As I have mentioned previously as well, one of the major issues some of the fans had with Todd Phillips’ Joker was the fact that it attempted to tie a character like Joker to a traditional origin story. Throughout his eight-decade-long history, Joker has been interpreted and presented in a number of different ways, be it as the goofy trickster clown of Batman (1966), a mobster in Tim Burton’s cinematic adaptation, the anarchist of Dark Knight, or as a psychotic killer as in most other ventures. Without being constrained by a singular, definitive background, the Joker’s past has always remained a mystery and added to the intrigue of the character. Viewers might remember in Dark Knight, Heath Ledger’s Joker was unreliable as he presented different reasons for his facial scars—and this is to convey that one cannot simplify or define a chaotic element like Joker to ‘normal’ causality guided by societal dictates. In Joker, Todd Phillips broke this one cardinal rule by presenting Arthur Fleck as a tormented soul who succumbs to his baser instincts and becomes the Joker.
However, as Joker: Folie à Deux ends, viewers will be fairly surprised by the way the director still manages to adhere to the existing mythos of Joker. The complexity of Joker’s identity showcased in the final moments of the movie syncs pretty well with some of the classic Joker storylines from comics and the small screen, which I would like to highlight to explain the issue in detail.
Spoilers Ahead
Arthur’s Inspiration Shares a Connection With Jerome/Jeremiah Valeska
The final moments of Joker: Folie à Deu showcase an anti-climactic scenario, as one of Arthur’s fellow inmates, a psychopath who idolized Arthur, or should we say his nefarious persona, the Joker, ends up killing Arthur by stabbing him to death. The disappointment of Arthur renouncing his Joker persona, begging for mercy at court instead of letting his violent, crazy side run amok—was too much to handle for Lee Quinzel and for this particular psycho as well. Taking inspiration from his idol, after killing Arthur, he puts a bloody smile on his face by carving his own face with the knife in his hand—creating a Glasgow smile, just like Heath Ledger’s version of The Joker. Arthur dies a pathetic death, but the legacy of the Joker carries on among the ones who get inspired by his derangement-induced violence. Freed from the corporeal form of a frail, suicidal man, Joker once again turns into an abstract concept, an idea—which will live on and plague Gotham through its morbid influence.
This particular interpretation is unique, and to some extent it seems to be inspired by the Jerome/Jeremiah Valeska conundrum of Fox’s hit series, Gotham. Due to small screen-rights issues, the series couldn’t directly refer to the name Joker but found a nifty way to present the character through identical twin brothers, Jeremiah and Jerome Valeska, who represented two different sides of Joker. Jerome is more of an unpredictable psychotic killer, while Jeremiah is a scheming evil mastermind. Jerome’s poison gas affected his twin brother, Jeremiah, and he became as deranged as his brother and, after Jerome’s death, carried forward the legacy of insanity. This brings us to another major Joker reference, as highlighted in Geoff Johns’ Three Jokers.
Arthur Fleck’s End Slyly References ‘Batman: Three Jokers’ Storyline
Joker’s varied interpretation through different ages was chronicled in writer Geoff Johns’ iconic storyline, Batman: Three Jokers, and as the title suggests, three different iterations of Joker were presented in the narrative. The first one, the Joker from the Golden Age, is a serious, malevolent schemer who is hell bent on destabilizing Gotham and appears to be a morose, afflicted individual behind his guise. The second, a campy, zany version of Joker from the Silver Age, is a prankster but can be extremely unpredictable and violent whenever need be, as it is revealed that he was the one who bludgeoned Jason Todd to death. The third one, the most popular version of the character, is an ultraviolent sadistic psychopath who wants to shape the world in his twisted vision and is most obsessed with Batman. The story emphasizes the nature of Joker’s evil, which is in a constant flux and cannot be defined by a singular term or explanation. Joker: Folie à Deux refers to this storyline in its own unique way, through the dichotomy of Arthur’s persona and the legacy he leaves behind. Arthur himself in this case is the mentally unstable, attention-seeking loner who lives in his own fantasy world and tries to cope with his sordid reality. This true persona of Arthur is dominated and subsided by the Joker persona—the confident, wisecracking clown who takes charge whenever Arthur goes over the edge and brings further misery in Arthur’s life. Arthur’s killer, who has assumed the mantle of Joker after killing his idol, is the third psychopathic, sadistic persona, who seems to be the most vicious of them all. As his dastardly actions inspire even more deranged minds, Joker will live on with Gotham, plunging the city into chaos and madness.