06/08/2023
Sophie attends Arthur's stand-up routine, which goes poorly; he laughs uncontrollably, and his jokes fall flat. Arthur intercepts a letter from Penny to Thomas, alleging that he is Thomas's illegitimate son, and berates his mother for hiding the truth. He goes to Wayne Manor, where he meets Thomas's young son Bruce, but flees after a scuffle with family butler Alfred Pennyworth. Penny suffers a stroke and is hospitalized. Arthur's idol, popular late-night talk show host Murray Franklin, presents clips of Arthur's failed performance on his show and mockingly calls him a "joker".
Arthur confronts Thomas at a film theatre. Thomas tells him that he is not his father, and Penny is not his biological mother. In denial, Arthur visits Arkham State Hospital and steals Penny's file, which states she was a narcissist who adopted Arthur while working as a housekeeper for the Waynes in the 1950s. Penny then raised Arthur with her abusive boyfriend, who later died in jail. Penny was sent to Arkham for allowing the abuse. Distraught, Arthur enters Sophie's apartment unannounced. Frightened, Sophie asks him to leave, revealing their relationship to be a figment of Arthur's imagination. The following day, Arthur smothers Penny to death at the hospital.
After his stand-up clips go viral, Arthur is invited to appear on Murray's show. He subsequently plans su***de during the broadcast. While crafting a clown-inspired persona, he is visited by Randall and another ex-colleague, Gary. Arthur kills Randall, but spares Gary for his kindness to him in the past. Two detectives investigating Arthur's involvement in the murders of the businessmen pursue him onto a subway filled with clown protesters. One detective accidentally shoots and kills a protester, thus inciting a riot, while Arthur escapes.
Before the show goes live, Arthur asks Murray to introduce him as "Joker", a reference to his earlier mockery. Arthur begins telling morbid jokes, confesses to the subway murders, rants about how society abandons the downtrodden and mentally ill, and berates Murray for ridiculing him. After one more morbid joke, Arthur fatally shoots him on air. He is arrested, but his action of killing Murray changes Gotham forever, with riots erupting across the city. One of the rioters corners the Wayne family in an alley and murders Thomas and his wife, sparing Bruce. Rioters in an ambulance crash into the police car carrying Arthur, freeing him; he stands atop the car, starts to dance to the cheers of the crowd, and smears blood on his face into the shape of a smile.
At Arkham, Arthur laughs to himself about a joke while with a therapist, but declines to tell it, claiming she would not get it. He leaves behind a trail of bloodied shoeprints as he is chased down a corridor by an orderly.
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