Best Look Yet At Absolute Joker Just Dropped, And He's Terrifying

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Like any good, versatile comic book character, The Joker has taken on various forms over the years, ranging from appropriately silly, but in a dark way, to just plain dark in an unsettling way. However, the Clown Prince of Crime has never quite looked like what the Absolute Batman series has in store for the DC supervillain.

In a video by Felix Comic Art that streamed live on YouTube on Oct. 27, the eponymous host unveiled an exclusive look at the Absolute Joker's design that is set to officially debut in Absolute Batman #15. Felix likens the appearance to a genuine demon, and his reasoning is clear just from this screengrab shared on X by DCU Updates below:

The most famous of villains whom Batman has faced is typically known to bear a clownish façade, reflecting his penchant for rolling out gags in poor taste and laughing maniacally at images of terror that are usually of his design. However, this version of the Joker takes on a more monstrous form, complete with reptilian dorsal plates emerging from his spine, a pointed tail hanging from his sickly slender frame, horns protruding from his head and, as the artist's notes describe, "rows of teeth for constant consumption."

Some commenters on X have compared these illustrations to the Joker Titan from Batman: Arkham Asylum, which serves as the final boss of the hit video game after the criminal injects himself with a strength-enhancing serum. Other fans have pointed out that the unusually bulky Absolute Batman is still severely outmatched in height by this enemy and, as such, they are in fear for his life.

Absolute Batman writer Scott Snyder previously teased the Absolute Joker design by artist Nick Dragotta in an X post from Sept. 2025. The color cover art image, modeled after a Joker playing card in reference to another one of the villain's signature specialties, indicates that, despite his inhuman features, the design still boasts many of the Joker's best-known characteristics, namely his white skin, red lips and hints of green. In fact, one might say this creature looks more like the Joker than the character's previous appearances in the Absolute Universe.

Absolute Joker's Previous Appearances

DC's Absolute Universe, which is headed by Scott Snyder, has been noted for introducing refreshingly unique takes on the comic book publisher's classic characters. For instance, in Absolute Batman, Bruce Wayne is not an orphaned billionaire playboy, but a working-class genius who lost his father years earlier and who teams up with his childhood friends, including the likes of Oswald Cobblepot and Harvey Dent, and a veteran spy he randomly crosses paths with named Alfred Pennyworth to conduct his war on crime in Gotham City.

Perhaps the most bewildering of liberties taken with these iconic characters — even including Harley Quinn leading the Red Hood Gang — would have to be the Absolute Joker, who was initially revealed to be a normal-looking human without clown makeup who earns his nickname ironically, due to the fact that he never laughs. The idea behind this reinterpretation, as Snyder would describe, is to make Batman more like the traditional Joker, in the sense of being a symbol for chaos and destruction (but in the name of justice, of course), while this new nemesis is the suave, handsome, organized socialite.

This was a surprising, but warmly welcome, development for the Absolute imprint. In retrospect, it would prove to be a brilliant misdirect before unveiling a Joker that is undeniably a change of pace, but definitely more like the monster fans have come to expect.

Absolute Batman #15 hits the shelves on Dec. 10, 2025.