kind of fun, you'd have done it years ago.
  • Uncut version only; Played straight with Tim Drake: When he shoots the Joker instead of Batman while he's brainwashed, he's not happy about it.
  • Terry kills the Joker a second time by frying the microchip that is changing Tim into Mr. J.
• Too Dumb to Live: Yes, Bonk; go ahead and backtalk Joker to his face by accusing him of being a fake, saying his time's over even if he's not a fake and trying to incite the whole group against him on your way out the door - right after you were the main reason his latest heist bombed. No prizes for guessing how that'll go.
• Took a Level in Badass: Upon his return, the Joker is suddenly an even match for Batman in hand-to-hand combat. This is because he is using Tim Drake's body and Tim was trained by Bruce himself.
• Trash Talk: This became Terry's ace in the hole against Joker by doing something Bruce never did: get under Joker's skin by openly mocking him.
• The Triple:
  • Dee-Dee meeting Bruce Wayne. "Well, if it isn't old Mr. Wayne. So debonair. So dapper. (knee him in stomach) So decrepit!"
  • Terry on why The Joker is Not Quite Dead: "Clone? Robot? Suspended animation due to floating around in a block of ice?"
• Troll: When Terry mockingly trolls him for his lame gags, Joker has a spectacular freak out.
• Turn in Your Badge: Bruce forces Terry to give up the Batsuit, afraid of what Joker might do to him. Bruce being Bruce, he does not do the best job of getting that across, after apologizing to Terry for imposing the Batman legacy on him.
  Bruce: Stupid kid. You don't know what you want. None of you ever did.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • Terry makes the common mistake of dismissing the idea that a man dressed as a clown can be dangerous. He learns the hard way that underestimating Joker is a bad idea.
  • Conversely, Joker thinks that Terry is a Bat-fake who cannot measure up to the original. Their final fight convinces Joker that Terry is willing to fight dirty, turn the Joker's mind games back on him, and kill him if necessary.
• Undignified Death: Joker's boogeyman is being anticlimactically killed off and treated like a joke, which was explored in the BTAS episode "Joker's Favor", where he cries uncle when threatened with his life by Charles Collins. And funnily enough, this happens to him twice:
  • The first time is by Tim, who shoots him instead of Batman at the very last second, ruining the perfect death of the Dark Knight that Joker planned for months. Adding insult to injury, Joker sees the "Bang!" flag sticking out of his impaled chest and realizes the dark humor of being killed by his own prop gun... which he finds to be not funny at all.
  • The second time by Terry, who insults his clown-themed MO so he'll lower his guard enough for Terry to use an electric joy buzzer to fry the DNA microchip on Tim's neck and free him from the clown's brainwashing. Joker reacts very poorly to being laughed at.
• Undying Loyalty: In the flashback, the thing that finally snaps Tim out of the Joker's control is the villain ordering him to kill Batman.
• Unexplained Recovery: Harley was last seen falling down a Bottomless Pit to her apparent doom in the flashback, but turns up at the end as an old woman in the present. How she survived her fall is not explained (although considering her boyfriend has survived far more ridiculous scenarios unscathed, perhaps he rubbed off on her), although that's partly because she was originally intended to die, but the depiction of Harley as a whiny grandma allowed her to survive through Rule of Funny.
• Unhand Them, Villain!: Played straight with the Jokerz as Dana demands "Let me go!"
  Ghoul: Sure, cutes. throws Dana from a ledge
• Unstoppable Rage: The Joker hits Bruce's Papa Wolf instincts one time too many in the flashback sequence. He's all but convinced Bruce to attempt to kill Joker for good. Bruce didn't do it. But Tim did. Sort of.
• Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: The Joker suffers this twice.
  • In the flashback to when he is tortured Tim Drake and driven him mad, the Joker hands Tim a gun and tells him to shoot Batman. Tim shoots the Joker instead^note This applies to the unrated version. In the PG-13 cut, Tim kills the Joker by shoving him into water tubing and exposed wires.
  • Terry destroys Joker — specifically, the chip containing his DNA and consciousness — by using his electric joy buzzer ring. The scheme involved badmouthing him to a Villainous Breakdown so he could lower his guard.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: The Joker is so used to this trope that when he loses control of the Kill Sat, he seems to think he can just walk away—although that may also have been due to his lack of respect for Terry.
  Joker: Oh, good, the beam's headed here! Now I'll have to start all over again. Thanks for wreckin' everything, kid. See ya round.
  Terry: Hold it!
  Joker: Oh, wise up, junior—GAME'S OVER!
• The Villain Knows Where You Live: The Joker attacks Bruce at Wayne Manor and gases him with Joker venom.
• The Villain Must Be Punished: After Terry foils The Joker's plans, an annoyed Joker bemoans that the "game's over" and disheartedly tries to leave, telling Batman "see you around". However, Terry refuses to let the Joker go and says it's not over until he takes the Joker in. Joker, still seeing Terry as a pretender to the Batman title and not a threat, merely laughs and knocks Terry around a bit, deciding to humor him with a fight. Terry locks the two of them inside the room and throws the Joker off his game by trading barbs and insults, which the original Batman never did. Once Joker has become blinded by rage and thinks he has Terry at his mercy, Terry takes one of Joker's own joybuzzers and electrocutes him, destroying the mind-control chip that allowed Joker to possess Tim Drake, thus not only only ending the Joker's threat (seemingly for good) but finally allowing the traumatized Tim a chance at some closure.
• Villain Opening Scene: The movie starts with The Jokerz trying to steal some sort of device...before Batman shows up.
• Villainous Breakdown: Terry is one of only a mere handful of people in the DCAU to drive the Joker nuts. Turns out the clown really can't handle the same insults he used to hurl at the OG Batman.
  Joker: SHUT UP! SHUT UP!
  • The epic scream that seals it.
  Joker: YOU'RE NOT BATMAN!!!
  • In the censored version, the Joker goes into a rage when his attempt to corrupt Tim fails. After Tim knocks him into the glass water container, the Joker furiously tries to lunge toward the boy.
• Villainous Exit Denied: When Terry faces the Joker in an old building, he manages to ruin the Joker's plans to destroy Gotham with a laser by rerouting the laser to their direction. When Joker notices this, he realizes his plans are ruined and attempts to make an exit. Terry, knowing the kind of trouble the Joker has caused, stops him from leaving and forces him into one final showdown, even sealing the exit to ensure there is no running.
• Visual Pun: In the flashback sequence, when the Joker says, "I, on the other hand...", he pulls out a knife in his left hand while distracting Batman with his right. Get it? "Eye on the other hand."
• Vocal Evolution: As opposed to the usual over the top performance he gives in Batman: The Animated Series and the rest of the DC Animated Universe, Mark Hamill gives Joker a calmer, serious and intimidating sounding performance here, with his hammier moments being more subdued and toned down than usual, especially during Joker's Villainous Breakdown. The only time he goes into his traditionally over the top performance is in the flashback sequence to Joker's torturing of Tim.
• Watch Where You're Going!:
  • From the opening: "Flagpole".
  • Terry getting the Dee-Dees to hit each other.
• Wham Line:
  • When Joker invades the Batcave and gasses Bruce:
    Joker: Don't get up, Bruce. It's just an old friend come by to say "hello". Hello...Batman. (Evil Laugh)
  • From the flashback sequence:
    Joker: And Harley and I were thinking it was time to start a family! Add a Joker Jr. to our merry brood!
    Harley: But rather than go through all the joy of childbirth, we decided to adopt!
    Joker: We couldn't do it legally, but then we remembered you always had a few spare kids hanging around! So we borrowed one...
  • Of course, there is also the biggest "wham" of the film:
    Joker: Secrets that are mine alone to know...Bruce.
  • It predates The Reveal for only a few seconds, but...
    Batman: How do you know my name?
    Tim: There's nothing about you I don't know, Bat-fake.
  • One of the final scenes has one of the humorous variety:
    Dee-Dee: Oh, shut up, Nana Harley.
• Wham Shot:
  • Robin as Joker Junior, Strapped to an Operating Table.
  • The adult Tim Drake's transformation.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: It's already very well established at this point no version of Batman willingly kills, not even someone as repugnant as the Joker when he's gleefully admitting doing something irredeemably evil. However, the real Joker was killed long ago, and, by the future of Neo Gotham, he's only technically still alive via a microchip tag he secretly planted on Tim Drake's neck that has been gradually rewriting Tim's DNA and memories with that of the Joker. So Terry destroying said microchip isn't technically counted as a murder by the narrative (not that anyone is liable to complain even if it were).
• When I Was Your Age...: The Joker explains why he was not only superior to the current Jokerz, but he had a better Batman, too.
• Who's Laughing Now?:
  • Terry gives the revived Joker a taste of his own medicine. Via an epic Boring Insult. The clown doesn't take it lightly.
  • Joker turns it back on Terry after managing to pin him under a table, shouting at Terry to laugh while attempting to choke him to death. Terry obliges.
    Terry: Ha. Ha. (electrocutes Joker with his own joy buzzer)
• The Worf Effect: Woof consistently beats Batman in every fight during this movie. Then Batman decides to bring some backup for the final showdown: Ace the Bat-hound. Ace soon sends the Splicer hyena running after biting his arm and tearing off a portion of his vest. As Terry remarks with pride, "Good bad dog."
• Worthy Opponent: Lampshaded, mocked, and averted by the Joker towards Bruce as he prepares to blast Wayne Manor with his Kill Sat:
  Joker: Adios, Brucie! I guess I should salute you as a 'worthy adversary' and all that, but the truth is I really did hate your guts. *Raspberry*
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Played straight with Dee Dee. Terry largely just grapples and tosses them around rather than the rather intense beating he would give the other Jokerz. Terry somehow got them to beat each other up. It definitely sticks out as in the flashback, we see Barbara throwing full on punches at Harley.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Joker and Harley Quinn prove themselves completely irredeemable when they reveal they kidnapped, tortured, and brainwashed Tim Drake over a period of several weeks. It is arguably the most evil thing they've ever done, and Batman is close to killing the Joker after he reveals this.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: The Dee Dees pull this trick to get the drop on Terry when he sees them for the first time. (When he interrupts a heist the Jokerz are pulling, the Dee Dees grab on to each other and pretend to be terrified; then when he turns his back to concentrate on the tougher-looking male members of the gang, they pounce.)
• Written-In Absence: For the flashback segment, Barbara mentions that Nightwing had already left for Bludhaven by the time Tim was kidnapped, explaining why he doesn't appear.
• Wrong Genre Savvy:
  • While the Joker knows Bruce almost as well as a best friend (he did have access to Tim's memories) and could predict his actions very well, Terry makes it a point to let The Joker know that he doesn't know much about himself while kneeing The Joker in the crotch. More than that, Terry had an outsiders' perspective on The Joker though with in-depth knowledge from studying Bruce's old files, which meant he could more objectively find the flaws in The Joker's thinking and planning without the serious personal history that the original Batman had with the Joker. Since most of The Joker's plans revolve around goading Batman and making it personal to cloud Bruce's judgement and lure him into traps, this is utterly ineffective against Terry who just sees The Joker as a clown. The Joker doesn't take Terry's lack of respect well. Ironically, the villain isn't entirely wrong when he furiously shouts that Terry isn't Batman; Terry is a completely different type of Batman at least.
  • On a similar note, after shattering Robin's mind and alienating Bruce from ever bringing another partner with him into the field again, Joker seemed to fully expect that his latest protege would follow suit as a solo act since Bruce would never repeat that same mistake. Sadly for him, while Terry typically works alone, he's far more pragmatic about accepting help than his predecessor. This comes back to bite the Joker hard when he has Terry at his mercy, but loses his hold on the situation because Terry brought backup.
• Wronski Feint: How Terry beat the Dee Dees: his jet boots got him out of the way so they crashed into one another.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Bruce says this to Terry at the end.
  Bruce: Terry, I've been thinking about something you once told me, and you were wrong. It's not Batman that makes you worthwhile, it's the other way around. Never tell yourself anything different.
• "You!" Exclamation: Jordan Pryce's reaction to finding one of the Dee-Dee twins on his boat instead of his actual date.
• You Fight Like a Cow: Terry drives Joker to a Villainous Breakdown so the clown will lower his guard and be taken down for good.
• You Fool!: When Terry surprises the Jokerz on the boat, only Woof wants to stay and fight. Chucko shouts this at Woof, due to what the Joker is planning to do the boat in the next few seconds.
• You Have Failed Me: Joker didn't actually say it, but Bonk was a huge liability: he was the least dependable in the opening heist and he actively jeopardized it multiple times, even endangering one of the Dee Dees^note Batman was trying to save her when she fell but Bonk chose to keep attacking Batman. Badmouthing the Joker was probably the last straw.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Late in the movie, it's revealed that Jordan Pryce isn't the Joker, but that he did provide the gang with the needed security codes to steal the technology crucial to the big plan. As such, Joker orders the gang to ensure that no sensitive information will ever get revealed, although Terry ultimately prevents this.
• You Monster!:
  • Bruce outright calls his Arch-Enemy a monster when Terry asked about his Rogues Gallery.
  • Downplayed, but Batgirl calls out Harley Quinn on how she could help Joker go through with torturing Drake.