I’m going to try my best to spread light on Jokers character...
I see Joker as another Vinny. When Vinny was first introduced, he was not presented in the best light. It took time to understand Vinny’s motives and past life. Joker is very similar in this way. Here are certain instances where his character is revealed (good and bad, because he is a morally grey character):
1. Joker is consumed by the thrill of fighting.
This image says it all...
“Consuming the forbidden fruit”
There are many instances where Joker is thrilled when in combat. Firstly, when he came across a boxer who was asking random people on the street to fight him for one minute, Joker pushed through the crowd to demonstrate how over-confident this man was. This was the first time we saw his chilling grin. In a recent episode we can see him and Owen going at it but not really in which revealed his inner demons. This includes his desire to find someone who can match his strength (Dom V.S Joker; Owen V.S Joker).
2. Caring for his brothers by sacrificing himself.
Again, we know he has multiple brothers, but have only seen one. We do not know his name, but we do know he is Joker’s younger brother. We also know that his younger brother chooses to skip school to earn more money. To be more specific he works at a construction site, which Joker does not approve and clearly wants him to get his education. Unfortunately, his younger brother doesn’t see it this way and wants his older brother to “mind his own business”. Resulting in Joker not being able to properly focus while in the cage, and being stomped on. We can also assume in season three episode seven that Joker tries to hide the fact that he works in an underground fighting club.
( Your face is always damaged and you didn’t expect them to know about it?)
In an earlier episode we see him do this...
Of course this means that most likely his parents aren’t around. This makes you think he does this every day how sweet. It is troubled to know that he involves himself in the fighting ring every night to earn money for his family. I can’t image the physical damage, especially to his brain, he takes from all those nights.
3. Beating the powerless.
These scenes were always hard for me to read.
This is one of the reasons why people don’t like Joker as a whole, which is understandable. It’s hard to watch someone be mercilessly beat when they are powerless against their perpetrator. Especially people like the manga crew who afterwards you feel incredibly sorry for and downright depressed. Although we haven’t gotten this information yet, his behavior makes me believe psychical abuse was involved in his childhood. More specifically, extreme abuse. If this is true, then he is seeing these people that he is beating the life out of as his younger self. There are many stories that I have heard from online and the people I know that they chose to run away because they believed their abuser will someday kill them. I know this may be going a bit far, but this is what I can gather from his excessive and irrational behavior.
4. Say NO to drugs.
Lastly, he chose not to take the drug that Sangho gave to the Sabbath crew.
