In a recent post, Rodrigo Perez, Editor-In-Chief of The Playlist, spotted a number of background details in images that were recently released and/or leaked for the upcoming Joker film. These include protests against Thomas Wayne’s candidacy for Mayor of Gotham and gives us additional hints as to what the film may be about.
The background details show a crowd of people dressed up in clown gear apparently supporting the Joker’s antics. In addition they have a number of signs that condemn Tomas Wayne, blaming him for the apparent poverty in the city. The images also call for the Joker, apparently only identified as Clown, to run for mayor.
You can see these images in the original post below:
“Fascist Wayne is to blame.” #OccupyGotham pic.twitter.com/4Sa1dsbmSp
— The Playlist (@YrOnlyHope) September 23, 2018
“Poverty is not a crime.” #OccupyGotham pic.twitter.com/3dTHRUh4B0
— The Playlist (@YrOnlyHope) September 23, 2018
Perez also highlighted when the film would take place, citing an older Tylenol ad that was used in the 80s:
Tylenol capsules were reintroduced in late ‘82. Here’s an ad from 1983 next to the set photo subway ad. #timeperiod #OccupyGotham #TheJoker pic.twitter.com/sdgINItOAR
— The Playlist (@YrOnlyHope) September 23, 2018
We then see an image of an ad for Tomas Wayne’s run for mayor with a caption attached to it:
I’m not the hero of this story. I’m a man who’s been corrupted by his own unbearable pain. I’m a man who has too much blood on his hands to be called good.
The ad itself also seems to have misspelled his name as “Wanye”.
You can see this image below:
“I'm not the hero of this story. I'm a man who's been corrupted by his own unbearable pain. I'm a man who has too much blood on his hands to be called good.” pic.twitter.com/hFlY36osQE
— The Playlist (@YrOnlyHope) September 23, 2018
In addition, the image of an 80s style subway poster was shared as well. These include a nod to director Zack Snyder, (or possibly Batman writer Scott Snyder), further cementing the film’s time period. They also include several nods to New York where Joker director Todd Philips grew up.
You can see these additional images below:
1980s-styled #GothamCity subway posters with a nod to Zack #TheJoker pic.twitter.com/olAKjfbqY6
— The Playlist (@YrOnlyHope) September 23, 2018
Todd Phillips was born in Brooklyn and went to NYU. Lots of nods to Brooklyn: South Slope, Ditmas, Bed-Stuy, Carol Gardens, etc pic.twitter.com/Wk04IHrKjJ
— The Playlist (@YrOnlyHope) September 23, 2018
The final images seem to indicate the start of some kind of riot:
“Stop punishing the poor.”
“If you think greed is bad, wait until you…” #OccupyGotham #TheJoker #Joker pic.twitter.com/0s6l9Ne4iE— The Playlist (@YrOnlyHope) September 23, 2018
From everything that we have seen of these images it seems safe to say that the film will, in fact, take place in an 80s version of Gotham that has been hit with poverty problem. In addition, it seems that the film just may be taking a few swipes at modern politics and darker aspects of the 80s that time has seemed to have forgotten. But until more details for the film are released we can only speculate.
What do you all make of these images? Would you like to see a Joker film that dives in to the politics and economic conditions of Gotham? Or would you rather see a straight forward super villain film? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Directed by Todd Phillips, the cast of Joker currently includes Joaquin Phoenix, Marc Maron, Glenn Fleshler, Shea Whigham, Zazie Beetz, Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy, Josh Pais, and Brett Cullen.
Joker is set to be released on October 4th of 2019.
