Jack Knight

Jack Knight is the protagonist of Clown Prince of Crime and he is portrayed by Cameron Monoghan.

Childhood
Jack Knight was born on March 6 1992 in Gotham City, New Jersey to Eric, a construction worker, and Barbara, a housewife. Jack had a good relationship with his parents, and was overall a good, normal kid. However his life started turning a turn for the worse when his father became involved in working for Thomas Wayne, a famous businessman and surgeon of great wealth and influence. Eric was tasked with working on a five-story commercial building that would be owned by Wayne Enterprises, however Thomas carelessly violated various construction laws in an attempt to get the project completed cheaper. Eric even pointed out to Thomas about the unsafe conditions of the building project though Thomas ignored him and demanded that they continue to work despite the unsafe conditions. This tragically resulted in the building shaking because of the generators straining the poorly-built upper levels and collapsing destructively, killing Eric and hundreds of people on the site. Thomas then covered up the tragedy to prevent himself from being prosecuted and destroying his reputation, so Eric and none of the workers received any justice they deserved.

Eric's death hit both Jack and Barbara extremely hard, but Barbara especially as she devolved into alcoholism. Another tragic night was not long after Eric's death, as a young Jack was trying to drag his drunk and barely conscious mother home from the bar in frostbite winter. Unable to move on, Jack was forced to leave her and seek for help but he was too late and his mother died from hypothermia. Jack was left on his own and he became extremely depressed and felt alone, and was sent to an orphanage home where abandoned children was "practically forgotten about". During his time in the orphanage, Jack was met with abuse and bullied by another orphaned boy as well as being abused and neglected by the carers. The only thing that lighted up Jack's tragic life was when he watched his favorite comedian, Arthur Franklin, on television. Jack came to love the comedian and believed he was his "number one fan", because the man was the only thing keeping him happy and excited for something each of the miserable days that pass by.

Jack was not adopted throughout his childhood and he began to develop anger issues at school. When he got into a fight with another kid for trying to steal his sandwich, another boy named Bruce Wayne broke up the fight. Bruce defended Jack from the other boy and went to help Jack up. Later, at lunch, Bruce went and sat with Jack, who had been sitting by himself at an empty table. Having seen Jack didn't have a lunchbag, Bruce offered Jack his sandwich. Jack reluctantly accepted the sandwich and the two became best friends ever since and Jack had always relied on Bruce for anything he ever needed.

Bruce often invited over Jack to his mansion when his father was away, with butler Alfred Pennyworth looking after the boys as they played and socialized together. Jack became slightly jealous of Bruce because of his wealthy upbringing and loving family, even once crying alone in the bathroom because of what he never had in his life while someone else had so much. Once when Thomas was at home when Jack was invited over, Thomas recognized Jack as the son of one of the construction workers killed in the accident he was responsible for and covered up, and he was horrified at the thought of Jack seeking revenge or justice for his father. Thomas had Jack leave the mansion and he forbade Bruce from seeing the boy ever again, to which Bruce reluctantly followed his father's orders but did ask why. Thomas used Jack's poor and disadvantage social life as an excuse and manipulated Bruce into staying away from him, never actually informing him of the reason why he did not want him to associate himself with Jack. Thomas also had Bruce move schools to distance him from Jack. This broke Jack's heart greatly because the only person who was a friend to him in his life after his father's tragic life was now gone and he believed that Bruce abandoned him because he genuinely hated him and never wanted to see him again.

At some point in his young teenage years, Jack was wandering aimlessly in the woods where he found and befriended a squirrel. Jack would return to the woods from high school every day to meet with the squirrel, often feeding and "playing" with it because he viewed it as the closest thing he has to a friend. However one day upon returning to the woods, Jack was horrified to come across the squirrel's mangled body and discovered it was the doing of a nearby raccoon. In revenge, Jack managed to trap the raccoon and decided to prolong its suffering out of spite, sadistically leaving it to bleed out.

Failed Comedian
As an adult, Jack had his own poor, run-down apartment in the low-end part of Gotham and he worked as a waiter where he was generally mistreated by his manager, Roger L. Krusse. Jack continued to watch Franklin to look for some form of inspiration and joy in his miserable life, inspiring to become a comedian himself. Jack tried to do a standup comedy act at a nearby club but came off as terrible and the audience were unimpressed, so Jack silently left the stage in failure. Jack's failed comedy was recorded by an audience member and sent to Franklin, who proceeded to make fun of it on his show. Jack was watching it at work and his heart was utterly destroyed; the person he looked up to and idolized from his childhood and was his hero was making fun of and bullying him. He was driven mad by this and he had a mental breakdown. On the streets, Jack was recognized by a gang of thugs who harassed him. When Jack displayed signs of fear and his uncontrollable laughter was let out, the thugs disregarded Jack's mental illness and proceeded to beat him up and rob his money. Jack was unable to pay rent because he lost his money and was kicked out of his apartment despite his pleas and explanations of being attacked and robbed.

Feeling utterly worthless and that he had nothing to live for anymore after thinking about his life from beginning to present and despite how many times he sees light in his life it is always knocked down, Jack chose to publicly commit suicide. Jack managed to steal Roger's gun that he had kept hidden in his office and he was tempted to shoot Roger with it but could not bring himself to do so and instead openly insulted him in front of everyone in the restaurant, so an enraged Roger fired him and Jack was left to wander aimlessly in the streets. Jack decided to go to the Iceburg Lounge, Gotham's most popular nightclub, to shoot himself. Upon entering the club, Jack gazed upon the environment and quietly ordered a drink from the back. After getting drunk, Jack went to pull out his gun but he was visited by the nightclub's owner and local ganglord, Oswald Cobblepot AKA the Penguin, who cheerily greeted Jack because he recognized him on television. Cobblepot apparently believed that Jack had potential in the "comedy world" and vowed to help him out, giving Jack some hope. Cobblepot talked to Jack about getting him a job at the moving circus Haly's Circus as a clown, stating it would "train" him. Jack passionately agreed to the proposition and was very grateful for saving his life, taking this opportunity as a second chance to live. Oswald then gave Jack a drink on the house and left him alone, telling him that he's got a new "friend" and even gave him money to buy a place near the circus. In actuality however, Cobblepot was actually taking advantage of Jack to get him to sell drugs from the circus. Before leaving the club, Jack privately cried in the lounge's nightclub out of happiness.

Haly's Circus and Mob Problems
Upon entering Haly's Circus looking for work, Jack was greeted by its owner Charles Haly. Using The Penguin's details and references, Jack managed to persuade Haly into hiring him as a circus clown. At the circus, Jack's colleagues consisted of the acrobatic family Flying Graysons, animal tamer William Cobb, circus clown Bob Zammos, strongman Calvin Rose, juggler Jeane Kane, contortionist Raymond McCreary and cyclist Waldo Flynn. Jack quickly befriended most of his colleagues and came to view them as his "family" because they treated and cared for him well. Haly was also like a father-figure to Jack and treated him like a son. Zammos was jealous of Jack because the treatment he was receiving and he saw him as a rival to his clown act, making an attempt to bully him out of the circus but Jack did not back down or lash out and decided to act kind and respectful towards Zammos to be the "better person". Jack's first circus act was sabotaged by Bob, initially working, but Jack managed to work around it and impressed both the other performers and the audience. Jack grew in popularity at the circus and he quickly became a fan favorite, giving Jack a new happiness and family in his life to make him want to continue living on and he genuinely believed he finally found his happiness in life.

Jeane also became romantically involved with Jack, falling in love with him and he loved her back, which only increased Zammos's jealousy and hate for Jack. Jack eventually opened up about his suicide attempt to Jeane after Jeane told her of how the circus saved her from drug use, only strengthening their love for each other. However, the night after having sex with Jeane and losing his virginity, Jack was smoking a cigarette outside of the circus where he was confronted by Cobblepot's henchmen. The henchmen were initially polite and decent to Jack, telling him that they've come to talk on Cobblepot's behalf. Jack, still grateful to Cobblepot for helping him, acted respectful towards the gangsters and agreed to talk with them. The henchmen came to persuade Jack to deal drugs from the circus, but Jack outright refused iniitally and said, despite being grateful to Cobblepot, will not betray Haly's trust. The henchmen though added it was Jack's end of the deal but Jack was confused and he explained that Cobblepot did not mention it, but the henchmen got more aggressive and tried to explain that he was probably too drunk to remember the "extra details" of the deal. Realizing that Cobblepot did not really care about him and trapped him into making him money, Jack tried to back out of the deal though the henchmen in response threw Jack into an empty alleyway and proceeded to beat him up. They beat him until Jack was forced into agreeing to sell drugs for Cobblepot, fearing they would kill him otherwise or hurt his friends. One of the thugs handed Jack a package full of cocaine and gave him the details on what to do, before leaving the extremely broken and ashamed Jack.

While Jack was forced to sell drugs from the circus and lied to everyone about what he was doing, Zammos noted that Jack was up to something suspicious and confronts him about it though Jack denies his accusations. When Jack turns to leave, Zammos grabs Jack's arm and continues to threaten him, so Jack retaliates by pushing him away and orders him to never touch him. Zammos and Jack then briefly fight, but this is broken up by Haly and the other performers. Haly took Jack and Zammos into his office where he questions them why they were fighting. They both lied about it, and Haly apparently believed them and let them go with a warning to not catch them brawling again. Jack then talked to Jeane, with Jack considering telling her about his problems with the mob. However, Haly suddenly calls over Jack and it is revealed he did not buy the lie. Haly continued to question Jack and even promised he would try to help him, though Jack still did not say and Haly decided to let it go reluctantly.

Cobblepot's men met Jack again two days later to talk to him, surprising Jack and they told him that Cobblepot was happy with their business arrangement. The henchmen even offered to give Jack some money for his hard-earned work and stated that Cobblepot decided to be generous, though the already guilt-wracked Jack refused the cash and asked what they actually wanted. Despite not liking Jack's tone, the thugs skipped to the point and explained they thought about expanding their new business operation; Cobblepot wants Jack to start selling guns from the circus. Jack was outraged and refused Cobblepot, saying that it's going too far and even tries to stand up to them by saying he's refusing to do anything for Cobblepot anymore and he orders them to leave. The henchmen attack Jack in an angered response and tell him he'll do anything Cobblepot tells him to do because he now owns him. Haly witnessed the ordeal and he confronts the thugs with a baseball bat, defending the bruised Jack and ordered them to leave. The thugs were scared off but stated that Jack will regret his poor choice, implying that Cobblepot will kill him in retaliation.

Jack decided to open up to Haly about his ordeal with Cobblepot. Haly was initially angry at Cobblepot for lying to him and not coming to him for help, but he embraced a shocked Jack warmly and accepted it nonetheless. Haly states he'll help Jack with his problems with Cobblepot no matter and brought this to the other performers, with Jeane emotionally comforting Jack while Zammos got frustrated. Haly and the performers worked towards helping Jack with Cobblepot's problem, whilst Zammos took his plans to eliminate Jack to the extreme; he plotted to murder Jack and make it look like it was Cobblepot's doing. Jack and Haly went to the Iceburg Lounge to talk to Cobblepot reasonably and calmly, though Cobblepot said he owned Jack and that he owes him for saving his life. Haly tried to discuss alternatives to resolving the issue, to which Cobblepot apparently agreed to and told him to meet his henchmen the next day when Haly agreed to gather the money and pay off Jack's debt to the mob. Back at the circus, Haly seemed angry towards Jack still but told him everything would be fine and tells him to get some rest.

First Kill
The next day when Haly went to go meet Cobblepot's henchmen, Jack followed Haly in secret and he witnessed the goons shooting Haly on Cobblepot's orders as severe punishment for interfering with business and trying to negotiate with him. Jack ran over to the dying Haly, who could barely speak, but he told Jack that it was not his fault before succumbing to his injuries. Jack sobbed greatly and took him to the hospital, where Haly was pronounced dead. Jack had his dark thoughts coming back to him of feeling alone and depressed, being devastated by Haly's murder and the fact that it was his fault. The other performers angrily alienated Jack from the circus, blaming him for Haly's circus, with Zammos openly attacking Jack and blaming him but he was defended by Jeane, whom still loved Jack. After the performers told him to abandon the circus, Jack sadly complied but Jeane went with him to prove she still cared for him and that she wanted for them to help each other through the great pain. Though Jack emotionally pushed Jeane away and told her to go back to the others, stating everyone around him just gets hurt and that he was destined to be alone. Despite Jeane still trying with Jack, he sadly told her to leave to save herself or she would die. Jack then left on his own accord, leaving Jeane crying and thinking she lost another "family member".

Back at his apartment, Jack cried alone and he began drinking heavily to try to cope with the pain but this did not work. Desperate to get rid of the great mental an emotional pain, Jack got out the drugs that belonged to Cobblepot that he was keeping in his apartment to sell later for him and took a large amount. This initially knocked out Jack, but he woke up and started hallucinating before stumbling out of his apartment and aimlessly wandering the streets following Haly's voice. Jack found himself in Crime Alley but he was suddenly confronted by Zammos, who was armed with a gun and had the intention of outright murdering him to avenge Haly and to finally get rid of him. Zammos told him he'd look after Jeane, causing Jack to start defending himself and his adrenaline kicked in. Jack managed to knock the gun out of Zammos's hand and brutally punched him in the face repeatedly, crying and screaming while doing so in great emotion, because his hallucinations became more aggressive as he hallucinated Zammos as the many people who hurt him throughout his life including Bruce Wayne, Oswald Cobblepot, Roger L. Krusse, Arthur Franklin and even his own mother. After managing to brutally defend himself and take down Zammos, Zammos begged for Jack to stop and he even tried to apologize. Jack though picked up the gun suddnely and unloaded several shots into Zammos,

After realizing what he had done, Jack was in complete horror and in shock for a few minutes so he stood still pondering on what he just done, struggling to process it. After coming to the realization he had committed murder, Jack threw the gun on the ground and ran away from the body before vomiting and started hyperventilating. He struggled to breath and he could only think of Zammos's cold, dead face with bullet holes that ripped it apart, but then after a few moments of thinking, he began to giggle. The giggle transformed into his uncontrollable, howling laughter and he started to feel something strong from killing Zammos: the thrill and enjoyment from taking the life of someone who hurt him, believing he should have done it a long time ago to those who hurt him in the past and that it might have "fixed" him. Jack then returned to the crime scene to ponder on Zammos's corpse, then he worked to remove the corpse and the gun without anyone witnessing.

Transforming into a New Person
Jack managed to sleep the night he killed Zammos and he felt "amazing" and "excited" after waking up, being motivated enough to return to Haly's Circus. When the performers acted distasteful towards Jack, he happily dismissed them and saw Jeane again. Jack apologized to Jeane and managed to win her heart back, getting together again and leaving the circus despite the other performers' protests. Overall, Jack impressed Jeane by being a stronger and more dominant person and boyfriend in their relationship. Jack and Jeane went to the pharmacist together to pick up medication for Jack's uncontrollable laughter problem, but the clerk acted rude towards Jeane. Jack defended Jeane from the clerk and he verbally abused him, then the two left the store satisfied. Jack started their new life by finding a new place to live and promised he would support Jeane by seeking a new job, but before that, he wanted to take her out to a restaurant to celebrate their new life together. Jack decided to pick a restaurant in particular; Roger's.

At Roger's restaurant, one of the waiters recognized Jack and the two acted friendly towards each other, with Jack even asking him how Roger is doing. After spending time at the restaurant, Roger, who was told by his waiter of Jack's return, confronted Jack about what happened last time. Jack told him he had no ill will against his former boss and offered to shake his hand, but Roger refused and even told him to leave. Jack refused though, and Jeane also defended Jack from Roger. When Roger insulted Jeane, Jack punched Roger in the face and then left with Jeane. Later on in the night, Jeane revealed to Jack that she was pregnant. Jack was shocked at first, but then became happy and even excited about becoming a father. The two then passionately kissed.

The next day when Jack was supposed to getting a new job, he starts hysterically dancing the streets and he eventually encounters the same gang of thugs who had beat and robbed him in the past. Jack formed a sadistic grin upon spotting him and he got their attention by making humorous remarks in their direction, causing them to chase him. Jack found a thrill in being chased and the pursuit ended up in Wayne Tower in public, where Jack was backed into a corner by the thugs. Jack prepared to fight them while unable to control his laughter, but the fight was suddenly broken up by Bruce Wayne, who had just recently returned to Gotham to run Wayne Enterprises. Jack was utterly shocked and even disturbed at seeing his old friend and Bruce initially did not recognize him, but up close he knew who he was. Bruce tried to be friendly and warming towards Jack, though Jack pushed Bruce away and told him to keep his distance before storming out of the building. Bruce went after Jack though and he even apologized to him for abandoning him years ago,

Kill Count

 * 1) Raccoon: Trapped and left to bleed out.
 * 2) Bob Zammos: Shot in the face, chest and stomach multiple times.

Eric Knight
Eric Knight was Jack's father

Barbara Knight
Barbara Knight was Jack's mother

Jeane Knight
Jeane Knight was Jack's wife

Unborn Child
Jack and Jeane had an unborn child together

Bruce Wayne
Bruce Wayne was Jack's former best friend turned archenemy

Harleen Quinzel
Harleen Quinzel was Jack's therapist at Arkham Asylum during his incarceration and she later became his "girlfriend" and criminal accomplice

Oswald Cobblepot
Oswald Cobblepot was Jack's enemy

Thomas Wayne
Thomas Wayne was Jack's enemy

Martha Wayne
Martha Wayne was Jack's enemy