Wait, Did Joker: Folie à Deux Introduce Heath Ledger’s Joker?

In case this needs to be stated explicitly again, this article contains huge spoilers for Joker: Folie à Deux and the film’s ending, so click away now if you haven’t watched the film yet. If you don’t and complain about reading spoilers, you will need to donate $50 to an animal shelter. (Regardless, donate to animal shelters just because it’s the right thing to do.)

Joker: Folie à Deux is a movie – that’s for sure. The ending, though, proves to be one of the most divisive conclusions in comic book movie history. After Lady Gaga’s Lee Quinzel dumps Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck, he returns to Arkham. Not too long afterward, the guards inform Arthur there’s a visitor waiting for him. However, Arthur never gets to find out who it is, as he’s confronted by a young, unnamed inmate (Connor Storrie) in the passage. The inmate wants to tell Arthur a joke, so naturally, the man known as the Joker gives him the time of day and hears it.

The inmate proceeds to tell him a rendition of what happened on Murray Franklin’s show – the night when Arthur killed Murray live on air. Out of nowhere, the inmate pulls out a knife and stabs Arthur repeatedly in the stomach. Arthur collapses to the floor, bleeding out and dying as the credits roll.

Arthur Fleck is not the real Joker

Arthur Fleck’s death in Joker: Folie à Deux confirms what many fans suspected: He’s not the Joker whom Batman faces later on in his crime-fighting career. Instead, he’s an ideal – a symbol – that inspires others to indulge in a world of anarchy and chaos. While it’s a divisive storytelling choice, it mirrors what Christopher Nolan did in The Dark Knight trilogy with regards to Batman. The Dark Knight Rises demonstrates how it doesn’t need to be Bruce Wayne under the cape and cowl; it can be anyone as it’s John Blake who takes control of the Batcave after Bruce chooses a life with Selina Kyle rather than stick around in Gotham City.

The events of Joker: Folie à Deux leave Arthur feeling conflicted about everything he’s done. At his trial, he comes clean about his crimes and why he committed them. It isn’t done in a way to boast or gloat, but as a means of unburdening himself to everyone. It’s very un-Joker-like. The ending reinforces this and confirms that he isn’t the Clown Prince of Crime – only a prototype of what’s to come.

Connor Storrie’s inmate appears to be a younger version of Heath Ledger’s Joker

Before the credits roll, the camera focuses on Arthur Fleck dying on the floor. However, eagle-eyed fans notice the blurred background actions of Arthur’s murderer. The inmate laughs maniacally while he takes the murder weapon and carves out a bloody smile on his own face. 

Perhaps this is Todd Phillips’ way of addressing how Heath Ledger’s Joker got his scars. In The Dark Knight, the Joker changes his story of how his face became scarred a few times. He blames his parents, then says he put a razor blade in his mouth … What’s certain is he doesn’t tell the truth and talks like a politician, depending on who’s in the room.

Considering how The Dark Knight‘s Clown Prince looks like an evolution of Arthur’s Joker and beams with a Glasgow Smile, it isn’t outside of the realm of possibility that the end scene for Joker: Folie à Deux serves as an origin story for Heath Ledger’s Joker. Not much is known about this mysterious inmate who blends into the background for most of the movie, which makes it even more likely that this is Phillips’ subtle homage to Nolan’s Batman movies.

Read our full review of Joker: Folie à Deux.