SPOILERS I don't know about Joker, but in ME2's opening Shepard is killed and resurrected as a cyborg--it's not a significant character beat but it's there. Depending on certain choices you make in the game (getting cosmetic surgery, where you fall on the good/evil axis), Shepard will get more severe facial scarring and glowing red eyes like a Terminator. In ME3 they even raise the possibility that "Shepard" from ME2-3 isn't mentally Shepard, instead being an artificial AI (although that quickly gets disproven) who thinks they're Shepard.
Commander Shepard
I don't know about Joker, but in ME2's opening Shepard is killed and resurrected as a cyborg--it's not a significant character beat but it's there. Depending on certain choices you make in the game (getting cosmetic surgery, where you fall on the good/evil axis), Shepard will get more severe facial scarring and glowing red eyes like a Terminator. In ME3 they even raise the possibility that "Shepard" from ME2-3 isn't mentally Shepard, instead being an artificial AI (although that quickly gets disproven) who thinks they're Shepard.