Where did Joker get the technology to build Captain Clown?

[CyberCubed]

Captain Clown (DCAU)

Captain Clown was an android used by the Joker. Joker programmed the robot to pilot a garbage barge he used to spread his a laughing toxin into Gotham City. Once Batman intervened Captain Clown was ordered to fight him. Using his Super strength he quickly overpowered him. After the fight Batman...

dc.fandom.com

This is only the 4th ep of the series and pre-dates all the Hardac robots that come later. So you're telling me Joker somehow has a fully functional robot that obeys his commands and got him out of nowhere?

I know the early eps of B:TAS were still figuring things out but Joker having a robot under his command is pretty eyebrow raising worthy.

 

[The Overlord]

Captain Clown (DCAU)

Captain Clown was an android used by the Joker. Joker programmed the robot to pilot a garbage barge he used to spread his a laughing toxin into Gotham City. Once Batman intervened Captain Clown was ordered to fight him. Using his Super strength he quickly overpowered him. After the fight Batman...

dc.fandom.com

This is only the 4th ep of the series and pre-dates all the Hardac robots that come later. So you're telling me Joker somehow has a fully functional robot that obeys his commands and got him out of nowhere?

I know the early eps of B:TAS were still figuring things out but Joker having a robot under his command is pretty eyebrow raising worthy.

I think there is a trope the that covers this:

Offscreen Villain Dark Matter - TV Tropes

The evil counterpart to Infinite Supplies. We know how it goes. The good guy defeats the villain. Whatever the villain stole is returned, and his Doomsday Device is blown up. Every single time. Yet, time after time again, the villain is right …

tvtropes.org

Pretty well a villain can get any resources they need without an explanation. The only exception is corporate tycoons like Lex Luthor and dictators like Dr. Doom.

That's how Joker has a robot clown or Dr. Octopus has an undersea base.

 

[Yojimbo]

Just like the tech he pinched from various places that he used on Tim Drake off-screen, he likely raided a company's warehouse or a shipment in-bound to Gotham like Wayne Industries, Cybertron Industries, etc. or maybe some in the Beyond era were around in the present era of BTAS. And he did simple mods to make it Captain Clown (or 'made' someone do it then offed 'em).

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

I also feel the Joker has SOME technical know how. I mean he was able to also get that Lady Bot of the Future in Batman Mask Of the Phantasm to attack Andrea for him so it's clear despite his clear lunacy he has at least a bit of mechanical skill. Plus yeah Yojimbo pointed out Gotham is lousy with various industry buildings that super villains rob all the time so Joker could have pinched tech for that to make Captain Clown.

 

[Karkull]

Joker obviously has some technological expertise. He’s probably self-taught, though -- somehow I don't see him attending night school. Another option: I've had a running theory that the Joker outsources some of his weaponry and props to Toyman.

 

[Revelator]

Just like the tech he pinched from various places that he used on Tim Drake off-screen...

This reminds me of one of the plot-holes in ROTJ. If WayneTech had developed technology designed to transfer/replicate someone's DNA in chip-form, why didn't Bruce remember that when the Joker returned? At the time of the Joker's death Bruce was still involved with his company, so he would have surely been aware of its most advanced research projects, just as he should have remembered that project when an unaged Joker popped up. Even if WayneTech's efforts hadn't been fully successful, the "world's greatest detective" should have considered that someone might have improved on them.

 

[ABrown]

I think the better question is how did Captain Clown return in the movie Batman and Harley Quinn after getting destroyed in the episode The Last Laugh?

Images courtesy of World's Finest Online

 

[Yojimbo]

A Joker goon dressed as Captain Clown and doing the Robot on the dance floor?

This reminds me of one of the plot-holes in ROTJ. If WayneTech had developed technology designed to transfer/replicate someone's DNA in chip-form, why didn't Bruce remember that when the Joker returned? At the time of the Joker's death Bruce was still involved with his company, so he would have surely been aware of its most advanced research projects, just as he should have remembered that project when an unaged Joker popped up. Even if WayneTech's efforts hadn't been fully successful, the "world's greatest detective" should have considered that someone might have improved on them.

Idk if it was WayneTech. I figured if he found one Cadmus compound (Wild Cards), he found other places over the years and stole materials or whoever its successor was e.g. ARGUS no doubt and eventually figured out how to code his DNA into it as his back up plan in the event of his eventual death.

 

[-batmat-]

I don't want to offend anyone and I know most of us enjoy looking for "canon" and "in universe" reasons for everything, but at some point, it's just thinking too hard about it.

At the end of the day, some writer went "It would be cool if Joker had a robot henchman" and that's about it. So we can all create our head canon of how Joker managed that, or just go along with it and have fun, without thinking about it too much

 

[Fone Bone]

I don't want to offend anyone and I know most of us enjoy looking for "canon" and "in universe" reasons for everything, but at some point, it's just thinking too hard about it.

At the end of the day, some writer went "It would be cool if Joker had a robot henchman" and that's about it. So we can all create our head canon of how Joker managed that, or just go along with it and have fun, without thinking about it too much

This. I would have said this myself but I've been accused of being too negative. But fan theories about dumb and silly things are kind of beside the point.

 

[Revelator]

Idk if it was WayneTech. I figured if he found one Cadmus compound (Wild Cards), he found other places over the years and stole materials or whoever its successor was e.g. ARGUS no doubt and eventually figured out how to code his DNA into it as his back up plan in the event of his eventual death.

My memory played me false--I thought the Joker had mentioned WayneTech as the source of the "cutting-edge genetics technology," but he just says he pinched it "here and there."
But I think my larger point still stands: if several companies were attempting to encode DNA and make it portable, you'd think Bruce would have heard about that and realized the Joker might have returned that way.
Lest I sound too negative, I should say that there was really no way to have a non-cloned, non-elderly Joker return from the grave without enduring plot holes or implausibilities of some kind. So one has to live with them, since the Joker's return was obviously integral to the film.

 

[Yojimbo]

My memory played me false--I thought the Joker had mentioned WayneTech as the source of the "cutting-edge genetics technology," but he just says he pinched it "here and there."
But I think my larger point still stands: if several companies were attempting to encode DNA and make it portable, you'd think Bruce would have heard about that and realized the Joker might have returned that way.
Lest I sound too negative, I should say that there was really no way to have a non-cloned, non-elderly Joker return from the grave without enduring plot holes or implausibilities of some kind. So one has to live with them, since the Joker's return was obviously integral to the film.

I see where you're going with (I think even in the commentary they admit how Joker returns was kinda wacky) but also the movie did set up that Bruce didn't figure out all the stolen components could be formed into, he even initially dismissed the thefts as just tech being hocked and it wasn't until way later that Terry pointed out someone of Tim's background and turn it all into a satellite jammer. Maybe he wasn't up to speed on genetics tech up to that point in the ROTJ flashback, one could argue his time with the Justice League as a reason for him not putting it together that's why Joker was stealing the genetics tech (unless Joker kept his involvement in those thefts on the down low like again Batman had no idea Joker broke into a Cadmus training site and formed a new metahuman gang until the Vegas incident) and well, the whole incident itself.

 

[Ed Nygma]

I can't fault you for asking since I still vehemently reject Mask of the Phantasm's non-explanation for how Andrea can teleport and make pick-axes vanish into her body, and was cranked at for overthinking that lol. I think there are some suspensions of disbelief allowed- I didn't think twice about Captain Clown since he's just a robot they could probably invent today and BTAS always had near-future technology. Where I draw the line is when physics and logic and prior continuity go out the window due to sloppiness.

And I agree the Return of the Joker mind control technology was always a step too far and kind of sours me on the end of that movie and its believability. It should have just been Tim Drake gone insane, that's something the viewer can wrap its mind around. They overthought by half how he could look and sound like Hamill's Joker but bringing in shapeshifting tech... I just don't know. I seem to recall there was a half explanation that it was Hatter's technology stolen, but I could be misremembering. I don't think they ever implied it was Wayne technology, unless it was in one of those non-canon Beyond 2010s comic books.

 

[BigFatHairyDeal]

Writers give Joker abilities and access to resources that make no sense, but since he's such a charismatic and entertaining villain, audiences just run with it. Joker Fish, hijacking the airwaves (repeatedly), breaking the Royal Flush gang out of a heavily guarded facility, etc. Even the live-action movies aren't immune to this. Batman would kill for Joker's plot armor...