MonsterMash
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Joker
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Great Villain Showdown: The Final Match! [The Winner is..]
- Thread starter Gomez
- Start date
The Joker, and it ain't particularly close. Vader is good as an opponent and provides a satisfying figure in black for Luke to fight in the first three movies, and he's cool as a foe set up to be defeated... but the Joker is the one who actually scares me.
Implacable isn't as scary to me as unpredictable. Vader is going to come after you because you've joined the rebellion and have information he needs. The Joker is going to come after you because he liked your shoes. Vader is going to threaten to kill you, your wife, and your children if you don't cooperate. The Joker is going to kill one of your children for no reason right off the bat and then start cutting off your wife's fingers one by one, one per hour until you get him what he needs.
All Vader can do is kill you. For the Joker, that's just the tip of the iceberg, and it might be the most relaxing thing he does to you all day.
Implacable isn't as scary to me as unpredictable. Vader is going to come after you because you've joined the rebellion and have information he needs. The Joker is going to come after you because he liked your shoes. Vader is going to threaten to kill you, your wife, and your children if you don't cooperate. The Joker is going to kill one of your children for no reason right off the bat and then start cutting off your wife's fingers one by one, one per hour until you get him what he needs.
All Vader can do is kill you. For the Joker, that's just the tip of the iceberg, and it might be the most relaxing thing he does to you all day.
Joker.
Vader was a cool badass, but when you get down to it he's just a hitman. He is, fundamentally, understandable; "order in the galaxy by whatever means" really comes down to "I will make people do what I want them to do, by force if necessary". He can be reasoned with. He can be predicted.
Take the Joker. He is what is scary about chaos: he breaks down all of the structure that mankind builds up. The fear deep within us is simple: we inherently expect the universe, and by extension other men, to be rational. If I do X, then you will do Y. If I push an object, it moves. To have anything else happen undermines this most fundamental assumption. This is the fear that the Cthulhoid mythos plays off of, and it is this same fear that the Joker embodies.
Vader was a cool badass, but when you get down to it he's just a hitman. He is, fundamentally, understandable; "order in the galaxy by whatever means" really comes down to "I will make people do what I want them to do, by force if necessary". He can be reasoned with. He can be predicted.
Take the Joker. He is what is scary about chaos: he breaks down all of the structure that mankind builds up. The fear deep within us is simple: we inherently expect the universe, and by extension other men, to be rational. If I do X, then you will do Y. If I push an object, it moves. To have anything else happen undermines this most fundamental assumption. This is the fear that the Cthulhoid mythos plays off of, and it is this same fear that the Joker embodies.
Pielorinho
Iron Fist of Pelor
Although I think Vader is a wonderfully iconic villain, the Joker is more complex. He is chaos, of course, but there's an underlying theme to his chaos which I find entrancing. I'll vote for
Joker.
Daniel
Joker.
Daniel
stevelabny
Explorer
DARTH VADER
? I have no idea what is going on.
Some people hate the prequels so much, they are completely devaluing the effect that the original trilogy has on all (most?) of us.
Others are saying the Vader epitomizes cool villain , but giving the nod to Joker anyway.
And the last group are giving the win to Joker outright, talking about he epitomized chaos and is therefore scarier.
Joker is just a psychotic with an unhealthy man-crush on another psychotic. He's had just as many embarassing moments as teenage-Vader, they just havent been publicized to the same level as the prequels.
Vader was the front man for a reign of terror that last an entire generation. For over 20 years, he was the symbol of fear throughout the galaxy. Until he faced his own son, nobody was able to stop him.
The Joker? He gets beaten and thrown in an asylum every other week, and only continues to live because Batman is still an 8 year old with issues about death. Any SANE hero would have ended Joker's career....permanently.
the vote goes where it was always gonna go... to a Vader victory.
? I have no idea what is going on.
Some people hate the prequels so much, they are completely devaluing the effect that the original trilogy has on all (most?) of us.
Others are saying the Vader epitomizes cool villain , but giving the nod to Joker anyway.
And the last group are giving the win to Joker outright, talking about he epitomized chaos and is therefore scarier.
Joker is just a psychotic with an unhealthy man-crush on another psychotic. He's had just as many embarassing moments as teenage-Vader, they just havent been publicized to the same level as the prequels.
Vader was the front man for a reign of terror that last an entire generation. For over 20 years, he was the symbol of fear throughout the galaxy. Until he faced his own son, nobody was able to stop him.
The Joker? He gets beaten and thrown in an asylum every other week, and only continues to live because Batman is still an 8 year old with issues about death. Any SANE hero would have ended Joker's career....permanently.
the vote goes where it was always gonna go... to a Vader victory.
