Ofcourse, that was pure joker, and something he deffinitly would do! Similar with the poison and making people die with laughter. It was crazy, but Nicholson to me didnt portray, he didnt act crazy to me. You didnt look at him and think 'my god, he's manic murderer'.
And to me he killed bob because he didnt know bats had 'one of those, one of those THINGS!' and as his right hand man he expected him to know everything. So yeah, it was crazy that he didn't know he had the Batwing, but it was crazier the batwing being destroyed by a single bullet. I mean, sorry, that was pure bull____ for dramatic effect. What was it made of, danish cheese?
To be honest, I think part of it, is that Ledger spoiled me. He took the character nigh on flawlessly from many sources, which nicholson and Burton had no access to. Let alone that Nicholson I believe, wouldn't have gone into that depth.
To be honest, I reckon Nicholson was too old to be the Joker. I always imagined joker to be around the same age as batman, give or take a few years, which that problem came from him creating batman, which to me is absolute rubbish also.
And the nolans films to me, have darker character interpretations which I much prefer. Joker was quite camp in the 89 film, when you look at the gothic style of everything else. I still loathe the resturant scene with Joker and his goons dancing to Prince, then the purple and green cars/vans the goons used. It felt abit out of place from the gothic set of Gotham visioned by Burton.
Even though im not a fan of Nicholson or his Joker, keaton's batman is still one I hold with regard, and it still has to me, THE ultimate Batmobile.