WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman: Three Jokers #3 by Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, Brad Anderson, and Rob Leigh on sale now.
The mystery of the three Jokers began all the way back in 2016's Justice League: The Darkseid War when the Mobius Chair revealed there were actually multiple versions of the Clown Prince of Crime roaming the DC Universe. This sparked a long-running puzzle that the Dark Knight finally tackled head-on in Batman: Three Jokers. At the heart of the series was a trio of Jokers: the Criminal, the Comedian and the Clown.
As the mystery deepened, fans began to theorize as to how three separate Jokers could exist, but none of the ideas really hit the mark. As it was revealed there really were three versions of the Clown Prince of Crime, it was still unclear if DC was altering the entire history of the character to change everything readers knew, or if there really was only one true Joker. The answer, it turns out, isn't so simple, as Batman: Three Jokers #3 leaves the mystery open-ended.
In the first issue of the DC Black Label series, the three Jokers revealed their plan: they were looking to create the next version of the Clown Prince of Crime, insinuating that each of them had been created by their predecessors to form a better, more lethal version of the villain. This implied that throughout DC history, there never really was just one Joker -- instead, there could have been several, who would all have tangled with the Bat-family at various times. This would explain why the character has gone through so many changes, both physically and in terms of personality.
However, despite this potentially massive revelation, there was still some doubt. After all, this is the Joker, and there's always a punchline. Well, as is par the course, the mystery becomes even more complicated in the final issue of the miniseries.
In Three Jokers #3, the Criminal Joker is killed by the Comedian, leaving him as the only one left alive after Jason Todd murdered the Clown version of the character in the first issue. The Comedian Joker explains to Batman that all of this was his idea, all being part of a plan to ensure that Bruce would forgive Joe Chill for killing his parents, mending that deep wound. Only when Bruce made peace with this could the Joker then finally become the biggest source of torment for Batman.
With this, the Comedian cements himself as the one real Joker. However, he still doesn't reveal if he is the original, or if he was created by the Criminal. He purposefully leaves that question open-ended, not only to torment Batman but to also keep fans guessing. This "multiple choice" answer honors Alan Moore, Brian Bolland and John Higgins' Batman: The Killing Joke, which delivered the definitive origin for the Clown Prince of Crime but ended with the villain wondering if all of it was made up. That story popularized the idea that the Joker preferred his origin to be a multiple-choice option, and fans have long adhered to the idea that he just may not have a backstory.
In that way, Three Jokers keeps the spirit of The Killing Joke alive. It appears as if the Comedian is the real Joker, but the possibility that he isn't the original will continue to linger in readers' minds.