David Thornton Howard is well-known for bringing Art the Clown to life in the Terrifier movies, and he’s also just tackled the Clown Prince of Crime in the Joker fan film Jokers Wild. Batman fans will quickly notice a familiar story from the comics being used as the basis for Jokers Wild, that being the Joker’s torture and murder of the second Robin, Jason Todd, in the comic book story A Death in the Family. A warning to the squeamish — while Jokers Wild (linked below) isn’t anywhere near as graphic as the Terrifier films, it is nonetheless quite bloody, and clearly influenced by Thornton’s performance as Art the Clown.
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Suffice it to say, Jokers Wild isn’t a fan film any Batman fans with little ones should show to their kids. Meanwhile, Howard’s portrayal of Art the Clown has made the character into a modern-day horror movie icon, which itself makes Joker comparisons inevitable. With Jokers Wild, it wouldn’t be surprising for fan casting for Thornton to play the Joker himself to become much louder.
For his part, Thornton has expressed interest in portraying the Joker in the DCU, with Thornton telling Total Film, “The Joker is my favorite villain of all time, and that’s a character I would love to play myself one day. So hopefully someone like James Gunn gives me the opportunity to tackle that character because I would like to do a lot of fun things with him.”
Thornton certainly brings all of the sinister clown villainy of his performance as Art to Jokers Wild, so seeing him as the Joker could indeed be an exciting prospect for many DC fans.
[RELATED: How to Watch Terrifier 3 Online, and Where to Stream All the Terrifier Movies]
Art the Clown was first introduced in the 2008 horror movie short The 9th Circle, followed by the horror short Terrifier in 2011, with Art portrayed by Mike Giannelli in both. The 9th Circle and Terrifier were both later included in the 2013 horror anthology film All Hallow’s Eve, which brought Art his first significant spike in public awareness. The subsequent beginning of the big-screen Terrifier franchise, meanwhile, has seen Art’s popularity gradually snowball to new heights.
Thornton first stepped into the role of Art the Clown with 2016’s Terrifier, which became a cult horror movie hit, noted by horror aficionados for its shocking levels of gore and Thornton’s silent but chilling performance as the sadistic killer clown. Art gained wider exposure with the movie’s 2022 follow-up Terrifier 2, which expanded upon the mythos and gore of Art the Clown’s slasher spree. With 2024’s Christmas-themed Terrifier 3 becoming a mainstream Halloween season horror hit, Art the Clown finally graduated to a modern-day Jason Voorhees, with Terrifier 4 also in the works.
Between his performances as Art the Clown in the Terrifier movies and the Joker in Jokers Wild, David Thornton Howard clearly has an innate talent for portraying evil clowns as frightening, nightmare-born villains. If James Gunn and DC Studios do indeed take notice of Howard’s performance in Jokers Wild, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that he could take on another sinister clown role as the Joker of the DCU. In the meantime, however, DC fans and horror fans alike have plenty of scary clown terror to relish in Howard’s performance in Jokers Wild and Howard’s ongoing portrayal of Art the Clown in the Terrifier franchise.
Terrifier and Terrifier 2 are both available to stream on Prime Video.
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Star Wars. Courtesy of Disney
