There are some details that go by so quickly in the final trailer for Todd Phillips' Joker
you could hardly be blamed for not noticing them, while others are subtle thematic touches
that speak to exactly what kind of Joker we're dealing with here.
With that in mind, here's a look at some of the small details you may have missed in the
final Joker trailer
While Arthur's mother Penny is prominently featured in the first Joker trailer, we don't
see her much this time around.
She's only in a couple of brief shots and her face is covered when she appears.
But what's happening to Penny in the final trailer may be the main catalyst that sparks
Fleck's transformation — it appears as if Arthur's mother is dying.
When Arthur realizes talk show host Murray Franklin is on TV and talking about him, he's
in his mother's hospital room.
We briefly see Penny in her bed on the right, with a breathing apparatus attached to her
face, possibly with a breathing tube inserted.
If that's the case, then there's a good chance Penny Fleck isn't long for this world.
Her death, if it happens, could be enough to finally push Arthur over the edge.
We hear Joaquin Phoenix's chilling Joker cackle early in the final trailer, though the circumstances
surrounding it are strange.
Fleck is walking down a hallway in an unknown building while buttoning up a shirt.
Considering the creepy clown stuff in the background and the dressing room lights similar
to the ones seen in the first trailer, this is likely the headquarters for his professional
clowning gig, and he's just ended his shift.
It's interesting because it's a very Joker laugh, but it's belted out in a very non-Joker
way.
It seems like maybe Fleck is laughing just to placate his coworkers, and that's why he
stops as soon as he's out of earshot.
It suggests the Joker is something of a persona Fleck is slowly building.
It began as a front — something to protect himself from social situations he's not equipped
to handle.
But what is initially a ruse — no more real than the makeup or the clown costume he wears
— will soon become his "true" self.
The Joker likes kids.
Or, at least, Arthur Fleck does.
There's a brief shot toward the end of the final trailer of Fleck clowning around for
kids in a hospital, and early in the trailer he's making faces to entertain a boy on a
Gotham City bus.
We also see him trying to entertain the young Bruce Wayne in the first Joker trailer, though
it's possible he has an ulterior motive for that, since Bruce's dad, Thomas Wayne, is
clearly his adversary.
Typically, if the Joker has anything to do with children at all, he's being his typical
menacing self.
A Joker who seems to genuinely enjoy entertaining kids is intriguing — though most of the
interactions we've seen this Joker have with children seem to be before his transformation
into the Clown Prince of Crime.
It will be interesting to see if his love for children survives.
In the first Joker trailer, we only see Thomas Wayne on television.
This time, we see Arthur Fleck and Wayne standing face to face, and the confrontation gets heated.
"Is this a joke to you?"
We don't know what Thomas is talking about, but it's possible the timing of of the Wayne/Fleck
confrontation in the trailer may contain a clue.
Right before we see Wayne throw his punch, we get two shots that were also in the first
trailer — Fleck smashing his head against a metal mesh barrier while grabbing for a
file and then running down a hallway, looking as if he's being chased, still holding the
file.
What file does Fleck steal?
It looks like he's in Arkham State Hospital, and he's wearing the same outfit he wore while
walking across the street to the hospital in the first trailer.
Is it a patient file?
Belonging to someone close to Thomas Wayne, perhaps?
We've heard a lot about comedian Marc Maron getting cast in Joker.
The news raised a few eyebrows particularly because Maron has been outspoken about his
low opinion of superhero movies.
The new trailer gives us our first look at Maron as Ted Marco, and it's quick.
He appears toward the end with Murray and Fleck, as the latter asks to be introduced
as "Joker."
For a while it wasn't completely clear exactly what Maron's role in Joker would be, but in
mid-June 2019 while promoting Sword of Trust, he opened up about Marco, saying,
"I basically play De Niro's producer in a quick scene."
He added that his role isn't very big, but that the scene itself is pivotal.
Maron went on to say that his character "is a guy trying to manage the whole situation"
between Fleck and Murray.
This could mean that Fleck hasn't forgiven Murray for humiliating him, as we see earlier
in the trailer, and that Ted Marco's there as a peacemaker.
But considering that Murray made a fool out of the clearly unhinged Fleck while he was
struggling with his mother's illness, Marco likely won't succeed in his little diplomatic
endeavor.
Toward the end of the trailer we see a melee on a subway between the police and a bunch
of Joker's followers.
In the middle of it, Joker — even though he's already in full clown makeup — puts
on one of his followers' clown masks, possibly to disguise himself.
If you thought this looked familiar, well, it totally is.
This sequence is reminiscent of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, and Heath Ledger's
legendary Joker.
The first time Ledger's Joker is onscreen, his back is to us while he holds the clown
mask he's about to put on as part of the bank robbery.
At the end of the opening scene, we learn that even though he's been wearing a clown
mask, he's also been in his clown makeup the entire time, just like Arthur Fleck.
"I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you … stranger."
One of the most interesting things about Joker's final trailer — and the first one — is
what we don't see.
Even though we know to expect a bloody, violent movie, we've seen almost no violence at all
in the trailers.
At least, no violence from Joker himself.
We've seen him get punched by Thomas Wayne, whacked with his own sign, and beaten up by
jerks on the subway.
We've seen his followers clash with the cops.
But we have yet to see Joker himself attack anyone.
The only possible exception is a shot toward the end of the final trailer when Fleck appears
to be stomping on something in an alley, but it isn't clear if he's attacking a person
or just stomping out of frustration — either seems likely.
And yet one of the most memorable images from the trailer looks like it comes right after
Joker committed homicide, as the newspaper headline suggests.
We see him in a bathroom, cleaning himself off.
At one point he dances slowly and we see what appears to be smeared blood on his chin.
For a character historically defined by violence, we've seen almost none of it in these trailers.
Saving Fleck's rage for the big screen is a savvy move — and we'll know the full extent
of it when Joker hits theaters on October 4th.
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