Is Arthur Still Alive At the End of Joker: Folie à Deux (& How He Could Return for Joker 3)?

Joker: Folie Á Deux left some fans very confused with that ending and what it means for Arthur Fleck. Spoilers for the Joker sequel are on the way. You’ve been warned! Director Todd Phillips’ return to this universe is a bit of a rollercoaster. Arthur Fleck manages to escape his imprisonment for a short while. But, that freedom is short-lived as he’s taken back into custody. Once back inside the prison, Arthur runs afoul of a “young inmate” that decides to take him out. Upsettingly for fans of Joker, the main character gets shanked and meets a grisly end. Viewers see him die and the Gotham Hospital tries their best to save him. But, it’s no use. The memes on the Internet are true, Joker really does die in Joker: Folie Á Deux .

So, the next question from certain members of the fanbase might be wondering if there’s a path to Joker 3. Simply put, probably not! From the beginning of the press tour for Joker: Folie Á Deux, the director has said that this was his last go-round with the Joker universe. Taking a quick look at the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score and Critics Score for the second movie, it doesn’t seem as though the headwinds were there to assure the kind of smash hit that would motivate Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Studios to pick this thread back up. Stranger things have happened, but it seems unlikely.

“It was fun to play in this sort of sandbox for two movies, but I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world… I’d love to keep working with Joaquin, but on a comedy, because he can be so loose and funny,” Phillips mentioned. “And I think people really want comedies right now. The trailer for ‘Joker 2‘ sort of sums things up when it says, ‘What the world needs now is love.’ But I would go farther: We could use a good laugh too.”

DC Black Label’s Swan Song

Joker: Folie à Deux is the last entry in DC Studios’ short-lived DC Black Label project. Todd Phillips has waved goodbye to the initiative. Back in 2019, there were plans for multiple “adult-focused” DC Comics movie projects. Joker was supposed to be just the start. There was talk about a Mister Freeze treatment and maybe one other villain to get the ball rolling. One would have to think that 2020 and the concurrent reshuffling over at Warner Bros. Discovery had a lot to do with this decision. Talking to IGN UK back in 2019, he clarified what his vision for that imprint was. 

“I pitched it as three movies, Joker being the first with me, and then these two other movies, with two other directors,” the director explained. “But I don’t really want to name them, because then it’ll become a thing and I’m pulling these directors into it when I’ve never even told them about it. It was just me telling Warner Bros. about it.

Phillips added, “I still think it’s a great idea. But I’ll be honest with you, their argument – well, it wasn’t an argument – their thing is, there’s no reason to create its own label, there’s no reason to go to all that trouble. Just when we want to make one of these kind of movies, we’ll do it, just like Joker is. I get that, but I also thought it was just kind of cool if it became a thing.”

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