Joker movie – a decision that proved to be the right one. As a billion-dollar grossing, Oscar-winning film, Joker would naturally spark the interest in a possible Joker 2, but creating a follow-up to such a unique film was always going to be more difficult than giving a regular superhero film a sequel.
At a time when shared universes and long-running franchises have become the norm for comic book adaptations, sequels to superhero movies are not so tricky to pull off as they once might have been. However, Joker can almost be considered an original story despite dealing with the DC IP and with one of the most recognizable villains in pop culture. Joker gave the Batman villain a new origin, and it explored the character on a more emotionally deep level without relying too much on the rest of the DC mythos. In that scenario, going back to the world created by Todd Phillips with Joker 2 could seem as unnecessary as it is risky.
However, with the announcement that Joker 2 will be a musical, the Todd Phillips sequel is already setting itself apart from the original movie. Joker 2, as it often happens with other sequels, risked becoming a parody or a lesser version of the first story film, despite the returns of Todd Phillips as co-writer and director and Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker. By being a musical, however, Joker 2 can shift the conversation surrounding it to this unusual combination of genres, and it can justify its existence with the fact that it is something completely different from Joker. The 2019 film very much played as a self-contained story focused on Arthur Fleck’s transformation into the Joker, and it did not set up any major storylines for a sequel. Joker 2 could have fallen into the mistake of simply picking up from where the first movie ended and repeating the same beats that worked for Joker, which now is sure not to happen given that the film will be a musical.
This shift in the genre is not the only way in which Joker 2 is already proving to be its own thing. As the Joker: Folie à Deux title suggested, Joker 2 will have a co-lead in Arthur’s story – with Lady Gaga seemingly set to play Harley Quinn. Adding a character as important to DC as Harley Quinn can take Joker 2’s story in a new direction, with the focus instead being on the toxic relationship between Joker and Harley and on how Arthur’s actions inspire new villains. That is not to say Joker 2 has to steer the focus away from Arthur completely – quite the contrary. The movie can offer a different look at the Joker character, this time through Harley Quinn’s eyes.
It is hard to place Joker in one specific genre, and now Joker 2 can also be in a genre of its own by being a comic book musical superhero film. This surprising genre news, the addition of Harley Quinn, and the possible Lady Gaga casting all make Joker 2 way more interesting than it could have initially sounded. Whether the Todd Phillips sequel will be as good as his first Joker outing is impossible to say at this point, but Joker 2 has at least proved right away that it is going for something new.
