Warning: This story accommodates main spoilers for “Joker: Folie à Deux,” so proceed with warning.
Due to the lengthy historical past of comedian guide characters, there are sometimes many fan theories circulating about any given comedian guide film, particularly after the primary trailer has been unveiled. Followers decide up on essentially the most minute particulars, utilizing them to gasoline predictions about the place the plot is headed or which characters are ready within the wings to be revealed. Generally they’re proper on the cash, due to a wealthy background of particulars to tug from Marvel, DC Comics, and many others. However for each fan idea that is proper, there are dozens which can be simply plain ridiculous and pointless. It ought to come as no shock that “Joker: Folie à Deux” has impressed loads of fan theories main as much as its launch, however there’s one fan idea that has solely simply emerged with the discharge of the film. The stunning ending of Arthur Fleck’s story has impressed a ludicrously assumed connection to a beloved Batman film.
On the very finish of “Joker: Folie à Deux,” Arthur has been rejected by Lee (Girl Gaga). After he admits that Joker does not exist and that he dedicated the murders of the primary film of his personal cognizance, Lee leaves the courtroom, and she or he’s not taken with working away with Arthur. She tells him this after they reunite on the stairs in his outdated neighborhood the place Arthur famously danced within the first movie. Arthur is apprehended by the cops and despatched again to jail.
With all the joy of the trial achieved, Arthur is again to regular days in Arkham. However when he is instructed there is a customer ready for him, a random inmate stops to inform him a joke. It is a lengthy lead-in to the inmate delivering the identical “You get what you f***ing deserve” punchline from the primary “Joker,” earlier than the inmate stabs Arthur within the intestine roughly a dozen occasions, leaving him to bleed out and die on the ground. Because the digicam focuses on Arthur collapsing and dying, you’ll be able to see the inmate laughing within the background and carving a smile into his face with the knife.
For some motive, some followers have taken this to suggest that this inmate would go on to turn out to be Heath Ledger’s model of Joker in “The Darkish Knight.” Not solely is that this fully unfounded and determined to offer some sort of that means to a hole ending that has zero substance, however the timeline merely does not match up with the occasions of “Joker,” and it will damage among the best components of Christopher Nolan’s model of the villain.
Does Joker 2 have a Darkish Knight tribute? Let’s clarify
Earlier than we get to the ending of “Joker: Folie à Deux,” let’s discuss one other piece of this “Darkish Knight” puzzle. Within the third act, there is a huge explosion exterior of the courtroom the place Arthur’s trial is happening. It blasts a large gap within the wall and sends particles in every single place. As Arthur slowly wakes up after being knocked out and makes his manner out of the courtroom to flee, we see Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey), nonetheless in shock after the blast however propped up in opposition to the wall between the attorneys and people attending the trial. The left facet of his face is scratched up and bloodied, presumably resulting in his inevitable flip to Two-Face that at all times occurs to the character in some unspecified time in the future within the Batman universe. If you wish to interpret that as a tribute to “The Darkish Knight,” go forward. However Harvey Dent at all times has his face broken in some way, and that is merely an allusion to that character’s presumed future.
Now, let’s circle again round to the ending of “Joker: Folie à Deux.” Many are assuming that as a result of the “Younger Inmate” character performed by Connor Storie carves a smile into his face that he is supposed to turn out to be Heath Ledger’s Joker, who famously had distinguished scars on his face. Moreover, they’re taking his actions to imagine that this random inmate is who will truly turn out to be the actual Joker, who was impressed by Arthur Fleck’s actions to turn out to be the villain that Arthur by no means actually was. However that does not really feel proper both. Initially, as we simply established, that second with Harvey Dent above would appear to suggest that the legal professional has gained the very traits that can see him turn out to be Two-Face, which does not line up with “The Darkish Knight” in any respect. Apart from that, there is a significantly better motive as to why this idea is foolish.
Is Connor Storrie’s ‘Younger Inmate’ the actual Joker?
“The Darkish Knight” by no means truly revealed the place Joker’s scars got here from, with the villain telling a number of completely different tales about their origins. To imagine that that is the origin story of the Joker takes away among the best traits of Heath Ledger’s Joker. Not realizing the place he received these scars is a part of what makes him terrifying. Not realizing why he is creating anarchy in Gotham Metropolis is what makes him so threatening. The truth that he has a special story to inform about their origin, and we do not actually know what’s driving him, makes him that rather more unhinged and unpredictable. To imagine that he gave himself these scars after killing Arthur Fleck can be a disservice to Heath Ledger’s magnificent model of Joker.
Moreover, the logistics of the timeline do not even match up. “Joker” was confirmed to happen in 1981, and “Folie à Deux” takes place a yr later. Which means, by the point “The Darkish Knight” rolls round in 2008, it is 27 years later. That younger inmate on the finish of the film is not a teen, and he appears like he is in his early twenties. So in “The Darkish Knight,” meaning Joker can be nearly 50 years outdated. Heath Ledger was 28 years outdated at the moment. So this simply does not make any sense in any respect.
If you wish to assume that the carving of the scars into that younger inmate’s face is supposed to be a tribute to Heath Ledger’s Joker, you are free to try this. Nonetheless, taking that assumption and following it to the conclusion that the character is definitely Heath Ledger’s Joker is simply plain dumb. The truth is, I would not even go as far as to imagine that this character turns into the actual Joker in Todd Phillips’ model of Gotham Metropolis. The ending is barely meant to suggest that there is at all times going to be a madman who takes on the mantle of somebody like Joker. Maybe the most important joke in Todd Phillips’ “Joker” motion pictures is that there isn’t any actual Joker in any respect.
