Batman: Caped Crusader is all about reinvention. This animated series takes place in a fantastical, noir-infused version of Gotham City in the 1940s. Each of Batman's iconic villains is reimagined to suit this setting, often undergoing a profound transformation in the process. And for no character is that more true than Matthew Needham's Joker, the climactic villain of Season 2.

Season 2 shows us a version of the Clown Prince of Crime we've never seen before, one that draws equally on the earliest Batman comics and German expressionist cinema. He's moody and somber. He never laughs. He wants to exterminate "the vermin" of Gotham City. Is this Joker an actual Nazi?

That's one question IGN posed to Needham in a recent interview. Read on to find out what he had to say about the secret origins of this very different version of Joker, but beware of spoilers for Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 ahead!

Redefining Joker for the Caped Crusader Universe

It goes without saying that it's quite a challenge to take on a role as iconic as the Joker and attempt to leave a mark after actors like Mark Hamill have defined the character. Fortunately for Needham, he found that the Caped Crusader producers had a very specific vision for how they wanted the villain to be portrayed in the series.

"I would say that Bruce [Timm], James [Tucker], and Geoffrey [Thorne], all of the team, it's really their vision," Needham tells IGN. "Their instructions were very, very clear that they didn't want a Joker that we had seen before. They wanted a very, very different take."

Needham continues, "And as you can imagine, it's a strange experience being in the booth inhabiting the Joker. You can't help, or I couldn't help, but kind of slide into the Joker gear as it was. And you start to get a little bit maniacal. You start to get a little gleeful. And it's really their brilliant direction and their vision and their direction which pulled me back to fit the form that they wanted, which was this very cold, very calculating, soft-spoken version, which is very, very different to other iterations that we've seen."

We were curious if Needham undertook any research for the role, whether that means poring through Golden Age Batman comics or rewatching the film noir classics of yesteryear. But as he explains, those projects were so burned into his consciousness already that he was able to hit the ground running.

"It was obvious from the German Expressionism," Needham says. "I mean, it's Dr. Caligari and things like that - The Man Who Laughs. Those images are so ingrained in my head that I didn't need to go back and look at them. It was one of those just fresh things where you go in and you create it between you. I'd seen enough previous Jokers. I didn't need to go back and look at them because I can close my eyes and hear Mark Hamill. I didn't know what he looked like either. So, it was all an exercise and complete trust and just turning yourself over to the people in the booth."

Is Joker a Nazi?

Joker is a character perpetually shrouded in mystery. As he once famously said, even his origin story is multiple choice. That's one element of the character that doesn't change in Caped Crusader Season 2. We learn almost nothing about his background, with only his German accent and random musings and quotations offering any insight into who this man is and where he came from.

That said, Needham reveals that he developed his own personal backstory for the character while performing his lines, if only to connect with him a little better.

"I'd come up with my own backstory just for me, just so I wasn't flailing around with no idea of who I was or why I was there," Needham says. "And it was interesting, when we did Comic-Con in San Diego, me and Geoffrey spent a lot of time together and we were just chatting and we got onto backstory and we found out that we both had pretty much the exact same backstory as each other, which I thought was interesting that there's something in the writing that is suggestive of this quite twisted and dark past. But no, definitely I had a quite detailed account of how he got to where he is, which would be a good show in and of itself, but I don't think they'd do it."

But does that backstory include a history with the Nazi party? Is this bloodthirsty version of Joker a Nazi? Needham shot down that particular theory, saying "I could categorically say that that's not the backstory that we came up with."

The Batman/Joker Dynamic

One of the common elements in most versions of the Batman mythos is that Joker feels a special attachment to Batman, seeing him as a kindred spirit. From Joker's point of view, they're more like lovers than true enemies. Caped Crusader isn't necessarily so different in that regard. Joker clearly respects the Dark Knight, to the point of frequently referring to him as "brother." Why is Joker so fascinated with Batman?

"Well, wouldn't you be?" Needham says. "Like, if this was the real-world and you heard about there's someone in the city who's dressed as a bat stopping crime, wouldn't you be? I would be like, 'I want to meet that person. I want to see what they're about.' And I think the Joker sees himself as this singular entity, this supreme being. And I think it must be very exciting to hear about whoever this guy is out there in the dark doing this stuff. I think the Joker just wants to meet him and to maybe help him uncover his untapped potential, let's say."

Some Batman stories explore the symbiotic relationship between the Dark Knight and his rogues, asking the question of whether men like Joker and Riddler would exist if not for the advent of Batman himself. So we posed that question toNeedham - would this version of Joker exist without Batman?

"That's a really interesting question," Needham says. "Oh, I would say he's there for Batman, but he existed in the world. But I think the presence of Batman emboldens him in some ways and sparks his imagination, let's say that."

As much as the Season 2 finale is about Joker trying to obliterate Gotham with his modified Monster Men formula, the villain also shows a clear desire to push Batman over the edge. He wants Batman to kill, finally becoming who Joker belives he should be. Even though Batman ultimately foils Joker's gas attack, he essentially employs lethal force against his nemesis in the process. Which raises the question - is this a victory for Joker in the end?

"I think it's really interesting that the one moment you actually see the Joker laugh is when he's impaled through the gut by a steel pole," Needham says. "I think it is a victory in some way. I also think for the Joker it's really intriguing and really interesting that he's been foiled. And I think there's something in him that kind of like gets the joke. Do you know what I mean?"

Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 is currently streaming on Prime Video. You can also check out IGN's review of Caped Crusader Season 2 and learn how the series' best episode shows a path forward.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.