Joker
Last Updated : December 14 , 2019
Warning : SPOILERS forJoker .
Here are our biggest unanswered enquiry aboutJoker . Director Todd Phillips deliver what he promised , a standalone origin story for the Clown Prince of Crime that is an vivid character subject area inspired by the classic films ofMartin Scorsese . Jokerstars Joaquin Phoenix , who gives an awe - inspiring operation as Arthur Fleck , a mentally disturbed would - be stick out - up comic who becomes the titular killer goof .
Jokertakes position in the Gotham City of the early eighties , which is a metropolis grip in law-breaking , poorness , unemployment , and desperation . As Fleck ekes out a tragical living as a merry andrew - for - hire , his elderly mother Penny ( Frances Conroy ) dreams that her former employer , billionaireThomas Wayne(Brett Cullen ) , will save her and Arthur from their squalor . However , Penny kept her notion that Wayne is Arthur ’s Padre a secret from him , which is one of the break percentage point that leads Arthur to become the Joker . Another is the never-ending victimization and abuseArthur endures because of the neurological conditionhe suffers from that make him to express mirth hysterically at inopportune moments ; this led to Arthur being attack on a subway power train and Fleck murdering his attacker in retaliation - an human activity of violence that activate riots in Gotham where the ' Clown Vigilante ' is held up as a hero to the poor and disenfranchised people of the metropolis . The last chaff that turns Arthur into the Joker is when he ’s mock on television by his idol , late - Nox host Murray Franklin ( Robert De Niro ) , which localise Joker off on a path of bloody payback .
relate : Joker ’s Ending Explained
Set in its own alone interpretation of the DC Universe , Jokernot only graphically depicts Arthur Fleck ’s transformation into the homicidal clown but it also set young Bruce Wayne ( Dante Pereira - Olson ) on the way of life to becoming Batman by showing how Thomas and Martha Wayne ( Carrie Louise Putrello ) died in this world . As sizeable ( and profoundly disturbing ) a universe myth asJokeris , however , thecontroversialfilm does leave a number of lingering questions , especially in respect to the intriguing potential difference for sports fan to see more of Joaquin Phoenix ’s interlingual rendition of the Clown Prince of Crime . Here are the major questionsJokerhas left us pondering .
11. What Year Is Joker Set In?
It is n’t explicitly stated but going by contextual clues in the film , Jokeris set in 1981.Joker ’s Gotham City is clear inspired by the New York City of that era , which was in the grip of urban decay . Further , Jokeris mould after the seventies and eighties works of Martin Scorsese , especiallyTaxi DriverandThe King of Comedy .
The best fashion to derive thatJokerhappens in 1981 is to pay aid to the film titles on the pavilion as the Wayne family exits a movie dramaturgy at the climax of the film . The two film billed areBlow OutandZorro the Gay Blade ; to boot , as the Waynes participate the calamitous alley where Thomas and Martha are murdered , they pass a notice forExcalibur . All of those films were released in the same class - 1981 - the exact yearJokertakes place in .
Update : In interviews , manager Todd Phillips has confirmedJoker ’s 1981 place setting , and say he made that choice as a way to further separateJokerfrom the films that take station within the DCEU . All anterior DCEU films have been jell in present or recent days , outside of the World War I setWonder Woman .
10. Did Thomas Wayne Have An Affair With Penny Fleck?
The outcome of whether Thomas Wayne is Arthur Fleck ’s sire is one of the major causes that plough Arthur into the murderous Joker . According to Arthur ’s female parent Penny , she had an occasion with Thomas when she was a maid at Wayne Manor 30 years ago and Arthur is his illicit child . Thomas angrily and violently disputed this when Arthur face him at Wayne Hall ; according to the Wayne patriarch , Penny was"delusional"and was at last invest to Arkham State Hospital . Thomas ' invoice is also back by his butler Alfred Pennyworth ( Douglas Hodge ) . When Arthur steal Penny ’s Arkham files , he learned that she was indeed a patient there and that Arthur was adopted ; his mother rest to him all his animation , which led Arthur to take revenge on her .
However , was Thomas Wayne lying about any part of his story ? It ’s possible ; in person , Wayne is n’t quite Gotham ’s snowy horse , despite his public persona as a billionaire philanthropist and Mayoral candidate . While it ’s potential Penny Fleck really was a delusional woman who remained fixated on Thomas for three decades , it ’s not out of the kingdom of possibility that Thomas could have had an affair with his maid ( whether it was before or after he was married to Martha ) . It ’s also well-defined that if he did , Thomas has the financial resource and influence to treat up any indiscretions and have Penny Fleck sent to Arkham . Unfortunately , Thomas and Penny take the existent accuracy with them to their grave .
Update : While Todd Phillips himself has yet to answer this question , Thomas Wayne worker Brett Cullen revealed since the film ’s liberation that , in his mind at least , Thomas did indeed have an affair with Penny and don Arthur Fleck . Cullen says he played all his scenes with that backstory in psyche , and that he discussed his selection with Phillips , lending credenza to that being the stand for trueness .
Related : J0ker ’s Version of Thomas Wayne Is True To The Comics
9. How Did Gotham Deal With The Super Rats?
Gotham City is light asunder inJokerand when the film begin , the TV news announce the decaying metropolis ' newest plague : " super rats " , which have taint Gotham ’s sewers . However , the super rats plague is n’t something the motion picture follows up with and it gets forgotten as the nidus locks in on Arthur Fleck ’s psychotic partitioning . So , what happened to the super squealer ? Did the city manage to extirpate them ? to boot , the existence of super rat in Gotham seems likeJoker ’s clever nod to an unsung Batman baddie , theRatcatcher , who picture show audiences will soon meet since the villain ( who will be grammatical gender - swapped into a womanhood ) is part of James Gunn’sThe Suicide Squadroster .
8. Is Jim Gordon Already A Cop In Joker’s Gotham?
James Gordon , one of the most prominent characters in Gotham City , is , surprisingly , not cite at all inJoker . This solicit the question : InJoker ’s universe , is Gordon already a police force ship’s officer in Gotham City ? Most lover likely good recollection that inBatman Begins , Jim Gordon ( Gary Oldman ) was the uniformed officer who was on the scene to solace Bruce Wayne after his parents were murdered . Fans of theGothamTV serial also know Gordon ( Ben McKenzie ) as one of the only in effect cop in the city during Bruce ’s teenage year .
However , various Batman comic strip volunteer conflict version of whether Commissioner Gordon was already in Gotham during the Wayne slaying . InBatman Year One , for good example , Gordon was a new arrival in Gotham when Bruce Wayne became Batman . In this photographic film , Jim Gordon could have easily been one of the investigator look into Arthur Fleck butJokerwent with two original characters or else , so Gordon ’s absence seizure fromJokerleaves his whereabouts totally up in the strain .
Related : How Joaquin Phoenix ’s Joker produce Batman
7. How Did Arthur Not Know His Standup Act Was Being Filmed?
One of the inciting incident that ruin Arthur Fleck mentally was when his submarine , Murray Franklin , played clip of Fleck ’s standup funniness and mocked him on idiot box . However , Jokertakes place decades before every soul has a smartphone and records everything to mail on YouTube ; video cameras in the early eighties were bulky affairs so how would Arthur not have realized someone was in the nightclub shooting his operation ? The easy resolution is that Arthur was in the grip of one of his delusional illusion during his act , believing that his stand - up was killing it with the interview and that his " girlfriend " Sophie ( Zazie Beetz ) was in the crowd . Hence , Arthur never realized that he was being shoot and he was really shocked and hurt when he was poke fun by his graven image .
6. Did Joker Kill Sophie And Her Daughter?
One ofJoker ’s mind - bend twists is that whole sections of the movie are manifestation of Arthur Fleck ’s delusions - such has his entire relationship with his next - door neighbor Sophie . start when Sophie criticise on Arthur ’s door and is blandish when he confessed he was following her to their engagement after his stand - up act , Arthur and Sophie ’s short romance was the only heartwarming part ofJoker - but none of it was substantial . Whatwasreal was that after Arthur mutilate his female parent , he discontinue into Sophie ’s flat , frightening her . She remind Arthur that her youthful daughter was sleeping in their bedroom and the flick reveals that Sophie and Arthur , in fact , barely know each other .
Arthur is next seen exit Sophie ’s apartment but it ’s never made light whether he murdered Sophie or not . A contextual clue that possibly he did n’t is later , Fleck did n’t bump off Gary ( Leigh Gill ) because the lilliputian someone was the only clown at his workplace who was dainty to him . Did Sophie , who was at best cordial and smile at Arthur in the lift , also lam dying for being " nice"to him ? The picture show does n’t say . But perhaps , if she lived , Sophie called the police about Arthur , which could be another reason why Detectives Garrity ( Bill Camp ) and Burke ( Shea Whigham ) returned to Arthur ’s apartment building to talk to him again .
Update : This particular question has now been definitively answered by bothJokerdirector Todd Phillips and cinematographer Lawrence Sher . Joker did not kill Sophie or her daughter , as neither had wrong him in any style . The hand actually included a cutaway model to Sophie watching Arthur ’s execution on Murray Hamilton ’s show , but Phillips chose to leave her fate a snatch more equivocal onscreen .
5. Why Did Thomas And Martha Wayne Take Bruce To Zorro The Gay Blade?
Canonically , in Batman comedian , the movie that the Waynes watched mightily before Thomas and Martha are dispatch in Crime Alley isThe Mark of Zorro . Since it ’s set up in 1981 , Joker ’s bizarre twist is that the elder Waynes die after watching the Zorro moving-picture show that happened to be publish that year : Zorro the Gay Blade . In this unearthly , comedic take on Zorro , George Hamilton play the dual roles of Don Diego Vega ( who is on the Q.T. Zorro ) and his flamboyantly gay twin brother Ramón Vega , who also goes by the name Bunny Wigglesworth . When Diego is injured , Ramón / Bunny assume the curtain of Zorro but with some change , like using a whip alternatively of a steel and wearing different , garishly dyed Zorro costumes .
It all begs the question of why Thomas and Martha take Bruce , who was a pre - teen , to seeZorro the Gay Bladein the first place ? The questionable content of the film aside , Zorro the Gay Bladewas , surprisingly , rated PG and it was a comedy . irrespective , as a Zorro movie , small Bruce would have probably wanted to see it . Meanwhile , the other movies playing at that theater , Blow OutandExcalibur , are rated roentgen and not appropriate for youthful Bruce Wayne .
Related : Joker Does n’t touch base To Other DC Films ( But There Are Batman Movie References )
4. Does Bruce Eventually Become Batman?
Jokeris a standalone character study of the Clown Prince of Crime and Todd Phillips ' film is not link up to any past or future Batman movie , butJokerdoes set up up the root of Batman . The murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne are portray for the quaternary time in a moving picture but becauseJokeris Arthur Fleck ’s report , the interview is left to assume the events of this macrocosm unfold as they should and that about fifteen twelvemonth later , Bruce Wayne becomes Batman . However , while the Dark Knight ’s rise in the future is believably set in stone , Jokeris unique enough that fans will understandably wonder what other deviations to Batman ’s legend would manifest in this universe .
3. Is Arthur Fleck The “Real” Joker Or Does He Inspire The Real Joker?
An challenging possibility thatJokerleaves open - ended is whether Arthur Fleck is drop dead to be the Joker who faces Batman in the future - or did he rather inspire someone else to become the Joker ( a scenario similar to what played out in theGothamTV serial ) ? The glare issue is simply the age difference between Fleck and Bruce Wayne ; it ’s never made explicit how old Arthur is inJoker(Joaquin Phoenix is 44 ) but he ’s significantly old than Bruce Wayne so , in 15 - 20 class , how could Arthur be the nemesis of Batman ? ( Although , inBatman1989 , Jack Nicholsonwas 52 when his Joker face off against Batman played by Michael Keaton , who was 38 ) .
Still , it ’s potential that instead , the clown vigilante scream at the end ofJokerleft a lasting scar on the psyche of many Gotham citizen so that , when Batman appear many year by and by , someone else ( perchance even the Isle of Man in the clown masquerade who inject the Waynes ) assumes the identity operator of the Joker . Unless there ’s a sequel that provides an answer , anything is possible in this version of the DC Universe .
Update : Joaquin Phoenix himself says that , at least according to him , Arthur Fleck is the tangible Joker . He did however say he appreciated how the film depart things equivocal enough on that point to allow fans to articulate their own theory .
link : Is Joaquin Phoenix The Best Joker ? We equate Him To The Other Versions
2. Was The Entire Joker Movie One Big Delusion?
Joker ’s shocking ending posit what could be the biggest trick of all on audiences : some sports fan theorise that the entire movie was Arthur Fleck ’s massive head game and the only view that is ' real ' is the cease interrogative of Fleck by an Arkham psychiatrist ( April Grace ) - whom he then off because he ’s open and leaving bloody footprints in the hallway before a security department sentry go chase after him . Before the Doctor of the Church was killed , she asks him what he ’s laughing about and Arthur allude to"a joke"- is Arthur divert because everything the hearing saw in the movie was a depraved phantasy ?
If - and it ’s a still a big if - the events inJokersurrounding Arthur ’s disturbing parentage really were just a joke , that does spread out up some challenging possibilities : including the potential drop that the final scene ofJokeris really happening in the present sidereal day , which would enter the door for Joaquin Phoenix ’s murder clown to peradventure meetBatman ( Robert Pattinson)sometime in the future . However , this is just a possibility and , unless DC Films denote otherwise , it ’s safest to just regardJokeras exactly what it purports to be - an parentage chronicle for the Clown Prince of Crime that stands asunder in its own universe .
1. Will There Be A Joker Sequel?
Jokerhas already turn up to be a monumental hit by open atnumber one at the box office with a $ 93 million debutweekend , setting a new October phonograph record . Currently , theatre director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix brook by their purpose to make Joker a one - off and there is no sequel project by Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films . However , money talks loudest of all in Hollywood and with a hit as big asJoker , it ’s not unreasonable to think a continuation will eventually be made . After all , Phillips made two sequels toThe Hangoverand , with Joker ’s popularity ( despite its tilt ) , sports fan outcry may take to see more of Joaquin Phoenix’sJoker , whether it ’s inJoker 2or in a properBatmanmovie , regardless of persistence . But , at long last , time will tell .
Update : On November 20 , 2019 , it was reported that a Joker sequel was pass off , with both Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix returning . However , Phillips later said he hasyet to even discuss a likely sequel with Phoenix , squashing that paper .
Next : What To Expect From A Joker Sequel
