Joker 2: What The Sequel Needs To Borrow From The First Movie

DC’s The Joker was a huge hit for most fans, even with an R-rating. The story of Arthur Fleck served as an origin story for one of DC’s most iconic villains. With a sequel on the horizon, there are plenty of ways they can take the character to the next level. Even with the rumored addition of a new Harley Quinn, one thing DC needs not change is what made the original so successful, humanizing the Joker.

What made this origin story so believable is how they portrayed Arthur. He wasn’t a character or a personification of evil to start. Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur was a person first and a villain second. The fact that he was a down-on-his-luck loser who hit a downward spiral and emphasized his instability took us threw his progression as a madman. That sort of sympathy for his life amped up the suspense of his eventual turn. We see the character start to unravel throughout the entire movie.

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That’s where DC needs to stay the path. No matter the plot of the second Joker movie, we need to have the night and day of his two personalities. We don’t want the audience to sympathize with a psychopath but at the same time, the character needs a sense of realism. Joker is one of those characters whose backstory is one of the most elusive in comic history, but as far as we know he’s just a normal guy turned psychopath.

So much of the DCEU and DC comics are full of superpowered beings and aliens. What makes the Batman and Joker rivalry so appealing to audiences is the fact it’s just two random guys. Two of the universe’s smartest characters are trying to outsmart each other at every turn. But how do they keep it going should they introduce Harley into the mix? The only way to do it would be to tell her version of an origin where she eventually falls for him, but cautiously. If they play too much to his emotional connection, similar to the one with his mother, we draw too close to a love for Harley he never actually had. His connection to her only went as far as he could use her. It needs to be a healthy balance.

The Joker was a rare R-rated comic book movie that was almost universally loved. So much of the dark storytelling made the character so intriguing. No matter the direction of the new movie, if they go too far off the path, they won’t have the same success as the original.