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50 free Joker trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
45 free Joker trivia questions with answers. The Joker was supposed to die in his second appearance in 1940 and instead became the most famous villain in comics. This quiz covers the character on the page and on the screen: the disputed creation by Finger, Kane and Robinson, the Conrad Veidt grin from The Man Who Laughs, the Red Hood and the chemical vat, the Comics Code prankster years, Arkham Asylum, the crowbar and the phone-in vote that killed Jason Todd, Alan Moore's Killing Joke and 'one bad day', Harley Quinn's debut on Batman: The Animated Series, and Emperor Joker. Then the actors: Cesar Romero's painted-over moustache, Jack Nicholson's Jack Napier and his top-billing deal, Mark Hamill's voice, Heath Ledger's hotel room and posthumous Oscar, Jared Leto's tattoos, Barry Keoghan's cameo, and Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck, the Bronx stairs, the Golden Lion and the first R-rated billion-dollar film. Easy questions ask what colour his hair is and who played him in The Dark Knight. Medium ones cover the films, the origin stories and Harley. Hard ones want the editor who saved him from death, the issue that introduced the Red Hood, the year Arkham first appeared and the toxin Nicholson's Joker put in cosmetics. Every answer has been checked against reference articles on the character, the comics and the films, and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
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Q 01In which year did the Joker make his first comic-book appearance?
1940
He debuted in Batman #1, about a year after Batman's own first appearance in Detective Comics #27, and featured in nine of the title's first 12 issues.
Q 02Which three men are credited with creating the Joker, despite disagreeing about who did what?
Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson
Robinson said his sketch of a joker playing card came first; Kane insisted Robinson 'had absolutely nothing to do with it'.
Q 03The Joker's rictus grin was inspired by Conrad Veidt's character Gwynplaine in which 1928 silent film?
The Man Who Laughs
The film was based on a Victor Hugo novel; Bill Finger cut Veidt's picture out of a cheap edition of the book.
Q 04Which editor overruled the Joker's planned death in his second story and had a panel added showing him alive?
Whitney Ellsworth
Finger feared recurring villains would make Batman look inept.
Q 05In the Joker's earliest stories, his victims died with what on their faces?
A grotesque smile
The toxin was called 'Joker venom'; he was a serial killer and jewel thief modelled on a playing card.
Q 06Bill Finger's 1951 origin story in Detective Comics #168 gave the Joker which former criminal identity?
The Red Hood
The same story introduced the fall into a chemical vat that bleached his skin, greened his hair and drove him insane.
Q 07Why did the Joker turn into a harmless comical prankster in the late 1950s?
The Comics Code Authority
He returned to his murderous roots in 1973 when Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams revived him after a four-year absence.
Q 08Dennis O'Neil's 1970s run explained why the Joker goes to which institution rather than prison?
Arkham Asylum
It was introduced in 1974 as Arkham Hospital, once the stories established that the Joker was legally insane.
Q 09In the 1988 story 'A Death in the Family', the Joker killed which Robin?
Jason Todd
Fans voted by phone on his fate; a 72-vote plurality had the Joker beat him with a crowbar and leave him with a bomb.
Q 10In Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, the Joker shoots and paralyses whom?
Barbara Gordon
The graphic novel reimagines the Joker as a failed comedian who had 'one bad day'.
Q 11Who illustrated The Killing Joke, inspired by the same 1928 film as the Joker's grin?
Brian Bolland
John Higgins did the original colours; DC editor Dick Giordano paired Bolland with Alan Moore.
Q 12Which of these is NOT one of the Joker's nicknames in the comics?
The Laughing Cavalier
The Ace of Knaves is another; the Laughing Cavalier is a 1624 painting by Frans Hals.
Q 13The Joker's lapel flower and joy buzzer were introduced in 1952 as what?
Harmless joke items
They later became an acid-sprayer and a million-volt killer.
Q 21How does Nicholson's Joker line 'Have you ever danced with the devil...' end?
'...in the pale moonlight?'
Wayne recognises the phrase used by the mugger who murdered his parents.
Q 22Nicholson took the 1989 role on strict conditions that included what?
Top billing and a share of the earnings
He also dictated his own shooting schedule; the deal reportedly made him a fortune from merchandise.
Q 23Who wrote the songs for the 1989 Batman film?
Prince
Danny Elfman composed the score; the film won the Oscar for Best Art Direction.
Q 14In the 2000 crossover 'Emperor Joker', the Joker steals reality-warping power from which character?
Mister Mxyzptlk
He remakes the universe, torturing and killing Batman daily before resurrecting him.
Q 15In Flashpoint (2011), which character becomes the Joker in an alternate timeline?
Martha Wayne
Thomas Wayne is Batman in that world; in Superman: Speeding Bullets it is Lex Luthor who becomes the Joker.
Q 16Which 2017 event introduced a villain who is a fusion of Batman and the Joker?
Dark Nights: Metal
Batman is infected by a Joker toxin after killing him.
Q 17Who played the Joker in the 1966 Batman TV series and film?
Cesar Romero
Gorshin was the Riddler, Meredith the Penguin and Price Egghead.
Q 18What did the 1966 TV Joker actor refuse to do for the role, so the make-up was painted over it?
Shave his moustache
The moustache is visible under the white greasepaint throughout the series' run.
Q 19In Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, the Joker's real name is what?
Jack Napier
Batman inadvertently causes the gangster to fall into acid at Axis Chemicals.
Q 20In the 1989 film, the Joker poisons Gotham by lacing hygiene products with a chemical called what?
Smylex
Victims die laughing; Batman gives Vicki Vale his research so Gotham can avoid the toxin.
Q 24Which Star Wars actor has voiced the Joker since Batman: The Animated Series in 1992?
Mark Hamill
He announced his retirement from the role after Kevin Conroy, his Batman, died in 2022.
Q 25Harley Quinn debuted in which 1992 episode of Batman: The Animated Series?
Joker's Favor
Paul Dini was inspired by his college friend Arleen Sorkin playing a jester on Days of Our Lives; Sorkin then voiced her.
Q 26Before becoming Harley Quinn, Harleen Quinzel had what job?
Psychiatrist at Arkham
She fell for the Joker during her internship; in Mad Love he pushes her into the same chemical vat that made him.
Q 27Who played the Joker in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008)?
Heath Ledger
The film was released nearly six months after his death and he won a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Q 28The Dark Knight's Joker earned an Academy Award that was notable as the first what?
Acting win for a superhero film
He also took BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for the role.
Q 29How did Ledger prepare for the role of the Joker?
He locked himself in a hotel room for a month
He then spent four months compiling a 'Joker diary' of images and ideas that would resonate with the character.
Q 30In The Dark Knight, the Joker threatens to blow up a hospital unless which man is killed?
Coleman Reese
Reese, a Wayne Enterprises consultant, had tried to expose Batman's identity.