How Joker Got His Face Back After Cutting It Off in DC's New 52 Relaunch

Summary The Joker had his face surgically removed with the help of Dollmaker in the New 52's Detective Comics #1, later regrowing it using the Dark Multiverse metal known as Dionesium in Batman: Endgame.

Dionesium, a crucial substance found in Lazarus Pits, helped Joker regain his signature look post-Endgame and allowed him to heal from other wounds.

Although not as prevalent in recent comics, the use of Dionesium played a significant role in reshaping the Joker's appearance into a more traditional look after his face was cut off.

In DC Comics, The Joker is a terrifying member of Batman’s ever-growing rogues gallery who brings chaos and destruction wherever he goes, with one of his most brutal and twisted moments coming when he had his face surgically removed as part of his master plan to put Batman through the wringer. Eventually getting his signature chalk-white look back, it’s how the Joker regained his face that makes this an integral part of his past that fans need to know about.

Arranging to have his face sliced off in Tony S. Daniel’s New 52-era Detective Comics #1, Joker does this as a means of expressing that without his “mask,” he’s still the same old guy whereas the Bat-Family uses theirs to become something untrue to themselves.

Getting Dollmaker to do the bloody deed, Joker pins his severed face to the wall of his Arkham Asylum cell, and then, in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Death of the Family, steals it back from GCPD custody, only for Joker to reattach it, leading to a new gruesome appearance that’d give even Batman nightmares.

Related "The Murder of the Joker": Jason Todd's Revenge on Joker Totally Rewrites Red Hood Lore Being killed by the Joker was a major event in Jason's life and set him down a character-altering path. Now the Joker might share the same fate.

Joker Got His Face Back After Being Exposed To A Pool Of Dionesium

Batman: Endgame - 2014 (Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo)

Falling into the depths of the Batcave during a fight with Batman at the end of Death of the Family, Joker is next seen revitalized in Batman: Endgame with a brand new look and fully-healed face, all thanks to a substance that also acts as an integral compound in the infamous Lazarus Pits: Dionesium. A liquid metal pulled into the DC Universe by the Bat-God named Barbatos after Joker stumbled upon a pool of it, he essentially bonded with the Dionesium, allowing him to produce the metal naturally, helping to realign his appearance with what fans have grown accustomed to.

Once again fighting Batman deep underneath Gotham, Joker’s Dionesium pool was ultimately destroyed by the time the Endgame arc concluded, leaving Joker with a permanently fresh face moving forward — sans some Batman-applied bruises and cuts, of course — a story that's continued in Batman: Superheavy, a tale that sees both Joker and Batman lose their memories for a time post-Endgame battle. Furthermore, after Joker first lost his strapped-on face, Duela Dent, aka “Joker’s Daughter,” found his fleshy smile and attached it to her face, repurposing it in an even more disturbing way than her “father” did.

Joker Regrew His Face Post-Death Of The Family In Batman: Endgame

So, while Dionesium hasn’t been as prevalent in Batman comics since Scott Snyder left the title to work on his other creative comic endeavors, it is an important part of DC’s lore that single-handedly helped Joker become a clean-cut, dashing version of his sadistic and twisted self. The Joker having his face cut off only for it to be regrown much further down the line is a terrifying and disturbing chapter in the Clown Prince of Crime’s long history, with the unnatural reasoning behind his rebirthed appearance adding even more to his role as Batman’s iconic arch-nemesis.