Haven't watched it so I can't comment on the musical numbers but when I read the ending about him being killed by a disgruntled fanboy who then proceeds to turn himself into the Heath Ledger Joker, I'm reminded of the multiple Jokers retcon from DC's Rebirth Era not to mention the reveal during the Metal Age that Joker's death releases a toxin that turns the nearest person into a new Joker (w/c is the backstory of the Batman Who Laughs). Maybe it's also a metaphor for how toxic and evil individuals can hijack a brand or identity, I don't know.
To be fair, the whole "Joker releases a toxin upon death that turns people into Jokers" only happened in the Dark Multiverse. The Dark Multiverse is basically just a place where fears and nightmares are made manifest, no matter how illogical or implausible. The Batman Who Laughs represents Batman's fear of becoming a monster, specifically losing his morals and becoming like Joker. There's no way that Joker's biology works like that in main continuity.
During the The Batman Who Laughs miniseries in Feb 2019 (w/c also debuted Grim Knight who's Batman + Punisher), Joker actually snuck in the Batcave where he tried to commit suicide while being close to Bruce that did release a toxin that almost Jokerized him.
Edited by KRider on Oct 4th 2024 at 6:08:25 AM
Set! Avenge! "Henshin." Black General! Bujin Sword! Ready, Fight!I think what came before that was the Arkham games, where the second or third game had a whole plot about "Joker blood" turning people into Jokers, including Batman, from some kind of infection from the Titan serum in the first game.
I always thought that was silly. Here's an explanation
of it.
Edited by lalalei2001 on Oct 4th 2024 at 9:19:31 AM
The Protomen enhanced my life.![]()
Yup, it was a 7-issue miniseries that was written by the Metal Age's architect, Scott Snyder, that was released around 2019. The Metal Age itself started promising in how batshit crazy it was since it took inspiration from 1980s Heavy Metal album art. Marvel even tried to briefly jump in the Metal craze w/ What If? Ghost Rider Went Metal. It all went downhill when DC Editorial replaced Rebirth w/ Metal (no thanks to Geoff Johns' chronic delays of his Rebirth and Doomsday Clock stories at the time) w/c resulted in Batman Who Laughs being rapidly overexposed.
Edited by KRider on Oct 4th 2024 at 6:20:45 AM
Set! Avenge! "Henshin." Black General! Bujin Sword! Ready, Fight!
Yeah, I skipped that miniseries and most of the other Batman Who Laughs appearances outside of Metal and Death Metal so I had no idea they established that in main continuity. Welp, that's going straight into Fanon Discontinuity for me. That's a bit too out there.
Somehow that strikes me as an insult to Turbo Satan Who Flies.
Self-professed Wild Card who thinks cynicism isn't so bad.![]()
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While it's more appropriate in the DC Comics thread, it's fascinating on how the Metal Saga/Dark Multiverse eventually hijacked Rebirth as DC's main storyline after New 52 and DC You eventually floundered.
Edited by KRider on Oct 4th 2024 at 6:33:51 AM
Set! Avenge! "Henshin." Black General! Bujin Sword! Ready, Fight!I find it hilarious how multiple times any major event Johns tried to architect was cut short because he could not keep himself to schedule.
It happened during Rebirth and recently its happened again with JSA where it took 2 years to release a 12 issue book.
Say what you will about Snyder but the man could keep to schedule unlike Johns.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
It wasn't that bad during his tenure as head writer of Green Lantern. Unfortunately he kept getting more and more responsibilities around the time of Rebirth. He was even promoted in charge of the DCEU at one point if I recall w/c caused him to have a target painted on his back by Zack Snyder fans.
RE Joker's heart toxin.
Honestly, as someone who DOES actually like the Batman who laughs and the Dark Multiverse, I do think it would have made more sense in the miniseries to have Joker just create the toxin described in the dark multiverse and then infect Bats with it.
The context of him infecting Bats in the main universe was Joker's own toxic way of making him stronger to defeat BWL which actually made things worse since now Batman was basically fighting a two pronged war now.
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
Ya. Bruce's original plan was for him and Joker to team up again since together they can beat BWL. Joker then suddenly shoots himself in the heart to infect Bruce. Then in the very end, Joker shoots Bruce before he goes full BWL while Bruce was busy literally curbstomping BWL to stop him from going full BWL.
Edited by KRider on Oct 4th 2024 at 6:41:42 AM
Set! Avenge! "Henshin." Black General! Bujin Sword! Ready, Fight!His delays during JSA are more scummy since the reason for it we know now is because his was preparing to jump ship to Image with his own comic imprint Ghost Machine where he'll be publishing and writing a lot of creator owned comics.
Which not only that but he head-hunted a bunch of DC artists and writers for Ghost Machine exclusive contracts including Ivan Reis, Francis Manapul, Jason Fabok, Bryan Hitch, Peter J. Tomasi, etc.
So its pretty shitty that while he was completely unable to keep JSA to a monthly schedule, all his Ghost Machine books arrive right on time.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."I mean to be fair he did reportedly allow Wheadon to be the worse on the Justice League set. So, I don't think you can solely blame Snyder fans for him being a target.
Edited by Bullman on Oct 4th 2024 at 8:43:20 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup threadBack on the movie, it did keep the copycat thing more grounded by having them be a Misaimed Fandom in-universe.
The Protomen enhanced my life.![]()
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Besides that, Joker enduring after death like some kind of virus also was a thing in Return of the Joker where Tim Drake is the new Joker because of a microchip, and there's obscure Batman comic Digital Justice where a computer virus made in Joker's image is a major problem for the new Batman.
So Joker went full Dr. Wily there.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Oct 4th 2024 at 9:46:18 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"About the only positive thing you can say about Geoff Johns in recent history is that at least he hasn't brought Ethan Van Sciver in Ghost Machine, for now.
Regarding the ending of Joker 2, ultimately we wouldn't know until much later whether Todd Philips' endgame was to either comment on Misaimed Fandom or to take the piss out of WBD and Joker's fandom a la Matrix Resurrection.
Set! Avenge! "Henshin." Black General! Bujin Sword! Ready, Fight!
*2. I still think it would have been a better idea if Tim had become the joker 2.0 due to the trauma, the mind control feels artificial.
Anyway this sequel feels written and directed by someone who hated the first one, even though they are the same people who worked on the first one.
Edited by Ernestin on Oct 4th 2024 at 9:58:04 AM

Also guys can you please answer my previous post question please? Take your time and thank you.
"Now it's starting to feel like a game!"