In 'Batman', the cardboard character? (5)
I believe the answer is:
joker
'character?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for joker that I've seen before include "Comic; a card" , "Humorist" , "trickster" , "Playing card" , "Jester" .)