In this scene, the Joker calls Batman, "my sweet," an allusion to the homo-erotic fixation that author Frank Miller implies the Joker has on Batman. The Joker calls Batman "Darling" on page 141, with a look on his face like a man seeing a long-lost lover. Other authors have portrayed the Joker alternately as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual or as simply a sexual deviant/thrill killer. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss the Joker's sexuality and fixations in The Dark Knight Returns and other works.