James Holmes was never “the Joker.”

He never told witnesses or arresting officers he was the evil and charismatic villain from the Batman comic strip and movies.

Yet, this bad rumor born from initial press reports after the July 20, 2012, shooting in an Aurora theater is repeated by national media almost every time Holmes resurfaces in the news.

Recently, the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office released photos of Holmes’ booby-trapped apartment and of the inside of the theater.

The Washington Post’s story with the photo gallery said this: “Holmes, who told police he was ‘the Joker’ … .”

The article linked to a 2012 ABC News report with a statement by New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, saying Holmes had called himself the Joker.

Kelly’s comment to the press appears to be the origin of this myth. Why the NYPD police commissioner would be in a position to know anything about police activity in Aurora is beyond me.

The New York Times compounded the error in the initial reports by saying “witnesses told the police that Mr. Holmes said something to the effect of ‘I am the Joker,’ according to a federal law enforcement official.”

“It is not true,” said George Brauchler, the 18th Judicial District attorney, who prosecuted the case.

“It is ridiculous,” he said. “Completely unfounded. Some of this stuff. … It gets repeated by so many sources by people doing their research that it just becomes real.”

Investigators heard no witness talking about the Joker, he said. And no police officer claimed Holmes called himself the Joker.

Brauchler said his team decided “not to push the issue” in trial because “we didn’t feel we needed to.” Their job was to convict Holmes and seek the death penalty, not to set the record straight.

“The Dark Knight Rises” was simply a blockbuster opening at the time that Holmes had determined that he wanted to commit the crime, Brauchler said.

“If it had been ‘The Avengers,’ he would have been there,” he said. “If it were ‘Jurassic World,’ he would have been there. It had nothing to do that we can find with Batman.”

No evidence suggests Holmes had a Batman obsession.

Holmes told a psychiatrist he dyed his hair red because “red suggests bravery.”

The Joker, by the way, has green hair.

Holmes did have a Batman mask in his apartment, but Brauchler believes that was purchased after picking the movie to attack.

He also wrote the movie’s title in his infamous notebook, but Brauchler also believes that was after he bought the ticket.

Also, Brauchler says Holmes probably seized on the movie because it was being marketed around the time he was buying a gas mask — indicating Holmes had intended to carry out his assault in a closed-in space.

Holmes later told a court-appointed psychiatrist he was surprised inmates were calling him the Joker.

“They kind of turned me into a super villain,” he said. “At least I’m remembered for doing something.”

Here’s an idea. Let’s not remember James Holmes. Let’s stop telling the lie that he called himself the Joker in a delusional attempt to bring a comic strip to life as some sort of demented Batman fan.

That is trying to make sense of the senseless. What Holmes did that night was a horrible tragedy, not a masquerade.

May James Holmes never be called the Joker again and may he rot in prison.

E-mail Jeremy Meyer at jpmeyer@denverpost.com. Follow him on Twitter: jpmeyerdpost

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