Just watched the Dark Knight and was wondering if Joker's catchphrase
"Why so serious?"
comes from a comic or was it invented specifically for the film?
Just watched the Dark Knight and was wondering if Joker's catchphrase
"Why so serious?"
comes from a comic or was it invented specifically for the film?
No. As far as the comics are concerned, there is no mention of the famous catchphrase "Why so serious?" Although, to be perfectly covering all areas, even though the Joker has never outrightly mentioned the same phrase, he has hinted along those lines in his comics. For eg:-
Batman: WHY DID YOU SHOOT THOSE PEOPLE?!
Joker: Nobody was dancing. Music was poppin’ off. So, y’know, I said ‘hey everybody, get down.’ But nobody got down. So… heh, I got those bitches to do the Harlem shake. IN HARLEM, no less.
Batman: You….you’re SICK.
Joker: The hell’s YOUR problem, man? Just getting people to dance, c’mon. You take shit too serious.
(Taken from another answer.)
The phrase "Why so serious?" made famous by the brilliant portrayal by Heath Ledger immortalized this phrase to the Joker forever. Although only comic readers will know that the actual origin of that is from the movie and not the actual comic.
I believe it came from the movie Heathers.
In one scene Winona Ryder says to Christian Slater “Why so tense?” when she’s calling him out on his plan. The way she says it is identical to the way Heath Ledger expresses it, except she says tense and he says serious.
I don’t know whether or not he changed it to go with the movie, to hide plagiarism on his part or just it realizing it. I still think he was amazing actor, and it could have just been an homage to Winona Ryder. Either way if so, he should have acknowledged it and her.
I believe I have the answer for you. It came right from the movie. There is no evidence that it came from a comic.
Even in the old series of batman made in 1993, there was not a single comic that has the catch phrase, "Why so serious?" Maybe you can find it in the new 52, but warning: it does not follow the real storyline. Joker is a very old arch enemy of batman and could have said it a couple of times in a comic after the movie was made.
So did joker ever say it before the movie? Probably not.