Joker Director Addresses Fan Theory About Arthur Fleck's Ties to Batman

Beyond a Joker.

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Joker.

Joker director Todd Phillips has addressed a major fan theory that suggests Joaquin Phoenix's Joker might not be Batman's true nemesis.

Phillips recently sat down with the L.A. Times to delve into several of the film's ambiguities, including whether or not Arthur Fleck's Clown Prince of Crime is the actual Joker that we have come to know. In the interview, he proposed that the troubled character might in fact serve as an inspiration for the Gotham City supervillain.

"Maybe Joaquin's character inspired the Joker," Phillips said. "You don't really know. His last line in the movie is. 'You wouldn't get it.' There's a lot going on in there that's interesting."

This explanation would help to connect the dots for those fans that have pointed out the non-canonical age difference between Bruce Wayne and Arthur Fleck in the DC standalone film, as it instead presents the possibility of another disturbed individual taking on the Joker persona after witnessing Fleck's own descent into madness.

Given his reputation as an unreliable narrator, it should come as no surprise that the Joker's solo film is rife with obscurity, and so if you left the theater with more questions than answers, then you might want to check out our Ending Explained feature that contains a variety of takes from IGN's editors.

Alternatively, read into our theories about how Joker could connect to Robert Pattinson's Batman reboot, find out why the film doesn't have a post-credits scene, and discover what director Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix had to say about the controversy surrounding the film.


In This Article
More Like This