The Curious Terror Of The "Anti Joker"
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- During the end of the New 52 era of DC Comics a new Batman villain debuted. Destined to face off against the Jim Gordon version of The Dark Knight Mister Bloom terrorized the streets of Gotham. While he may have looked like some form of Lovecraftian Slendermanesque horror one of the characters creators briefly gave him an interesting label...the Anti-Joker. Does the character live up to such a description? Does it even make sense? We discuss here on Casually Comics!
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Would You Use A Bloom Seed?
Probably... LOL
Yeah!...can i eat it?
Nope, No blooming evil for me
Don't think I could get it under my skin, I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to pain. I think I'd want to but I couldn't.
"It's Blooming Time"
- Mr. Bloom probably (right before blooming all over)
I think the anti-Joker already exists: It's Ra's al Ghul. He's calm rather than chaotic, he's about control rather than anarchy, he's patient and thinks Big Picture rather than impulsively and in the moment.*(see amendment below) He sees Batman as kindred, whereas Joker sees Batman as the opposite who complements him. And he's soooo sssserioussss! (Ra's also likes to address Batman formally as "Detective" whereas Joker likes to address him informally like "Batsy")
Man, now I wanna see a story where Ra’s and Joker fight
@@GoldLight73 A story where Ra's (seemingly) kills Batman, and the Joker vows revenge would be neat.
I think this has to be the correct answer. What's also important to consider is that the Joker believes his ties to Batman are more solid than they actually are, whereas Ra's not only is the grandfather of Batman's kid, but also depending on continuity, is one of the people who trained Batman.
To a point Batman would not exist without Ra's and conversely the Joker - as shown by a few stories - would not exist without Batman.
I like how Ra's Al Ghul's "detective" can be thought of as a sign of respect at first glance but is actually a sign of derision because he considers Batman to be a waste of Bruce Wayne's vast resources. "All that money and skill and genius you possess, and you spend your nights pretending to be Ninja Sherlock Holmes when you could be doing so much good in the world by helping me overthrow destructive multinational corporations and corrupt governments."
I would argue it's Bane, but Ra's is fair.
He looks like if Slenderman dressed like steve jobs
Well, we never did see Slenderman and Steve Jobs in the same room at the same time....
@@parkermacinnis3977 suspicious
@@parkermacinnis3977 he didn't die, he just faked his death so he could have more time for his real passion.
Creeping in the woods to kidnap people that pick up his crude drawings posted to random landmarks.
Who's Steve Jobs?
@@tonberry2670 Ligma balls
An anti-Joker would have to be good, wear muted colors, and be somber, unostentatious, brooding, and ... you see where I'm going with this.
I mean, I think an anti joker would have to be all of those as well as being an "Agent of order", so uh a character that would represent the Law path in a shin megami tensei game.
I think perhaps that the anti-joker would be still a mirror for batman, but a mirror that is the opposite of jokers mirror to batman. something close to owlman, actually. maybe just owlman specifically. huh.
So...basically a mime? Its kinda of strange that we haven't had a mime in Batman. Could trap people in invisible boxes, and catch them with invisible ropes. 😀
@@atoth62 There is a batman villain called Mime. I don't think she has any powers though, but I'm not sure
@@atoth62 I mean... we did get Mime and Marrionette from the world of Watchmen. When Batman found the Comedian Button in the Batcave, it was a sign that those worlds/universes were connected. And Mime/Marionette arrived through that same mean, though at a different location.
Bloom was very underrated, and it's sad no one's done anything with him since Snyder left. Unfortunately his purpose was to show how cool Batman is that he stopped him in a single issue after everyone else struggled for like 12 issues.
He was in the zombie suicide squad. Had a major role
Release the Snyder's cut (of Dr. Bloom)!
@@andrecarpenter2432 Exactly, no one's done anything with him.
The trick is simple for this, they should closely study the design and rewrite the character to more closely fit him. His motifs actually hold a lot of semblance with Poison Ivy after all.
There is no need to change your design @@JamesTDG
"I demand to be taken seriously" the anti joker
Ok but, Joker HATES not being taken seriously. As much of a terrible trickster he is, he can't handle being the punchline.
An anti-Joker villain would basically just be Lex Luthor.
@@kashsmith6181honestly yeah
...so The Riddler than?
Imagine how terrifying Mr. Bloom would be in live action.
Guess it would be interesting seeing a better done Slenderman?
That thought is going to keep me awake tonight
I just imagine Batman encountering him in a dark alleyway in a more normal and human like form. He begins to give a speech similar to the one he gave to the citizens of Gotham. At the mid-way point of the speech, we watch as his fingers begin to grow and sharpen, followed by his arms growing to the point the all but drag along the floor. Then his legs begin to contort, twisting in ways that should make them break as they increase his height leading to his torso and neck beginning to stretch. By the end of the speech, Batman stares up in horror at the sky-scraper sized, human like monster that stares down at him.
Have him cameo in the DCU?
No thank you. that's not something i want to imagine
mr. bloom is the anti-joker because he's underexposed, unlike the joker who is overexposed
The simple answers are the best, indeed.
TBH, I'd never heard of him before this video.
Joker isn't overexposed
Right?! @@atoth62
@@thechosenone5421his color scheme and sense of humor is, and I think you may confusing "overexposed" with "overused"
I think making Mr. Bloom into a kind of 'eldritch possessed' super-drug cult-leader character that exudes a kind of far-gone madness in juxtaposition to Joker's more focused chaos might have been more compelling. Make him into a meta-powered 'other' thing akin to a king-in-yellow analog. Still mortal and stoppable, but clearly attached to something WAY worse.
Yes!
A fine vessel for the frenzied flame.
Future writers should lean into the Lovecraftian aspects of the character. Not only does he look freaky, but make his goals and motivations unknowable and less political like a Lovecraft monster.
0:01 I feel that leaning more in the Lovecraftian aspect of the caracter ould make him even more political. I mean, hear me out, the way he pretends to give other people power only to grow himself more powerful, the way he acts like he is against the system, but is really just creating a system in which he rules, it all kinda stinks like fascism, you know. Making him more lovecraftian could make this allegory more intense, like, this creature that grows, devours, and that no one can trully undertand till it's too late.
Ahhh Bloom I loved that guy. He was like an eldritch drug pusher . I haven't re read super heavy but that's how I remember him
I cant stop seeing him as pretty much the love child between scarecrow and poison ivy tho
@@KnucklesxReala911 he also acts a bit like the Joker, the real "Anti-Joker" wouldn't try to tear down society like the Joker, they would've built it up instead.
@@chrispilcher2024 Saw that comment about Ra's being the real Anti Joker and kinda agree : Sure, he want to destroy humanity, but because he considers it flaws and wants to rebuilt it from scratches, to fit "his" vision of perfect.
@@chrispilcher2024 anti-joker is owlman.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Mr. Bloom, he was definitely one of my favorite new villains to come out of the New 52. His spindly design, his status as a super-drug dealer preying off the loss of the original Batman, and his rivalry against Jim Gordon during his time in the tights. However, I never really saw him as the “Anti-Joker” like Snyder billed him as; a cool antagonist for an experimental storyline, sure, but not nearly up to snuff with someone like Joker. Was happy to see him get some recent love in the Task Force Z storyline :)
This is kinda how I felt about Ulysses, the N52 Superman antagonist. Cool concept that was an interesting reversal of Superman's origin's, and I like that he takes elements of Sentry's design, but he's pretty much forgotten after his initial arc. However he seems to be a villain in the new Superman movie.
To be honest? Joker sucks as of late. He would be somthing if he could be put away for 3 years and make his gramd return for fee arcs before going on a cooldown again.
He is quite literaly choking presence in the book. He is suposed to be batmans big bad but he never lives up to it in my eyes.
And here I've been thinking the "anti-Joker" was Jared Leto.
The only thing that separates Mr. Bloom from the "normals", is one bad gardener.
@@Mindcrow Dagnabbit, that's better.
I want to like it but it's on 69. Dose this dilemma happen with every popular comment eventually?
Lol yeah, Leto turned joker into a crackhead, which sucked ass.
I just imagine Batman encountering him in a dark alleyway in a more normal and human like form. He begins to give a speech similar to the one he gave to the citizens of Gotham. At the mid-way point of the speech, we watch as his fingers begin to grow and sharpen, followed by his arms growing to the point the all but drag along the floor. Then his legs begin to contort, twisting in ways that should make them break as they increase his height leading to his torso and neck beginning to stretch. By the end of the speech, Batman stares up in horror at the sky-scraper sized, human like monster that stares down at him.
That does sound really good
This is almost how I imagined his introduction would be.
I like Mr. Bloom but his twist identity reveal always felt like an afterthought. Though I think there’s a great opportunity to make him a reoccurring villain for Duke and some potential for very powerful storytelling.
Justice for Duke!
Duke? You mean forgotten character 10?
@@WaallyOneLike Bluejay
Indeed, I always felt like the second Mr Bloom (Daryl Gutierrez) could have been a great foil for Duke... but sadly he only appeared in *"All-Star Batman"* , turned back into a meta-human and was present when Duke's powers emerged.
He was also interesting because he had different powers than the first Bloom, since he could control living tissue instead of the kinda generic turning gigantic, using lightning, fire, etc...
Honestly for most of *"Task Force Z"*
I thought this Bloom was going to be revealed to be Daryl, since his special powers would make perfect sense in a story about reanimating body tissue
Buuut nope.... oh well, I guess the personality shift would have been strange, since Daryl isn't playful like the other Bloom is.
Yeah that was kind of weak. Make him Anomalous have it vaguely hinted he might be a discarded or rogue creation of Poison Ivy who refused to obey her will. He can create and recreate himself. Ivy is Mother Nature's Fury. Mr Bloom is Male Nature's forceful dominance . A fight between him and Swamp Thng could be interesting. As he is both also connected to the green and the rot.
If Batman himself isn't the Anti-Joker, and he must be chosen from the Rogue's Gallery, the Ra's al Ghul is the Anti-Joker. He is the opposite of the Joker in almost every way, and haunts Batman just as deeply.
I think what they were going for is that the Joker is too big a character for any writer to be able to stake a definitive claim on them, to say "this their origin, this is what makes them tick, everyone has to deal with that now". But with Mr. Bloom, they seem to be saying there isn't that much to Bloom as a character - that Mr. Bloom is more the expression of an idea (dissatisfaction with society) rather than a person, so while you CAN give them an origin, it won't really matter.
So basically it's that The Joker has no Origin because none would be fitting, while Mr. Bloom doesn't have an Origin because any one would be good enough to the point of his Origin being meaningless?
Isn’t the whole point of Killing Joke is Joker proving to Batman that anyone could become him after just one bad day? He even tries to use Gordon to prove that point
And the comic proved him wrong. Gordon doesn't break
You might turn it off when I'm halfway across.
Might come as a spoiler, but it was also suppouse to tell that's not The case and it was just a way for The Joker to excuse his deplorable actions. Like hell, Batman himself had that one Bad day when a nameless desperate mugger killed both of his parents, and yet he turned into Gothsm's Hero in the end
And joker fails because Jim isn’t crazy.
I find this character to be plenty self-cheapening, and that's because it trails behind a lot of manga I've read. Isn't Chainsaw Man devils a lot like Mr. Bloom, but given proper respect, exploration, and their own series to explore with? Similar thing could be Jojo's, every Stand power that was awaken by an arrow.
You had a bad day, mr.blue sky.
And I love the pedantry about precise meanings of a metaphor and an allegory.
To me, Mr. Bloom is like Onomatopoeia. They both appeared for a brief period of time. We know almost nothing about their pasts. And they haven’t been since, except for small tie-in stuff that don’t do them justice. The only difference between them (except the obvious) is that Onomatopoeia has been adapted into live action but almost everything about the character was changed, apart from the wardrobe. Seriously, they literally could’ve replaced Onomatopoeia in the Superman & Lois show with Silver Banshee.
Most random thought but I feel like Mr. Bloom would work great as a Dream Villain. He would be like a deep, dark thought that Bruce might have far in his mind about how anybody could one day become a villain for reasons that he may not understand because "they fell through the cracks". As this thought gets louder and louder, he would become bigger or more of him would appear as more Mr. Blooms rise up until Batman ultimately comes to a realization that so long as he or any other hero can serve as a symbol for hope, maybe people won't become a Mr. Bloom.
About the anti-Joker , there is,in my opinion, two.
One is Lockup, who is more an agent of oppression and a minor villain.
The second one is Ra's. His origin is very detailed , sometimes his motivation can be interpreted as eliminating the chaos, is secretive instead of over the top and , this is a stretch, Joker causes Batman to lose a son while Ra's through Talia give him one
Lockup was a cool gimmick with a lot of potential. I always felt they should have called him Lockdown though, sounds cooler.
Ras is also immortal, but in a different sense than the Joker- Joker is immortal in the plot armor sense, while Ras is immortal in a textual sense thanks to Lazarus pits.
Pause
Mr. Bloom reminds me of a dark and gritty reboot of El Seed from The Tick lol
"What kind of corn soldiers are you?" "We're Kernals!"
As typical Snyderisms go, it either works pretty well or not at all, and I think this is the latter.
Isn’t the idea of ecosystems that plant life has to be communal in some sense? Plants that contribute to a larger biosphere work well, but an invasive species can throw it out of balance.
So Mr Bloom should be preaching co-existence, saying that the corrupt of the city have uprooted (haha) the fine balance or society. And what does blowing up the city have to do with a well rounded world view?
I like the idea of a plant villain being representative of what can happen when you don’t remain vigilant against the “cracks” of society. A small failing can become a horrid mess of weeds if not caught before-hand. Gets at a different angle of the unending war against crime, that once you get rid of it all, you can’t just leave the garden unattended as people or the systems can tend toward corruption if not watched.
Hey, bring him back and do some other stuff with him. We’ve kinda lost Ivy as a villain, so we need another plant bad guy!
Not actually. Plants are not that much different from the animals - they also compete for resources, it's just seems not as violent for us as between animals. Like, you will not see much grass or bushed in deep, lush forest - because big trees will take all the sunlight. In result of this competition balance is created, though.
I think he's idea has some merits. He's garden allegory works on some levels, because garden, just as our society, is an inherently "alien" for nature thing. It artificial. It's an order, but it's different from the order of nature, born from competition. And some may see it as inferior to the natural ways.
Yeah would've made more sense to have him as an Instrusive Thoughtform that was coalesced out of Gotham's inherent rot. Have him as a manifestation of The Rot it's self bringing him into direct conflict with Solomon Grundy. His seeds are extention of himself and though empowering his " Plants" ultimately they corrupt them with chaos. Mr. Bloom ( which sounds like a nice name) is ironic. As he does not represent health and vibrancy but something that consumes, corrupts and spreads it's self. It can have a " crack" to break through usually in someone who is down trodden. It is a weed of darkness.
@@zeeadmirale1881 there are even some plants that ooze enzymes into the soil near them that melt the root systems of any plant that tries to grow nearby
I would love eddy from abbot elementary to teach Bloom what gardening actually is
The why you described Mr. Bloom makes him sound better as a classic Chaos Rep in a Shin Magami Tense game. A creature preaches about how the stimming idea of Law unreliably restricts personal happiness and remedies this by gifting way to obtain personal power. Unfortunately they are happiness from a demon’s perspective that are more Mental Archetypes given flesh instead of bound directly to human perspective. Always anything is good and permissible as long as you are the strongest person, with eating some of the weak for more strength is just an inevitable quirk of the world.
The only Anti Joker is *The Creeper*
The only anti-Joker is the Weeper.
Aw man.
@Scipio488 yeah I was thinking the same thing. Or batman is literally like the anti joker tbh
So we back in the mine
Four replies and only one actually recognizes the name? For shame, the Creeper is such an epic character.
"Oh, no, they're the same again." Brilliant.
I still don't know what's creepier, Mr. Bloom, or Jim Gordon without his moustache.
Maybe, they call Mr. Bloom as the anti-Joker because its the difference of the one bad day that created Joker while its the mere mundanity of life that can create a Mr. Bloom.
Compare the story of the killing Joke were Joker tries to prove that anybody can become like him if they experience a bad enough day. (But then in that story Joker failed in his goal because Com. Gordon stayed sane and stuck to his moral.)
While in the Superheavy arc, Mr. Bloom is just showing the citizens of Gotham how shitty their lives are and gives them a proposition to get powers to change their situation like the child that accepted the seed. Mr. Bloom actually succeeded in showing anybody can become him if just shown the proposition.
Thats why I think Mr. Bloom can be labeled as the Anti-Joker, because anybody can become Mr. Bloom while nobody else can become the Joker.
What about the batman who laughs? That's a joker that's not the joker
@@EclipseOverSalem In name yes, but in sense and essence no.
The Batman who laughs (BWL) is an artificial creation of a Batman who becomes a Joker-like villain. (Artificial in the sense that the writers just wanted to create it)
If you remember how the BWL was created, it was not a one bad day but just a weird gas created w/in the body of the Joker, which was release when he was killed in the backstory of BWL.
It was even shown during the talk w/ BWL and his BatFam that BWL's personality was slowly being turned to be like Joker because of the poison gas from the Joker's body, which is weird because in multiple stories from the main universe and spin-off series shows that Batman normal can cure himself if Joker poisons to become like him, best example is the ep of "The Laughing Bat" from the The Batman series.
Compare that to the Killing Joke's creation of the Joker, where Joker after experience his one bad day immediately become the Joker.
The idea of the dark multiverse of DC itself feels more of a spectacle than a true story to be told on how heroes can be corrupted, compare that to Earth-3 of the Crime Syndicate who actual try to show evil versions of the heroes (best example Batman who sees the sanctity of life, and Owlman who sees life as a cancer).
I do love his speech bubbles, it definitely sells his vibes
Mr.Bloom had some interesting aspects that could’ve made him a Poison Ivy 2.0. (Especially now, given how DC trying to push her into a hero role.) I can see the lovecraftian features mixed with the corruption allegory would work for an Arkham Game. This character could be a good foil for Superman. However, I feel like you to go hard on the horror angle to make that work. But that’s just me.
That makes sense. I like it! :)
heavily agreed !!
“ I beg your pardon, never promised you an anti Joker garden.”
While you focussed on the ‘opposite of’ meaning of ‘anti-‘ there is another way it might be used in this context and that is ‘anti-‘ as in anti-hero and anti-villain. In both cases it doesn’t mean ‘opposite of hero’ or ‘opposite of villain’ or an inversion, but rather a character that plays the role of hero or villain (respectively) but does not have the typical traits associated with that role. So, an anti-Joker might also be a character that serves the same role as the Joker, but without (or possibly the opposite of) the typical traits of the Joker. And in this respect, Mr Bloom might be a sort of anti-Joker. In some iterations, Joker is an anarchist who just wants to ‘burn it all down’. Mr Bloom wants to ‘regrow it all’ after first slashing and burning what is there. In this way they serve a similar role (an antagonist seeking to destroy Gotham) but for different reasons and with different traits. However. I think even using this version of ‘anti-‘ he is a weak anti-Joker at best because I think he still isn’t well enough defined in terms of his traits and persona.
I was looking for someone to say this. This is my first time meeting Mr. Bloom, but I see the *potential* for the character to evolve in this way, and the design and mood of the character would definitely fit
I like the creepy factor of Mr. Bloom- I wish they'd bring him back, maybe just changing a few things that didn't work the first time. I don't think they should just throw him away completely.
We need to see an animated feature length treatment of this character penned by better writers!
Mr. Bloom just screams of explosive creative potential in an animated form! I want to see how he moves, how his petal face emotes, while being dignified with a better story!
Also i want to see his powers interact with Poison Ivy's, on a small or large scale!
Thanks for explaining this guy!
Didn't realize Mr. Bloom survived the new 52.
I really like his monologue where he thanks the rich people for helping gotham while brutally murdering them and at the end thanking them to allow people like him to arise. The Sarcasm and his calmness did a really good job defining his character.
Mr Bloom would make a cool Doom Patrol villain.
He’d honestly fit right in. Heck, Bloom as a drug dealer and giving only temporary solutions to problems would be a great analogy for the experience of those who’ve survived drug addiction.
Or as a member of the team.
@@warioskapelli3100 I'd like to add to that, relying too much on medications (I'm talking specifically psych meds at the moment). They're all too frequently not a cure but just somewhat improve quality of life. And what if the meds run out...??
All I can think of when I see Mr. Bloom is, "WE'VE GOT ONLY ONE SKY! BLUE, RED, AND BLACK PARANOIA!!"
I always think bloom is terffriying in the concepts of addiction, he mostly fits well having people using drugs and being slowly rotted from the inside of the various chems they pump in, while at the same time feeding the very parasite that peddles them the poison, I think bloom should defiantly focus on addiction, if they do that and not sell bloom as the anti-joker he can be one of batman if not DC most iconic villains. he does not care about people, philosophy or even ideas, he just a parasite and only cares about selling his goods to many hapless victims.
part flower part Slenderman
half man, half slender, half plant lol
Mr. Bloom design and power wise can work as an Anti-Joker. The Joker is an eccentric man who wears colorful outfits that uses tools to accomplish his goals. Mr. Bloom has a much more subtle outfit choice, has superpowers, and has an overall less human appearance.
The thing is both are working for chaos in one form or another. An Anti-Joker, in my opinion, would be more obsessed with the concepts of order and destiny.
What if instead of anarchy, Mr. Bloom spread his seeds because he believed Gotham as a city was going against its destiny? What if he believed Gotham was supposed to be plagued by crime? What if he revealed himself in order to make sure Bruce would become Batman again? What if he fought for the continuation of Batman's crime fighting career, one where people continued to suffer and die, unable to escape the cycle of crime and violence, because fate says it so? And what if, even if he is defeated, he wins?
A cool “new” villain that nobody bothered to build on
This feel poison Ivy and Joker poor science experiment
It isn’t much anti-joker but mirror joker.
If he stay with the idea of creating order, unifying people and as creepy has he appears.
Mr. Bloom IS underrated and really complex. Did a whole video on the Superheavy arc myself and loved it
I think one way you could definitely view them in opposition is in HOW they approach their philosophies and world views.
The Joker is usually very singular, they're the only one "in on the joke". He'll have henchmen and do villain team-ups of course, but even with Harley and Punchline, they were never entirely IN the Joker's "space".
Meanwhile, Mr. Bloom was very much invested in getting as many people as he could to think like HE thinks. To a point of dependency and justification at some parts. He's desperate for other people to agree with him, and indeed it's a component of his power.
The few times Joker HAS tried to spread his perspective to others (usually via chemical alteration), he's almost always disappointed they don't actually get it, or even finds them ANNOYING. Even during the period of "the Three Jokers" (which was still kinda dumb), there is an inherent friction at them trying to work together and move as a unit. It's almost unnatural.
Holy hell a comics channel that isn't just an A.I voice explaining the plot? Hell yes
Anti Joker could be bad. Auntie Joker... That could be even more horrifying. Especially if it's just Joker dressed up like a middle-aged aunt.
Thanks for introducing me to this character!
I love the idea of a villain whose villainy takes the form of empowering others to be their worst selves. Mister Bloom would work great as a metaphor for evil enablers and the criminal drug trade.
As for an anti-Joker, I recently came to the conclusion that the Joker exploits and displays the ridiculous rules of society, especially society not killing him expressly because he is an INSANE murderer, rather than a logical one.
An anti-Joker would be an oppressive authoritarian, a dark reflection of Bruce himself, exploiting power and authority to terrorize his victims into “being good”.
Imagine someone who uncovers some forgotten document that gives them absolute legal authority over Gotham. Armed with technical legal and moral high ground, they set themselves up as a secret cop/judge/jury/executioner of Gotham.
They could be used to examine the nature of the law and authority itself.
So the anti-Joker is the Court of Owls (half-joking here).
So Mr. Bloom is basically Slenderman with a flower on his face.
So, Slenderman itself is like a weed that corrupts the children to do his bidding.
Anyone could be Mr Bloom with the right push?
You mean, like... one bad day?
I read Mr. Bloom in Joe Pera's voice. Steady, calm.
Sounds like they had an interesting concept with Mr bloom, but I'm not really seeing that actually play out in the character.
The concept of a vilian that could be anyone, like anyone could end up becoming them, so even when beaten or unmasked that's not the end.
Sort of a memetic being that continues to emerge from those "cracks" and the dissatisfaction. In a supper natural or "I'm Spartacus" people just taking the mantle up.
Would be neat to see batman have to deal with a "symbol" as counter to his concept of having to become a symbol because a man can die but an idea lives on.
As someone who likes Mr Bloom as a character I do understand the complexity of it but you need to replace the idea of him being an antithesis for him being a synthesis. In short the best way to understand it is joker is at his best when he is written with three core concepts as the foreground anonymity choas and the climax, a good joker forgoes the origin because it keeps you guessing his chaos is bombastic wild and always a spectacle and because of this you always know that Batman and the joker going to have to come to blows leading to the climax; however, mr bloom is those things in the background instead of three pillars on a stage you have an idea on a painting. Mr Bloom isnt just anonymity but paranoia he isn't just chaos but anarchy and with him it's not the climax but the suspense getting there. When Mr balloon does his thing not scared of him because you don't know his backstory but because anybody you know from the mailman that delivers your mail to your teacher to your neighbor can be Mr Bloom at any time, he's not just chaos he's anarchy so when he destroys its not to put on a show its to tear down the stage finally with joker it's all about the ending the last hurrah with Batman with bloom it's tension of what is he scheming what is his plan who will get hurt and what will be broken. I think when you look at Mr Bloom you need to not look at him as if he is the inverse of joker but the improvement of joker and I'm not saying he's better then joker more so he's more fine-tuning of his ideas to match a more adjusted and techy Batman. In short jokers ideaology and identity was the soil so bloom could achieve synthesis and he something more for a different batman
"Mr. Balloon" 🤣🤣🤣
Every time you say, "Mr. Blue" ELO's Mister Sunshine pops up in my head. Thanks.
"Giving him an origin woukd almost cheapen him" and then Geoff Johns proceeds to push that the Killing Joke origin is the actual Joker origin
“One of?” There’s a reason he keeps winning Best Villain year after year. Why 2 separate actors won Academy Awards portraying him. The Anti-Joker looks like a Judge Dredd villain.
The only way I can see he's kind of an anti-Joker is if he's an anarchist who's actually trying to give power to the people, rather than one who just wants to burn it all down or be at the top of the heap.
I really like that his powers are vague and seem to be just based on what looks cool, or what it looks like he could do. Like how a kid would play with a toy
I think the idea with Mr. Bloom is that multiple people can take on the identity of Mr. Boom. The Joker is assumed to one person throughout every appearance, whereas Mr. Bloom is explicitly meant to be a persona that is adopted by a different person every time they appear.
Superman, that's the anti-Joker
I love Mr. Bloom, he is one of my favorite villains that has been introduced in comics. I would love to see him make more appearances in cartoons or movies, but it's hard for new Batman villains to ever be chosen for adaptation because of how iconic the already established rogues are. I think he has a lot of potential, to be a villain from one of the Bat family members but I could see him working in other ways
I think Bloom here is a good new villain with the potential to be a JL-level threat. I hope we one day get to see a story where the character isn't restricted to Gotham, but instead spreads worldwide, even getting heroes to implant the seeds.
...wait, Jim Gordon was Batman?
I love the design of Bloom, very creepy and creative! He feels like a corrupted eldrich life coach.
"Dead flower dolls." That's a morbidly beautiful description.
Also, I feel like he would work better if he was an entity rather than a metahuman; something that feeds off the misery of a hopeless existence and the rot of the human soul.
Oh yay, you used "the spooky voice".
I'll always remember it from your Corpse Factory LP. 😅
The idea that he can come from anywhere is actually kind of fascinating sort of playing into the fact that he’s based on a weed
I could even see this being played in a return of some sort where it’s never the same person
When he’s preaching to Batman about joining him and taking the city, I just think “Green Goblin” lol
I think it would have been cooler if they leaned into the slenderman/eldritch creepiness more, maybe having the seeds under the right conditions turn normal people into Mr. Bloom so he can literally spring up from anywhere like the weed comparison.
i love how everything about mr bloom is confusing like its on purpose, like his entire existence is to confuse you to increase the freak factor
Blooms whole "The system is rotted, everyman should fight for what they want" is kinda similar to Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising Revengeance
“Anyone can be Mr bloom with a good push” gee, that sounds an awful lot like “it just takes one bad day”
Mr. Bloom is definitely my favorite comic villain to come out of the modern age. He really feels like an eldritch cryptid like creature that fits perfectly in batman's rouges gallery.
He isn't a replacement for some status qoue or a rework of something that already exists. He feels like his own thing.
So from what I gathered from the interview’s answer is the Mr Bloom isn’t an Anti-Joker.
He’s an Anti-Spider-Man. The idea that anyone can be under the mask.
The worst villains are the ones that never shut up. And he looks like he could be taken out with one punch.
Mr. Bloom as a weed is interesting because it seems to be based in how shortsighted he actually is.
A weed has no concept of what a weed IS. Its just another plant living among plants. He thinks life is all about choking eachother out because thats all he specifically had when he was struggling to live.
If we were to twist that into him being an "Anti Joker", you could just make him so utterly broken inside he stops relating to humanity entirely. Joker's entire thing is trying to say he knows what the average person is deep down, and thus Mr. Bloom would find the average person incomprehensible and ask why anyone would want that.
Joker is about embracing the darkest depths of hunanity and refusing to bother with the good that comes of civility, thus an Anti-Joker would be about forsaking humanity entirely, trying to cast out the harm and inadvertantly throwing out the good in the process.
I feel like rather than trying to focus on the garden/meadow metaphor they should've just had him be quizzical. Doing what he does to try and see what being human is actually worth to start with and see hiw many people are willing to forsake it with him
Ah, Scot Snyder... I used to think he was the next Warren Ellis... Man did he go hard on proving me and everyone that thought like me wrong.
Yeah, he never tried sleeping with his fans promising to get them jobs
@@stevefox1200 no, he just wrote Dark Metal. Something 100 times worse than anything Warren Ellis ever did.
Partway through your reading of the actual Anti-Joker response, I realized that Snyder was essentially saying all it takes is One Bad Day for anyone to become Mr. Bloom, which was already a recurring theme of the Joker's. I think Mr. Bloom is the Anti-joker in how he operates though. Joker seems to be by-and-large a solo act with occasional backup, but Mr. Bloom specifically went about things in a "it's better for the people this way" fashion.
The thumbnail made me realize I want to see more horror comics and storylines covered on this channel.
Maybe Mister Bloom is the Anti-Joker because he's (slightly) inspired by actual Anarchistic thoughts, as opposed to Jokers Pop culture Anarchy? 🤔
I love the Superheavy arc so much, thank you for covering it! It always sucks to like a flawed thing that falls apart with scrutiny. Snyder's run, to me, is some of the best-written Batman (up there with Morrison)--I love his take on the character and this arc in particular felt like such a fresh new landscape combined with Grayson and We Are Robin--but this chapter is undeniably the least coherent in its philosophy, and I never totally got what it was trying to say. There are so many good moments that stand on their own, though--Gordon's suit contrasts so well with the spindly Mr. Bloom look, I love Bruce and Julie's playground made from the old Batcave trophies, I love when amnesia Bruce meets amnesia Joker by the place where they died, I love Duke's renegade Robin fit, I love the moment where Duke takes Bruce down to the subway to face his fears and he sees the oncoming train as a giant bat, and I always choke up at how tragic it is when Bruce finally remembers and confronts unwilling Alfred saying "take me to my cave." Now I'm just rambling. So many good moments, but you're right that they could all be tightened up--Bloom's garden warfare allegory is great, but doesn't really take root below the surface (I tried)
Auntie Joker? Wouldn't that be like old Harley from that Batman Beyond video?
I didn't even know homie existed until today. This might be my new favorite DC character.
Please, do a video on the Gardener next! 🙏🌷🌹🌻
Seconded!
Something that's interesting: in Greek, the prefix 'anti' doesn't only mean against, it means 'to try to take the place of.' This almost describes Mr. Bloom: he's trying to take the place of the Joker for Jim Gordon.
I always thought of Mr. Bloom's msg as being rebuilding a better society where everyone is a monster so everyone is equal, with Joker's normally wanting to collapse or twist the current society.
Mr. Bloom always struck me as a surreal Doom Patrol villain invading the wrong story
S•U•P•E•R•H•E•A•V•Y was mentioned, so I am contractually obligated to watch.
Fantastic video as always! Bloom has always been a fascinating villain who imo needs more appearances. Would love to see you tackle more DCYOU stuff!
His big speech is just Senetor Armstrong's whole deal from MGR lmao
I always click on your videos bc they are well made and up my alley as far as content.
...but I also just wanted to say that your use of colors in your background when you are talking in combination with your personal style are really striking aesthetically
It actually transitions really well to the comic book panels which obviously have specific color choices.
And these small things make your videos seem a bit more curated than the average comic book channel.
"Visually pleasing with great commentary."
That is how I would describe your channel.
A million thumbs up
I can see Mr. Bloom coming into the Reeve's Batman film series with him being introduced with the song Where Evil Grows by the Poppy Family as a litemotif
Anti-joker, not to be confused with The Pun-isher.
....
I'll let myself out...
Aunty Joker for Uncle Batman Jim Gordon
I would have loved if mr bloom had kept going, spread beyond gotham and gotten swampthings attention and given us a classic batman swampthing crossover. Im always looking for another “garden of earthly delights” mashup
Bloom's philosophy about cities being gardens of suffering is ripped right out of the real world. We all suffer so that a few can grow beyond nature's rules.
I do think Mr. Bloom might be underrated... It just seems like a really interesting story or character or something.. scary but intriguing, like it's cathartic
I think the "Anti-Joker" thing does work in a sense.
Because only The Joker can be The Joker, The Killing Joke proves this to a degree, it's not just one bad day to become like him, it's the right set of circumstances.
Where as Mr Bloom, anyone could become like him, the hundreds, thousands of people disillusioned with life and the way the world is, any of them could pick up a seed and a hood and do what he does.
Here me out, maybe I'm wrong here... but maybe the term 'Anti-Joker' was marketing?
I can't help but think that an anti-Joker would be an agent of order who refuses to kill anyone _except_ Batman or other whatever super he's focused on.
Seems more like an alternative Joker then something antithetical to the Joker
They basically took how everyone wishes they would write a more evil Poison Ivy and made him into a slenderman with superdrugs.