Here’s the thing about telling a Joker origin story: you can’t actually take the narrative at face value. The character is, by definition, unknowable. Even when he appears to offer audiences a glimpse into his inner world, it’s usually a misdirection. “If I’m going to have a past,” the Joker infamously says in Alan Moore’s take on the character, “I’d prefer it to be multiple choice.” That ambiguity has defined the character for decades, from Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight to the new incarnation in Todd Phillips’ Joker duology.
The Joker we meet in Phillips’ 2019 film, portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is a far cry from any version of the character we’d easily recognize. That dissonance led some fans to believe that Arthur Fleck was just one Joker in a long line of figures who took on the mantle or that Fleck’s origin story is just one of those multiple choices. Phillips himself leaned into that ambiguity in a 2019 interview with the L.A. Times, suggesting that Arthur may not be the “true” Joker at all.
