What do posters here think about the ending of The Killing Joke? Do you think Batman killed Joker? I posted this in another thread but may as well post it here too, as the upcoming Joker movie has me in the mood to discuss the character and his stories. Here are my thoughts on The Killing Jokes ending:
IMO, it could be interpreted that Batman laughing at Jokers joke at the end could be interpreted as him snapping and going crazy. The way the police lights are turned off and we are left looking at the dark puddle at the end may have supposed to symbolize Batman being consumed by the darkness and finally killing Joker. It should also be noted that in this particular story, Joker chose Gordon as his white knight that had to be made an example of and not Batman, which perhaps suggests that Joker and maybe even Alan Moore himself views Gordon as the better person and as incorruptible, whereas Batman is corruptible so putting him in Gordon's position would not get the point across as clearly if the plan succeeded. Also, the story was originally set in an alternate universe and only became canon afterwards due to its popularity.
Some interpretations of Jokers joke that I like are that it shows how Joker believes they will never trust each other which I believe he tells us when the character in the joke representing him says to the character representing Batman in the joke "You'd turn it off when I was half-way across", referring to the light beam that Batmans representative thinks Jokers representative can walk across.
IMO, this also reveals that Joker thinks Batman is also crazy due to the person in the joke representing Batman believing someone can walk across a beam from a torch, and also, how Joker views Batman as similar to him "two guys in a lunatic asylum", which would possible mean that Joker thinks that Batman is ill-suited to rehabilitate him.
I believe that the joke reveals a significant difference Joker thinks there is between the two and that it is that Batman can blend in with society when he wants to, hence the person representing him in the joke finding it easy to jump from one roof to the other so he can escape into the town, but Joker, due to him being disfigured and permanently looking like a clown, is not able to do that, hence the person represrenting him in the joke has trouble doing the same.
I am not saying I 100% believe that Batman killed the Joker in the story, but things like this, as subtle as they may be, make me believe that it is a possibility. Grant Morrison, who IMO is a great writer and an extremely clever person also believes that Batman killed the Joker in the story.
