Joker Director Says Joaquin Phoenix’s Character Might Not Be the Real Batman Villain

Now that Joker has premiered in theaters, a lot of fans have seen the movie and have debated over the major questions presented by the film. And while Joker ends with a lot of ambiguity, deciding not to reveal what’s real and what isn’t, many fans are still arguing over some of the events presented in the movie. But one of the main questions has to do with the ambiguity of the film, and some people are wondering whether or not any of the events are actually real.

Director Todd Phillips weighed in on this discussion in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, admitting that this might not be a true origin for the Batman villain the Joker — but instead, it could be what ultimately inspires his foe.

“Maybe Joaquin’s character inspired the Joker,” explained Phillips. “You don’t really know. His last line in the movie is, ‘You wouldn’t get it.’ There’s a lot going on in there that’s interesting.”

When asked about a possibility of Joaquin Phoenix returning to the role to take on the future Batman, Phillips immediately downplayed that possibility.

“We would never do that,” he said. “No, no. We’d just want to see where he goes from there.”

There has been a lot of questions surrounding this movie, especially after screenings have been cancelled due to reported threats of violence and many media outlets have waxed philosophical about the impact Joker will have on modern America.

Phillips himself has decried a lot of the descriptions being levied at his film, especially since judgments were being rendered before it even came out.

“Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture,” Phillips said. “There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore—I’ll tell you why, because all the f*cking funny guys are like, ‘F*ck this sh*t, because I don’t want to offend you.’ It’s hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter. You just can’t do it, right? So you just go, ‘I’m out.’ I’m out, and you know what? With all my comedies—I think that what comedies in general all have in common—is they’re irreverent. So I go, ‘How do I do something irreverent, but f*ck comedy? Oh I know, let’s take the comic book movie universe and turn it on its head with this.’ And so that’s really where that came from.”

Phillips might be a little too sensitive about his new movie considering all of the commotion hasn’t hurt his project — the movie dominated the box office and is well on its way to setting records with its opening performance.

Joker is now playing in theaters.