The Joker has no confirmed real name in DC Comics canon. His origin is deliberately left unrevealed, and DC has published several contradictory backstories that cancel each other out. The names most often cited, Jack Napier and Arthur Fleck, come from films rather than the comics. In Persona 5, the codename Joker belongs to a different character entirely, canonically named Ren Amamiya.
Does the Joker have a real name in the comics?
No. The Joker debuted in Batman #1 in 1940 as a fully formed criminal with no origin, no family, and no legal identity on record. The Killing Joke (1988) offered a possible origin as a failed comedian, but the story frames it as one of several optional memories and never states a name. DC has kept that ambiguity in main continuity ever since.
How Did Joker Become the Joker? Every Origin Story Explained
Some stories have teased names without confirming them. Batman: The Man Who Laughs and various Elseworlds titles imply identities that never carry over to the main timeline. The 2011 Flashpoint event made Martha Wayne the Joker on an alternate Earth, which is a separate universe rather than a canon answer.
Where does the name Jack Napier come from?
Jack Napier is the pre-accident identity invented for Tim Burton's 1989 film Batman, in which Jack Nicholson plays the character. The name was later reused in Batman: The Animated Series and in some comic tie-ins, which is why many fans treat it as official. It has never been adopted as canon in the main DC Universe.
Is Arthur Fleck the Joker's real name?
Arthur Fleck is the name given to the character in Todd Phillips' 2019 film Joker, played by Joaquin Phoenix, and carried into the 2024 sequel Joker: Folie à Deux. That film is a standalone Elseworld story and does not connect to the Batman films or to DC Comics continuity. Arthur Fleck is therefore a valid answer only for that specific movie universe.
What about the Joker on Gotham?
The Fox series Gotham split the role between two brothers, Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska. Neither is ever confirmed as the definitive Joker within the show's own timeline. Again, these names belong to one adaptation, not to the source material.
What is Joker's real name in Persona 5?
The protagonist of Persona 5 uses the codename Joker, and his canon name is Ren Amamiya. That name comes from Persona 5: The Animation and later Atlus media. The manga adaptation instead calls him Akira Kurusu, so both names circulate among fans.
- DC Comics: no canonical name
- Batman (1989 film): Jack Napier
- Joker (2019 film): Arthur Fleck
- Gotham TV series: Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska
- Persona 5: Ren Amamiya (anime) or Akira Kurusu (manga)
Why does DC keep the Joker's name a secret?
An unnamed Joker is a blank slate, and that absence is a large part of what makes him unsettling. Writers including Grant Morrison and Denny O'Neil have argued that pinning down a single origin shrinks the character. Giving him a fixed legal name would turn a force of chaos into just another criminal with a backstory.
Short answer
If someone asks for the Joker's real name in general, the accurate answer is that he does not have one. If they mean a specific film or game, the answer depends on the version: Jack Napier in 1989, Arthur Fleck in 2019, Ren Amamiya in Persona 5.