DC Almost Killed The Joker in His First Comic Book

A Fatal Slip That Almost Ended the Clown Prince of Crime

Los Angeles — In April 1940, comic book history nearly took a permanent detour. When the Joker debuted in Batman #1, creators Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson unleashed a terrifying criminal mastermind upon the world. Armed with a deadly poison gas that left his victims grinning, this chilling villain was originally designed for a single issue.

The Last-Minute Editorial Rescue That Saved a Legacy

In his very first story arc, the Clown Prince of Crime was supposed to die after tripping and accidentally stabbing himself with his own knife. Fortunately, editor Whitney Ellsworth intervened at the eleventh hour. Seeing massive franchise potential, he ordered the art to be hastily patched with an ambulance panel showing the villain miraculously surviving. That single, frantic editorial call spawned eight decades of cinematic gold, legendary comic feuds, and iconic cinematic performances.