Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck won’t become Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime in Joker: Folie á Deux.
Joker: Folie á Deux, which is a sequel to 2019’s Joker, will be released in theaters this coming October. The DC film sees Phoenix reprise his role as Arther Fleck/Joker, while Lady Gaga is playing Harley Quinn.
While the titular, villainous character is frequently known as Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime in DC Comics, director Todd Phillips said that won’t be the case in the upcoming sequel.
“We would never do that,” he told Empire Magazine. “Because Arthur clearly is not a criminal mastermind. He was never that.”
Rather, Phillips said that Arthur has become a “symbol” to people following the events of 2019’s Joker. “This unwilling, unwitting symbol now paying for the crimes of the first film, but at the same time finding the only thing he ever wanted, which was love,” he said. “That’s always what he’s been about, even though he’s been pushed and pulled in all these directions. So we tried to just make the most pure version of that.
“Joker: Folie À Deux finds Arthur Fleck institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker,” the synopsis for the movie reads. “While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that’s always been inside him.”
Along with Phoenix and Lady Gaga, the film — which will be a musical and exists in a separate universe from 2022’s The Batman and James Gunn and Peter Safran’s forthcoming DCU — stars Zazie Beetz, who is reprising her role from the first movie, Harry Lawtey, Leigh Gill, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, Steve Coogan, and Ken Leung.
Joker: Folie á Deux will be released in United States theaters on October 4, 2024, from Warner Bros. Pictures. Joker, meanwhile, is currently streaming on Max.