The Joker gives actors the chance to chew scenery like no other character, but his true
appeal is how much of his backstory remains shrouded in mystery.
The only things crazier than the Joker are the fan theories his cinematic escapades have
inspired.
Here's a fan theory that has been making the rounds lately: Joaquin Phoenix isn't playing
the Joker in Joker.
At least, not the Joker we all know and love.
For starters, Phoenix is playing a character named Arthur Fleck.
We've heard Joker's name as "Jack Napier" before, most notably in Tim Burton's Batman.
"Jack?
Jack is dead, my friend.
You can call me….JOKER."
But he's never had a 100% canonical identity, and Arthur Fleck is a new one.
Frankly, it sounds like a red herring.
Mr. Fleck is also several decades older than the boy who would become Batman..
This has caused fans to speculate that Phoenix's Arthur Fleck is not the real Joker, but his
clownish criminal predecessor who inspires the true Joker years later.
Joaquin Phoenix's Joker isn't part of the DCEU and is operating as more of an Elseworlds
tale, which honestly means this could go any number of ways.
Maybe Batman won't actually be battling his arch-nemesis until the Joker is in his seventies?
Or perhaps Gotham is such a wacky place that the psychopathic criminal clown is immortal
- which has been hinted at in the comics.
Sounds crazy, right?
Well, that's the Joker for you!
Just take a look at some of these other fan theories about the Clown Prince of Crime that
prove one thing: No matter how insane the Joker is on the screen, the fans can get even
insaner.
Most fan theories about the Joker center on Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight.
This is no surprise, for a few reasons.
Ledger's brilliant work was graced with Oscar gold, The Dark Knight was a milestone event
in American popular culture, and Christopher Nolan's ambiguity about Joker's origins invites
fans to fill in the blanks.
"You wanna know how I got these scars?"
Because The Dark Knight can be seen as a thinly-veiled commentary on the War on Terror, one of the
most popular theories is that the Joker was a Special Forces soldier who suffered a mental
breakdown.
Given Nolan's deliberately realistic approach, this theory has merit.
After all, it's not like this Joker learned about firearms and explosives just from watching
the Outdoor Channel.
But some fans who believe Joker is an ex-soldier have taken this theory to its logical next
level — what if the Joker has PTSD?
Such a scenario is troubling, to be honest, but before you dismiss this as pure fan fiction,,
consider Bane's class warfare in The Dark Knight Rises, released just after the time
of Occupy Wall Street.
Is it really it stretch to say that Nolan imagined the Joker as a war veteran wreaking
vengeance on the society that left him to die?
Comedian Patton Oswalt disagrees with the PTSD idea.
While he's best known for his stand-up comedy specials and voice work, Oswalt is also a
pretty keen observer of superhero stories.
He is an adherent of the "Joker as Special Forces soldier" school of fan theorizing,
but has added his own unique twist.
In a lengthy Facebook post published just two months shy of the film's 10th anniversary,
Oswalt wrote:
"I just re-watched The Dark Knight, and another wrinkle came to mind about the Joker.
What if he's not only ex-military, but ex-military intelligence?
Specifically — interrogation?
He seems to be very good at the kind of mind-f---ery that sustained, professional interrogation
requires."
"Never start with the head… the victim gets all fuzzy he can’t feel the…
Arrgh!
see?"
Lots of fans seem to like the way Oswalt thinks.
The post has received over 17,000 reactions.
"Byooo!"
While Nolan has never answered the fan theorizing — and likely never will — the "Joker as
a military interrogator" theory has given fans plenty to mull over.
In a post popular enough to receive some major media coverage, Reddit user generalzee proposed
that the Joker was actually the hero of The Dark Knight.
"Ha ha ha.
Ho. hee hee.
And I thought my jokes were bad."
According to this theory, before Joker showed up, Gotham was so infected with organized
crime and corrupt officials that the city turned to a masked vigilante to save them.
Then, the Redditor writes,
"Along comes the Joker and by the end of a very short time, almost all organized crime
was eliminated, many corrupt officials were imprisoned or dead, and the city's vigilante
even went into hiding.
[...] This was all part of Joker's masterfully executed plan."
Well, when you look at it like that, maybe Joker wasn't so bad.
"Ahh ta ta ta ta.
Let's not blow this out of proportion."
But what about the boats?
Joker was literally tempting prisoners and pedestrians to blow each other up!
Turns out the Redditor has an answer for that too, as the Joker, quote, "proved that there
was good even in the most supposedly despicable of Gotham's inmates."
That's a pretty generous reading of his motivations.
But what is undeniable is that by the end of The Dark Knight, Gotham's criminal underbelly
is destroyed.
All it took was a few sticks of dynamite, the murder of countless innocents, and a city
of millions beset by terror.
Gee, Joker… thanks?
Another theory that's been making the rounds is that the Joker was a spy.
What's the evidence?
For one, Joker's knowledge of Gotham's power hierarchy demonstrates a background in surveillance.
There's also the fact that Joker can withstand — and apply — both physical and psychological
torture.
And there's the fact that, whether you believe he was a hero or villain, the Joker does want
to "save" Gotham by rooting out the city's criminality and corruption.
It's an interesting take.
Whether or not you buy it, though, the most fascinating thing about this theory is that
it shows just how much fans want Joker to be the good guy… albeit in his own homicidal,
psychopathic way.
"I just want my phone call."
Before Deadpool broke the fourth wall in his self-titled debut, the Joker did the same
thing in The Dark Knight, at least according to one popular fan theory.
While Joker breaking the fourth wall has occasionally happened in the comics, he has never done
so on the big screen… or has he?
Reddit user someonesfreakingout postulated that the Joker in The Dark Knight knows he's
in a movie.
The Redditor argues that most of Joker's "comedy" is meant not for the characters in the movie,
but for a hidden audience: us.
"I'm gonna make this pencil disappear"
"Ta da!”
“it's gone."
This gives the Joker a characteristic rarely associated with him, namely sanity.
You may notice a theme running through these Joker theories — they all fundamentally
change the character's arc, and consequently, the meaning of the movie.
But what about a theory that doesn't require any such drastic retconning?
Reddit user DorkKnight52 noticed that the Joker, a big fan of mass murder, doesn't kill
anyone at Bruce Wayne's party for Harvey Dent.
Why?
The Joker arrived at Bruce's party with one goal: to kill Harvey Dent, who he thought
was Batman.
When Batman arrives and dives out the window to rescue Rachel Dawes, Joker leaves, thinking
Harvey just jumped to his death.
Later in the film, after Harvey claims to be Batman, Gotham's District Attorney is carted
off in a paddy wagon with a police escort.
We're led to believe this is Batman's plan to lure out the Joker, but what if it was
the Joker's plan to lure out Batman?
If Batman doesn't show, that means he really is Dent.
When Batman does arrive, the Joker's master plan changes — he no longer wants to kill
Gotham's white knight, but corrupt him.
"You live...you die.
MMM, now we're talking."
What if Jared Leto's Joker was actually Jason Todd?
This theory has been dancing in fans' minds ever since it was first postulated around
the time Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was released.
In the comics, Jason Todd was the post-Dick Grayson Robin, until he was beaten and blown
up by the Joker.
The DCEU has indicated that Jason Todd's story would be part of the cinematic canon, with
the blown-up Boy Wonder's costume appearing in BvS.
But when Jared Leto appeared months later as a much younger Joker in Suicide Squad,
some fans wondered if this Joker could be Jason Todd.
Frankly, while this theory is interesting, fans probably like it mainly because the alternative
is so unappealing — Leto's tatted-up interpretation of the Joker is the Joker.
Yeah, we'll take the highly implausible, convoluted theory.
Speaking of which...
Technically, this theory isn't from any of the Batman films, but it is so awesomely out
there we had to share it.
According to Redditor Bakkidza, Fight Club could be read as an origin
story for the Joker.
David Fincher and Christopher Nolan do share similar aesthetics, so it's interesting to
consider.
The theory points out that just like Joker, Edward Norton's Narrator, who — spoiler
alert — is also Brad Pitt's Tyler Durden, has a manic personality, a gang of loyal minions,
and is an agent of chaos rebelling against the status quo.
"You were looking for a way to change your life.
You cannot do this on your own.
All the ways you wish you could be?"
"That's me."
Oh, he also shoots out his cheek, giving himself a messed up face.
Who knows?
This may have been Joker's last story about how he got his scars, if Batman hadn't interrupted
him.
The appeal underlying this theory is pretty simple — what could be better than one internet
fan-favorite film?
Two, of course!
"I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.”
“What?"
Perhaps the most exciting theory is the one that has been staring us in the face this
whole time: Batman and the Joker are brothers!
According to this theory, Thomas and Martha Wayne had another child before Bruce that
was born with a mental disorder and was confined to a psychiatric hospital.
That child?
Thomas Wayne Jr., a.k.a. the Joker!
The comics have danced with this idea for a while now, but fans have argued there are
some hints dropped in The Dark Knight, too.
Consider the famous interrogation scene, in which Joker goes to great lengths to explain
to Batman how he is a "freak" like him.
This scene establishes the two as symbolic brothers, but what if it's hinting that they're
literal brothers as well?
"Brothers don't shake hands, brothers gotta hug,"
Joker also says that when the people of Gotham don't need Batman anymore, they'll cast him
out.
"Like a leper!"
Physically and psychologically engaging in a sadistic game with his own brother?
That's right up the Joker's alley.
This theory doesn't concern one Batman movie, but several of them.
The idea is simple: as soon as one Joker is gone, he's replaced by another.
If we're being literal, this is the only "theory" that is 100% true — from a business perspective,
Warner Bros. does more or less need a new Joker in every incarnation of the Batman franchise.
He may be crazy, but the dude is money.
While the Joker is necessary from a financial and entertainment perspective in our universe,
what if, in some strange meta-textual way, he was also necessary because the DC Universe
itself needs a Joker?
Redditor Gatta Post Fast argues this while trying to create a correlation between the
Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher Bat-verse and Zack Snyder's.
According to this theory, when Jack Nicholson's Joker died, he was eventually replaced by
Jared Leto's.
Thus, the Burton-Schumacher Batman is the same one as the DCEU Batfleck.
Vague sequels and "soft reboots" are increasingly the norm in Hollywood.
And composer Danny Elfman did score films in both franchises, bringing back the Batman
march for Justice League.
Could this be a hint that the DC films all exist in one giant, shared universe?
Eh...
"I find that unlikely."
Still, this kind of theory could play into the older version of the Joker that Joaquin
Phoenix is stepping into.
So who knows?
Anything is possible in the Batverse!
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