The big promise of Todd Phillipsâ Joker was stripping out the titular characterâs comic book elements and showing what would happen if a regular guy in 1980s Gotham decided to put on clown makeup. (Turns out, things didnât go well, mainly for everyone else around him.) A young Bruce Wayne is in the original movie, and you may be wondering what would happen if an adult Batman met this version of his nemesis. According to director/writer Todd Phillips, he thinks Arthur Fleck would just think Batmanâs neat. (Youâre shocked, Iâm sure.)
In a recent IGN interview, Phillips explained how Arthur would âbe in awe of the alpha male that is Batman. I think [heâd] look up and appreciate it.â In his read, Arthur is âfascinated by men at ease,â such as his own coworkers and Robert De Niroâs talk show host Murray Franklin from the first movie. Those men are everything heâs not, and why wouldnât that extend to Batman? Presumably, this Batman knows Arthurâs responsible for his parentsâ murder, but maybe they can move past that.
The original Joker ended with Arthur eventually losing his cool so bad he shot Murray in the face on live TV, so that fascination clearly has a limit. Still, Phillipsâ comments get at something, namely how Arthur has been very quick to fall in love, either romantically or platonically. But Warner Bros. is probably not interested in making the decades of subtext between Bats and Jokes into actual text, or at least no more than what Lego Batman already did back in 2017. Considering Arthurâs luck with people he crushes on, anything between this Clown Prince and a Dark Knight old enough to punch his face in would likely end in a bad romance.
Joker: Folie à Deux hits theaters on October 4.
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