Carl Grissom (Jack Palance)

Character Analysis

Big Boss

Carl Grissom is the head honcho, the top dog, the big cheese, the godfather, the boss man, the big enchilada, the big gun, and the king banana of Gotham City crime. He runs the city. Minor crime bosses obey his every word, and he's paid off a man in the Gotham City PD to do his bidding. He thinks he's unstoppable.

And he's wrong.

Carl Grissom makes two mistakes that lead to his downfall. One: he under-estimates Jack Napier. And two: instead of planning out a smart way to do away with Napier for good, Grissom makes a knee-jerk reaction and attempts to kill him because Napier was making a move on his woman.

Really, Carl? Carl doesn't seem to notice that Napier plans on taking over the whole business, which he does after being reborn as Joker. Ironically, Grissom and Napier's relationship echoes that of Batman and Joker. Just as if Napier hadn't killed Bruce Wayne's parents, we'd never have Batman; if Grissom hadn't tried to kill Napier, we'd never have Joker.

This joke is all Grissom's fault…and it's not funny.