#cl cherriesfallbeneaththerain asks

[celaenaeiln]

Hi Hi

I've more recently gotten into DC and I love your explanations of everything so I was wondering if you could explain what drove Dicks anger to the point of killing Joker

yes!

So for a little background on what's going on, the Joker is told by a quack that he has terminal brain cancer so decides to go on one last "Screw you!" mission to the world by jokerizing all the inmates in prison. Dick, Bruce, Dinah and couple other heroes put an end to this but Joker convinces another villain to turn the place into a massive blackhole and some of the jokerized villains escape and start wrecking havoc everywhere. Round two begins with everyone fighting and this time, Barbara sends Tim to Arkham alone where the joker is but also filled with jokerized minions. Tim gets captured and Dinah can't get him out, Dick comes back from his fight only to find all this out.

So now, he's freaking out because his baby brother got kidnapped by the Joker and no one's there to save him.

Joker: Last Laugh Issue #6

But at the same time, he's pissed.

Joker: Last Laugh Issue #6

Now he goes into Arkham because no way in hell is he going to let his baby brother die.

Joker: Last Laugh Issue #6

Now Bruce goes after Dick and bring along Stephanie and Helena with him.

But while this is happening, the heroes don't know that a little while earlier Killer Croc grabbed Tim out of a crowd of jokerized villains that were going to kill him. Only the Joker knows that but he also thinks that Killer Croc ate him up so Tim's dead because that's what his minion said. So essentially all the heroes think Tim is captured and Joker thinks he's dead.

Now Dick during his fight finds out that Tim's dead and he's really upset and the Joker continues riling him up because originally he wanted Bruce to kill him but he figured that if one of his sons killed him instead, that would hurt the Big Bad Bat even more.

Joker: Last Laugh Issue #6

But Dick was raised on the no kill rule and no killing means no killing. Period.

But Joker just. Won't. Stop. And at one point he goes too far in what he says

Joker: Last Laugh Issue #6

It's the combination of Tim's death and the utter callousness that the Joker doesn't even care about the pain he's caused to Dick's other baby brother that pushes Dick over the edge. He just keeps beating the Joker over and over brutally until the Joker is literally beaten to death.

The only thing that gets Dick to stop is the appearance of Tim and the knowledge that he's still alive.

Joker: Last Laugh Issue #6

So in summary, what really drove Dick to kill the Joker were two things combined: the deaths of baby brothers and the Joker's indifference, killing Tim was the start and mocking Jason was the final blow. He couldn't let the Joker go after the pain and suffering he caused.