While Joker is the self-styled prince of crime, Derry’s terror who often takes Pennywise’s disguise is none less than the Joker! The clown prince and dancing clown are both significant for the roles they play in the respective films. But which one of the heinous harlequins shall win the bet? To know more about The Joker vs Pennywise, read on!
Table of Contents
Origins: The First Round
The origin of Joker is shrouded in mystery. It subjects to the change depending on stories in the question. The Joker begins as the small-time crook, who often use the Red Hood’s mantle. However, a tumble to the vat of chemicals has dyed his hair green, skin white, and just drove this character insane. This character dons a purple outfit and arms with a number of tricky weapons as well as chemical agents. Gotham City’s most feared villain, the Joker, is a serial killer who has a flair for increasing and theatrical body-count!
On the contrary, the backstory of Pennywise talks more about the cosmic side. Pennywise is the ancient Macroverse entity surrounding the universe who crashed to the planet in the times of a prehistoric event alike to that of the meteor strike. After several years, Maine (Derry’s town) was constructed over this site that began some bloody cycle of violence and death. Each 27 to 30 years, this shapeshifting would wake up to devour the unfortunate children of Derry, thereby taking the forms of worst fears. During the hibernation periods, this particular town had remained tainted with fear.
While Joker’s backstory is more chilling, there’s no competition with some cosmic origin! So, this round simply goes to IT’s Pennywise! One point to Pennywise!
Enemies – The Second Round
Judging a man is possible in his company! And this is said with the enemies that the man makes! And for Joker, the biggest nemesis as of now is none other than Batman! Additionally, Joker has even had the run-ins with some DC characters, the most notable one was in ‘Injustice’ installment! He has also made some enemies of different supervillains too simply by throwing the monkey wrench to the plans! Harley Quinn, the longtime squeeze even turned against Joker!
Now, here’s why the round two for The Joker vs Pennywise bet goes to the Joker! The enemies of Pennywise are humbler. The notable nemeses happen to be the Losers’ Club’s members who had banded both adults and children together for defeating him. The friend group presents a particular challenge for him! Both TV and movie miniseries omitted this character’s other significant enemies. However, Maturin happens to be older than the universe and he is then told to have vomited up upon getting stomach pain!
To give the final verdict about this round, the ancient space turtles are undoubtedly good! However, the sheer breadth and width of the enemies of Joker can anytime beat out Losers’ Club! So this The Joker vs Pennywise round goes to Joker!
Potentials and Powers – The Third Round
Joker doesn’t have superpowers of his own! He simply relies on the wit! He doesn’t claim himself as the ‘Agent of Chaos’, but he is shown as the high aptitude for scheming and planning about the elaborate plots against his enemies.
He is displayed for his skill! The chemical concoction deployed as the gas causes laughter, which can even result in death in case the victim doesn’t get treated fast! It, at times, leaves the corpses with some terrifying grins on faces. Joker has even employed every single thing from the electric-shock buzzers, acid flowers, and the things that he gets to cook up with his demented skills!
The fear-eater from IT is supernaturally capable of a number of feats, especially notable for the power for changing his shape. He is even displayed powers of teleportation, telepathy, invulnerability apart from others.
To put things simply, let’s just say that Pennywise has the potentials of doing almost everything. The only thing that he has to obey is the limitation of obeying the physical laws of the forms that he takes. The most terrifying capability is the true form –Dead Lights. The orbs transfix the ones seeing them and it leaves them ripe for picking. It is even implied that the poor victims have souls imprisoned within forever!
This one’s definitely a hard call! While the abilities of Joker are bounded within his mental skills, he does most of his work with it. So, cheers to Joker’s skills. However, supernatural powers are something that anyone would feel is more powerful than your mental skills. So, Pennywise is considered as an unknowable evil beyond the understanding. And to speak about the straight-up fight, Pennywise is the one who wins this bet! So, as of now, the score for The Joker vs Pennywise is Pennywise on 2 and Joker on 1!
Appearance – The Fourth Round
Joker is one of the most significant and oldest foes of Batman and he has made several media appearances, successfully capturing the manic energy of the character. For a bigger screen, Nicholson combined the energy with a darker and even more lethal side! The iconic voice of Joker was managed by Mark Hamill, by presenting it in a terrifying yet entertaining manner. In a nutshell, his appearances are as mercurial and unpredictable as his character. What has remained constant is his attire – the purple suit alongside the green hair!
Speaking about The Joker vs Pennywise, Pennywise, on the other hand, has had a couple of further depictions. The first appearance was in 1990 two-part miniseries where he had been portrayed by Tim Curry. He also appeared in this particular form as the fairly normal clown. In contrast, the version of Bill Skarsgård looks spookier, with less colorful costumes alongside a prominent sinister smile. Skarsgård upped whatever creepiness factor was required to be Pennywise, thereby bringing in a whole new level of the nightmarish creation.
There’s no denying the truth that we would never be able to fault the legendary performances of Pennywise. However, the variety and talent required for such a terrific appearance that Joker portrays are beyond comparison. That’s the reason; this round gets dedicated to Joker.
As a conclusion, the result of The Joker vs Pennywise is a draw!
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