Lectures on Tap – “The Joker’s Guide to Masculinity: History & Evolution”
Date and Time
Aug 3, 2026 6:30 pm
Location
14th & V
2021 14th St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20009
Aug 3, 2026 6:30 pm
14th & V
Join us for a wickedly smart evening as Dr. Luxx Mishou asks: Batman’s Joker is a bad guy, but is he truly a bad guy? For 86 years, the Joker has evolved from his 1940 debut in Batman No. 1 into a global media icon—shifting from Cesar Romero’s campy clown to Jack Nicholson’s gangster, Heath Ledger’s anarchist, and Joaquin Phoenix’s damaged loner. Each version reflects changing ideas about what it means to be a man.
In this talk, Dr. Mishou traces the Joker’s many transformations to reveal how American popular media constructs villainy and masculinity—and what it fears most in both. You’ll explore what your favorite Joker says about you, how “bad guys” teach us to be “bad guys,” and why no one seems to like Jared Leto’s Joker.
Dr. Luxx Mishou is a Victorianist and Gender Studies scholar, author of Cosplayers: Gender and Identity, and an expert on everything from Jack the Ripper to Batman comics.
Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌
