Joker: Folie à Deux is shaping up to be an even more idiosyncratic comic book movie than its predecessor, which zeroed in on the Clown Prince of Crime’s origin story to award-winning effect. As that film ended, many predicted a sequel would bring Batman himself into the mix, perhaps showing a young Dark Knight at the beginning of his crimefighting career tangling with Joaquin Phoenix’s much older antagonist.
However, the second chapter will confound expectations by casting Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn and turning it into a full-blown musical, and courtesy of some slightly muffled covert video, we now have an idea of what kind of songs they’ll be singing:
The song in question certainly seems to be “We’re a Couple of Swells,” originally performed by Fred Astaire and Judy Garland in the 1948 movie Easter Parade. Written by Golden Age musical maestro Irving Berlin, the original song sees the pair as down-and-out comedy tramps fantasizing about the opulent life lived by the mega-rich.
Joker was no slouch when it came to social commentary, so we’re hoping that Folie à Deux is going to go for the jugular and see the happy couple teaming up to take Gotham’s one percenters down a peg or two. Indications are that where the opener was shown from the perspective of Arthur Fleck, the sequel will be the world as perceived by Harley Quinn’s romantic musical fantasies.
As such, we may hear many more classic Hollywood musical songs in the final product. Is it too much to hope to have Phoenix delivering a bizarre A Clockwork Orange-esque reworking of “Singin’ in the Rain?”
Joker: Folie à Deux will hit theaters on October 4, 2024.