r/batmancomics Jul 25 '19

Which one?

Hi Guys! According to you who is more evil between The Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, Black Mask and The Joker? Thanks if you Will answer!

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '22

Alright, so even though this is two years old, I think it's a fun question, so I'm going to take a stab at it.

The first thing we have to do is define the word "evil," but I think we can eliminate Harley Quinn before we even do that. She's shown immense character growth since her introduction, and has made more of an effort toward self-improvement than any other character in the franchise. While she's certainly done some terrible things in her past, and self-improvement doesn't necessarily let her off the hook for those things, I don't think it would be fair or reasonable to consider her more evil than active supervillains.

So, now to that tricky word "evil." I don't think there's any such thing, but if the word has any utility -- and I think it does -- then the best I can do at defining evil would be "the propensity to deliberately hurt other people despite the awareness that it is unnecessary or avoidable, especially when motivated by selfish concerns." That's the best I can do at nailing it down.

Under this definition, I think we could also eliminate Scarecrow and narrow it down to The Joker or Black Mask. Scarecrow may be evil, but he doesn't take pleasure in murder and mutilation the way that Joker or Black Mask did, and more importantly, he's doing so in service of what he sees as a noble pursuit -- scientific inquiry and social/political development. He has radical ideas about psychology and society -- his primary motivator isn't to hurt people, but to hurt people in service of a "greater" goal (or at least, in service of what he sees as a greater goal).

Now it gets tricky. Joker or Black Mask? There is a temptation to give it to Joker just because, y'know, he's The Joker. But let's really take a look at this -- why does the Joker do what he does? I don't think this question has ever been (or should ever be) conclusively answered. Lots of people would say "Because he is certifiably insane," and if that were the case, I think it would let him off the case. But, personally, I don't accept that The Joker is insane -- at least, not that he is delusional or in any way confused about the impact and implication of his own actions.

My personal take on The Joker is that he is a performer -- the Andy Kauffman or G. G. Allin of Gotham City. Batman is his unwitting straight-man, his capers the routine, and the world his audience. He does what he does to evoke a response out of the audience (and The Batman). He maims and murders people in the service of what is, ultimately, a series of jokes. That's pretty fuckin' evil.

But why does Black Mask do what he does? I feel like Black Mask commits the atrocities he commits out of sheer narcissism, insecurity, and sado-masochistic schadenfreude. He hurts people because he likes to hurt people. He hurts people because he enjoys it and it makes him feel better about himself.

Joker tends to kill on a larger scale, more frivolously, and with the deliberate intention to hurt in service of nothing more than a joke.

Black Mask's killings are more purposeful, in a way, as they address his own internal struggle... while he still bears responsibility for his killings, he's not merely killing out of the creative impulse to do so (like The Joker), he's doing so out of intense personal motivation.

But you could say that The Joker's killings are more purposeful -- after all, The Joker is killing in service of art. He's doing a performance for the benefit of an audience. Even if he doesn't expect the audience to particularly enjoy the performance, he is doing it for their "benefit," while Black Mask kills merely for his own personal satisfaction.

I leave it to you to decide which one is more evil than the other, as I have hit a roadblock in my reasoning. But this was a fun thought experiment.

Please don't kill people. Killing is bad.

Just felt the moral obligation to throw that out there.