Without a doubt, Joker is one of the most controversial films of the year. Not only has the dark subject matter gotten a lot of attention, but the reception of the film has also been quite divided. While the initial critical reaction was hugely positive, that response cooled leading up to the film release. Yet there are plenty of audiences who loved with film, leading to a record-breaking box-office performance.
Nearly a month after its release, people are still talking about the movie and dissecting it. While it's clear that not everything in Joker fits together neatly, there are plenty of fan theories that actually make the film more interesting. Here are some of the things that didn't make sense in Joker and some fan theories that do.
Makes No Sense: Age Difference From Bruce
Leading up to the release of the film, the filmmakers made it perfectly clear that this origin tale of Joker would stand on its own, separate from the rest of the DCEU. While that seems to be largely true, the film did manage to fit Bruce Wayne into the Joker's story. However, while Arthur Fleck, aka Joker, is a grown man in the film, Bruce is just a small child.
Whether or not this film is meant to connect to any other stories, the film seems to fully be implying that this young Bruce will grow up to become Batman. But how can there be such a huge age difference between him and his archenemy?
Fan Theory: Arthur Killed Sophie
The character of Sophie (Zazie Beetz) is one of the more interesting aspects of the film. Sophie is a single mother living in the same apartment building as Arthur. She is one of the few people who is nice to him and they form a romantic relationship. However, we later discover that the romance was imagined by Arthur.
The scene in which Arthur breaks into Sophie's apartment and we realize the truth is a haunting moment. We then abruptly cut to Arthur going back to his own apartment and we never see Sophie again. Many fans have speculated that he killed her after faced with the truth of their relationship.
Makes No Sense: The Cops
Dumb cops in movies are a bit of a cliché at this point, but in a movie like Joker that is going for a more realistic feel, the incompetence of the detectives is a bit distracting. After Arthur kills the three men on the subway, two detectives show up and immediately think he's a suspect. Then they do nothing.
Every time the detectives talk to him, he seems more and more guilty. Yet after killing his mother, killing a co-worker and leaving a witness, the cops are still inactive. Arthur does his iconic dance on the steps and these two detectives just stand there watching this suspected murderer dance then shout to him from far enough away that he can easily escape.
Fan Theory: Inspiration For Joker
Many fans have pointed out that, despite his transformation throughout the film, Arthur Fleck never seems like the same Joker we know from Batman mythology. This has led some to speculate that he is not actually the real Joker but rather the inspiration.
Arthur is not a man with a plan, yet he accidentally starts a violent and destructive movement in Gotham City and becomes the figure at the center of it all. The theory suggests that somewhere a young boy was taking in all the madness and inspired him to become the Clown Prince of Crime.
Makes No Sense: The Death of Bruce's Parents
Few scenes have been recreated as often as the death of Bruce Wayne's parents. While Joker does shake the mythology up a bit by making Thomas Wayne a selfish and cold businessman, the film still felt the need to include the death scene in the same way we've seen it countless times before.
What makes the moment seem even more pointless is that it appears to come out of nowhere. During the riots, a random man in a clown mask guns the Wayne parents down rips the pearl necklace and walks away. It's like the film was just going through the necessary paces without any meaning to it at all.
Fan Theory: It's A Flash Forward
The last scene of the film has been discussed endlessly by audiences. After seeing Arthur celebrated by the rioters, we cut to him inside Arkham Asylum. The obvious first reaction to the scene is that Arthur was locked up following the murders. But some fans have suggested a different timeline.
One popular theory suggests that the final scene is meant to be Arthur's first stay in Arkham while everything we saw before it was a flashforward. It could be a simple way of suggesting that Arthur always had this madness in him.
Makes No Sense: Talk Show Appearance
Probably the most infamous scene in the film is Arthur's appearance on the talk show with Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro). After coming on, dressed in his Joker make-up, Arthur admits to the murders, condemns society and shoots Franklin dead on live television. While it's a shocking moment, it also feels a bit contrived.
By this point, it's pretty much a guarantee Arthur would be wanted for murder. Not only would the cops have pegged him as a suspect but Gary would have gone to the police by now. How was Arthur allowed to walk on to national television without being arrested? And why would the network wait until long after Murray was murdered to finally cut the feed?
Fan Theory: Multiple Choice
Before the film was released, some fans were pushing back against the idea of a Joker origin tale, as they felt the character did not need an origin. In the comics, Joker admits that while he might tell one story, his origins are more multiple choice. Some fans believe that the film is following a similar path.
The idea is that the entire film has been Joker telling his origin story to the doctor in the Arkham. The reason he is laughing and telling her she wouldn't understand is that he knows none of it was true and he is not the pitiable Arthur Fleck.
Makes No Sense: The Message
The movie garnered a lot of controversy leading up to its release by some people suggesting the film might inspire violent acts with its message. That criticism seems a bit unfair, as the film isn't reckless with its statements. However, the real issue is that the movie doesn't even seem to know what it wants to say.
Some have said the film is about mental illness, others have said it's class divisions, some say it makes Arthur sympathetic, others say it's all in his head. But while the movie touches on all these ideas, it doesn't really commit to any of them.
Fan Theory: The Joke
The popular idea that the movie was all in Joker's head has some issues when you revisit the entire story, but one interpretation of this idea is quite interesting. Again, with the mysterious final scene, Arthur is laughing at some joke in his head while explaining to the doctor that she wouldn't get it.
The theory suggests that this man we're seeing at the end of the film is the real Joker that we all know and that the movie was an elaborate and disturbing joke he imagined. But the punchline is not about his own origin, but rather the origin of his enemy Batman which he created. To Joker, this is a hilarious idea.