Joker

Joker Summary

Arthur Fleck is a mentally ill loner with aspirations to become a world-famous stand-up comedian. The film opens with Arthur at his day job as a hired clown. A group of kids steal his sign, and Arthur runs after them. When Arthur catches them, they break the sign over his head and viciously beat him up.

When Arthur returns to the building his business is based in, his coworker, Randall, gives him a gun so that Arthur can protect himself in the future from other people who attack him. Arthur says that they are not allowed to carry guns, but Randall insists.

Meanwhile, at his apartment, Arthur meets a young single mother named Sophie. The two talk to each other on their way up to their apartment in an elevator, and Arthur asks Sophie out. She eventually agrees to go out with him and later goes to one of his comedy shows.

Arthur goes to a children's hospital to entertain some kids, but his gun accidentally falls out onto the ground. When the incident is reported, Arthur's boss fires him. On the way home, Arthur gets harassed by a group of white-collar Wayne Enterprise businessmen. When they attack Arthur, he promptly fights back, shooting them dead. At first he is devastated, but this also marks the beginning of his transformation into the Joker.

Seemingly undisturbed by these murders, Arthur goes on with his daily life and performs at a comedy show. After his failure at the comedy club, Arthur returns home and intercepts a letter that his mother is trying to send to Thomas Wayne, her former employer and the wealthiest man in Gotham. The letter says that Arthur is Thomas' illegitimate child. He yells at his mother and promptly goes to Wayne Manor in the hope of learning the truth from Thomas Wayne himself. Thomas refuses to see him, and Arthur promptly assaults the family's butler, Alfred. All of this is witnessed by Thomas' young son, Bruce (the boy who will become Batman).

Arthur goes to Arkham Asylum to try and learn more about his mother's past, having learned that she was once committed there. There, he learns that his mother adopted him and that his mother is delusional and allowed Arthur to get physically abused by some of her boyfriends. That abuse led to brain damage, which has left Arthur with a mental illness and a condition that causes him to laugh uncontrollably at inappropriate moments.

Meanwhile, the police begin to investigate Arthur in connection with the subway murders (murders which have sparked a violent movement in Gotham City against the wealthy and elite). When Arthur's mother hears of this, she has a serious stroke and is hospitalized. Upset by what he found out at Arkham Asylum, Arthur goes to the hospital and smothers his mother to death with a pillow.

He goes home and goes to Sophie's apartment, but when Sophie doesn't seem to recognize him, he realizes he has imagined their entire relationship. Arthur goes back home and prepares for his appearance on The Murray Franklin Show, a talk show he is obsessed with and which is now lampooning him because of his botched stand-up set.

In the middle of his preparation, he is visited by two former coworkers, Randall and Gary, who come to offer their condolences to Arthur for the death of his mother. He promptly and violently murders Randall, but lets Gary go. Arthur goes on The Murray Franklin Show and confesses to the triple murder of the three Wayne employees. When he does, Murray and the audience turn on him and Arthur shoots Murray in the head.

Riots break out in the city, and one of Arthur's followers kills Thomas Wayne and his wife in front of a young Bruce. Arthur is brought to Arkham, where he continues to wreak havoc, killing a social worker who is in charge of him.