Joker's Crew were the henchmen of The Joker in Batman: Arkham Origins, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Knight and Batgirl: A Matter of Family. Joker's Crew was mostly made up of classic thugs who worked for the Joker as well as his henchwoman and right hand, Harley Quinn. They were generally made up of violent and mentally disturbed criminals. The Joker had brutal initiation standards, and forced them to survive his death traps or murder members of their own family before they were even allowed to be a part of his gang. Other people associated with them were Victor Zsasz, Bane, Clayface, Scarecrow, and Poison Ivy before she turned against the Clown Prince of Crime. They were ruthless criminals who feared and hated Batman, and wanted him dead the second that they caught sight of him. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, Joker's crew managed to control most of the locations, as well as the Armory. Frank Boles, on the other hand, was a hired mercenary who worked for Joker until he was killed when Batman was closing in on him. The Joker regularly mistreated his fellows, and sometimes simply killed them for entertainment; however, they were fiercely loyal to him.
When Batman confronted or encountered these thugs, he would defeat them by fighting aggressively, breaking their bones, and rendering them unconscious. They often wore makeup that made them look like clowns as well as colorful outfits in Arkham City. In Arkham Asylum, some were killed by the Joker himself when Smilex was released and later when testing bombs. During the events of Arkham City, the gang engaged in a brutal gang war against the gangs led by the Penguin and Two-Face. Some thugs also secretly worked for The Riddler and managed to infiltrate the Joker's gang. They were interrogated by the Dark Knight for information about him.
Following the Joker's death, many of them stayed on and accepted Harley Quinn as their new leader, while others fled and joined other gangs.
History[]
The Joker's Henchmen were the most common enemies in Arkham Asylum, and a hostile faction in Arkham City and Arkham Origins.
They were notable for wearing clown makeup and masks along with hoods, singlets, or, in Arkham Origins's case, suits. They were loyal to the Joker and Harley Quinn, who acted as a second-in-command. With most of the gang was made up of murderers, rapists, and psychopaths, that gang, while not the most skilled, was the most bloodthirsty and vicious due to Joker and their former leader, Black Mask who was an incredibly sadistic influence.
In Arkham Asylum, they controlled the whole of Arkham Island as a result of the Joker's riot, and the player had to defeat hordes of them to progress through the main storyline.
Joker's Henchmen could be found dotted around the whole of Arkham City, and usually roamed in small packs, but the majority of them were situated in and around the Industrial District as they performed commands from the Joker and Harley Quinn. Among the Joker's Henchmen was one half of the Abramovici Twins, Mr. Hammer. After Joker's death, Harley Quinn reunited the gang and she named herself as the new leader.
Incident Reports[]
Arkham Origins Incident[]
The Joker's Crew in Arkham Origins were first seen working for Black Mask. Once the Joker came to Gotham City, he impersonated Black Mask and usurped his gang. The henchmen that flipped their allegiance to the Joker were spared and began working for him. They first appeared when Batman confronted Joker at the Gotham Merchant's Bank. While they held Batman at gunpoint, they shed their mobster masks and replaced them with clown masks.
From then on, the henchmen populated the Industrial District, and around the Steel Mill. They were stationed inside the Steel Mill, the Royal Hotel, and Blackgate Prison. Throughout the game, they were armed with shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and melee weapons like pipes, knives, and baseball bats.
At the conclusion of the game, many of the Joker's Crew were locked up in Blackgate. One of Joker's men, Ian Chase, murdered a couple, Horace Riley and Clarissa Rodriguez, who were two friends of Bruce Wayne's, at Crime Alley (where Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered by Joe Chill). Batman tracked down Chase to the Industrial District and apprehended him (albiet almost killing him) to the GCPD for murdering the couple.
Batman: Arkham Origins Incident - Multiplayer[]
Joker recruited an elite force of henchmen, who fought Bane's Henchmen in a gang war.
Joker's Henchmen attacks :
- Noctovisor battery powered.
- Player weapons .
- Grenades .
- A fast flying airship that explodes on contact with a character or surface.
- Jack in The box mine .
- Dual Nailed Gun
Arkham Origins Blackgate Incident[]
Joker's Crew were spread across the Administration section of Blackgate. After they escaped from the Cell Blocks, Joker's Henchmen guarded Warden Joseph, and the others traveled to the Industrial section and protected the Line Launcher technology that Batman needed to stop Joker.
A few others watched Joker fight Batman. When Joker released his Joker Toxin, they either fled, passed out, or died. Early in the game, one individual tried to convince Catwoman to join Joker.
A Matter of Family Incident[]
The Joker Gang trapped Commissioner James Gordon and his police team in an abandoned amusement park built by a wealthy citizen for his daughter.
Between Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum Incident[]
When Quincy Sharp had Arkham Asylum reopened, most of Joker's Crew and the other criminals were moved there.
Arkham Asylum Incident[]
The Joker's Crew were all imprisoned at Blackgate, when a fire, orchestrated by the Joker, burned the prison to the ground. All of the Blackgate Prisoners were then transferred to Arkham Asylum while the prison was rebuilt. It was during that time, that the Joker was captured by Batman, and launched a takeover upon all of Arkham Island. Nearly every hostile thug in the game was loyal to Joker and his lieutenant, Harley Quinn. After Joker was defeated, all of the henchmen were taken back into custody after the GCPD retook control of Arkham Island.
Arkham City Incident[]
After the riots at Arkham Asylum, Mayor Sharp opened up Arkham City, an open-air prison facility that was in the middle of Gotham. All of the Joker's Crew from Arkham Asylum were transferred there, and quickly rejoined their old gang. Many other prisoners in the city joined up with Joker's gang, whether it was purely out of necessity, or for pleasure.
During their time in the prison, Joker's crew entered a bloody turf war with Penguin and Two-Face's gangs. Due to Joker's illness, the henchmen mostly got their orders from Harley Quinn, though they generally hated and disrespected her. Some of them were attracted to her however, and brought up maybe asking her out if joker was to die from his illness.
When Batman appeared in Arkham City, the henchmen were patrolling the Industrial District, and around the Steel Mill, which acted as their headquarters. Joker sent out his men to search for Mr. Freeze, after he double crossed joker and didn't give him his cure. However, freeze was already captured by Penguin's Crew. After penguin's defeat by batman, his crew retreated into the sewers when Two-Face's gang surrounded the bowery. While that was going on, Joker sent down his men to retrieve weapons Hugo Strange was supplying them with. They ended up killing a large portion of Penguin's thugs in the process. When Protocol 10 started, Many of Joker's men retreated into the sewers, awaiting for it to end. Some of Joker's men were killed by the TYGER helicopters that were targeting everyone in the prison. After Joker died and Arkham City was evacuated, Joker's men were taken into custody, along with Harley.
As expected from a gang with the clown prince of crime as their leader, the Joker's gang was by far the most unpredictable and dangerous for anyone in contact with the gang. Members were frequently punished for failures by being violently killed and captured enemies were routinely tortured to death. Recruitment for the gang was also extremely dangerous for prisoners looking to join as the Joker would often let anyone join one day and order his men to shoot anyone who approached the mill on other days. Even people outside of the prison were not safe as doctors and other medical personal were often kidnapped in an effort to cure Joker's sickness and anyone deemed useless were either killed, tortured to death, or pitted against Mr. Hammer for the amusement of the gang.
Harley Quinn's Revenge Incident[]
After Harley Quinn escaped the temporary holding facility that she was placed in following the destruction of Arkham City, she reassembled her old gang and headed back into the quarantine zone. The gang took several GCPD officers hostage, and held them in either the Steel Mill, or in the Shipyard. The gang managed to trap Batman, but were defeated when Robin came after him.
Membership[]
Notable Members[]
- Joker: Was the gang leader. He was also known as the Clown Prince of Crime and planned to win both gang wars with Bane and in Arkham City. After Batman defeated Clayface, Joker died of blood poisoning from Titan.
- Harley Quinn: Was the gang's second-in-command. She was also known as Joker's girlfriend and thugs feared her as much as Joker. Toward the end of the events in Arkham City, the GCPD arrested Quinn with the help of Batman and Robin.
- Mr. Hammer: Was Joker's Lieutenant. He was greatly strong and wielded a massive Hammer. He defected from the gang to his brother, Sickle after Joker's death.
- Razor: Was one of the many thugs who worked for Joker during the events of Arkham Asylum. As he was finishing his bomb, Joker detonated it and killed him.
- Bane: Worked with Joker three times. Twice in Batman's second year as they attempted to defeat Batman, and the final was when Joker released Bane for him to kill Batman, but was defeated.
- Frank Boles: Was an Arkham Asylum Security Guard which was hired by Joker to help him in his attack on the Island. As Boles was about to escape the Intensive Treatment Center, Joker murdered him.
- Ian Chase: A low-level mobster in Black Mask's Gang when Joker took over the organization during the events of Arkham Origins, he was apprehended by the Batman and presumbly arrested by the GCPD.
- Paulie: A thug who worked for Joker at some point before the Asylum takeover. Joker killed him at some point, though everyone's heard something different about how and why.
- Johnny K.
- Mickey.
- Muggs.
- Roach.
- Mugsy Binks.
Types[]
- Regular: Regular henchmen that punched and kicked Batman. They also grabbed nearby weapons such as throwable objects, Pipes, or Baseball Bats. They were the most common enemy, could be defeated easily, and they usually came in groups.
- Armed: Armed henchmen were basically regulars with firearms who were highly dangerous. The weapons they wielded were: Assault Rifles, Shotguns and even Sniper Rifles. They could be usually taken down through either Silent Takedowns or Loud Takedown tactics and were the main enemies in Predator Mode.
- High Security: High Security Henchmen wore red/orange suits and wielded Knives to kill their enemies. To defeat them, Batman must stun and then strike them.
- Armored: Armored Henchmen wore clown-like armor and could use fists or knives. Like High Security Henchmen, they must be stunned and beaten down.
- Stun Baton: Stun Baton-wielding henchmen shocked Batman by using Stun Batons. To be defeated, Batman must jump over him and attack from behind.
- Titan: Titan Henchmen were powerful and who had the same Titan as Bane. To defeat them, Batman must throw Batarangs at them to let them charge into a wall or Ultra Stun them. Then, Batman must beat them down.
- Raincoat: Raincoat Henchmen were thugs who were identified by wearing Arkham Security raincoat uniforms and used them to show Joker's security. They mainly acted as snipers in watch towers, but could fight through Melee attacks.
Allies[]
- Clayface: Temporarily worked for Joker during the events of Arkham City. He took on the role of Joker himself as ordered by the crazed clown as well as attempted to murder Batman, but was defeated and knocked into the Lazarus Pit.
- Victor Zsasz: Temporarily worked for Joker during the events of Arkham Asylum. He was ordered by Joker to kill Dr. Penelope Young, but was stopped by Batman and managed to escape without a trace.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Joker's men followed the Joker fanatically, as seen in Arkham City. They stayed as Joker's Henchmen, knew full well that he was going to die, and when he died, they not only mourned his death, but turned into Harley Quinn's Gang in order to get revenge on Batman.
- In Arkham City, the thugs sometimes mentioned the plot twist of Arkham Origins, and commented on how Joker disguised himself as Black Mask, and said that Black Mask used to rule Gotham until Joker suddenly appeared. As the development of Arkham Origins had not even started when the game came out, it was plausible that WB Montreal had used these lines as the basis of the Arkham Origins Storyline.
- Longtime survivors of the gang got used to the Joker's sporadic habit of shooting someone for no reason.
- Whenever the Joker was displeased, he punished the gang in frighteningly creative ways. Even Harley noted her goofy and harmful ideas for punishment paled in comparison.