Fan theories that'll totally change the way you read these comics

Without a doubt, comic book fans are in a class of their own—well, aside from Star Wars fans, Game of Thrones fans, Bronies, Beliebers…you get the picture. In any case, super-fans of sequential art are masters at reading between the lines and sculpting theoretical scenarios that are equally as creative as the comics. Some hypotheticals are best left for the tinfoil hat set, but others give some well-known stories a spin—if not realigning them completely.

 Batman: The Killing Joke is one of the most acclaimed (and controversial) graphic novels of the past 50 years. Written by Alan Moore with distinctive art from Brian Bolland, the comic is based on the Joker's "one bad day" theory, which surmises that the thin line between the Clown Prince of Crime and Batman is just a single really rough rotation of the Earth. After escaping from Arkham Asylum, the Joker shoots and paralyzes (and possibly rapes) Barbara Gordon, before kidnapping and torturing her father, Commissioner Gordon. In the final panels, Joker tells—what else?—a twisted joke, as he and Batman laugh maniacally, before Batman clamps his hands around his adversary's throat.

Over the years, the book's notoriety has faded somewhat—at least until the 2016 animated movie (and DC's missteps in adapting it) brought it back to light. But since its publication, one popular theory (with some famous backers) suggests that the end of the villain's laughter signifies his death at Bruce Wayne's hands. If true, it gives the one-shot's extremely morbid tone an undeniably twisted ending—and it means the Joker was right: a horrible day is all it takes to turn a good man bad.

Moore's very viable point about the thin line between good and evil aside, if the Dark Knight has truly crossed the line, he's broken his own code of morality. After all, even the hellishly tormented Jim Gordon, suffering countless atrocities committed against him and his daughter, implores Batman to take the Joker down legally. In addition, the original script debunks this theory, even though the final edit leaves things more open to interpretation. In the long run, it seems to have more to do with letting readers decide who their ideal Batman is. After all, the Joker is still running around all these decades after TKJ. Death is no handicap in the comics.

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