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?
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23...it came from Harry Potter? "Why so, Sirius?"– Matt GuttingCommented Jul 19, 2016 at 20:01
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@Hypnosifl, asking the first depiction of Joker using the phrase. Will edit the question.– user35594Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 20:13
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Are you asking if the Dark Knight was the first to specifically depict the Joker using this phrase, or are you asking if the phrase itself was invented for the movie? If the latter the answer is no, it's a pre-existing phrase which you can find in plenty of books on google books that predate the film and have nothing to do with Batman.– HypnosiflCommented Jul 19, 2016 at 20:13
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2My guess is that it's not the first time used by Joker, but it's the first time given in the iconic way, but "Why won't you laugh?!" is more iconic to the comic joker that I remember coming up more times than I can recall. The thing is, Joker isn't as used in the comics as people seem to think, he's hardly ever in there, so it's hard to recall from the scant few appearances that Joker made in the comics and was in a place to give a line like this...– DurakkenCommented Jul 19, 2016 at 20:55
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2I don't remember the Joker ever using that phrase in any comics before The Dark Knight movie. He did use the phrases "Why can't you see the funny side?" and "Why aren't you laughing?" in Alan Moore's Batman: The Killing Joke which was one of the source materials Nolan used for the movie, so maybe it's a variation on/call-back to that.– GrayCommented Sep 23, 2017 at 23:14
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3 Answers
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.
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3Hello and welcome to SFF! This is a nice answer. If the other answer you got the quote from is relevant to the discussion here it would be good to link to it.– TheLethalCarrot ♦Commented Apr 17, 2018 at 9:04
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.
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Hi, welcome to SF&F. Other than tone of voice, do you have any evidence for this theory? (e.g. Did Ledger ever mention that he thought Heathers was a great or influential movie?)– DavidWCommented May 16, 2022 at 20:10
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3This is very tenuous reasoning upon which to assume a connection between the two lines. Commented May 16, 2022 at 20:28
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.
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3What do you mean 'the real storyline'? There have been several versions of Batman and his villains over the years preceding the movie.– user33616Commented Oct 4, 2017 at 3:23