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Ace Chemicals
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Detective Comics #168 (1951)
Created by	Bill Finger Len Schwartz Win Mortimer
In-story information
Base(s)	Gotham City

Ace Chemicals is a fictional company appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Ace Chemicals is located in Gotham City, and is recognised as being the birthplace of The Joker. Due to his connection with the location, The Joker often uses the facility as a hideout.

Ace Chemicals first appeared as Ace Chemical Processing Plant in Detective Comics #168 in 1951. In the story, Batman chases the criminal Red Hood through the chemical plant after robbing the Monarch Playing Card Company. Red Hood jumped into a vat of chemicals to escape Batman, noticing that the chemicals had bleached his skin white, coloured his lips red and dyed his hair green, turning him into The Joker. These story elements were revisited by Alan Moore in the iconic 1988 graphic novel, Batman: The Killing Joke, in which Red Hood is depicted as a failed stand-up comedian who formerly worked as an engineer at Ace Chemicals. Struggling to support his pregnant wife, the man agrees to guide a pair of criminals through the plant to rob the card company next door. The man jumps into the chemicals due to fear of capture by Batman, as well as being unable to see under the Red Hood mask.

The chemical plant has become a mainstay in Batman comics, as well as being a regular location visited in many comics and adaptations. The location notably reappears in the Batman: The Man Who Laughs and Batman: Death of the Family storylines. Ace Chemicals has been implemented into multiple adaptations, notably Batman (renamed as "Axis Chemicals"), Birds of Prey, Gotham, Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Knight and Batman: The Enemy Within.

References

Category:Gotham City Category:DC Comics organizations Category:The Joker Category:Fictional companies Category:1951 in comics