#9: Arkham Origins

The Arkham Origins Joker is a very strange one indeed -- and doesn't quite fit with any of the others. His specialty is clearly Poison, and all of his traits and special powers are themed around it. It's a nice concept, and it works for the most part, but there are some issues with it.

First let's look at some standard powers -- the defense is nice. With Combat Reflexes he has an effective 19 defense in close combat, which is very formidable. The 140 point-cost is awfully high, but he's a Wild Card with Mastermind, so he's a kind of a tentpole character if you can build the right team.

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While he's ranked in the top 10 in this list, the designers were clearly asleep at the helm at this one -- the writing is all over the place and wording of The Joker's special powers is inconsistent with other HeroClix figures. It's as if they hired a 16 year old newbie to write it. Still, the concept is and "poison theme" is very interesting... but for such a recent figure Wizkids needs to step up it's editing process.