Sorry, clown fans: Batwoman teases Arrowverse's Joker might already be dead

Batman may be off-limits to The CW's Batwoman, but that just means that the Arrowverse show can take some exciting liberties with the Caped Crusader while he remains off-screen. What some fans may not have expected is how those liberties, that wouldn't stick to the Batman brand if Bruce Wayne was an on-screen character in the show, affected Batman's greatest foe: the Joker.

As Ruby Rose's Kate Kane attempts to pick up Batman's mantle in his absence, she's been faced the same moral quandries as her famous cousin. Namely, that the job would be a whole lot easier if she could just kill all the bad guys. But she's not bound to Bruce's diehard "Thou shalt not kill" commandment, as was recently shown with regard to a certain Dr. August Cartwright. However, last night's episode, "A Narrow Escape," teased that Kate may not have been the only one to break this golden superhero rule — and it may explain where two of Gotham's biggest names are.

"Ever wonder why the Joker hasn't reared his head in five years?" Luke Fox asks Kate. "He's not in Arkham, Kate. Both you and Bruce stared into the abyss." The topic of conversation? Killing bad guys. Looks like Bruce may have given in to his demons and taken out the Joker for good, though it may have been an accident as in Kate's case. It could also be a misunderstanding, as the Joker is notoriously hard to kill.

But, since it seems neither the Joker nor Batman will ever appear in the show aside from these references, death may be the canonical fate for the Clown Prince of Crime -- at least in the Arrowverse.

Batwoman returns with "If You Believe in Me, I'll Believe in You" on May 3.