I agree with you partly, but I'm not going to use that against The Joker. Having one great character and the majority of the rest being subpar isn't a fault of the good character's, but a reflection on the writers. The inclusion of The Joker shouldn't automatically limit the effectiveness of others in the same story. Origins managed to have effective characters outside of The Joker AND had probably the best narrative of the series as a whole so it can obviously be done.
Arkham City is a mess comparatively speaking. Dr. Strange should have been much more imposing and threatening, but I never felt threatened by him which is insane considering he knows Bruce Wayne is Batman. The Scarecrow walks the same rope, but he's one of a handful of under-developed villains in the series.
Apart from Origins and Asylum (which funnily enough I thought Scarecrow was very effective here) the Joker has little bearing on progression of the narrative instead becoming a backdrop and foil to Batman's state of mind. The whole series was centered on their relationship and the effects Joker has had on Batman physically and emotionally. It's truly compelling stuff. Overshadowing at times sure, but certainly there was plenty of room to have better characters affect Batman. Perhaps not on the same magnitude, but certainly close.
In the end we're left with a really great Joker series featuring a bunch of other characters milling around waiting for their moment.
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