How would you do a Joker sequel?

[Hollis Mason]

If you had the chance to make a worthy successor of the film, how would you make it or who would you like that made it? About what? Plot, cast and all (or director).

 

[Flash525]

I’d have Superman turn up at the end and shove his hand through the Jokers chest. Introduce a dose of the Injustice storyline.

 

[Schlosser85]

I wouldn't.

 

[Hollis Mason]

I wouldn't.

Totally understable.

 

[TheVileOne]

If I had the power, I would never allow a sequel to happen. People like the ideas of sequels more than actual sequels themselves, which they always defecate on.

 

[Closerframe]

Joker was like catching lighting in a bottle. Just because a film receives critical and financial success doesn't mean it deserves a sequel and in this case, it's especially true. The only way I could see a sequel being done is if it isn't treated like a sequel at all. Just have Todd Philips pick a different actor and story with a completely new interpretation of the character, but I feel like the film could just be a soulless attempt at a money grab--look no further than The Hangover sequels. Also, committing to a sequel almost eliminates the ambiguity of the Joker ending. We, as the audience, are supposed to not know entirely whether Joker/Arthur's story is legit or if he's the unreliable narrator we all love. If he shows up in a follow-up referencing anything from the first film, we then know the answer.

It's like having a sequel to Inception. Blade Runner was the only exception to this rule.

 

[hellblazer103]

It's like having a sequel to Inception. Blade Runner was the only exception to this rule.

Except if they do it like the Blade Runner sequel where a majority of the questions in the first film are still left unanswered, it could work in that sense. But yeah idunno.

 

[Flint Marko]

I don’t think they should make a sequel. But I’d be curious to hear what direction they’d potentially go in because you know they’re discussing it behind closed doors right now.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Like the others, I'm not for a sequel, if only because I don't see how one could possibly work. It's not like doing a sequel to the Nolan films or Burton films. But if I had to make a sequel, I'd keep Reeves on board. "Joker" really was his baby, and I think he deserves to be involved.

One potential angle would be that Arthur has become a celebrity of sorts. Given that he shot and killed a celebrity on television, he absolutely would have developed some sort of notoriety. I can imagine journalists and writers scheduling interviews with him. I can even see there being a bad made for TV movie based on his life. Or perhaps by then, the clown protest trend would have died down, and we're seeing the last person interested in interviewing him. So, I would set the first half hour or so in Arkham Asylum. I'd then have Arthur escape, possibly through the person interviewing him.

The rest of the movie would play out like The Fugitive, only with the Joker on the run. Make it a hard boiled suspense movie.

What I wouldn't do is introduce other Batman villains. In my eyes, Joker is a series of movies where he is the only villain of his type.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

Gun to head if I had to pitch a sequel, I’d probably have a time skip to where Batman is now a thing but you never see him, he’s only referenced.

joker is still in arkham and he meets inmates who’ve been put away by Batman (dent, Nygma, cobblepot, crane, etc) Basically villains who are grounded in reality, nobody like killer croc or clayface. They form an alliance and plot an escape and in the end Joker is the only one to get away.

basically ‘One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ meets Batman villains.

 

[hellblazer103]

I've been saying a lot about how an ideal sequel for me would be sort of a loose adaptation of Brian Azzarello's Joker but in the context of this universe. It's 20 years later, he's being released from Arkham (though in the beginning I'd show a bit of him in Arkham interacting with other characters and learning how to be more manipulative and everything, maybe even have Harley be the psychiatrist who arranges for him to be released ), Johnny Frost is one of his followers and like the original story we see everything through his perspective. Where the first movie helped us understand how a man can become a monster, this sequel would demonstrate how dangerous it is to look up to that monster and want to be like him.

Like in the original story, Batman exists and is referenced a lot but never shown till the end, have the fight at the bridge in the end of the story but maybe switch out the bridge to Ace Chemicals instead, etc

 

[The Guard]

I think you'd have to subvert the idea of a sequel somehow for it to work, or be considered a worthy follow up.

They'd pretty much have to continue the whole unreliable narrator thing somehow. Either make the sequel a whole other pseudo origin or series of them, or find a way to continue the story of the first film with enough ambiguity that we don't know whether it's actually happening, or just something in his head. You'd almost certainly have to have some conversations in Arkham, I think, and some "therapy", as that's more or less the opposite of the descent into madness/violence that happens in the first movie.

I suppose you could bring Bruce/Batman into it, but you wouldn't have to, though a take on Morrison's Arkham with other villains could work.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Gun to head if I had to pitch a sequel, I’d probably have a time skip to where Batman is now a thing but you never see him, he’s only referenced.

joker is still in arkham and he meets inmates who’ve been put away by Batman (dent, Nygma, cobblepot, crane, etc) Basically villains who are grounded in reality, nobody like killer croc or clayface.

This makes me wonder how many villains could be given a realistic makeover.

I think Harvey Dent is probably the easiest because you could have him be horrifically disfigured from the start. The name 'two face" wouldn't seem so comic booky as that's easily the kind of nickname someone might give him. Give him some personality disorder, and the rest writes itself.

Once we move onto the other villains, things get a tad dicey. For Penguin, I remember when The Dark Knight came out people were trying to come up with a grounded take on the character. One being, that him wearing a tuxedo all the time could be reason enough to call him "the Penguin", as tuxedos are often called "penguin suits". You could make him an eccentric thief.

I don't know what you would do for the other villains, though.

 

[Vaibow]

Great ideas and comments, i saw this movie on wednesday night and enjoyed the movie - great acting and a great city/world.

At the end, on the police car, bloodied lips and soaking int he applause was beautiful and god knows how much i wanted Batman to be in that scene - but it totally worked for his rebirth as the batman was born.

This sequel, if it had to be done, has to totally stay away from mainstream DC, it just wouldn't work with the tone it's now set.

However, i felt MOS fit that world beautifully and it's a damn shame, in my opinion Snyder couldn't have delivered his version the same way Phillips did, MOS felt incomplete. Anyways.

My idea for a sequel - focuses on a Gotham Joker left behind - the riots, it gains traction, the shocking murder of the talk show host Franklin is on everyones lips and Bruce is almost elevated as a poster boy of what is wrong with the city, he's the biggest victim - everyone wants a piece of him, Alfred keeps him secluded away so he doesn't realise.
Joker sees what he has created and misses the stage, his fans call for him and write to him, he doesn't get it or allowed access but it gets through to him. He also sees people coming in to arkham, just to see him, he also meets Dr Harleen F Quinzel, who is just a straight up therapist - i would have someone like Gillian Anderson play her. This starts an obsession with her, similar to Sophie. He fantasizes over her and sketches her sexually in his book, and on the walls.

As a side story it still torments Bruce, not only the murder, but why it happened - that creepy weird guy, who put his fingers in his mouth, he can taste him still, the guy who caused it all - as the batman idea gets stronger over the years, so does his hatred for the joker. He hates how he is infamous in his city - he has to get away.

So we skip years after each act - second act it's been 10 years, Arthur is still in Arkham, the media mention Bruce Wayne has departed on his travels - obviously this triggers Arthur - the sense that Bruce is off enjoying life whilst he is inside, confused, tormented by it all.
Dr Harleen is still working on him, but we see they have a more relaxed friendship, almost like she is family visiting him (or do they?). He opens up more about Bruce, Thomas Wayne's words - how people hide behind a mask are cowards, they're jokes, jokers. He imagines Bruce curled up in a ball, nightmares of the joker, a devil with horns and a cloak, this is inter cut with Bruce out in the world trying to find his place.

One flew over the cuckoos nest would be great inspiration for the second act which itself is spread over 5 years - then it's the 15th anniversary of that night.

Final third - word is out that a batman is in town, cleaning up gotham and it's thugs - Arthur tells Dr Harleen what he has heard - a man bat, hiding behind a mask, the bat signal each night in the sky, visible from his cell.

A riot occurs, batman is coming in for the joker, we see shadows, capes, graple guns.. Joker manages to evade and is out in the court yard - he turns and sees Harleen holding the keys, she beckons him over and he escapes, as the batman can only watch on as the media and mobs zone in.

The next day, as gordon looks through the cells and the mess, he finds Arthur, curled up in a corner, surrounded by imagery of bats, batman, a flash light with a bat toy over the lens, on the wall, notes - verses of bruce waynes life and travels...

Batman never existed, it was all in Arthur's mind.

You can totally see how he would create a fantasy to equal his pain and that bruce would be the perfect foil. Wasting away inside arkham, it's the perfect fantasy.

However... a good post title sequence if they wanted, would be that night... arthur is restrained and quietly staring at the night sky and the bat signal appears - arthur breaks out that harrowing laugh once more.

Did it or didn't it happen...

 

[Vaibow]

This makes me wonder how many villains could be given a realistic makeover.

I think Harvey Dent is probably the easiest because you could have him be horrifically disfigured from the start. The name 'two face" wouldn't seem so comic booky as that's easily the kind of nickname someone might give him. Give him some personality disorder, and the rest writes itself.

Once we move onto the other villains, things get a tad dicey. For Penguin, I remember when The Dark Knight came out people were trying to come up with a grounded take on the character. One being, that him wearing a tuxedo all the time could be reason enough to call him "the Penguin", as tuxedos are often called "penguin suits". You could make him an eccentric thief.

I don't know what you would do for the other villains, though.

I liked the rogue clown characters, they felt very gotham

 

[saborlord123]

I wouldn't.

This.

 

[Yowza]

I think the idea of doing films in a similar vein based on other characters would be the route to go.

It's just too difficult to really interweave an original sequel to this movie without going down an all too familiar route. I'm not saying it's impossible but just that it would be perhaps harder to get people to accept as a DC based Joker even if commonly known as an alternate take if going for something different with the sequel in an attempt to follow the precedent set by the original.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

 

[TheFuture]

could see Harvey Dent as a fan boy lawyer winning Arthur his freedom, insisting they do the talk show circuit only for Arthur to take his chance at glory yet again by aciding Dent on Live TV.

The story would focus on Dent with Arthur in a Lecter type role where he's used sparingly, but for maximum impact.

 

[HRPUFFSTUFF]

The movie would be in Arkham with it being a take on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest just as the first was a take on the movies Taxi Diver and King of Comedy. This movie would lean more into the comics giving us Dr. Arkham and Johnathan Crane as well as Harleen Quinzel as a young resident. A side plot would have Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent working on Arthur's case as they try to prove he is sane so he can go to trial.

 

[Astro13Zombie]

The movie would be in Arkham with it being a take on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest just as the first was a take on the movies Taxi Diver and King of Comedy. This movie would lean more into the comics giving us Dr. Arkham and Johnathan Crane as well as Harleen Quinzel as a young resident. A side plot would have Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent working on Arthur's case as they try to prove he is sane so he can go to trial.

I really don’t like the idea of a sequel, but if it was done like one flew over the cuckoos nest I think I could get behind it
I think Arthur would fit really well into that type of movie.

 

[HRPUFFSTUFF]

I really don’t like the idea of a sequel, but if it was done like one flew over the cuckoos nest I think I could get behind it
I think Arthur would fit really well into that type of movie.

I would set it up that the Arthur is given an experimental drug by Crane that leads to his white skin and green hair

 

[Gladius Nova]

No matter, IMO it needs to showcase or at least introduce Batman. I like the whole idea of Joker, based on reality and all that but it can only go so long without "Batman". I'm sure there are writers working frantically to come up with a viable script for a sequel as we speak.

 

[Rorschach2012]

I wonder if there’s any chance they would snag Margot Robbie for a “Mad Love” inspired sequel. Could be a JK Simmons/JJJ situation where she plays the same character in more than one continuity.

To maintain the same level of interest in a sequel, I think they’ll need to introduce either Harley Quinn and/or Batman.

 

[bapi]

Cuckoos Nest meets Primal Fear. Wait with Batman until Joker 3.