Both Batman and (according to The Killing Joke) the Joker were born out of the pain of the absurd. As a result, it is what keeps both of them busy: the Joker by trying to cause unjust deaths, and Batman by trying to stop them.

Batman and Joker react differently to Dionysus, to “the bad day,” which changes their lives forever. The Joker embraces the absurd, while Batman “keep[s] pretending that life makes sense.”2 Can the Joker truly create new meaning, or is he just “a fool” who can merely destroy? By examining some of the most emblematic Joker stories, this chapter

What the Joker’s wildness points to is the deep difference between sincerity and authenticity. Confucian ethics prizes sincerity, but Zhuangzi shows that sincerity comes at a cost (constant moral surveillance of self and others, outward‐facing demand to fulfill roles over an inward‐facing nourishment of oneself). The Joker is obviously insincere,

“Nothing does us as much good as the fool’s cap: we need it against ourselves,”1 writes the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900). The “fool” destroys by laughing at values and truths, showing the chaotic and senseless world behind them. The fool is a manifestation of the Dionysian, an essential chaotic and destructive drive, but one

Paraphrasing the Joker: heroes like Batman had a bad day, only they won’t admit it, and keep pretending that life makes sense.26 Bruce Wayne faces the abyss of absurdity but refuses it: by creating Batman’s identity he forces the world to make sense.27

Thinking deeply about TV, movies, and music doesn’t make you a “complete idiot.” In fact, it might make you a philosopher, someone who believes the unexamined life is not worth living and the unexamined cartoon is not worth watching.

Nietzsche describes three spiritual metamorphoses of the human being. First, the human spirit is a camel burdened with false metaphysical truths, dutifully adhering to societal rules and morality. Men and women can free themselves from this burden by becoming the Lion, who answers “I will” to the “Thou‐shalt” that weighs on the Camel's shoulders.49

The wild‐card Joker instead suggests a way of moving through the world without gritting your teeth and clinging to categories, without trying to win. That is not a doctrinal statement of what’s right or wrong—it’s a therapeutic approach to life. Daoism tells us that we humans have forgotten that we are part of the natural world, something deeper

Batman is what you might call a character of meaning. His oath makes sense of what would seem utter madness—plunging nightly into the most dangerous city in the world, without superpowers, denying himself the monstrous privilege of killing.