Punchline is a

supervillain A supervillain, supervillainess or supercriminal is a major antagonist and variant of the villainous stock character who possesses Superpower (ability), superpowers. The character type is sometimes found in comic books and is often the primary ...

who appears in American comic books published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

, commonly in association with the supervillain

The Joker The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, the character first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book ''Batman (comic book), Batman'' on ...

. Created by writer

James Tynion IV James T. Tynion IV (; born December 14, 1987) is an American comic book author. He is best known for his work at DC Comics including as the writer on the mainline ''Batman'' title, the ''Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' trilogy, and ''Justi ...

and artist Jorge Jiménez, she first appears in ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

'' (Vol. 3) #89 (April 2020), during the "

Joker War "The Joker War" is a comic book crossover storyline published by the comic book publishing company DC Comics in late 2020, featuring Batman and his allies. Primarily written by James Tynion IV, the arc is his first major arc on ''Batman'' in '' ...

" story arc.

Character and publication history

DC Rebirth (2016–2017)

Debuting shortly before the "

" story arc, Alexis Kaye is a college student who develops an unhealthy obsession with the Joker, after encountering him during a grisly-fated high school trip. Facing the death penalty for the crime she committed over the recent times, Kaye pleads not guilty. Being released from court, she develops a plot to become The Joker's new sidekick and girlfriend.

New Justice (2018–2021)

Infinite Frontier (2021–2023)

In 2022, the character was given a

limited series In the field of comic books, and particularly in the United States, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined ...

, titled ''Punchline: The Gotham Game'', in which she moves on from The Joker and becomes the new leader of Gotham's

Royal Flush Gang The Royal Flush Gang is a group of supervillains appearing in DC Comics. The group, which debuted in ''Justice League of America'' #43 (March 1966), use a playing card theme. Their code names are based on the cards needed to form a royal flush in ...

. The title ran for 6 issues, and was written by

Tini Howard Tini Howard (born 1985) is an American comic book writer. She is best known for her work on ''X-Men'' titles, namely ''Excalibur (comics), Excalibur'' as well as Boom! Studios's ''Power Rangers (comics), Power Rangers'' titles. It was announced i ...

, with art provided by Blake Howard, Gleb Melnikov.

Dawn of DC (2023–present)

In the "

Knight Terrors "Knight Terrors" is an American comic book line-wide crossover event published by DC Comics from July to August 2023. The event is headlined by Joshua Williamson writing the opening and ending one-shots along with the core 4-issue miniseries. Th ...

" story arc, Punchline and the

attempt to break into the supposedly abandoned Clock Tower that was used by the

Bat Family The Batman supporting characters are fictional characters that appear in the American comic books published by DC Comics featuring the superhero Batman as the main protagonist. "Batman family" or "Bat-Family" is the informal term for Batman's clo ...

. With a large number of heroes in the Knightmare Realm, she believes that the process will be an easy task before coming face-to-face with her deepest fear.

Equipment

Unlike the majority of DC villains, Punchline has no metahuman powers or abilities. However, she is adept at wielding knives and makes use of Joker venom, along with other toxins.

Collected editions

References

{{The Joker Fictional thieves Batman characters Characters created by James Tynion IV DC Comics female supervillains DC Comics sidekicks Fictional underbosses Fictional gangs Fictional quartets Comics characters introduced in 2020