The sequel for the previous and well known Joker movie, “Joker: Folie à Deux” is out now in theaters and fans are quite surprised and disappointed with how it deviates from the first film.

Known informally as Joker 2, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” starring Jaquin Phoenix as the Joker and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, performed poorly compared to the first Joker film. Grossing about $37 million dollars may sound like a lot to some, but that number is next to nothing compared to Joker which amassed $96 million when it initially opened to the public. Additionally, approximately $200 million dollars was put into the new movie, whereas the first only had a $55 million budget.

So the question is, why did Joker 2 perform so poorly? What variables led to its unfortunate downfall given how well received the first was both in profit and universally as a story? The answer may lie in not just the movie acting as a sequel and given the terrible luck those have, but the formula for the movie.

But to begin with, who is the Joker character himself? What beginning is there to move away from that makes the concept of these movies so controversial?

“The Joker character is an agent of chaos,” says Curtis Menke, College and Career Counselor and advisor of the Comics and Fandom club. “There’s no rhyme or reason or rationale for why the Joker does what the Joker does. The Joker intentionally has a very muddled history. Depending on who the writer is or what the medium is, sometimes there’s defined history. Sometimes it’s just wide open, and I like that. You don’t want to know too much about that character. It’s just the character completely lives in the moment and does things for the sake of doing things. You know that there’s no true outcome. There’s no desire other than to live in the moment and watch the madness unfold.”

According to Menke, the Joker duology deviates in this obvious, yet fascinating way. “It has a very 1970’s urban Martin Scorsese feel to it, which means it’ll be incredibly grounded in reality. You know, your traditional superhero tropes will be minimized if present at all. And it really is a character study about a character with no character, which I find absolutely fascinating.”

Menke even went as far to compare the newest Joker portrayal as being similar to the premise of “Taxi Driver” and many parallels can be seen between its protagonist Travis Bickle and Arthur Fleck, the name of the newest iteration of the Joker.

In a way the absence of Batman, the Joker’s usual rival, reduces these movies to something very different. With no hero, there is very obviously just a villain who’s set to coast through the story from their own perspective, completely uninterrupted in their antics.

However, it isn’t just the absence of any heroes or other villains that makes this story deviate, but the Joker himself is a totally different character in several different ways.

Joker follows the backstory and battle with mental illness and societal rejection from the lens of Arthur Fleck. He was a failed comedian and party clown who only desires to cease his pain and lead a happy life with his chronically ill mother, but in the process he retaliates terribly and criminally against the people around him.

“Joker: Folie à Deux” follows the aftermath of Arthur’s crimes and actions with the introduction of Harley Quinn, and takes on a musical perspective and some apparent reflection on the events of the first movie. Both movies feature a new perspective on the character entirely, even giving him a definite name and backstory, which most modern adaptations of the Joker don’t do. The intentions of the Joker completely change with the removal of his hero counterpart, Menke once again elaborates on this storytelling aspect.

“The original comic Joker, when you’re going back to the 1940s and the original Comics was more of your black and white villain versus the hero. But as the character has evolved, that’s where you’ve seen the character lean more into the chaos.”

Menke then touched on the aspects of these classic characters that make them such a crucial duo. “They are truly the mirror upside down carnival image of each other, whereas Batman is all about structure and rigidity, the Joker is the polar opposite of that. This is the reason that they are so much more of a striking hero villain dynamic.”

Without Batman in the equation, it’s quite hard to retain the same character without their shared experience as a hero and a villian, especially to extend it into a sequel. The angle changes quite drastically because of this and fans of this duo might find themselves displeased with the drastic character changes.

Joker performed quite well in theaters, but a sequel that attempts to further a unique spin off might not have been sufficient, especially if the first movie had faced at least some criticisms.

“It barely even works within the confines of its own genre,” a writer for Forbes wrote back in 2019. A critic on the review site, Rotten Tomatoes, wrote a more complimentative take saying, “As a psychotherapist and a person with mental illness, I can say subjectively, that anyone who’s suffered mental health issues will understand the depth of this movie. It’s slowly paced, but it is a brilliant take on severe mental illness and how society treats those who are mentally ill as ‘outcasts’.”

Perspectives on Joker were surely mixed. Just like the Joker and his counterpart Batman, the opinions were absolutely polar, with some loving it for its uniqueness and others hating it with a passion. With the second movie, it’s quite difficult to find someone who loved the movie, nonetheless someone who didn’t at least approve of it.

The YouTube channel “The Cosmonaut Variety Hour” in a short video review titled, “Joker 2 is Really Bad” claims, “Finding someone who actually likes this movie is like trying to find a shiny Pokémon while playing Fortnite.”

Overall, this new musical movie might have been a flop, but that is up to the viewers of the film to ultimately decide. Given the reception of Joker 2, though, a Joker 3 probably won’t be in the works.

An article by IndieWire written by Samantha Bergeson credits director of the duology Todd Phillips with saying, “It was fun to play in this sort of sandbox for two movies, but I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world,” so it’s quite evident that this series has reached its official close.

Hopefully, going forward people can appreciate different perspectives and versions of the Joker character. This iteration in particular will possibly be forever immortalized as being hated and loved for its take on this villain in a world where he’s just an ordinary man, completely shifting the narrative in this so-called “sandbox” of a concept.