HowJokerFans Are Feeling AboutFolie à Deux's Controversial Ending

Mar. 15, 2025

Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’.Photo:Warner Bros. Pictures/YouTube

Warner Bros. Pictures/YouTube

Warning:Joker: Folie à Deuxspoilers ahead!

Fans of 2019’sJokerare having strong opinions about its new sequel.

Folie à Deux, costarringLady Gagaas Harleen “Lee” Quinzel a.k.a. Harley Quinn, isa movie musicaland courtroom drama featuring less violence and significant thematic changes fromJoker. But fans online are most taking issue with the sequel’s surprise ending, with some expressing praise and others disappointment — or even theorizing it’s meta commentary on the original.

Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’.Niko Tavernise

Niko Tavernise

Phillips, 53, hasrespondedto questions about whether 2019’sJokercould inspire real-world violence andexpressed surpriseat controversies surrounding its depiction of guns. In 2019, Phoenix, 49,walked out of an interviewwhenasked to considerhow the film’s portrayal of Arthur’s might inspire similar-minded men.

ManyFolie à Deuxviewers have taken to social media to dissect its ending within that context. Spoiler alert: the final scene depicts Arthur’s murder at the hands of another unnamed inmate within Arkham State Hospital. His killer appears to carve his own face into a grotesque smile (much likeHeath Ledger’s Joker inChristopher Nolan’s 2012 hitThe Dark Knight), suggesting that he is the Joker who canonically becomes Batman’s archenemy.

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For X user @punkscavenger,Folie à Deux“completely destroys the fantasythat the first movie creates,” a goal that “is exactly what Todd & the cast wanted.” By revealing Arthur as only a “man struggling with Mental health issues,” they added, “he wasnever the joker, the public made him one.”

“The joke is on youand the whole bloodthirsty society, who expected murders, explosions, fire, passion,” wrote user @iamixmael, echoing the sentiment that Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver’s main priority was portraying mental health. Quoting one of the sequel’s musical numbers, they added, “That’s Entertainment.”

Reddit userAlanWakeUpNowtook the interpretation further, calling the sequel “supreme incel ragebait” and writing, “If incels weren’t mad enough before, now they will be enraged.” X user @TheDrStockdale agreed: “The film isdesigned to annoy fansof the first film… it’s a work of metafiction.”

Speaking toVarietyin August about the possibility of aJoker 3, the filmmaker said, “It was fun to play in this sort of sandbox for two movies, but I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world.”

Joker: Folie à Deuxis in theaters now.

source: people.com