| “ | Hiya Joker. If you're playing this tape, you probably figured you've been had. Yeah, I left you some cash but only 10 million which knowing you, you've already blown. All the other stuff, money, jewels and gold, it's all fake. See, I've always hated your guts and this was the perfect payback. By now, you're probably out of real money. The IRS is after you and you can't admit I've fooled ya otherwise you'll be the laughing stock of the underworld. The joke's on you, sucker. I've got the last laugh after all. | „ |
| ~ King Barlowe revealing how badly he played the Joker. |
King Edward Barlowe Jr. is a posthumous antagonist of the 1997 animated superhero series, The New Batman Adventures, a sequel to the 1992 series, Batman: The Animated Series. He specifically serves as the posthumous overarching antagonist of the episode "Joker's Millions". He is an unrepentant mob boss who is a rival of the Joker, intending to play one last joke on him out of a sheer hatred for his guts.
He was voiced by the late Allan Riche.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- When knowing about his upcoming death, he gives some long-awaited karma to the Joker by making him his heir, giving $250 million, of which only $10 million was actual money. He then manipulates him, his mob, and his IRS to the point where the Joker is now in need of real money upon having anticipated the Joker spending all of the real money, all from beyond the grave. With this, he has one of the most defining cases of a Thanatos Gambit in history.
- Places Joker in a tight spot in his gambit, as now he forces the Joker in a debt to pay the IRS money, who will have no mercy on him as the insanity plea won't work with them, and if the Joker reveals Barlowe fooled him, he will end up the laughing stock as the underworld. Either way, Barlowe wins.
- Overall, despite his short screen time, Barlowe easily counts as he makes use of his one scheme playing one of the biggest cons in the entire DCAU on one of its biggest villains, being one of the few to ever have the final laugh on the Joker, all while giving the vile villain some satisfying karma.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- Is a ruthless don who screwed over his loyal bodyguard of 10 years for his gambit against the Joker.
Trivia[]
- He, Kyodai Ken, Lex Luthor and Vandal Savage are the only villains from the DC Animated Universe to count as Magnificent Baddies.
- In real life, a plan like Barlowe's would fail. Part of the reason the IRS exists is to squash the very sort of scam he pulled, as their job is verify the inheritance and pre-emptively deduct back taxes before the inheritor can claim it. If taxes/verification happened beforehand, Joker would not have received (and perhaps not even seen) even a single cent of the counterfeit money; the only things he would receive would be a note from the IRS telling him how much they deducted from the real cash, a warning that most of the alleged inheritance was fake, and the video will of an obviously botched gambit to laugh at.
- Though it is possible that Barlowe bribed some tax officials in the IRS to make his scam possible with the actual money that was replaced with the fake bills.
[]
 Magnificent Baddies
| ||
|
Comics Television Films | ||