Joker Jury: Difference between revisions

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The trope title comes from a story in ''Batman'' #163 where Batman and Robin are captured by the Joker and put on trial with the Joker as judge and members of his gang, all dressed in Joker costumes and make-up, as the prosecutor and jury.

 

See also [[Jury of the Damned]]. When the heroes are put on trial by someone besides the villains, it's often a [[Trial of the Mystical Jury]] or a [[Kangaroo Court]]. Often involves a [[Villain Team-Up]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Enies Lobby technically serves as a courthouse, even though criminals are only brought through there on their way to the underwater prison Impel Down, or to Marine Headquarters, and has an almost absurd pretense of justice. Criminals are judged by the Just Eleven Jurymen, who are pirates who have been sentenced to death and pronounce any criminal guilty to take as many down with them as they can. Judge Baskerville, {{spoiler|actually three people who sit together to form}} a three-headed man, has a strange way of passing sentences: the left head favors punishing criminals, the right side favors leniency, and the center offers the more extreme "compromise" of execution. As such, no criminal has ever been acquitted. Strangely enough, {{spoiler|Nico Robin and Franky}} don't get this treatment when they are taken through Enies Lobby.

 

 

* This happens to [[Batman]] a lot:

** The above-mentioned ''Batman'' story.

** Two-Face does it during the "No Man's Land" story arc. In a mild subversion, the "defendant", Commissioner Gordon, got off by naming Harvey Dent as his defense attorney, and turning it more into a battle between the two sides of his personality. {{spoiler|Harvey won.}}

** Two-Face puts a judge on trial in the ''Robin: Year One'' mini-series.

* [[Judge Dredd]] was once put on trial by the survivors of East Meg One in the New Kremlin. A part inversion, Sov Judge Orlok, who brought Dredd in, both resisted having the trial and ended up giving the most influential defense testimony, making a conviction impossible AND prevented an assassination attempt on Dredd.

* In an early issue of ''[[Daredevil]]'', the Owl kidnapped the judge who had sentenced him to prison and staged a mock trial using members of his gang as the jury. He also kidnapped Matt Murdock to serve as the defence attorney.

* [[Jonah Hex]] is subjected to one in ''Weird Western Tales'' #30. Quentin Turnbull captures him and puts him on 'trail' for "treason and other high crimes against the Confederate States of America". The 'jury' consists of "your former comrades in arms, some of them survivors of the very massacre you perpetrated".

* In ''[[The Incredible Hercules]]'' comic by Marvel, {{spoiler|Zeus}} is put on trial by Pluto using a jury of assorted deceased villains.

* During [[Clone Saga]] [[Spider-Man]] is put on one by Judas Traveller, accusing him that his sole existence creates supervillains and ruin people's lives. Judas play the judge, Ravencloft immates are jury, [[Nineties Anti-Hero|Kaine]] is defence attorney and prossecution role is let to [[Complete Monster|Carnage]]. Spider-Man is of course found guilty and sentence to be killed, but after Kaine almost died to save him Traveller spares them both. He then reveals that if Peter can inspire such noble acts in scum like Kaine, he deserves to live.

 

 

 

== Literature ==

* [[Older Than Steam]]: Happens in John Bunyan's ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress|The Pilgrims Progress]]'', when Christian and Faithful are arrested in Vanity Fair. When the judge's name is "[[Card-Carrying Villain|Lord Hategood]]," you ''know'' you're in trouble.

* ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' had one in ''The Penultimate Peril''; somewhat subverted as {{spoiler|while accidental, the Baudelaires really ''did'' murder someone}}. None of the proceedings made any sense, but things are never fair in this series.

* A classic (though loose) example can be found in Lewis Carroll's ''[[Alice in Wonderland|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' where the main character participates in a trial with all the previous characters she met serving as witnesses. It's a loose example because it's the Knave of Hearts, not Alice, on trial, and neither jury nor witnesses have it in for the defendant. Unfortunately, the ultimate judge in all this is the Queen of Hearts, who ''does''.

 

 

* Used in an episode of ''[[Hawaii Five-O]]'' when Steve McGarrett is put on "trial" by prisoners in the state pen, many of whom he put there.

* The fourth season of ''[[24]]'' had the US Secretary of Defense captured and put on trial by terrorists.

* ''[[Matlock]]'' was called upon to act as defense counsel for a prison guard being tried for murder by rioting prisoners.

* In the ninth series of ''[[Are You Being Served?|Are You Being Served]]'', Mr. Humphries is investigated for alleged offenses. The hearing rapidly takes on the air of a jury trial, with a hostile judge who openly says that any defense would be a "feeble tissue of lies". In the end, he is found guilty, then proved innocent thirty seconds later.

* Q puts Picard on trial in [[Book Ends|the pilot and series finale]] of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''.

* Happens to Adama in ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'', causing him to remark, "Oh, this is THAT kind of trial."

* In the ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' episode "Inquisition", the Coalition of Planets put the team on trial with two out of three of the judges having ulterior motives. They got off by bribing one of the biased judges.

* Inverted in the 1960s series ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]''. In one episode the Joker is put on trail for his various crimes, and after the presentation of the obviously insurmountable evidence, the jury unanimously declares him Not Guilty. The judge calls them out on this, and it turns out the jury is made up entirely of ex-cons and criminals who are pulling for the Joker anyway.

* In an episode of ''[[Blackadder|Blackadder Goes Forth]]'', Blackadder is put on trial for shooting General Melchett's beloved carrier pigeon, Speckled Jim, just after this had been made a court-martialable offence. Guess who was the judge? General Melchett.

* ''[[Tales from the Crypt]]'': "The Third Pig", a bloody retelling of the [[Three Little Pigs]] had the third pig tried for the murder of his brothers. The judge and jury are all wolves, who deliberate by going in the room and immediately coming back out.

* In ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', Mike is put on trial for [[Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds|all the times he's blown up planets]] with Observer acting as the judge, Pearl the prosecutor, and Professor Bobo as Mike's defense attorney (though that's Mike's fault as he had several competent legendary defense attorneys to choose from and sarcastically chose Bobo when he saw Bobo's name on the list). He may not have gotten Clarence Darrow, but at least he got an attorney with the same mannerisms.

 

== Music ==

 

== Theater ==

 

 

 

== Western Animation ==

'''Joker:''' [[Hanging Judge|GUILTY!]] }}

** This trope is subverted when the attorney becomes a female [[Perry Mason]] / [[Matlock]] and proves Batman innocent by pointing out that the supervillains themselves are responsible for what's happened to them. [[Double Subverted]] when the villains end up finding Batman ''innocent'', but decide that they're "such finks" they'll kill him and his attorney anyway. Of course, now that Batman's attorney has done her job, it's time for Batman to do his...

** The Challenge episode "The Trial of the Superfriends." You'd think that after being stripped of their power sources, captured by the Legion of Doom, and put on display in Legion Headquarters, the "justice" of an obviously mock trial would be the least of the Justice Leaguers' concerns — but it's the only thing they protest. The Four Leaguers', Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern, are sentenced to battle Brainiac's androids of them who have their power items, the Utility Belts, Magic Lasso, and Power Ring.

* In a ''[[Jimmy Neutron]]'' movie, King Goobot tells Jimmy about how they have to "do this sham trial by the book".

{{quote|'''Judge [[Enemy Without|Imaginary Gary]]''': How does the (guilty) defendant plead (guilty)?}}

* ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' did this.

** One "official" book stated that the Quintessons did the judge thing for fun, and dumped the accused in the pit no matter the verdict.

* In an episode of ''[[Yin Yang Yo!|Yin Yang Yo]]'', Carl The Evil Cockroach Wizard stages injury received from Yin and Yang while the two were in the midst of training which leads to a kangaroo court case. Naturally, the jury, witnesses and judge are all their past villains.

** FWIW, the jury acquitted him, as Homer had already promised his soul to Marge.

** In the episode where Bart kills a bird with Nelson's BB gun, he imagines being put on trial by a tribunal of birds that sentence him to be pecked to death.

** Although the actual jury was made up of a random collection of inbred idiots who accidentally sat in the jury box instead of the audience.

* ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'' had a story where a fly fakes physical injuries to file a lawsuit against Rocko. The entire jury is made up of insects.

* Happens in ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' when Shake is called into Tree Court for dumping a huge vat of grease in the woods, then burning down a tree. Even his defense attorney is a shrub, who immediately squeals "GUILTY! MY CLIENT IS GUILTY!". Shake definitely doesn't help himself by [[Body Horror|ripping off the shrub's branches and covering himself in bark while holding the branches]], [[Paper-Thin Disguise|to try to disguise himself as a tree]] [[What an Idiot!|MID-TRIAL!]]

** He got off better than his accomplice Carl, who ended up [[Human Resources|supplying the parchment]] for the court's records.

* One old [[Looney Tunes]] short featured [[Little Red Riding Hood]] being put on trial for crimes against the Big Bad Wolf. The judge, prosecutor, and entire jury are all wolves. It actually ends up a subversion, as even the all-wolf jury finds the Big Bad Wolf's story a blatant lie.

* In one episode of ''[[Peter Pan and The Pirates]]'', Peter Pan is put on trial by Captain Hook, with his pirates as the jury and Wendy as a defense lawyer. Surprisingly, she wins the case.

* [[Ayn Rand]] is also reported to have held "trials" for people in her inner circle who she thought had slighted her.

* When a defeated military is tried for war crimes, especially since propaganda displayed them as pure evil.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Older Than Steam]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Plots]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]