The Joker is considered one of the greatest villains, not just in Batman comics or even just in the DC Universe, but in comic book history. The Joker is brilliant, ruthless, and cunning, but more than anything else, he's completely insane – and his level of insanity is always changing. Sometimes the Joker is presented as a deranged serial killer, while other times he is more of a prankster. But the one thing the Joker isn't is sane – at least until he is.
The Joker is such an unpredictable character that there are moments in DC history where he has actually regained his sanity (as if he already had it to begin with). But in all honesty, the Joker's sanity is just one aspect of his insanity, as the Joker acting sane It's more insane than your usual brand of insanity. And these moments are always interesting to see, especially when they happen with versions of the Joker from completely different realities within DC's vast multiverse. Here are the 10 best times the Joker somehow regained his sanity!
10
The Joker is sane after diving into the Lazarus Pit
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #145 by Chuck Dixon and Jim Aparo
The Lazarus Pit is a mystical body of water that Ra's al Ghul has used for centuries due to the fact that it can make old people young again and even bring people back from the dead. When someone is on the verge of death, all they have to do is enter the Lazarus Pit and their body magically becomes decades younger. When they are dead, however, the Lazarus Pit has a very different effect. They come back to life, but become violently insane, with no guarantee that their minds will ever heal from the experience.
Interestingly, when the Joker is killed and placed in the Lazarus Pit, he has the opposite experience. Since the Joker is totally insane, his dip into the mystical waters actually made him sane – which just goes to show how truly insane he was to begin with.
9
The Joker becomes a sane politician named Jack Napier
Batman: White Knight by Sean Murphy
When the Joker decides he's going to defeat Batman by 'becoming sane', he actually does it. The Joker takes a steady dose of antipsychotic pills along with actual psychiatric treatment, and after some time and incredible progress, the Joker becomes a thing of the past, and the former Clown Prince of Crime becomes a perfectly sane man named Jack Napier. . Like Jack, the Joker is true to his word and destroys Batman, portraying him as a violent and reckless criminal who does more harm than good to Gotham City.
Jack Napier even becomes a politician, using his proven intellect and knowledge of Gotham's criminal underworld to bring about genuine change in the city. In fact, he is so successful that Jack Napier is nicknamed Gotham's White Knight. In fact, Jack Napier proves that the Joker is much more dangerous when he's sane.
8
A future version of the Joker is actually Gotham City's police chief
Batman #59 by Bill Finger and Lew Sayre Schwartz
At the height of the Silver Age of comics, Batman and Robin plan to travel back in time to observe one of the Joker's ancestors. The Joker made a comment about how he inherited his madness, so by studying his ancestor, Batman and Robin could finally figure out how to beat him for good. However, there is a problem with the time travel method and instead the Dynamic Duo travels to the future.
Batman and Robin find themselves in the “far” future of 2050, where traveling in space is as easy as driving on the highway and everyone is dressed in bizarre sci-fi costumes. But, the most alarming aspect of this future is that the Joker (technically a descendant of his) is not only a supervillain, but is actually the chief of police and completely sane.
7
Martian Manhunter manipulates the Joker's mind, forcing him to become sane
LJA #15 by Grant Morrison, Howard Porter, Gary Frank and Greg Land
Although the Joker often flies alone, he doesn't hesitate to work with other prominent supervillains to achieve a greater goal – which is usually total chaos on a global and sometimes universal scale. That's why the Joker works with Lex Luthor and several other villains to obtain a cosmic artifact called the Philosopher's Stone, which has the power to bend the universe to its bearer's liking.
When the Joker catches him surrounded by the heroes of the Justice League, he nearly throws the cosmos into a state of hellish chaos. However, before he has the chance, Martian Manhunter manipulates the Joker's mind, forcing him to become sane. With his newfound sanity, the Joker fixes everything the villains did to the Philosopher's Stone before handing it over to the JLA, effectively saving the universe.
6
A variant of the Joker is the Batman of your universe
Strangers Vol. 5 #3 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly and Robert Carey
When Luke Fox (who is operating as a 'Batman') and Kate Kane's Batwoman travel to a multiversal pocket dimension accessible only to Bat-Heroes, they come across countless versions of Batman and Batwoman from across the multiverse. This pocket dimension – aptly named the Batman Dimension – is shaped like Wayne Manor, but with seemingly endless staircases that represent the dimension's ties to every universe in existence, including the one in which the Joker is his world's Batman.
This isn't just the Joker dressing up as Batman, as only genuine Batmen have access to this world. This means that this Joker is not a villain, but a true hero. While this Joker's sanity is measured by Batman's sanity (which, admittedly, is questionable), he is certainly saner than the deranged killer fans know and love.
5
The Joker becomes a community leader in a post-apocalyptic wasteland
Superman: Distant Fires by Howard Chaykin and Gil Kane
Even when the Joker was a totally insane supervillain, it couldn't be argued that he was absolutely brilliant. And in the post-apocalyptic landscape of Superman: Distant Fires, the Joker is able to put his brilliant mind to good use for humanity – and all it took was a nuclear holocaust for him to become sane. In this story, Earth plunges into nuclear war, effectively ending the world. There are only small pockets of human (and alien) civilizations left, and in one of them, the Joker is a community leader.
The radiation that riddled the world actually mended the Joker's broken mind. He was no longer a deranged villain, but someone his people could count on, who even put his genius-level intellect to use to build devices that could restore power to his community.
4
The Joker becomes Batman's Robin in a twisted future
Batman: Last Knight on Earth by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo
In Batman: Last Knight on Eartha younger clone of Bruce Wayne travels through the desert with the Joker's severed head, which is being kept alive in a containment jar. The two discover that the original Bruce Wayne is now a supervillain who seeks to control the world in hopes of “saving” it. However, Batman and Joker cannot let the original Bruce carry out his plan, so the Joker gains a robotic body and takes on a new identity: Robin.
The Joker's Robin is instrumental in taking down the villainous Batman, as the heroic clone would have been turned into one of the original's slaves if it weren't for him. While his grip on his sanity is tenuous at best, this Joker is certainly sane enough to know when it's time to be a hero.
3
The Joker's Mind Can Heal When Batman Is Dead
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #65 by JM DeMatteis and Joe Station
While trying to stop one of the Joker's dastardly schemes, Batman finds himself trapped in the middle of an explosion, resulting in his mutilated body lying at the Joker's feet. The Joker thinks Batman is dead and throws his body into the river. After that, the Joker doesn't really know what to do with himself. The Joker sees Batman as his 'audience', with the Caped Crusader being the only reason the Joker is the way he is.
The Joker has no reason to be crazy anymore without Batman, so he undergoes reconstructive surgery to fix his face and commits to a normal life. Without Batman, the Joker's mind can heal, and only after the Caped Crusader's return did the Joker return to being an insane villain.
2
DC Reveals Joker Was Just Alfred All Along (And Was Never Crazy)
Batman #686 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert
In Batman #686, the Caped Crusader is dead, and everyone in his life shows up at his private wake to say a few words and mourn the loss together – including almost every Batman villain. After a few people have had a chance to speak, Alfred – the person Bruce Wayne was closest to – stands up in front of everyone and admits something quite shocking: Batman's life was a lie. Each of Batman's thugs were just Alfred's old actor friends, dressed up and pretending to be supervillains to make Bruce Wayne happy. And Alfred himself decided to take on the main role: the Joker.
In this story, the Joker was never crazy – he wasn't even real. The Joker was just a character Alfred played to make Bruce happy for the first time since his parents died.
1
Darkseid turns the Joker into the sanest man on the planet
Action comics #1062 by Jason Aaron and John Timms
Bizarro uses a spell to effectively drive everyone in the world insane, turning them into 'bizarre humans'. However, just like when the Joker was resurrected through the Lazarus Pit, Bizarro's scheme had the opposite effect on him. The Joker actually becomes “the sanest person on Earth” thanks to Bizarro's spell, and he even teams up with Superman to save the world.
It's interesting that most of the times the Joker has become sane is due to the fact that he is usually so insane that any global catastrophe that destroys anyone else causes him to regain his sanity. It's also interesting that once the Joker is sane, he always becomes a hero, perhaps proving that deep down he really is. Or maybe the Joker is simply crazy and trying to understand him would be completely fruitless. Either way, this instance is one of the top 10 most interesting moments the Joker regained his sanity.