The final Joker trailer gave fans a deeper look into the origin story of the character, however, is it possible it’s also the origin story of Batman?
On your first viewing of the trailer, it’d be easy to miss the clues that suggest Joker will share its own version of the Batman origin story.
In a blink and you’ll miss it moment in the trailer we see people rioting at a movie theatre with a poster for Excalibur (1981), this also happens to be the same movie poster seen on the theatre Thomas, Martha and Bruce Wayne leave at the beginning of Batman V Superman. This is just before Thomas and Martha are shot and killed, setting Bruce on the path to becoming Batman.
Watch the moment in Batman V Superman below:
In the riot scene in Joker, you can see three figures leaving the theatre: a couple and their young son. You don’t see them for long, but it is a pretty good indication that it’s Thomas, Martha and Bruce.
The Excalibur reference, the riots and the family of three leaving the theatre definitely feels like it’s leading to the Wayne murders.
It’s not the first time the deaths of Thomas and Martha would be linked to the Joker. In Tim Burton’s Batman film Jack Nicholson’s Joker was the gunman who killed the couple.
In 2018, Forbes writer Mark Hughes appeared on the Superhero News Show and revealed it’s very possible the Joker film is connected to Matt Reeves’ The Batman starring Robert Pattinson.
“I think Joaquin Phoenix is playing the Joker in a standalone film, that will possibly wind up not being standalone as the situation evolved with the solo Batman movies and the future of the DCEU shapes up. I haven’t heard anything firm, but I’ve heard certainly whispers from several people that I’ve talked to about that project.”
“I have heard from a few people that there is talk of if The Joker movie is really going to go forward and if it’s really that good, if we’re rebooting Batman anyway, he’s going to need a Joker. We can’t use preexisting Jokers. So we either have Jared Leto showing up as the Joker in some sort of sequel movie, and a Joaquin Phoenix solo Joker movie, and then we have to have another Joker. Wouldn’t it make more sense to … wait and see if [Phoenix’s Joker] works out, then just cross that and have that be the Joker for the new Batman?”
This rumour is obviously quite old and it’s possible things have changed. It would also be somewhat confusing to have Phoenix’s Joker part of Pattinson’s Batman films when Bruce is seemingly still a child in this film. It would be almost 20 years before he officially becomes Batman which would mean the Joker would be quite old.
It’ll be very interesting to see how this plays out!