Warning: spoilers for Batman: Three Jokers #1
Since the initial announcement of Batman: Three Jokers, fans have been asking Joker has remained unidentifiable for such a long period of time.
Batman, the world's greatest detective. But the reasoning behind Joker's ability to remain a man of mystery (besides the fact he never discusses his past) had never quite been revealed. But while Batman is investigating the cryptic death of three men at Ace Chemicals in Batman: Three Jokers #1, he gives an in depth explanation as to why the Joker has never been identified.
In Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, Brad Anderson, and Rob Leigh's highly anticipated comic, Batman s commissioner Gordon and some of the Gotham PD at Ace Chemicals - which alludes to the Joker's origin story in Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's Batman: The Killing Joke - to help solve the mystery of how the Joker can simultaneously commit murder in three different places.
Batman begins his investigation by inspecting three dead bodies that lay beside an empty vat of chemicals and asks Gordon if they work for Ace Chemicals. Immediately after telling him no, Gordon asks him who he thinks they are - prompting Batman to take a closer look at the chemically burned victims whose bleached skin resembles that of the Joker. While inspecting the bodies, Batman explains why they will never be able to identify them, and it's the same reason they have never been able to identify the Joker.
The chemical attack has destroyed the men's identifying features down to the level of their DNA. Of course, they could still be identified by other factors - personal effects or simply the fact of who has gone missing - but the same can't be said of the Joker. The character has been shown to hate the idea of Batman knowing his original identity, suggesting that whatever scraps of evidence may have pointed to it, the Crime Prince of Crime will have made sure they're no longer around, safe in the knowledge his fingerprints and DNA won't give him away. Although the Joker's character has been around in DC Comics for decades, there has never been much reasoning behind why Batman and the GD haven't been able to work out who the Joker was. Batman: Three Jokers #1 proves that Batman will never know the Joker's original identity. Then again, it's more fun when Joker explains his own origin story.
