Summary
There may not have been a more anticipated DC Comics movie thanJoker: Folie à Deux,considering how much its predecessor was almost universally loved. Unfortunately, now that the sequel is officially in theaters, the people who were so excited about its arrival wish it had never been released.
Not only hasn’tJoker: Folie à Deuxbeen the critical hit people hoped it would be, it hasn’t made the kind of money a film with its budgetneeds to make to break evenand then eventually make the studio some real profit. With its launch in theaters andapparent failures at numerous levels,Joker 2has officially been billed as amassive flop. But that doesn’t mean that Todd Phillips' final project in the DC universe failed at everything. His version of Harley Quinn made some changes to the character, which were both visionary and something James Gunn should perhaps take to heart as his DCU moves forward.
Harley Quinn Flipped On Her Head
Over the life of the character, there have been dozens of different versions of Harley Quinn. Most of them have had some basic facts all the same. Most importantly, almost every single version of Harley is a woman who was once known as Harleen Quinzel and she was a psychologist who went to Arkham Asylum in order to try and help those who were imprisoned there. However, when she meets the Joker, thecrown prince of crime turnsthings on their head, gradually driving her insane and making her fall in love with him.
Cast
Joaquin Phoenix (Arthur Fleck), Lady Gaga (Harley Quinn), Harry Lawtey (Harvey Dent), Brendan Gleeson (Jackie Sullivan), Catherine Keener (Maryanne Stewart)
Premiere Date
June 27, 2025
This is also where earlierversions of Harley were a bit tragic, because it was clear very early on that Joker cannot love anyone. He is the very definition of a psychopath. While he might feel a level of loyalty to Harley Quinn because he wants followers and wants someone who shows him love and affection, when the going gets rough, Joker always gets going and is more than happy to leave his “lover” behind.
Over the years, there have been some versions of Harley Quinn that have shown more intestinal fortitude. Margot Robbie’s version as well as Kaley Cuoco’s version in the animatedHarley Quinnseries on Max have sort of “cut the cord” and realized that The Joker was indeed a toxic partner and the character isfar more independent in filmslikeBirds of Preyand the secondSuicide Squad.
It seems likely that the DCU will continue to go in that direction and have a more independent Harley for whatever this new James Gunn version of the character looks like. However,Todd Phillips put out an even stronger versionof Harley Quinn who turned the story on its head because she was the one who had all the power in the relationship.
The most immediate and striking change inJoker: Folie à Deuxis that Lady Gaga’s character is an inmate rather than an employee at Arkham Asylum.
The most immediate andstriking change inJoker: Folie à Deuxis that Lady Gaga’s character is an inmate rather than an employee at Arkham Asylum. The change might be subtle on its face, but it does make the idea of her getting into a relationship with Arthur Fleck a bit more believable. Above all else, Phillips said that he wanted to put all of the characters in his sequel through the lense of realism. The change also makes it much easier to do her origin story in Joker 2 because there’s no need to speed up their romantic story.
The other massive change that Phillips makes is that it’s really Harley who has all the power in the relationship with Arthur.She lies about being committedto Arkham against her will. She lies about her background and what happened to her family and she might have even lied about being pregnant. All of these rather manipulative decisions are in fact, the kinds of things that The Joker did to Harley Quinn in almost all the other stories of these two Batman villains.
Audiences won’t see where Harley Quinn can go from here as Todd Phillips said he’s done in this universe.
In the end, the two personalities areindeed seemingly reversed. It appears that in the world ofJoker: Folie à Deux, it’s Lady Gaga’s character that is the psychopath, or at least sociopath who is praying on the desire of Joaquin Phoenix’s Fleck, who spent two movies simply looking for someone he could have a real connection with.
Certainly his mental health issues meant that he went about looking for those connections in exactly the wrong way, but that’s also what made him such a compelling person to have on the big screen. He was a Joker that people could relate to, even if they didn’t agree with what he did. It also makes Harley Quinn more interesting because she seems to have layers that even the more independent versions didn’t really have. And that’s why it’s a shame that Todd Phillips seems to have fumbled the ball, andJoker: Folie à Deuxwas such aflop commercially and critically.
