Welcome back, nerd squad.
Joker has just been released and while it has met with many mixed reviews, the film
has done a great job and granting us many Easter eggs to notice and enjoy throughout
it.
Today we'll be taking a closer look at those as we count down the top 10 Joker Easter Eggs
that you missed.
Feel free to comment with your speculations at what we'll be including on the list in
the comments now and afterward let me know if there were any other ones that you feel
we missed out on.
This film was bursting with them, truly.
Also a fair warning, if you haven't seen Joker yet this list is rife with spoilers.
So pause the video now, go watch the film and come back to us after to compare notes.
Go ahead.
I'll wait.
Okay.
I'm assuming that you're good to continue.
Also be sure to stick around till the end of this video as I have some excellent bonus
content waiting for you afterwards.
Alright, let's get counting.
10 Taxi Driver
The plot of Taxi Driver follows protagonist Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro, who
also appears in the 2019 Joker film.
Get ready for a lot Robert De Niro actually as there are a few references that involve
him.
Bickle suffers from insomnia and becomes a cab driver.
Driving around the city at night, he imagines what it would be like to clean it up and make
it a better place.
He imagines killing the president, fixating on political figures much like Arthur Fleck
does in the film.
Bickle also obsesses over saving a 12 year old prostitute played by Jodie Foster.
Both films involve the main characters drastically changing their appearance, miming blowing
out their brains with a finger gun and feature main characters who are so delusional, even
we the viewer are not able to discern fantasy from reality.
Both protagonists also end up going on a mass killing spree.
9 Fight Club
Warning: Fight Club spoilers also ahead.
So for those who haven't watched it, skip this point.
But also go watch it.
What are you waiting for?
It's been out since 1999!
In Fight Club it is revealed that Tyler Durden, Brad Pitt's character, who we think is Ed
Norton's character's friend, is actually his delusion and sort of also him.
In the 2019 Joker film, it is revealed that Sophie, Arthur Fleck's neighbour and his relationship
with her is also a result of a delusion.
And this is also revealed in a way that echoes the similar discovery in Fight Club.
8 Christopher Nolan Connection
Did you recognize Thomas Wayne in the film?
He's played by Brett Cullen.
And the reason you might have recognized him is because Cullen was also in the Dark Knight
Rises film.
Though he played a much smaller role.
In that film he was a congressman who was taken for a ride by Selina Kyle, played by
Anne Hathway in the Dark Knight franchise.
Making Cullen the link between the Joker film and Nolan's Dark Knight franchise.
Though this isn't the only link connecting the two franchises.
7 Killing Joke
Many fans have drawn parallels between the comic book non-canon story of the Killing
Joke and the 2019 Joker film.
And it's true that there are few easter eggs in terms of references to this comic book
story being the film's inspiration.
Arthur Fleck who becomes the Joker is also a struggling comedian.
While he doesn't work to support his wife as he doesn't have a wife in the film.
He does have a mother whom he lives with.
When he learns of the fact that he was adopted, this causes Fleck to snap and ultimately become
the Joker.
He kills his mother and a friend who sold him a gun, which later caused Fleck to be
fired from his job.
Effectively living up to the Joker's philosophy in the Alan Moore's the Killing Joke that
one just one bad day is enough to reduce even the sanest man alive to lunacy.
6 King of Comedy
Another Scorsese film that Joker seems to bare similarities too is King of Comedy.
This film revolves around Ruper Pupkin is a would-be comedian who becomes obsessed with
a particular talk-show host and having his own talk show himself.
The character is also played by De Niro and apparently De Niro's character of Murray Franklin
is also supposed to offer homage to this character that he portrayed in King of Comedy.
Pupkin and Fleck also share similarities as well.
Both want to be on their favourite talk show.
Both commit acts of violence in an attempt to fulfill their dreams.
Both become celebrated by the public and both live with their mothers.
5 Clown Mob Mask
The masses become inspired by the Joker's story when he makes an appearance on his favourite
tv show and it inspires anarchy and chaos in the streets of Gotham City as people rise
up against the establishment, oppression and the corruption of Gotham.
The masks that are depicted in the film resemble another look that you might recognize if you
are a fan of the Batman video games.
The masks look similar to the makeup on Joker's henchmen in the Batman: Arkham Asylum game.
Both resemble diamond eyes shapes, a bulbous red clown nose and green tufts of hair on
the sides of their head.
4 Bob Kane
This Easter Egg comes to us from the name of Arthur Fleck's social worker.
Her name is Deborah Kane. Kane being a reference to the creator of Joker and of Batman: Bob
Kane.
Bob Kane created Batman in 1939 and Joker very shortly after in 1940.
And the two characters have been rivals ever since.
Another harder spot easter egg is when the film references Doctor Benjamin Stoner, probably
chosen for his funny name, Doctor Stoner is actually small characters in the comics.
He was a head doctor at Arkham Asylum who later became Anti-Fate after he was chosen
as a soldier of Chaos and was possessed by Typhon.
He was a short lived enemy of Doctor Fate.
3 Dark Knight Returns
Nothing to do with the Nolan Dark Knight franchise, Dark Knight Returns was an animated film based
off of Frank Miller's comic series of the same name.
In the film, the caretaker of the Joker, Bartholomew Wolper, believes he has cured the insane criminal
and has him slated to appear as a guest on a talk show.
This all goes sideways when it turns out Joker is not cured and has actually been planning
to stage his escape while on the talk show.
He kills Wolper with a broken mug, the talk show host and everyone else in the audience.
Though different this scene is similar to the one in which Fleck appears on his favourite
talk show only to share his story, confess the murders he has committed and kill the
talk show's host.
Which sparks an uproar of support among the people of Gotham who riot in the streets.
2 Zorro
In the scene where Thomas and Martha Wayne are killed by a person in a clown mask, we
see that the movies were playing the films, Zorro Gay Blade and Blow Out.
Both films were released in 1981 so this helps to establish the year that the events are
supposed to take place in the film.
But beyond that they pay tribute to Batman's origins.
Well at least one of them does.
In Batman's origins story, it is often stated that Thomas and Martha had taken their son
to see Zorro at the cinema the night they were killed.
And Zorro is obviously an appropriate choice as the hero resembles Batman somewhat and
could have even inspired young Bruce without him recognizing.
1 Heath Ledger
There is a shot in the film where Phoenix's Joker is inside a police car as it drives
around the city.
While different this shot seems to be paying respect to another famous iteration of Joker,
perhaps the best iteration, that of Heath Ledger.
In The Dark Knight there is a shot of Ledger's Joker on the opposite side of the police car,
hanging out the window as the car drives around the city.
While one Joker is inside while the other is out and they are both on opposite sides
of the police car, this shot in the 2019 Joker beautifully mirrors the shot of Ledger's Joker
in The Dark Knight.
Both Jokers appear to be soaking up the chaos that they have created, feeling it all around
them.
And the lighting and colours used are quite similar.
Thank you so much for watching!
I hope we were able to find some easter eggs in the film that you missed out on.
Another one that I didn't mention but that almost make the cut was the reference to the
fireman pole in the 1960's Adam West show.
Did you spot it?
When we meet young master Bruce on the playground at the manor he slides down a pole, obviously
one of the most innocent and cute references in the film.
Most of the other ones are much darker.
As promised I have some bonus content for you in the form of comments from my Top 10
Teams that Would Be Useless without Harley Quinn video.
Also thank you for watching and liking that one, it was a challenge to write but I had
a lot of fun making it for you all.
Piccolo Namek says, "What would we do without Harley Quinn.
It's like saying Dragon ball without Android 18."
As a fellow Dragon Ball Z fan, I feel you and also super loved this comment.
It made me smile.
Also can we acknowledge that both 18 and Harley are stone cold babes?
Paul Balcom says, "Wonder Twins would be campy.
As for them teaming up, yes please and thank you."
I am with you.
I am ready for the glorious camp that would be the Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn team
up series.
Can we please all petition DC to make this happen?
Alright, fellow nerds.
Before you head out, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the 2019 Joker film in
the comments below.
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Shout it loud.
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This is top 10 nerd and I'm your host Amanda McKnight, reminding you as always to stay
nerdy, YouTube.