The ending of “Joker: Folie à Deux” explains: Who is the real Joker?

• Warning: Major spoilers for “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
• The shocking final scene adds another twist to Arthur Fleck's story.
• “Joker: Folie à Deux” is in theaters now.

Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to Todd Phillips' 2019 dark thriller Joker, which grossed over $1 billion and earned Joaquin Phoenix a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the iconic DC Comics villain .

The film's enormous success led to Warner Bros. giving Phillips and Phoenix complete freedom to venture even further beyond the typical conventions of the superhero genre for the sequel. They did this by making Joker: Folie à Deux a musical, starring Lady Gaga as Joker's love interest, Harley Quinn.

But the film's most daring aspect is its shocking ending, which probably closes the book on this take on the Clown Prince of Crime.

Here you can find out everything about the “Joker: Foil”. A Deux” ending. Be warned: spoilers ahead!

The finale of the film takes place in a courtroom

In addition to being a musical, the film is also a courtroom drama, as Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) is on trial in Arkham Asylum prison for the five murders he committed in the first film.

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Against District Attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey), Fleck's lawyer Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener) has prepared a defense in which she claims that Fleck is insane and that the Joker personality emerged from Fleck due to psychological trauma.

In Arkham, Fleck meets Lee Quinzel, a pyromaniac who falls in love with Fleck after watching a popular television movie about his exploits depicted in the first film. Fleck falls deeply in love with Lee. She influences him with her charm and sex appeal so that he can stop taking his medication and become the Joker again, and even persuades him to fire Stewart and defend himself as the Joker in his trial.

As the trial reaches the closing argument stage, Fleck, disguised as the Joker, comes clean and admits that there is no Joker personality. He actually committed these murders, he says, and even admits to a sixth one, namely the murder of his mother. Lee, sitting in the front row of the court dressed as Harley Quinn, is disgusted and leaves the courtroom. As the jury announces the guilty verdict, a massive explosion occurs in the courtroom, leaving a huge hole to the outside. The explosion kills some and injures others, including Dent, who has burns on the side of his face. A disoriented Fleck escapes the courtroom through the giant hole in the wall. A fan of Fleck's dressed as Joker encounters him and, with the help of another friend, throws Fleck into a car and drives away. While the friends hope for chaos and anarchy, a frightened spot jumps out of the car and runs away.

Fleck lands on the steep stairs near his old apartment, immortalized in the first film. There he finds Lee. He tells her that now that he has escaped, they can be together and raise their child. But Lee rejects his offer, still upset that he admitted he is not the Joker. She walks away and Fleck is arrested by the police and sent back to Arkham.

The shocking final scene shows who Arthur Fleck really is

The final scene of the film shows Fleck watching television with other inmates when he is told that visitors are there for him. As he walks to the visiting area of ​​the prison, he is followed by a fellow inmate who we have seen around Fleck near Arkham throughout the film.

He stops Fleck in the hallway and says he has a joke for him. The inmate delivers the punch line by stabbing Fleck in the stomach multiple times. Fleck falls to the ground and dies, as in the background we hear the inmate let out a sinister laugh and seemingly give himself a permanent smile by cutting both sides of his mouth.

It's now clear that Fleck was never the Joker, but his actions inspired this inmate who would presumably become the legendary villain to go up against Batman. Fleck would just be a forgotten chapter in Gotham's later decline into crime.

Phillips says he's not making 'Joker 3'

By the end of the film, it's clear that Phillips and Phoenix are done making Joker movies. But how about continuing the saga by shifting the perspective to Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn character?

The question was asked of Phillips on the red carpet.

“It's not really the direction this movie is going for me,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I feel like these two films were my time in the DC Universe.”

Only time (and how the film performs at the box office) will tell if we'll see a continuation of the DC Comics world in this dark setting.