Originally posted by jrodslam
I disagree. Joker is not only a expert chemical engineer, hes also a master strategist, master thief and deadly combatant as well. Ras was surprised by Jokers intelligence after he beat him in a game of chess. Hes also outsmarted/tricked Luthor. You mention that Joker doesnt have the resourses to be a serious threat to anyone above street level? If he knows someone else has the resourses, hed take it and use it for his own doing. Hes used a mind control device to put members of the League to fight against each other. Now its not HIM thats the threat exactly, but hes the one who caused it. Hes posed a threat to super beings such as Aquaman, MM and others. He killed the Royal Flush gang. Hes even outsmarted Deathstroke. Joker can be a threat to anyone if given proper time and prep.
First off, anyone, from your average thug to a Cosmic Abstract could beat anybody with enough prep time. Its a given.
Second, Outsmarting Lex, Joker's Last Laugh .... these Joker feats are all HOLLOW feats because there is nothing in Joker's background history that would suggest that he is capable of such feats. This is why these feats are all chalked up to as PIS and why not? For the better part of his history, the Joker has only been a street level villain, all of a sudden, likely because of some editorial decision to boost sales, he's written as a League -level threat? WTF? I guess Rupert Thorne or Oswald Cobblepot are League-level villains too.
I guess its my assumption that he was already intelligent before the clown gettup.
If only DC would give the Joker a definitive origin like maybe before he became a psycho he was this brilliant academic student, then these Joker feats would have been legitimate. Hell, its much more believable that a scientist/businessman with enhanced physical stats like Norman Osborne would be JLA-level threat. And as a plus, he's f*ck crazy too.