The Jonkler meme refers to Batman villain The Joker in a gag originally paired with an image from the video game Batman: Arkham City. The misspelling of his name is intentional and for comedic effect. This meme was born on Reddit in 2023 and went on to spawn multiple spinoffs.
In addition to spelling his name wrong, this gag makes use of the common trend of using incorrect English as well as drawing from the “Is He Stupid” meme from the Breaking Bad fandom.
Meme basics:
- Meme Creator: Reddit user horny_cabbage69
- Meme Type: Catchphrase / TikTok meme
- First Appearance: April 21, 2023
- Origin Source: Reddit
- Used to Convey: Absurdity / Insanity
- Peak Popularity: Sept. 2024
What does a Jonkler meme look like?
The Jonkler has taken on many forms, but was originally the one from the 2011 video game Batman: Arkham City. The original post that started the meme asked a vague question followed by another that referenced a separate trend: “Why does the jonkler? is he stupid?”
These two queries have been repeated in memes with different versions of The Joker or altered to match the context, such as asking why The Jonkler became a woman alongside gender-bent fan art or asking why he’s awesome with that photo of Heath Ledger doing a skateboard jump over Christian Bale’s Batman.
Additionally, he’s been appropriated for newer memes such as the beatboxing “Why So Serious” Jonkler and the “Evil Jonkler Cart” series.
Origin and spread
The original version of the Jonkler meme appeared in a subreddit dedicated to the Batman: Arkham video game franchise, posted by user horny_cabbage69 on April 21, 2023. The character remained popular within the sub for a while before breaking containment with the help of YouTube compilation videos of posts from r/BatmanArkham.
The “Is He Stupid” meme began with a post about a Breaking Bad character by Reddit user Lebind on May 4, 2022, asking why Gus cares if Walt can cook food.
Jonkler memes started to appear on other social media sites through the second half of 2023 and into 2024. That’s when TikTok started to notice him.
Beatboxing Jonkler meme
On Aug. 15, 2024, TikTok user @analnyfranek posted a video tagged #jonkler with footage of a Batman: Arkham Joker and a sound clip from a Joker-themed beatboxing YouTube video that drew inspiration from the “Why So Serious” meme.
@analnyfranek Gas station cart do be hitting diffrent #jonkler #joker #cart #beatbox #whysoserious #sigma ♬ Joker Beatbox Speed Up – 8======D
That beatboxing hit is the work of YouTuber 80Fitz, who posted his video celebrating The Joker on Dec. 14, 2017. The TikTok video that used the audio from 80Fitz gained over 21.3 million views in just a couple of months and the sound has appeared in over 46,000 other videos.
Evil Jonkler Cart
This meme began even earlier in the year, with a video posted by TikTok user @und1sput3d on May 19. The brainrot entry shows a Batman: Arkham Joker laughing with multiple video effects applied and with distorted audio and a caption reading “when bro take the evil jonkler cart.
The description contains a variation of the Jonkler catchphrase: “Why did Jonkler do this? Is he stupid?”
@_und1sput3d_ why did jonkler do this? is he stupid? #meme #batmanarkhamknight ♬ original sound – undisputed
The “cart” mentioned in this meme is short for “vape cartridge.” The implication is therefore that there is a special strain of cannabis capable of getting you so high that you’ll hallucinate and/or act like the Jonkler in the video. Other TikTokers went on to remix this video or reference it in others.
This meme in particular peaked in popularity in the middle of September, bringing a surge of attention back to the Jonkler meme.
Jonkler meme examples
@charleighlux my jonkler is so supportive 🥺💕 #brainrot #jonkler #joker ♬ Joker Beatbox Speed Up – 8======D
@dvqoo JONKLER INVASION🚨🚨🚨 #jonkler #wwe #wwe2k24 #joker #trend #meme #idk #lol ♬ оригинальный звук – ИСХОДНИК
@maxxvillan “evil @IdkSterling cart” ahh song #idksterling #shitpost #idksterlingbrainrot #jonkler #joker #jokerbrainrot #fyp #meme #brainrot #idksterlingmeme @Idksterling FN @𝖖𝖚𝖆𝖌𝖒𝖎𝖗𝖔 @Cole @IDKSterling Skibidi Toliet @ChevyApex ♬ バラック集落 – ききやま
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