Joker 2 Is a Comic Book Movie That Hates Comic Books

This article contains spoilers for Joker: Folie à Deux. When Joker: Folie à Deux ends, the world has changed. Although likely not in the way comic book fans expected. Arthur Fleck, the man who smeared pancake makeup across his face and called himself Joker, is dead; Lee Quinzel, his precious “Harley Quinn,” has left him […]

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This article contains spoilers for Joker: Folie à Deux.

When Joker: Folie à Deux ends, the world has changed. Although likely not in the way comic book fans expected.

Arthur Fleck, the man who smeared pancake makeup across his face and called himself Joker, is dead; Lee Quinzel, his precious “Harley Quinn,” has left him cold after realizing he wasn’t the leader of a nihilist revolution but instead a pitiful loser; and even Harvey Dent seemed to evade his comic book fate when after an explosion rocks the trial of the century in Gotham’s courthouse… the D.A. seems only dazed and slightly banged up.

This isn’t the way any of that was supposed to go down, at least if you are familiar with the comic books and the litany of film, television, and video game adaptations they’ve previously spawned. While the first Joker movie ended in a way which seemed to suggest Joaquin Phoenix‘s Arthur could become the Batman’s greatest foe, with even the origin of this version of Gotham’s Dark Knight told in deep shadows as we see Joker’s populist anarchy inspire the murder of fat cats Thomas and Martha Wayne, Joker 2 leaves no confusion about its intent. All that jazz is kids’ stuff meant to entertain children and delude saps like Arthur Fleck.

Sure, “Joker” can fantasize about committing a Joker-esque escape where he assaults Dent and beats the judge to death with a gavel. But when the real escape comes because of a fanboy’s car bomb outside, Ar