LogFAQs > #964569954

SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

The Red Hood was a disguise used by various criminals. How it worked was if one person was suspected of being The Red Hood they would have an alibi for other crimes The Red Hood committed.

So of course it makes perfect sense that a nobody that was hired by other criminals to be The Red Hood for one night would turn out to be a criminal mastermind and brilliant chemist after his first heist went bad and he had mishap with a vat of chemicals.

...that's assuming that particular origin is actually real. In-universe, it mostly comes from the Joker himself, and it's straight up mentioned he could be completely lying.

It's why the Joker has said that if he has to have a past at all, he prefers it to be multiple choice. It's sort of what inspired the Heath Ledger version to tell the "Wanna know how I got these scars?" story in the movie with every time he told it being different. Essentially, if the Joker is telling you his origin, he's probably lying, and he's telling you whatever version of the story is most likely to manipulate you. Or whatever he thinks is funny this week.