WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Batman: Three Jokers #1 by Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, Brad Anderson and Rob Leigh, available now.

Jason Todd was first known for becoming the new Robin after Dick Grayson grew out of the role, but he’s best known for his brutal murder at the hands of the Joker. As is often the case in comics, Jason’s character found his way back to the land of the living, where he resumed operating as a brutal vigilante known as the Red Hood.

And in Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok’s Batman: Three Jokers #1, Jason Todd finds himself with the means to finally get revenge on his killer. But faced with the opportunity, the Joker’s comeuppance is far from the clear-cut closure Jason had thought it would be.

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Three Jokers Your Robin

In the series’ first issue, three simultaneous crimes across Gotham all point to the Joker’s involvement. And as the comic’s title indicates, there really are three Jokers out there, and they’re all conspiring together, although why Batman’s arch-foe has tripled his presence remains somewhat unclear. After realizing this rather startling reality, Batman enlists the aid of Batgirl and the Red Hood to track the Jokers down.

The Dynamic Trio succeeds in flushing one of the Jokers out and subsequently subdues the villain in short order. With their foe contained, Batman leaves the scene to assist Jim Gordon and the GCPD in capturing one of the other doppelgangers. This leaves Barbara and Jason -- the two members of the Bat-Family who have suffered the most at the Joker’s hands -- alone with their neutralized foe.

Jason is all too tempted by the thought of revenge against his killer, drawing his gun on the defenseless villain. As the Joker taunts Jason, recollecting the brutal beating he inflicted on him, Barbara attempts to get him to stand down. But the Joker cites the nonstop cycle of violence between him and the Bat-Family. Believing that cycle won’t end until the Joker is dead, Jason pulls the trigger, putting a bullet into his killer’s head.

At long last, Jason Todd has gotten his revenge on his killer -- right?

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After killing one of the titular three Jokers, Jason himself stands over the body and ponders, “I hope that’s the right one.” This Joker certainly sounds like the “right one” -- his recollection of Jason’s murder is all too vivid, and there’s a statistical one-in-three chance Jason’s right. However, both Jason and Batgirl note that this Joker seems thinner than usual and relies on some of his older, sillier tricks than the Joker's more modern incarnations.

But even if this Joker was the “wrong” incarnation, Jason’s actions undoubtedly deliver the ultimate punishment for whatever other crimes this particular Joker might have committed.

Except, according to the Joker, killing him wouldn’t be revenge at all; it would be exactly what the Joker wanted.

Jason Todd Joker Robin

Among the Joker’s earlier taunts was his admission he doesn't want Jason dead at all, because his death would mean he could no longer hurt him and, in turn, Batman. Furthermore, the Joker went on to say that Jason begged for his life as he was beaten, even offering to be his Robin. Jason offering to work with the Joker is a new and surprising revelation, to be sure -- and perhaps more surprisingly -- it’s one that Jason doesn’t deny.

If it’s true, Jason -- still a child at the time -- certainly couldn’t be faulted for pleading for his own life, and he conceivably might have said anything to be spared. Under duress, his plea can’t necessarily be construed as a promise to outright serve the Joker, but that’s not to say his subsequent life didn’t play right into the villain’s plans. Jason was a darker, changed man upon his return, and he eschewed Batman’s rule against guns and killing, even taking his Red Hood moniker from one of the Joker's old identities. As the Joker observes, Jason really did become his Robin -- in a sense -- because he made Batman's life so miserable.

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Of course, the Red Hood never actually came to fight at the Joker’s side. Until now, Jason’s never exactly an outright murderer, but he nonetheless hasn’t historically had the same code against killing long-held by Batman. This moral difference has been a long-standing issue between Batman and his former sidekick, and it's a difference that the Joker recognizes and seizes upon. When the Red Hood kills or otherwise brutalizes someone, his methods are more akin to the Joker’s than Batman’s. And if the Joker’s intent is to continuously hurt Batman, then turning his former sidekick into a killer is certainly an effective way of doing it.

Batman: Three Jokers #1 suggests that the Joker’s endgame wasn't to kill Jason, but to instead turn him into a killer. Whether that goal was accomplished by killing Jason and anticipating some kind of resurrection -- as happened in mainstream continuity -- or by leaving him alive at the edge of death, as this issue now puts forth, is uncertain. But either way, the Joker achieved his true goal, even if it killed him.

With this Joker’s death, the cycle he mentioned earlier isn’t broken, it’s completed. Jason has killed the one villain Batman would be the most justified in killing himself, and that's an irony that the Joker could revel in from beyond the grave.

Batgirl Joker Jason

Therefore, Jason’s murder of a Joker isn’t revenge at all; it's the fulfillment of the Joker’s goal to irrevocably corrupt one of Batman’s closest allies. Jason’s actions weren’t getting back at the Joker for what he did to him, they were furthering and achieving what the villain had wanted all along. From the beginning of his Post-Crisis career as Robin, Jason Todd has been a morally conflicted character, and Batman has always tried to keep his crimefighting partner from spiraling into darkness. However, Jason’s execution of the Joker means that Batman has ultimately failed in that mission. And if the Red Hood didn't kill the Joker who killed him, there's a real chance that Jason failed his mission, too.

And Batman’s not going to be too happy when he finds out about any of this.

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