Willem Dafoe’s Pitch for Todd Phillips’ Joker 2 Is the Only Way the Movie Should Be Made

Alright, I will probably be the first to admit that I never really wanted a sequel to Todd Phillips' Joker.

Do I think the movie's brilliant? You're damn right it is. Should the movie have earned over $1 billion at the box office? No doubt. Should the film have won the 2020 Oscars for Best Picture? Not really, Parasite is still deserved it, and I'd even say that 1917, Little Women and Marriage Story were great contenders as well.

Is it the greatest comic book movie of all time? Nope, and that title is still reserved for The Dark Knight. However, the movie did have one massive thing going for it, which was Joaquin Phoenix's extraordinary performance that gave him his first Oscar win. I don't think anyone would disagree with me when I say that he truly deserved it.

So, you have an actor who will bring his A-game for the character. And a director who has created a template for the perfect Elseworld take on the Crown Prince of Crime. Then, why do I hate the idea of a sequel? Let me explain.

For starters, 2019's Joker was an Elseworld story, which means that he's definitely not comic-accurate, and I'd rather say that the versions played by the likes of Mark Hamill, Heath Ledger, and even Jared Leto, whose iteration is a big no-no for me, is much more true to the comics.

Usually, an Elseworld take is a one-off story set in a world that vastly differs from the main comic universes to showcase how different things can be if one domino piece moved differently. Phoenix's Joker works perfectly in that regard as the movie wants audiences to sympathize with Arthur Fleck because of his medical condition and living situation. But has anyone ever seen a Batman movie with Joker as the villain, and said, "Man, I do feel bad for him."? Probably not.

And that's exactly why I always believed that there's no point for Todd Phillips to ever pursue a sequel, as the movie ended with Arthur Fleck completing his transformation to become the Joker that we have seen cause havoc in pages of comic books. While the circumstances that caused Arthur to become a full-blown villain were tragic, the ending removed whatever humanity the character had, which made him unredeemable.

So while most fans were excited to see the red script cover with the title "Joker: Folie à Deux," I sat down to think whether Todd Phillips was making a dent in the legacy of his own creation.

To start off, we don't know anything about the movie, except for the fact that the original creative trio of Todd Phillips, Scott Silver, and Joaquin Phoenix will be returning for the sequel, which is good news to me.

I also would like to note that I would pretty much bet my entire life savings worth $10 to say that the movie will be pretty good. But here's the kicker; Do I believe the movie will be better than the original? History suggests that it very likely won't be the case.

Now, many of you might think how I can possibly say this, considering my choice for the greatest comic book movie ever is a sequel. While that is true, I would also say that 'The Dark Knight' is one of few outliers which proved sequels can be better than the original. But in many cases, these movies featured main characters who still had things to figure out . Bruce Wayne had more villains to face after Batman Begins, Peter Parker was still learning how to become a better superhero in Spider-Man 2, and Luke Skywalker still had to save the galaxy from the dark side in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

But, what happens with Arthur Fleck in Joker: Folie à Deux?

The theories about Arthur Fleck's journey in the sequel are innumerable, and many of them are an extension of the film's title, which refers to a mental disorder affecting two or more people. If you look at comics, animation, and live-action media involving the iconic villain, you can pretty much pick out one or two people, who fit this description.

The curious case of Joker fighting Batman again

On one hand, we have Batman himself. With Bruce Wayne's parents shot dead during the riots in the original movie, it's easy to suggest that the next course of action would involve the character taking up the mantle of the Dark Knight in order to make Gotham crime-free. This is where, Wayne might face the Joker, who most likely has become a veteran in criminal activities following a time-jump of 10-15 years.

In a story featuring the the Dark Knight and Joker, it's obvious to note that the plot would focus a lot on the psychological element the two characters share, with references from iconic stories like Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth, Death of the Family and everyone's favorite dark Batman story, The Killing Joke.

But here's what I want to ask our readers. Do you really want to see another mental battle between Batman and the Joker?

We already had a brilliant battle of the minds in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight featuring Heath Ledger's Joker and Christian Bale's Batman. Then, we received a glimpse of the history between the two characters in the DCEU, which featured Ben Affleck's Batman and Jared Leto's take on the villain. Now, with the release of Matt Reeves' The Batman, Robert Pattinson has his own clown rogue in Barry Keoghan's version of the Joker, while looking scarier than ever. Which is why, I feel it's almost impossible for Todd Phillips to try and create a fresh take that showcases the psychological battle between Batman and Joker.

Harley Quinn: "You're toxic, I'm slippin' under"

On the other hand, there's obviously Joker's outlook on romance. In the original, we saw Arthur hallucinating his relationship with the single mother Sophie, who was played by Zazie Beetz. While Sophie's love for Arthur was all in his head, the sequel might take things a step further for the Joker by pairing him up with DC's Harlequin Jester.

Following the creation of Harley Quinn in the early 90s, the character has been the go-to love interest for the Joker, and it makes sense for Joaquin Phoenix's iteration of the character to have his version of the Jester as well, as their relationship has had its fair share of struggles, with issues of toxicity, manipulation, and abuse that would make up for a brilliant plot in Joker 2.

But, the character also shares the same problem with Batman, as her toxic relationship has been shown in multiple projects like the Harley Quinn animated show. Moreover, fans even received a live-action version of the love between Joker and Harley Quinn in the DCEU, which features Margot Robbie's excellent portrayal of the character in movies like Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey. Plus, we have even moved past the need to pit the two characters together, with Harley Quinn now in budding romances in comic book stories with queer characters like Poison Ivy.

When Willem Dafoe said the gospel truth

I know that some of you would love to see Joker against Batman and Arthur finding "true love" with Harley Quinn for the nth time. But, these two ideas are crossed of my list.

And this is when, I leaned back in my chair and I closed my eyes for a second only to visualize Joker's different laughs. From Mark Hamill's colorful range of giggles in Batman: The Animated Series to Heath Ledger's sinister laugh to Troy Baker's eerie cackle, I came to the realization that we probably have seen more iterations of the Joker than most heroes in any form of media.

However, between these laughs, a different chuckle embedded itself to my head. At first, I couldn't picture which Joker I was thinking of. But, later on, I realized that I wasn't thinking about the Batman rogue at all. Instead, I somehow found myself thinking about a Marvel villain in Spider-Man's Green Goblin with the iconic voice of Willem Dafoe.

Around two decades ago, Dafoe gave one of the most perfect villain portrayals as the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. Just like the comics, the movie showcased how complex and crazy the psyche of Norman Osborne is, and Dafoe displayed his talents to perfection in the popular comic book flick. Recently, he reprised the character to battle it out against three Spider-Mans played by Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and his acting range was on full-effect for the entirety of the film, with standout scenes involving the murder of Aunt May and the final battle against Tom Holland's Peter Parker.

For years, Dafoe had been touted to play a similarly complex and insane character from the world of DC comics in the Joker, and the actor has talked about his dream to play him in different situations, which includes his SNL monologue from earlier this year.

I, for one had pushed to see him be casted in Matt Reeves' The Batman as Robert Pattinson's arch-nemesis. And while Barry Keoghan is a tremendous actor, I always believed that Dafoe would have worked better with Pattinson, as seen by their performances in Robert Eggers' horror-drama film, The Lighthouse.

However, Dafoe believes that his Joker might not need a Batman at all, as he pitched a sequel idea for Todd Phillips' Joker during an interview with GQ Britain.

And, I'm hooked.

Let me explain why I am madly in love with Dafoe's idea for a Joker sequel. First of all, the movie will have not one but two Joker performances of the highest quality, and no one will hesitate at the thought of seeing Joaquin Phoenix and Willem Dafoe in the same scene, as fans have wanted to see the latter casted for this role, ever since he wore the green suit of the Goblin.

The next thing to note here is the idea itself. We have seen countless comic book stories featuring characters that have impersonated both heroes and villains. But, the thought of seeing Joker have a crazy fanatic will easily send shivers down the spine of audience members, as they will be more unpredictable than the lunatic villain himself.

Comic book readers might have even had a glimpse at this plot in Geoff Johns' Batman: Three Jokers, which featured three iterations of the villain, who were aptly named The Clown, The Comedian, and The Criminal. In this three-issue limited series, Batman finds out about the existence of three Jokers, who were planning to turn Joe Chill, the man behind the death of Bruce's parents to join them as the fourth version of the character. The three variants of the Joker showed the different sides of the iconic villain, as they had different motivations, personalities and ideologies on what the Joker should be.

In Dafoe's pitch, the actor suggested that Arthur Fleck's activities as the Joker might cause the creation of a second Joker, who wants to be like him. However, the new variant won't be similar to Joaquin's character, as he will have different motivations and beliefs on how Joker should operate in Gotham. This might lead to a stand-off between the two, and it might even cause Arthur Fleck to question his ideals on what Joker means to him and the city of Gotham.

We have seen many superheroes questioning their morality and actions, as they can cause harm to the general public. However, fans have never received a movie that will showcase how the villainous endeavors of comic book antagonists can shake up the principles and ethics of a common man in the worst way possible. And what better character can amplify the struggle between the warring ideologies of villainy than the Joker, who is the personification of everything bad.While these plotlines make up for a thrilling adventure between two different types of Jokers, the sequel runs a risk of undoing the plots that were closed in the original. Plus, it will be interesting to see if the movie will answer any of the loose ends that were left unsolved in the movie, as we don't know what happened to Bruce following the death of his parents, and how he will factor in the central plot featuring Dafoe and Joaquin's versions of the Clown Prince of Crime. Additionally, Todd Phillips also has a tall order of exceeding expectations, as moviegoers will flock to theatres in hopes of an experience can the rival the 2020 Oscar-nominated film,

Now, it's unclear whether Willem Dafoe is trying to manifest his dream to play the Joker into existence by letting everyone know, as he swore that he hasn't talked about this idea to anyone, including Todd Phillips or Joaquin Phoenix.

However, it's pretty to safe that say the world might see a third Joker after Joaquin Phoenix and Willem Dafoe in me, if this sequel idea never comes into existence.