Will Joker start a new trend in comic book movies?

The success of Joker was unprecedented, but here’s why it could end up starting a new (and possibly bad) trend.

Let’s be honest for a second. Few people predicted the level of success that Joker would go on to achieve.

Yes, expectations were high, with the vast majority of us all predicting that it would be the No. 1 movie for the first couple of weeks. That said, no one could have predicted that it would go on to become the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time (especially in such a short pace of time).

But it wasn’t shocking that Joaquin Phoenix delivered a masterful performance as Arthur Fleck – he’s one of the greatest actors in Hollywood. Phoenix portrayed a man who had been abused by the world. However, as incredible as Phoenix was as Fleck, he wasn’t a good Joker.

Before you leave the article, this isn’t a piece that’s going to complain about Joker and continuity. Comic book movies aren’t supposed to follow every storyline perfectly. Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool are prime examples of this: they’re both beloved movies that shied away from the source material. The issue is what this movie did to the character itself.

A lack of identity for comic book movies

People aren’t going to look at Joker and think of it as an incredible comic book movie. It’ll just be another incredible movie – the title Joker was simply used to reel in the comic book fans. Guess what? It worked. But that’s a slippery slope that could mean a big change in comic books and the their projects.

When a movie or show is being created, the creative teams can often be influenced by popular and trending subjects and, as a result, incorporate it into what they’re working on. Joker could very well start a trend in which the name of a popular character will be used and the subsequent film/TV series will have little or nothing to do with their story.

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Take Bruce Banner for instance: Before he became the Hulk, he had a tragic story. A guy with a history of abuse from his father who ends up killing him in the end. A mistake that Bruce never got over. Does that mean that we could end up getting a movie called Hulk about Bruce’s gritty origins that would have zero to do with the Hulk itself.

Movie companies could end up using comic book characters’ names to market their unique adaptations in a bid to try and recreate what Joker did. And this could even end up leaking into comic books.

Influencing the comics

We’ve seen how popular Marvel and DC Comics movies have become part of comic book continuity. Origin stories could end up retconned and rewritten to match these standalone big screen counterparts in an attempt to bring in more readers.

Now, this isn’t always bad, as adding the scarred smile to the Joker ended up being a good look for him in the comics, but if DC Comics were to add this origin, the Arthur Fleck story, to the Joker, it may end up ruining the way people look at him – as part of his popularity comes from not knowing who he really is. Joker’s mystique is part of his charm.

We’ve heard the quotes from Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. They don’t believe these movies are “real” cinema. If some of these comic book projects start to evolve into what they love (like Joker), it could start to sway some of the people who don’t enjoy typical comic book movies.

On the other hand, this could also be a one off. Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios do a fantastic job of staying true to the characters’ comic book identities, bringing in Marvel Comics creators as consultants to make sure that things don’t become too off.

As for Joker, we’ll have to wait and see if it becomes a trend or if it’s just a passing fad.

What do you think? Are we overthinking things? Let us know in the comments below!