I can't believe Telltale published my favourite Joker x Bruce doomed yoai fanfiction But in all seriousness it feels both right and awful that Bruce doesn't have a way to actually help get John out of the crime life. They briefly work together as crime fighters and that's maybe the closest John gets to leaving that lifestyle behind, but Bruce can't escape that side of Gotham himself nor does he seem to want to, and because of how he is he can't help but recognise how useful John is as an inside man, so he just can't help himself and manipulates him even if he genuinely cares for the guy. It's terrible that John's being failed on such a fundemental level by both the institutions and the people around him, it's not a good thing how Bruce/ Batman uses him however nice about it he tries to be, but Batman's also trying really hard to protect Gotham as a whole from some very credible threats, and this John Doe guy's really really convenient to have around and remarkably reliable despite how little stock others seem to put in him. You can practically see the gears turning in Bruce's head, it's another "dubious action taken for the greater good" like so many others he keeps finding himself getting stuck with. It makes complete sense for Bruce to fail at truly helping John Doe in this way, you can see exactly why he would, and it doesn't make it sting any less.

The simplicity of "John will remember that." becoming "Joker will never forget that." for that last choice. It's simple, but it's still so, so powerful

This is the one time I've found a sympathetic Joker actually worked. I loved this version, and feel it's a great story and to never do it again with Joker.

I do like how John can recover if you treat him well, with Bruce visiting him in Arkham at the end of the game.

We're taking the Batmobile?
We're taking the Batmobile!

Such a fun story.

Also, I absolutely love Anthony Ingruber's portrayal of John/Joker.
He meshes all prior jokers (Hamil, Ledger, and Nickelson) all into one that makes the voice unique.
Would love to see him in more DC projects in the future

I was actually sad when telltales closed down cause, damn I really wanted a third game after this masterpiece. One of my fav. versions of the joker.

They made a tragic Joker. And they succeeded.

I never understood the whole “uwu too innocent for this world smol bean” thing until I met John Doe.

I do think it’s the most tragic take. In my save he became a vigilante (because I loooove him) but I feel this stems from being able to see his downfall and having a direct hand in what John becomes. The joker hates you because you failed him, the one who wanted to help ended up hurting the one person who wanted to be helped by you! In most interpretations he is already deep into joker mentality, he still to this day doesn’t have a proper name unlike many of the Batman villains. This is the only media where we get to know the joker as John Doe, literally and figuratively. It makes it the most tragic in my opinion

I really like that harley is the abuser in this verison of the relationship it helps shape both verisons of the characters different from there counterparts

Something I do wanna say about John is that it is revealed that he does have romantic feelings for Bruce that are actually said by the creator and the writers, it’s said the vigilante and villain path that John wanted to be loved by Bruce, and fans put it together from all of them conversations, and John did supposedly want to be in a romantic relationship with Bruce

30:10 Gordon may suck in this part of the chapter, but you can literally beg Waller AS BRUCE to let Gordon keep his job, and seeing and hearing how guilty he feels so so worth it

I think the best part of this joker and his dynamic/connection with bruce is, it makes it entirely more believable that bruce never kills him and saves him all the time, because despite everything he has seen john TRYING to be good, and he refuses to let that hope die out, especially when he probably blames himself for john turning out this way, and most of all, they were friends, he doesn't want him to die because of it, he has seen john at his best and worst, he doesn't want to give up on him, (this is especially the case in the villain route, as its literally bruce not trusting him that causes it)

Small thing. Bullock does get a small role in the villain path. At the very beginning he gets tortured by the clowns but still manages to tell Batman everything he knows. The game does him justice I think.

"Joker will never forget that" hits so ridiculously hard. The choices really felt like they meant something and that last bit makes me feel like John could be redeemed. (If season 3 even has a slight chance of existing)

I absolutely adored John Doe, I felt like shit because even when I picked the nicest dialogue options for him, because I adored this man, canonically, Bruce is always kind of manipulating him, no matter how I feel about him. Yes, it kind of takes away from the choose your own adventure element, but makes it a better game because you feel helpless as no matter what you do, he is doomed.

I played these games for the first time a year ago, and I was hooked, literally sneaking my Nintendo Switch into college with me to see more of this story, and I had to squash my beaming smiles every time I was nice to John, only for it to not really matter in the end.

At the end, I felt super bittersweet, and I animatedly told my friends about this version of Joker, and while whether he's the best Joker is up for debate, he's my personal favourite.

It's possibly because I'm autistic, but I was always sympathetic to him because he was loud, had no idea what's socially acceptable, asking annoying or dumb questions. So I devoted my playthrough to helping him. Like I've said, ended up kinda pointless, but it felt good haha.

There is a theory that what John said at the Cafe about the lights, was meant to be to Bruce, but he didnt know how to confess that to him so he took advantage of their roleplay to say it. More fuel for my batjokes <3

Genuinely one of my favourite Jokers and the best subversion of his usual tropes.


Criminally underrated.

I'm gutted that the best Gordon line went unmentioned. "She knows who I am, Jim." "Yeah? Well, so do I. You're Batman! You're all Gotham needs you to be, and shame on anybody who'd dare try to take that away.". Also, I feel like they made him whinier on purpose because they knew people would be naturally biased in Gordon's favour becasue it's Commissioner Fucking Gordon.

I think one of the most interesting aspects of these two games, but especially in the second is that almost every episode has a sequence where you choose to be either Bruce or Batman, and how that kind of naturally carries into the story. There's a lot of fan debate about Batman or Bruce or both being the mask, and this kind of plays into that as the player leans into which part of the Bruce/Batman dynamic is the leading influence. This is all tied up in what John is ultimately influenced to become. While the actual deciding factor of getting Vigilante or Villain Joker is what you do on the bridge, you can kind of see the lead up to that path in which side you decide to play the most. Vigilante Joker is inspired by Batman, while Villain Joker is inspired by Bruce; which is also reflected in how you only play as Bruce is the villain path and Batman in the vigilante path.

On that note, I think it really is improtant to mention that the two paths of episode 5 are almost entirely different episodes. Aside from the ending talk with Waller, Tiffany and Alfred, it's a completely different adventure where in one you're hunting down the Joker (who now has Harley as his sidekick, becomming more like the Joker dynamic we know) while in the other you're trying to protect him until he breaks; with your ending deciding if there's any hope for him. Even episode 4 has a diiferent opening sequence depending on if you or Catwoman take the blame for the rat. Telltale Batman is probably the telltale game that does the best job of making you feel like you're affecting the journey.