Did The Joker Kill Heath Ledger?

On July 25, 2008,  Heath Ledger’s last film, The Dark Knight, the sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins, will be released in South Africa. The official story is that Heath Ledger died of a prescription drug overdose, but many believe a heavily contributing factor was that he was playing one of the most complex and disturbing figures in the history of literature. The question on the lips of Hollywood appears to be, “Did the Joker kill Heath Ledger?”

The role of the psychotic Joker reportedly left him physically and mentally drained. In an interview he states, “He’s this psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown. It takes a lot of preparation to play. Last week, I probably slept two hours a night. My body was exhausted.”

Upon hearing of Ledger’s death Jack Nicholson, who played the same character in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, said, “I warned him!”

The Joker, created in 1940 by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, has a history as bizarre and multiple as his personality. Even his creation is controversial; with Robinson arguing that it was his idea born of a playing card and Kane and Finger insisting they derived the character’s appearance from actor Conrad Veidt in the film The Man Who Laughs. He appeared in Batman #1 and was supposed to be killed in his second appearance but was saved by editor Whitney Ellsworth.

While his creation is in dispute, his origins are also contentious. His first origin account, in 1951’s Detective Comics #168, portrays the Joker as a criminal called the Red Hood. During a crime which is thwarted by the Batman he falls into a vat of chemical waste and emerges with white skin, green hair and red lips. Later tales portray him as gangster Jack Napier, who is sold out to mobsters by the Batman and falls into an empty vat. Gunfire punctures chemical tanks above him and he is engulfed in toxins that drive him mad and cause his horrible disfigurement. In 1988’s The Killing Joke, the Joker reveals that he is as confused as the rest of us when he says, “Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another… if I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!”

Originally a violent sociopath, the Joker mutated into a camp, colourful and mostly harmless annoyance for the 1960’s TV show. The TV Joker, played by Cesar Romero, was silly rather than psychotic and committed crimes like turning Gotham’s water supply into jelly. Romero refused to shave off his moustache for the role, and it was clearly visible underneath the white make-up. Although loathed by fans of the comic, the TV show reached cult status and its contributions to the evolution of the character cannot be ignored.

But in 1973, legendary writer Dennis O’Neill and artist Neal Adams returned the Joker to his old homicidal habits. The Joker once again became a dark and malevolent figure. In a 1988 story arc entitled A Death in the Family, the Joker beats Jason Todd, the second Robin, to near death with a crowbar. He then traps Jason and Jason’s mother inside a warehouse filled with explosives and watches as it erupts. In the penultimate issue of the story, readers were given a two telephone numbers; one would save Robin, the other would ensure his demise! It was an event that went down in comic book history, and fuelled the notoriety of the Joker.

The Joker is obsessed with his nemesis, the Batman. In fact, his entire sense of self is held together by the Dark Knight. The Joker has had many opportunities to kill Batman, but always stops short of murder. Like day and night, yin and yang, in the Joker’s mind he cannot exist without the Batman.

There are many theories relating to the Joker’s insanity. He has been contemplated and deconstructed for sixty-eight years. The complexities of his psyche are enough to unravel even the most balanced mind. Grant Morrison, in the critically acclaimed graphic novel Arkham Asylum, depicts the Joker’s mental state as a kind of ultra-sensory perception, a “super-sanity”. Morrison’s portrayal is of an individual with no true personality of his own, who can be a harmless clown on one day and a homicidal maniac on another. He is believed to have killed over two thousand people. He once gassed and entire kindergarten class and is responsible not only for the paralysis of Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, Barbara, but also the death of Gordon’s second wife, Sarah Essen, who he shot in the head while the Commissioner looked on. He has faced the death penalty thousands of times, but is always found not guilty by reason of insanity. In a DC Comics crossover, a criminal remarks, “When super-villains want to scare each other, they tell Joker stories.”

In the 1989 movie, Batman, the Joker is an amalgam of the sixties television version and the later, darker comic book interpretation. Jack Nicholson’s Joker ranks 45 in the American Film Institute’s list of the top 50 villains of all time. The actor signed a lucrative deal giving him a percentage of the gross of the film and royalties from all merchandise. The movie made an additional $750 million in merchandising alone. Those in the industry know that a character’s true value is in its merchandising potential.

After Heath Ledger’s death, the 2008 Joker doll quickly sold out in New York stores. People have been buying the dolls, now highly sought-after collectors’ items, in droves in a bid to cash-in on the actor’s death. Speculation that it was the role of the Joker that killed him will only act as fodder to incite such behaviour.

Heath Ledger was found dead on January 22, 2008 in his apartment in the Manhattan neighbourhood of Soho. Weeks later it was concluded that he died of an overdose of sleeping pills, painkillers and anti-anxiety medication. In an interview with Total Film magazine, Christian Bale, who plays Batman in The Dark Knight, stressed, “My instincts are that the idea Heath was disturbed by playing the Joker is ridiculous. Heath was somebody who, like myself, acted for that immersion in a character. It’s not an unusual thing. And from working with him and knowing him, I don’t think that was unusual for him at all.”

Already there has been talk of an Oscar nomination for more than sentimental reasons. Apparently Heath Ledger’s role as the Joker will be the defining moment of his career.