Todd Phillips’ psychological thriller Joker (2019) redefined comic book adaptations with its gritty character study of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a failed comedian whose descent into violence and chaos birthed Batman’s iconic nemesis. Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar-winning performance anchors this R-rated departure from traditional superhero narratives, portraying a troubled man with a neurological disorder that causes uncontrollable laughter—a haunting embodiment of mental illness abandoned by a crumbling society. The film’s box office triumph as the first R-rated movie to surpass USD 1 billion worldwide demonstrated audiences’ appetite for darker, more psychologically complex interpretations of comic book characters.
Set in a decaying Gotham City reminiscent of early 1980s New York, Joker draws inspiration from Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy—the latter connection emphasized by Robert De Niro’s supporting role. The film’s portrayal of mental illness and violence sparked controversy upon release, with critics divided over its message. Despite mixed reviews, it won Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion and launched Phoenix’s successful Oscar campaign. Beyond its accolades, Joker became a cultural touchpoint for discussions about class inequality and mental health treatment in society.
Arthur’s Troubled Existence
On a bright morning, as news broadcasts reveal Gotham City’s decline, Arthur Fleck carefully applies his clown makeup for work, forcing a smile despite flowing tears. Later, he performs as a clown on a busy street corner, trying to attract people to a nearly bankrupt store. Suddenly, young troublemakers steal his advertising sign and flee. Arthur chases them, desperately asking nearby pedestrians for help, but no one assists. In a narrow alley, the group beats him with his own sign until it breaks, leaving him collapsed in agony.
That afternoon at his psychiatrist’s office, Arthur bursts into uncontrollable laughter—a symptom of his neurological disorder that triggers fits when his mood darkens, despite his efforts to stop. Calming down, he asks why people seem more unstable lately. She replies that Gotham City is crumbling into filth, with disease spreading and impoverished residents struggling to find work. She asks for Arthur’s journal, which he hesitantly gives her. Beyond a diary, it holds jokes and anecdotes for his stand-up comedy dreams. Inside, she finds troubling notes where Arthur admits his death might make more sense than his life. Seeing his ongoing mental illness, she prescribes medication.
On the bus ride home, Arthur playfully entertains a little boy seated in front of him until the child laughs, but the boy’s mother disapproves and sharply reprimands him. Arthur’s spirit deflates as his condition erupts once again. As his hysterical laughter draws stares from everyone on the bus, he hands a card to a nearby passenger. The card explains that Arthur suffers from an uncontrollable laughing condition due to brain trauma and requests understanding.
After getting his medication, Arthur climbs the stairs to his apartment, first checking his empty mailbox. Inside, his mother, Penny Fleck (Frances Conroy), asks if Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) has replied. When Arthur says no, Penny’s disappointment shows—she’d hoped for a response. She sees Thomas, a rich mayoral candidate, as their savior, recalling her time as a Wayne estate assistant thirty years ago and describing him as kind. Together, they watch the Murray Franklin Show, their favorite. Arthur, a huge fan, imagines himself in the audience.
In his imagination, Arthur laughs heartily at Murray’s (Robert De Niro) jokes until, to his surprise, Murray invites him onto the stage. There, Arthur shares the story of his impoverished background and his daily battle to survive in this unforgiving city, including his devotion to caring for his mother. This fictional Murray expresses admiration and wishes for a son like Arthur—but this touching scene exists only in Arthur’s mind.
The next morning at work, Arthur’s colleague Randall Kleinmanhoffer (Glenn Fleshler) hears about the prior day’s assault. Sympathizing, Randall offers to sell him a gun and ammo for self-defense. Arthur declines, but Randall insists he take it, saying he can pay later if cash is short. Then, Gary Puddles (Leigh Gill) arrives, saying the boss wants Arthur. In the office, his boss yells at him for leaving work early yesterday. Arthur tries explaining the attack, but his angry boss ignores it and orders him to replace the broken sign.
Enraged, Arthur slams a dumpster behind the building before trudging dejectedly toward his apartment. After checking his empty mailbox, he enters the elevator where he encounters a woman named Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz) and her young daughter. Sophie attempts to communicate with him despite her chatty child, eliciting only a smirk from Arthur in response. Back in his apartment, Arthur tenderly nurses his elderly mother. Penny continues to ramble about Thomas Wayne and how he could rescue them, wondering aloud why he hasn’t acknowledged her letters.
The following day, Arthur begins stalking Sophie. He trails her into a bank but ultimately abandons his plan to enter. He then hurries to a bar featuring amateur stand-up comedy, where he observes that audiences enjoy adult humor that he personally finds unfunny. Back home, Arthur scribbles a poignant thought in his journal: “The worst part of having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don’t.”
Later, the doorbell chimes. Arthur opens his door to find Sophie standing there. She candidly admits she knew he had been following her all day, suspecting he planned to rob the bank where she works. Arthur quips that while he does possess a gun, perhaps he’ll try next time—a comment that surprisingly coaxes a smile from Sophie. He then reveals his plans to perform at the amateur stand-up comedy bar and invites her to witness his debut. To his astonishment, Sophie accepts before departing.
Descent Into Violence
The next morning, while Arthur performs as a clown entertaining children with cancer, his gun accidentally tumbles out of his pocket. His boss is furious and immediately terminates Arthur’s employment for bringing a weapon to work. To make matters worse, Randall falsely informs their boss that Arthur had forcibly taken his gun. Arthur is deeply resentful of this betrayal that cost him his job.
On his way home, a shaken Arthur sees a woman harassed by three drunk men. His laughing condition flares up, drawing their anger as the woman flees. They mistake it for mockery, ignore his explanation, and beat him until he falls. Unexpectedly, Arthur draws his gun, shoots two of them, and chases the third off the train, killing him with multiple shots. Back at his apartment, he feels a strange elation, moving wildly before impulsively kissing Sophie at her place. The next day at work, as Arthur collects his things, only Gary cares, while others like Randall mock him for the gun.
At home, Arthur swallows his final dose of medication before joining his mother to watch news broadcasts covering Thomas Wayne’s condolences for his three murdered employees—Arthur’s victims. In the broadcast, Thomas declares that Gotham City has descended into chaos, suggesting that the murderer’s clown makeup demonstrates envy toward more fortunate citizens and a fear of revealing his true identity. According to Thomas, slum dwellers are comparable to clowns.
That afternoon, Arthur’s psychiatrist tells him free consultation services and medication for the poor are cut, leaving him reeling. That night, he readies for his comedy debut, relieved to spot Sophie in the crowd. On stage, his laughing condition erupts, creating awkwardness, but he regains control to finish his set. His jokes flop, yet he holds it together. Afterward, walking with Sophie, he smiles at clown-masked pedestrians. They end the night sharing a meal.
At home, Arthur helps his mother to bed. She gives him a letter for Thomas Wayne, which he secretly reads, discovering her claim of an affair with Thomas and that Arthur is his son. Angry, he confronts Penny, who admits to the past intimacy but says Thomas ended it due to their class divide—she was just a maid. The next day, Arthur rides a train, pocketing Thomas’s photo from a newspaper. At Wayne’s estate, he meets young Bruce Wayne (Dante Pereira-Olson) at the gate, doing a magic trick to make him smile. Alfred, Bruce’s guardian, soon interrupts and orders Arthur to leave.
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Arthur introduces himself as Penny Fleck’s son and mentions the relationship between his mother and Thomas Wayne. Alfred responds with unexpected anger, claiming that Arthur’s mother suffered from delusions and labeling Penny as mentally unstable. Enraged by this accusation, Arthur lunges forward and briefly strangles Alfred before suddenly coming to his senses and fleeing the scene. When he returns to his apartment building, Arthur is met with the distressing sight of his mother being wheeled away on a medical stretcher. Alarmed, he follows her to the hospital.
Outside the hospital, two detectives question Arthur about the subway murders of three passengers. They mention interrogating his mother, whose shock led to her collapse and hospitalization. They ask if he carries weapons while performing for kids; he claims it’s just a prop and denies knowing about the murders before heading inside. In the hospital room, with Sophie beside him, Arthur watches over his unconscious mother. On the TV, Murray Franklin airs a clip of Arthur’s failed comedy set. His excitement at being on screen fades as Murray mocks him, and the audience laughs at, not with, him.
Identity and Confrontation
Back in his apartment, Arthur watches a broadcast of protesters in clown masks raging outside Thomas Wayne’s residence, incensed by Wayne’s earlier remark likening the poor to clowns—a jab they bitterly resent and use to denounce the wealthy as elitist. Driven by this, Arthur devises a plan and heads to a theater hosting affluent attendees, including Wayne, that night; as a massive protest swells outside, he slips through the crowd, enters via the back, disguises himself as a waiter, and sneaks into a screening of a Charlie Chaplin film that he finds genuinely funny.
Spotting Wayne leave his seat, Arthur trails him to the restroom for a confrontation, revealing himself as Penny Fleck’s son—only to be stunned when Wayne denies being his father, insisting Arthur was adopted during Penny’s time at his estate and that her mental illness led to her hospitalization and firing. Crushed, Arthur challenges Wayne’s rejection, asking why he faces such cruelty when he seeks nothing from him; as his condition sparks uncontrollable laughter, an annoyed Wayne punches him, warns him to steer clear of Bruce, and storms off, leaving Arthur reeling.
The next morning, Arthur answers a call from Murray Franklin’s manager inviting him onto Murray’s show due to an enthusiastic audience response to his video, which he instantly accepts despite everything. Later, he buses to Arkham State Hospital, visits the archives, and impulsively steals Penny Fleck’s records—confirming her treatment there 30 years ago. He flees to a secluded spot where he reads in shock that she was treated for abusing her adopted child, with attached adoption papers and clippings revealing a mother who let her boyfriend brutalize her child, chaining him to a radiator and causing severe head trauma. This triggers Arthur’s condition to erupt as he sobs and laughs hysterically, caught between grief and his neurological disorder.
That night, drenched in rain, Arthur slipped uninvited into Sophie’s apartment. Sophie recognized him only as her neighbor from down the hall. It became clear that Arthur’s encounters with Sophie had existed solely in his imagination—none had actually occurred. Arthur retreated to his apartment, where he dissolved into sobs punctuated by fits of maniacal laughter. The following morning, in his therapy session, Arthur declared that what he once perceived as tragedy had transformed into comedy. Later, he methodically suffocated his mother with a pillow.
Upon returning home, Arthur prepared meticulously for his appearance on the Murray Franklin Show that evening. In a disturbing revelation of his intentions, Arthur planned his on-air suicide, convinced it would captivate viewers. Arthur began his transformation by dyeing his hair green while dancing with newfound exhilaration. He clutched a photograph of his young mother bearing the inscription “Love your smile” followed by Thomas Wayne’s initials, confirming their past relationship.
Arthur’s reflection is cut short by a knock at the door from Randall and Gary, who claim they’re there to offer condolences for his mother’s death and invite him for drinks, though Arthur brags that ditching his meds days ago has freed his true self—until Randall admits his real reason for coming, citing police questioning about the subway triple homicide and accusing Arthur of the killings, prompting Arthur to suddenly stab Randall repeatedly with scissors and bludgeon him to death while a terrified Gary watches, only for Arthur to calmly let Gary go, sparing him for being the only one who’d ever shown him kindness.
Shortly afterward, Arthur struts confidently toward Murray Franklin’s studio and dances down stairways with abandon until two detectives shout at him from behind. He spots them and immediately bolts. A car strikes him, but he scrambles to his feet and continues his desperate flight. He dives into a crowded underground train packed with protesters wearing clown masks rallying against the government. The detectives pursue him onboard. As they close in, Arthur deliberately incites chaos. The mob notices the officers among them and attacks, brutally beating them. Arthur cackles while watching the officers’ beating and then vanishes into the crowd.
Joker Fully Emerges
At Murray Franklin’s studio, Murray confronts Arthur directly and questions his clown attire and possible connection to the recent political demonstrations. Arthur denies any involvement and claims he simply wants to make an impression on viewers. Murray accepts his explanation. Arthur requests that Murray introduce him as “Joker” and references Murray’s previous mockery of him. Murray reluctantly agrees.
Backstage, Arthur twitched and gyrated with strange intensity. Finally, “Joker” received his cue. He danced flamboyantly before the cameras, kissed a female guest, then settled into his seat. Arthur momentarily fell silent, visibly stunned that reality perfectly mirrored his fantasy. Once on air, Murray questioned Arthur about his unusual appearance. Arthur explained that his costume was designed to provoke laughter, referencing his previous stand-up routine.
Murray prompted Arthur for a joke. Arthur flipped open his notebook, hesitated briefly, then delivered a joke that landed with uncomfortable silence. He continued, confessing his recent struggles and calmly admitting to killing the three subway passengers. His confession stunned the studio audience. Murray initially dismissed his claim as absurd, but Arthur insisted, declaring that nothing could hurt him anymore in what had become the comedy of his life.
Arthur characterized the triple homicide as humorous, expressed exhaustion from pretending to feel otherwise, and argued about comedy’s subjectivity and society’s role in defining right and wrong. Murray accused him of fueling rebellion, which Arthur denied, claiming he targeted only the deserving. He berated society for ignoring his struggles while mourning the wealthy’s losses. Murray countered, calling it justification for heinous acts, but Arthur shot back, accusing Murray of inviting him for ridicule. Without warning, Arthur shot Murray in the head, killing him instantly, causing panic and dominating news headlines nationwide.
From the back of a police cruiser, handcuffed Arthur observed the chaos as protesters rioted violently, inspired by his televised manifesto. He cackled with delight as an ambulance rammed the police vehicle, and protesters extracted him, displaying him triumphantly atop the cruiser’s hood. Surrounded by admiring crowds, Arthur regained consciousness, reveled in his newfound connection, danced triumphantly, and smeared his own blood into a macabre smile while the crowd roared its approval.
Elsewhere amid the spreading mayhem, Thomas Wayne escorted his wife and young son Bruce through a narrow, dimly lit alley after leaving the cinema. A masked assailant, cloaked in darkness, stalked them from the shadows, swiftly murdered Bruce’s parents with cold precision, and fled with their valuables, an event unfolding tragically during the riot’s unrelenting chaos.
In a psychiatric ward sometime later, Arthur howled with uncontrollable laughter before his therapist. The therapist questioned his amusement, but Arthur refused to explain, dismissively suggesting she lacked the capacity to understand. He then abruptly exited the room, leaving bloody footprints in his wake, and fled from pursuing guards, thus concluding the Joker’s origin story.
