The new trailer for DC’s Joker gave fans a much deeper look at the Joker origin story director Todd Phillips (The Hangover) and Joaquin Phoenix are making. However, closer examinations of the new trailer footage have revealed some interesting Easter eggs and potential teases – including a major clue that Joker will tell its own version of Batman’s origin story!
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Here’s the key scene from the new Joker trailer that Batman fans need to take note of:
This scene appears near the end of the Joker trailer, when Gotham City is shown to be in full thrall of The Joker’s anarchistic influence, causing a major upheaval in Gotham society. Citizens are shown taking to the streets wearing clown masks en masse, with other scenes hinting at an explosion of violence like police barricades being overrun; cops being tackled and swarmed on a train; and of course the scene pictured above, where a cop or security guard tries to stop rioters/looters outside a very fancy looking movie theater.
As we previously pointed out, the movie poster hanging outside that theater is none other than Excalibur (1981), which happens to be the big movie being advertised as “coming soon” on the theater that Thomas, Martha, and Bruce Wayne are leaving in the beginning of Batman v Superman. That moment leads right into the horrific “Wayne Murders” as Thomas and Martha are gunned down, setting Bruce along his Batman origin arc:
More to the point: in Joker‘s theater riot scene above, you can see three figures leaving the theater: a well-dressed man, woman, and their young son. The image moves fast and it isn’t 100% clear, but there’s very good indication that the figures leaving the theater are none other than Thomas Wayne (Bryan Cullen), Bruce Wayne (Dante Pereira-Olson), and Martha Wayne (no actress has been confirmed for that role… yet).
The Excalibur reference, Joker riots, and ominous moment of that family leaving the theater potentially add up to a fundamental retcon of Batman mythos. That would be Joker’s origin and rise to the stature of infamous criminal being cited as the fuel for the fire of criminal unrest in Gotham that caused the infamous Wayne Murders and inspired Bruce Wayne to seek out a path of dark justice to combat that sickness infecting Gotham City. It would further link Batman and The Joker as embodiments of two opposing (but nonetheless connected) forces in society: order/chaos, wealth/poverty, genius/madness… the thematic metaphors could fill an entire civics class.
Before anyone gets too upset at the idea of Batman’s origin being retconned to include The Joker? Just remember that Tim Burton already made that connection very direct, when he had Jack Napier (the gangster who became Joker) be the gunman that killed Thomas and Martha Wayne. And that hasn’t stopped fans’ massive love for Jack Nicholson’s Joker. Just saying.
All of this lines up with those Joker script details that were leaked online earlier this year, making us wonder if some of the other crazy twists to Batman mythos in those story breakdowns were also true…
Upcoming DC movies include Joker on October 4th, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.
