In 2019, Joker was initially introduced as a standalone adventure that would chronicle the origin story of the titular villain. Directed by Todd Phillips, the film introduced Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck into the DC Universe, telling the story of a man who wanders down a villainous path that cements his destiny as the Crown Prince of Crime.
Although it was pegged as an Elseworld story, Joker's successful run at the box office ultimately led to a sequel being greenlit. In addition to its billion-dollar haul, Joker also received several Oscar nominations, with Phoenix earning the Best Actor award.
A previous rumor indicated that filming for the Joker sequel will start sometime in 2023. And now, an important update about the upcoming DC movie has emerged online.
Arkham Takes The Spotlight in Joker 2
Following the news of Joker 2's release date in 2024, The Wrap shared that "a lot" of the sequel will take place inside Arkham Asylum.
In Joker's final scene, Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck can be seen inside Arkham Asylum, with a worker asking him about his progress. Fleck responded by laughing uncontrollably, to which the Arkham worker asked him what the joke is.
Fleck responded by saying, "you wouldn't get it?"
It's possible that a continuation of this scene will be showcased to address what really happened in the first film's ending.
How Arkham Fits in the Joker 2 Puzzle
Making Arkham Asylum a major setting of Joker: Folie A Deux makes sense in a lot of ways, especially considering the first film's ending. It's likely that Arthur Fleck's history in Arkham will be explored in the sequel, giving fans significant answers about how the once normal citizen of Gotham succumbed to madness.
Given that the ending of the 2019 film raised a lot of questions about whether everything that happened was real or not, the sequel is poised to show the real situation surrounding Fleck. In DC Comics, Joker is often described as an unreliable narrator, and this could carry over into the sequel.
There's a chance that everything that happened in the first movie was a figment of Fleck's imagination, meaning that the sequel could be the real beginning of the villain's story. Doing this allows the franchise to move forward in the timeline, where they could explain that the events that happened in the first film were set in the past and Fleck just placed him in the story to shine as the protagonist.
Considering that Harley Quinn is being teased to be part of the sequel, it's likely that the upcoming movie will also explore the origins of the DC villain as well as her bond with Joker. It seems fitting that Arkham Asylum is a significant part of the plot, mainly because the pair started their partnership inside the key Gotham setting.
Joker: Folie A Deux is set to premiere in theaters on October 4, 2024.
