Um, that Outsiders bit icked me. I mean, isn't this the Joker, the self-defined Most Degenerate Man in the DC universe who views it as a point of honour to kill practically everyone who he comes across? Who, in what I've read featuring him, is often characterised as an utter moral nihilist who's willing to die if it means that he's provoked a Good Guy into killing him and losing the moral high ground. And he freaks out in an utterly visceral uncontrolled way, beyond his usual "I'm mad, me" schtick, because Lex calls him gay.
I dunno, I get the probably-unintentional subtext here that the writer sees homosexuality as so horrible that even the Worst Man in the World, who is frequently as camp as the proverbial row of tents and is in this snippet, is horrified by anyone thinking that he's actually a homo.
God knows I won't defend most of the official DC 'verse against charges of homophobia. However, this one I read as the Joker freaking out not because he's being called gay but because Lex hits him at his most vulnerable point, his desire to occupy Batman's consciousness. One can definitely read that desire as gay, but I can comfortably see it as icky because it's icky and not because it's gay.
"He'll never love you, sweetheart! [...] He's never gonna take you to the prom."
Of course, if that's the intended interpretation I'm surprised the Joker didn't just respond with something along the lines of "And when you're not in the room with him Superman never thinks of you, ever".
I don't know if the Joker has that much insight into Lex's motivations! Sadly, Superman doesn't appear to end this confrontation. But that is what fanfic is for.
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I dunno, I get the probably-unintentional subtext here that the writer sees homosexuality as so horrible that even the Worst Man in the World, who is frequently as camp as the proverbial row of tents and is in this snippet, is horrified by anyone thinking that he's actually a homo.
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Of course, if that's the intended interpretation I'm surprised the Joker didn't just respond with something along the lines of "And when you're not in the room with him Superman never thinks of you, ever".
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female hero ever. I loved the t.v show it was great!
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