Somehow this one slipped under our radar, and it’s shocking that it did. Writer/director Forbod Ardebili crafted this animated short film Bats & Jokes, the first in what was intended to be a trilogy (the next two chapters have not gone into production). It’s officially described as follows: “Joker has broken out of Arkham Asylum and all the villains are now under his command. Two-Face, Penguin, Riddler, Deadshot, Killer Croc, they all take orders from Joker now! As usual, Batman is on his way to save Gotham once more, but nobody can expect what is about to come next. No one except for Darkseid maybe! This is the story of Gotham's longest night filled with tales of death, immortality, apocalypse, destiny, and time travel! But most importantly this is the night that Joker's true origin and real name will be revealed to the world.”
In an interview with Fan Base Press, Ardebili explained, “The Batman universe is such a rich playground of possibilities that you can literally fit billions of stories within it and still have something new to say. When this particular story started coming to me piece by piece, I was stunned and a bit overwhelmed by the number of paths that I could take at any given time. In film school, they teach us that whatever you want to do with your story, you must earn it first, but when you are working with an already well-established universe, you can take shortcuts. It can be a blessing, or it can be a curse. You know, you are like a kid who is given the biggest box of toys possible. You’re playing and having fun, but you might end up making the biggest mess there has ever been! I’m still not quite sure which case it is for us.”