Aided by Superman arch-nemesis Darkseid, Joker appears in Frank Miller's new "Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child," comic. While Trump is never referenced by name in the comic, his likeness was featured on campaign posters and merchandise, including red hats and a Trump puppet that the Joker holds. Moreover, dialogue from the president is heard at one point and is distinctly Trumpian: (“It’s going to be beautiful! You’re gonna love it! You’re gonna love every inch of it! I’m talking streets so safe you can let your kids go play and not even think about 'em!”).
Also from today’s “The Dark Knight: The Golden Child”... forget about Putin and Ukraine, it’s Darkseid manipulating the polls for the RNC while Joker makes Trump toys! Ah, the trials of polling... pic.twitter.com/lSTDYxC3nC
— Perch (@ComicPerch) December 11, 2019
Familiar faces (and jackets) from Frank Miller & Rafael Grampá's new Dark Knight comic, The Golden Child. Their Trump stand-in turns out to be a stooge of The Joker. And isn't that Greta Thunberg among the righteous crowd coming to save us on the last page? #PresidentSupervillain pic.twitter.com/Sh7fbDHwRB
— Paul Slade (@PlanetSlade) December 11, 2019
Even the jacket Joker wears at one point is made of the US flag, with writing on the back that reads: "I really don't care, do U?" — a reference to the iconic coat Melania Trump wore in 2018 leaving the White House to visit the Mexico border.
According to a screen from the comic, Darkseid recruited the Joker to join the political campaign as an "agent of chaos" with the ambition to "destroy humanity's faith in itself" in order to conquer the world. In the comic, Joker apparently was overseeing the campaign's digital team, made up of Joker-looking child "minions." Both villains will be fighting Batwoman Carrie Kelley, one of the few recurring characters from Miller’s iconic “Dark Knight Returns” comic.
The comic had been in the centre of political scandal even before the pages imagining Trump were made available for the public to purchase. A previous variant for the cover featured Batwoman with a flaming Molotov cocktail in her hand, with the caption: “The Future is Young” was reportedly removed from social media after it had been used by protestors in Hong Kong. Millar and his co-writer Rafael Grampa had said at the time that DC had posted the wrong image without names and credits so it was removed.
