Todd Phillips has been cooking up the sequel to his divisive, Oscar-hungry, billion-dollar-making middle finger to the popular idea of comic book films for some time now, and with Joker: Folie à Deux having finally graced us with a delectable trailer, the Joker show, in its particular hubris, has already proven to be far from over.
In the trailer’s first few moments, it becomes all but certain that if Joker: Folie à Deux isn’t a full-blown musical, it will certainly be something tangential to one; the dialogue we hear in the trailer isn’t exactly subtle about it, nor is the tease that we’ll be be seeing Harley and Joker on a literal stage on more than one occasion, though whether this is happening in their heads or reality remains to be seen. Those King of Comedy vibes are really piling up in a big way here.
Speaking of Harley, Lady Gaga looks to be having a blast in the shoes of the psychiatrist-turned-Joker devotee, and while it remains to be seen exactly where on the toxicity scale this particular iteration of this relationship will fall upon, the more ruthless nature of the Joker canon might actually be able to lean into that history with a bit more nuance than past depictions did.
All-in-all, it looks like we have another certified Joaquin Phoenix vehicle on our hands, and with additional cast members like Gaga, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Brendan Gleeson, and Catherine Keener surrounding him, DC’s Elseworlds banner has plenty of reasons to be smiling right now.
Joker: Folie à Deux releases to theaters on Oct. 4 later this year.
