Joker: Folie à Deux has just been released in theaters. As is often the case with DC films, Todd Phillips' blockbuster is full of all kinds of easter eggs. Here are the 16 best references hidden in the film. The article may contain some light spoilers.
Surprisingly, Joker: Folie à Deux opens with an unexpected animated sequence. An opening scene in cartoon form that allows us to revisit the conclusion of the first Joker. A sequence that obviously pays homage to the Looney Tunes, which also belong to Warner Bros. In this same sequence we can also see posters of Charlie Chaplin but also posters of the films Sweet Charity and La Blonde ou la Rousse. In addition to this opening sequence, the Looney Tunes are often mentioned throughout the film. They can be seen regularly (especially Pépé le putois) on various cathode screens in the background.
Already present in the trailer, this scene is undoubtedly a direct reference to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. In Arkham prison, Arthur Fleck is transferred from one building to another. When they cross the courtyard, the guards take out their umbrellas to protect themselves from the rain. Initially black, the umbrellas change color to become multi-colored. These colors refer to in the colors of the Joker's costume at the end of the first film, but also to Jacques Demy's huge classic released in 1964.
Lady Gaga makes her debut as Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie à Deux. She makes her first appearance during a choir sequence. The latter leaves the other patients around her, approaches Fleck, and mimes a gun to his head. A shot that obviously recalls the conclusion of Taxi Driver.
Thanks to a few wide shots, viewers discover that Arkham Prison is located on an island. Said island is connected to the rest of Gotham by a single bridge. Joker: Folie à Deux has therefore just introduced Arkham Island, often neglected in other adaptations of the Batman universe.
Popularized in The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent is back in Joker: Folie à Deux. The famous prosecutor is back, this time in the guise of Harry Lawtey. The 27-year-old British actor thus succeeds, in particular, Billy Dee Williams in Batman (1989), Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever (1995) and Aaron Eckhart in The Dark Knight (2008).
On their second date, Arkham Prison decides to show a movie to its most deserving inmates. Joker and Harley Quinn then reunite to discover Sing! a musical comedy led by Fred Astaire. Released in 1954, the film is cited a second time during the Joker's trial, when Lady Gaga covers some songs from Vincente Minnelli's film.
Just before his first interview, the Joker signs the book of one of the guards present. The book in question, The Night the Laughter Died, was written by Gene Ulfland, played by Marc Maron, the producer of Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro).
If we follow the continuity ; of Joker,Bruce's parents were murdered at the end of the first film, when the Joker kills Franklin Murray on live television. If Martha and Thomas Wayne are therefore deceased, their legacy is very present since we can see the Wayne Tower in the urban setting of Gotham City.
On his first day of trial, Joker decides to adopt a pose similar to President Nixon. Arthur Fleck greets the audience with a peace sign on both hands. This is a reference to Nixon, who often used this pose. The American president had even left office with the same peace sign.
While Harley Quinn is in the movie, she is totally different from her previous performances. Created in 1992 in the animated series Batman, Harley Quinn was, at first, the Joker's victim. Madly in love with him, she is completely under his influence and lets herself be manipulated by the clown of Gotham to the detriment of her own mental health. She is his object, his henchwoman, his puppet. Here, in Joker: Folie à Deux, the balance of power is completely reversed. It is Harley who uses the Joker. And to really highlight this difference from previous Harley Quinns, Lady Gaga's character is simply nicknamed Lee.
At the end of the film, Harley Quinn claims she is pregnant by the Joker. Whether this information is true or a lie by Lee to manipulate Fleck will never be known. In the comics, this idea of Queen being pregnant by the Joker is very rare. Notable exceptions include the alternate universes Injustice and White Knight. But that's about it…
In another musical sequence with Lee, the Joker wears a superb white costume. This is a direct reference to the comic The Dark Knight Returns by the immense Frank Miller. An iconic story in which Bruce Wayne is forced to take up the Batman costume again years after taking a well-deserved retirement.
One of the last dance numbers between Lee and Joker takes place at Pogo's. Pogo’s is a club where Arthur Fleck tries to perform in the first Joker.
In Tim Burton's Batman, Jack Nicholson, who plays the Joker, asks his victims several times: “Have you ever danced with the Devil in the moonlight?”. In Joker: Folie à deux, Joaquin Phoenix's Joker asks Harley Quinn the same question. The latter answers “yes” without hesitation, and begins dancing with the Gotham Clown.
When the Joker is arrested and brought back to Arkham, he puts his head on the window of the police car. A movement, a position, which are exactly the same as at the end of the first Joker. Later, in the corridors of Arkham, Joker is accosted by another patient. The latter tells him a joke before telling him “You get what you deserve”. The patient then violently stabs Arthur Fleck. And he stole this line from the Joker himself since they are the last words spoken by the Joker before murdering Franklin Murray.
A violent ending, which speaks of a handover. The Joker is dead, long live the Joker! Indeed, at At the end of the film, Arthur's killer bursts into uncontrollable laughter. In the background, the most observant will have noticed that this assassin is slicing his cheeks, a bit like the version of the clown played by Heath Ledger in Nolan's film. A new Joker will soon terrify Gotham!
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