WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Batman: Three Jokers, by Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, Brad Anderson and Rob Leigh, on sale now.
The conclusion of Batman: Three Jokers revealed not only there were three separate Clown Princes of Crime menacing Gotham City, but that they had all been working together in an attempt to create a newer, better Joker. But long before there were three Jokers, Batman and Robin had to deal with Jokers 48 who went on the largest crime spree the country had ever witnessed.
The Joker was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson and debuted in Batman #1 in 1940. Over the years, the Joker has been depicted as a criminal mastermind, a sociopath with a warped, sadistic sense of humor, and as a goofy prankster.
In Batman #55, by Bill Finger, Dick Sprang, and Stan Kaye, the Joker is a criminal mastermind who realizes that he's been missing many golden opportunities to commit crimes because he can only be in one place at one time. After hearing a radio commercial for the Muller Brush Company, where their catchphrase is, "Remember, the Muller Brush Man is everywhere," The Joker comes up with a plan to "put Jokers everywhere" and organize a syndicate of Jokers, with "One in every state of the Union."
The Joker then establishes a Clown College and screens a bunch of career criminals to join him after being trained in the fine art of stealing, performing deadly practical jokes, how to evade capture, and how to apply his patented makeup so they all look exactly like him. The Joker is successful and trains 48 Jokers, each one of which operates in their own state and territory, and then he plans to execute a complicated and huge heist.
The Joker's target is the Mutual National Bank, which has branches in all 48 states, and the Joker and his cronies pull off the heist without a hitch. Batman and Robin are immediately contacted about the multiple Jokers, and Batman unveils the complete plan after interrogating one of the newly trained Jokers who was caught. Batman goes undercover dressed as the Joker and infiltrates the gang. Ultimately, Batman brings down the main Joker and all the criminals he trained.
Batman #55, which is from 1949, shows that the Joker has long thought about duplicating himself in order to be able to spread more chaos and crime and more importantly, to take down Batman. Never one to be outdone, Batman readily jumped into action and not only took down the real Joker but all his trained cronies as well. A
nd after dealing with 48 Jokers, the recent three Jokers shouldn't have been any problem for the Dark Knight.