Arthur Fleck, also known as the Joker, is the main protagonist of Todd Phillips' Joker duology. He starts out as an aspiring comedian who suffers from severe mental issues but everyone around him treats him horribly. Finally, he snaps and embraces his Joker persona.
What makes him sympathetic?[]
- As a little child his mother's boyfriend used to tie him up to a radiator and brutally beat him while his mother stood by.
- Has a mental condition which causes him to laugh at inappropriate times.
- Was bullied throughout his entire life by almost everyone.
- Is a complete loner and the only good relationship he has is with his mother.
- Is shown to genuinely care about his mother before he discovers the truth about her.
- Tries to be a good person and is nice to almost everyone.
- Lives in extreme poverty with his mother and works at a low-paid job as a clown where his colleagues and boss don't like him very much.
- The film starts with a group of kids stealing his label and beating him up for no good reason.
- The goverment stops his funding and he can't get his medicine.
- Loses his job because of a accident.
- One of his colleagues lies to his boss to make Arthur seem worse.
- At a train a group of three young men attacks Arthur and starts beating him up.
- Gets rejected by Thomas Wayne whom he thought was his father.
- Falls with his neighbor and tries to impress her (in vain).
- His mother gets ill and is transported to the hospital.
- He discovers the truth about his mother and her mental condition and that his entire life was a lie.
- Gets publicly humiliated by his idol.
- Even after he kills Randall who set him up in front of his boss, Arthur still alows Gary (who suffers from dwarfism) to leave the house unharmed because he was the only person to ever treat him nicely. This shows that Arthur still has a sense of honor even after embracing his Joker persona.
- He also genuinely loved Harley Quinn and desired to start a new life with her and was saddened when she lied to him about her pregnancy and dumped him for renouncing himself as the Joker out of remorse.
- He felt remorse for the murder of his friend and fellow inmate Nicky after Jackie strangled him to death in a fit of rage for rebelling against him and the other guards in defense of Arthur.
- He felt genuine remorse for his crimes and how it had negatively influenced society around him to become more violent and anarchistic.
External Links[]
- Joker (2019) on the Villains Wiki
- Joker (2019) on the Inconsistently Heinous Wiki