The Rubberface of Comedy

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“The Rubberface of Comedy”
The Batman episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 12
Guest stars Kevin Michael Richardson as the Joker
Written by Greg Weisman
Directed by Sam Liu
Production no. 112
Original airdate April 30, 2005
Episode chronology
← Previous Next →
"Bird of Prey" "The Clayface of Tragedy"
List of The Batman episodes

"The Rubberface of Comedy" is the twelfth episode of The Batman's first season. It originally aired in North America on April 30, 2005. The episode was part one of a two part story, concluded with "The Clayface of Tragedy".

Contents

[edit] Plot Synopsis

Joker's back in town and has a new invention, Joker putty, that can morph anything and everything into rubber or putty. Meanwhile, Chief Rojas tells his Detectives to stop both Joker and the Batman once and for all, saying both of them have no place in Gotham.

[edit] Plot Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Equipped with a new chemical substance dubbed “Joker Putty”, Joker attacks Gotham with his two goons Punch and Judy, first robbing a bank and then defacing a statue. The Joker Putty changes anything it comes in contact with into a clay substance, making it easily malleable. While defacing the Gotham statue, Batman shows up, and is forced to fight off Punch and Judy while both Detectives Yin and Bennett arrive with orders to show zero tolerance for freaks, including the Batman. Joker and his goons manage to escape, but Batman is held up by Bennett, who refuses to let him go unless in handcuffs. However, during the scuffle, several bolts in the scaffolding loosened, and as Bennett stood with his gun aimed at Batman, the scaffolding collapses, and he falls. Batman manages to save his life, but escapes soon afterwards.

Bruce and Alfred begin discussing the events of that night, and soon, they come to the decision to let Bennett in on the secret of the Batman’s secret identity. Bruce decides to meet Bennett for coffee to try and discuss the issues, but before he can reveal to Bennett his secret, Bennett begins telling him how he’ll lose his badge if he doesn’t bring Batman in soon. Bennett is then called by Yin with reports of Joker breaking into the Museum of Art. Bruce and Ethan agree to continue the discussion while playing some basketball some other time.

At the Museum of Art, Joker steals a large theatre Mask of Comedy while defacing the Mask of Tragedy and twisting the frown into a smile with his Joker Putty. Bennett manages to track down Joker in the museum, but is knocked out by Punch and Judy. When he wakes up, he is tied down to a chair in front of Joker, in his hideout. It is here that Joker begins to torment Bennett, hoping to break his mind.

Eventually, it begins to work, and Bennett begins to go insane, but Batman manages to intervene once again. Joker threatens to spray his last batch of Joker Putty onto Bennett, but Batman throws a Batarang, knocking the gun out of Joker’s hand. The glass container in the gun holding the Joker Putty shatters, and fumes float upwards into Bennett’s face while Joker makes a run for it in his warped carnival hideout. Yin shows up to help Bennett, who falls into a series of coughs, while Batman chases Joker into a hall of mirrors. There, he manages to knock the Joker unconscious, but Yin shows up. She decides to let Batman go this one time because he saved Bennett, but assures him that the next time they meet, the mask will come off. Bennett gets suspended by Chief Rojas for saying that the Batman stopped Joker during an interview conducted by Rojas.

Later, Bennett gets home and gets a steaming shower ready. As he looks in the mirror above the sink, he breaks into a fit of coughing, and he looks up in time to see his face begin to droop and melt.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Other First Appearances

  • The Carnival (Joker's new hideout)

[edit] Quotes

  • Joker: All it takes is one rotten day to change a normal man into a monster! Well, in my case, a rotten day and a chemical bath.
  • Joker: (to Bennett) Ah, You have the issues with ze boss, eh? Well, who doesn't? Bosses make terrific tormentors. "Tote that barge, lift that bale, rewrite the script, sort that mail." All it takes too many orders to make a cuckoo call.
  • Joker: The giraffe turned himself to the police chief, and said "The last thing I saw was a screw loose detective trying to take the nuts out of the fruit cake!"
    Bennett: (laughs) Nuts out of the fruit cake!
    Joker: Ah, detective, my fellow viewer. It seems my therapy worked. You and I finally share the same sense of humor.
  • Joker: (to Bennett) When Joker is through clowning around with you, you won't know where to find your mind!
  • Batman: (while fighting Joker) Say cheese! (punches Joker as the shield's smile turned upside down)
    Joker: (sadly) The tragedy. (faints)
  • Joker: You're in the looking glass, Batman. Where comedy is tragedy, black is white and down is up. (Batman smashes mirror) You're outta luck!
  • Joker: (to Yin) Drop it, or laughing boy gets it! You don't know what this stuff does to humans! (Yin lowers her gun and drops it) Acually, neither do I! Let's find out!
  • Joker: (to Bennett) Have a rotten day, detective.
  • Joker: (to the people) I call it Joker Putty! And I can turn anything into it.

[edit] See also

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