Now that reviews are flowing in, major details about Joker: Folie a Deux are coming to light, especially concerning the ending. Director Todd Phillips already spoiled that Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is not the real Joker – as if we haven’t caught on yet – and this is significant to the sequel’s finale.
We have a spoiler warning at this point for those who care, but moving on: we hear Arthur allegedly dies either in an explosion or at the hands of an Arkham inmate. The explosion, as shown in clips Warner Bros. released on social media, happens at the courthouse. Arthur is caught in the blast, but it’s hinted that he survives.
So the downfall of Fleck might really happen at Arkham where he is reinstitutionalized. According to ComicBookMovie, he is stabbed to death as a “joke” by an unidentified patient played by Jacob Lofland (Mud, The Maze Runner).
It’s then said that Lofland gives himself a “Glasgow smile” akin to Heath Ledger’s in The Dark Knight. Note that this doesn’t mean the Joker movies are a prequel to Christopher Nolan’s films in any way.
However, this ending may indicate that the unofficial Clown Prince mantle passes to someone else who could go on to become the real Joker. Or he could be only the second if the three Jokers theory applies.
Regardless of whether there is a handoff or not, the ending is displeasing some viewers, which Phillips is seeing happen.
“For the people that have seen this movie in general… at the end, they sit and they don’t move for about three to five minutes,” he said to Slash Film. “Then they text me, the ones that know me, or email me and go, ‘I need a minute to process the movie.'”
“I think it’s going to leave you with a very unsettling… I think it’s unsettling,” Phillips added, with a clarification of “a lot of things that you might have had questions about in the first movie. I hope it all gets answered.”
NEXT: ‘Joker: Folie A Deux’ Director Todd Phillips Further Confirms Arthur Fleck Is Not The Real Joker