Backstory is quite possibly the most important aspect of character development, making the character more three dimensional and giving people the opportunity to empathize with the character. Main characters such as Batman get that luxury constantly, but villains and low class heroes are usually ignored. In lieu of this, I have created a quick synopsis of your favorite villains and heros to help you understand who they are and what made them turn out the way they did.

The Joker- The Joker started out as a comedian who couldn’t seem to make any ends meet, leaving him and his pregnant wife penniless. When he’s offered a job from two gangsters to rob a playing card factory as the Red Hood (a persona passed from person to person), he takes in order to support his family. Moments before he prepares to start the job, he find out that his wife has been in a fatal accident and didn’t survive, but he proceeds with the plan anyway. When Batman catches him in the factory, the Joker jumps into a vat of chemicals, bleaching his skin white and dying his hair a sickly green. When he catches a glance of his new face he loses his mind and undergoes a type of amnesia, forgetting everything he was and resolves to become a criminal.

Harley Quinn- Harley Quinn was formerly known as Harleen Quinzel, and worked as a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. One of her patients turned out to be the Joker, and after spending extended hours with him and learning his stories, she fell hopelessly in love with him and dedicated her life to helping him defeat Batman under the name Harley Quinn.

Black Cat-  Black Cat, formerly known as Felicia Hardy, was the daughter of a cat burglar who taught her to never settle for anything less than what she wants. When she began school at Empire State University, her boyfriend Ryan raped her. After realizing what being a victim was like, Felicia trained herself in acrobatics and fighting techniques and was determined to hunt down her rapist. After finding out that he had been killed in a drunk driving accident and realizing her chance for revenge was denied, she became a cat burglar just like her father and donned the name Black Cat.

Cloak and Dagger- Tyrone Johnson (Cloak) and Tandy Bowen (Dagger) met in New York City as runaways. Tyrone was a 17-year-old boy with a debilitating stutter who fled to New York City when his speech impediment prevented his friend from stepping in front of a speeding car. Tandy was a 16-year-old girl who ran away from her home because her mother was too busy to be bothered with a child and hated the fact that she even had one. They met when a thief stole Tandy’s purse and Tyrone retrieved it for her. The two teens were soon forcibly delivered to criminal chemist, Simon Marshall who was developing a new synthetic heroin and testing it on runaways with fatal outcomes. Johnson and Bowen survived the injections of the drug, and escaped. The drug transformed them into super powered beings, engulfing Tyrone with an insatiable hunger that was only eased when Tandy was near him with her new glowing light. The two teens named themselves Cloak and Dagger, declaring war on drug crime and helping runaways.