The Dark Knight Joker's Gang

[Holiday]

Anyone have some thoughts on the Joker's gang? How they contact the Joker? Do they fear him? Want to emulate him? Discuss.

 

[The Joker]

I think the Joker went looking for them. He probably rounded up a few thugs looking to score big time in the Gotham underworld, and he promised them that with an impassioned speech. "Our operation is small. But there's alot of potential for agressive expansion".

As for fearing him, most likely. "We're gonna' have.....try outs". He puts a bomb in the stomach of another of his goons. I love how he went crazy on the thug that got electrocuted when he tried to unmask Batman. Joker jumps on him and starts stamping on him and laughing crazily. Brilliant.

As for contacting him, I'd say he contacts them when he needs them.

 

[Holiday]

Those are good points.

I thought it was strange how he had all these goons working for him when hes so unpredictable and willing to let them die so easy. No smart criminal work wanna work with Joker.

 

[agentzelda]

I think this is what Batman means when he tells Dent that Schiff is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic and a former Arkham patient: the sort of mind the Joker attracts. For those following the virals, I think a good idea was given there of the way the Joker might attract his followers: clever newspaper ads, games and tests. He doesn't want standard thugs who are just in it for the money, and who might figure him out too quickly and decide he's expendable before he decides they are. He wants guys who'll do it largely for the game. (That said, they do seem to have to have a lot of the standard criminal skills: given the precision of the bank robbery, the chase involving the van carrying Dent, and the hostage-taking in the building overlooking the ferries, he obviously wants guys who know which end of a gun to fire, how to drive, how to set off explosives, etc.) Whether he has some sort of hideout and inner circle of bodyguards and drivers is never really made clear, but I'd tend to think he alerts the guys he needs for jobs through some sort of public forum like the newspaper classifieds, so that they never find out too much about it. Schiff's protest that he knows nothing is probably true.

 

[Holiday]

Yeah I'm sure the "kind of mind Joker attracts..." line was written to explain where his gang comes from. I mean, who would work with a guy who is the only one to survive a 6 man bank job where the cops never showed up. Gotham's criminals must have know he killed his own guys. Thats what got me thinking about this. Joker seems to unpredictable and unstable to work with. But again, I guess they try to explain it with the Arkham line.

 

[chintai80]

in the real world where people will join various cults or terrorists organizations, i think its pretty easy to explain why some crazy people would join joker's gang.

 

[cokebabies]

Well, there's always Craigslist:

http://news.cnet.com/bank-robber-hires-decoys-on-craigslist-fools-cops/

 

[agentzelda]

Well, there's always Craigslist:

http://news.cnet.com/bank-robber-hires-decoys-on-craigslist-fools-cops/

Proof again that reality is infinitely stranger than fiction.

 

[Christmas]

some of them seemed like street kids, disturbed mental patients with criminal records, some were hired professionals(bank robbers). Joker uses whoever he needs and he's such an insanely charismatic and dangerous ring leader they do what he says.

 

[agentzelda]

The bank robbers seem different from the thugs used later on in that they seem proficient but smalltime; the thugs are much more vulnerable and susceptible (like the one who ends up with the phone in him: "the boss said he'd make the voices go away, he'd go inside and replace them with bright lights, like Christmas"). Probably the danger of the job might determine the expendability of the crew. The professional criminals might mostly be motivated by fear (like Gambol's men, they realize they're working with someone who will kill on a whim), while the thugs might have responded to promises that appeal to their various anxieties and quirks.

 

[Spidey-Sean]

Well, there's always Craigslist:

http://news.cnet.com/bank-robber-hires-decoys-on-craigslist-fools-cops/

Oh man that is hilarious! He escaped in an innertube after a clever disguise hoax and had to time his robbery with the arrival of an armored car. Very joker-ish. Almost Cesar Romero joker-ish.

As for the tread, I think some of his thugs do try to emulate him. The virals emphasized this with the painted faces, and I think some of his thugs actually have painted faces in the film besides the clown masks and stocking masks.

 

[Harrygucha]

I think the guys he recruits have mental problems of their own. And are probably enthusiastic anarchists as well. They are crazy. No logical sane person would join the Joker. Schiff Thomas was a paranoid schizophrenic. I'm sure the rest have similar mental problems.

 

[Jodo]

Its got to be the insurance benifits.

 

[Tonicky]

Their actually weren't that many henchmen from the crashing of Wayne's fundraiser
till the time he took over the Russian mob he only had like 8 guys..........I freeze framed

 

[Kieser1]

Its got to be the insurance benifits.

Haha, must be.

 

[Boom]

Probably picked up a few of the escaped inmates of Arkham Asylum from Batman Begins.

 

[Rasputin911]

^exactly. Most of those inmates who ingested fear gas were still running around looking for a purpose. Who better to give it to them than J-man? I would imagine he has a Manson-like appeal to his followers.

I always thought he probably had a close-knit entourage of "crazies," i.e. maybe even before the events of TDK, but was willing to hire out the thug-types for things like the bank robbery, attacking the penthouse, etc.

 

[Psycho Clown]

I wan't to know if they are all mentally ill, or they just believe in what he believes.

 

[[A]]

Anyone have some thoughts on the Joker's gang? How they contact the Joker? Do they fear him? Want to emulate him? Discuss.

..where's please?

 

[BestGirl]

I think he's got a crew of insanely loyal bodyguards/gofers he lives with and who don't go out with him on jobs. That way, they can't get caught and give up the location of his hideout(s). The goons who go out with him publicly probably are contacted by him prior to the job and are more expendable.

Most of them are probably genuinely mentally ill. We know that a few of them are Arkham escapees so they'd have to be.

 

[Tonicky]

When Jokers in jail 2 of the guys in the cell with him were curled up in balls crying, they were prolly crazy

another thread brought back to life by me

 

[BestGirl]

When Jokers in jail 2 of the guys in the cell with him were curled up in balls crying, they were prolly crazy

another thread brought back to life by me

I never noticed that. I'll have to look for it.

 

[Tonicky]

I wan't to know if they are all mentally ill, or they just believe in what he believes.

Well they weren't in it for the money lol.

 

[Blaztro]

Maybe he contacts them through Facebook!

 

[Tonicky]

Maybe he contacts them through Facebook!

No he recruits though SHH lol