Credit: Far Out / Martin Kraft
Sun 2 August 2026 18:15, UK
Spoilers ahead for the first Joaquin Phoenix Joker movie, but if you haven’t seen it yet, let’s be real, that’s on you.
As one of them, I can speak on behalf of a lot of comic movie nerds when I say that I approached the Joker movie with a great deal of interest. No doubt there are readers of the comics who can inform me on all of the various back stories of the Joker, which have appeared time and time again, but as someone who was only familiar with the surface-level element of the character who has appeared in movies, he didn’t seem like the kind of villain that needed an explanation.
The man simply embodied evil and chaos. I was one of those viewers who heard Michael Caine’s explanation of “some men just want to watch the world burn”, and thought, “Sure, that’s good enough for me.”
Having a villain who was just quintessentially a bad guy might seem outdated to a lot of people, but for someone as horrible as the Joker, it made sense. As such, when the origin was announced that was going to attempt to apply some form of rationale to the madness, I wasn’t sure what to think.
However, when more details about the film were announced, it was difficult not to get excited. The cast was already lining up to be stellar, with committed actors like Joaquin Phoenix announced as the Joker and Zazie Beetz playing an unknown role. Meanwhile, you had Todd Phillips hitting up directing duties, and when he listed the different films that had inspired his interpretation of Joker, it was pretty hard not to get optimistic about this origin.
One of the inspirations that really pricked the ears of movie lovers, and that is probably most evident in the comic book adaptation, is The King of Comedy. The parallels between the delusions of Batman’s nemesis and Robert De Niro’s failed comedian characters are there to see, with Todd Phillips really throwing it in the viewer’s face by actually casting De Niro in the talk show host role in Joker.
Released in 1982, The King of Comedy is a crime, thriller and dark comedic movie that sees a struggling comic descend into madness and resort to desperate measures in a bid to be recognised as a great joke teller. It’s a pretty twisted film, one that really highlights the horrible lengths people will go to in order to achieve what they believe is their true calling. With Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese working on the movie together, every single line is delivered with a serious conviction that adds a bitter edge to the comedic nature of the film.
Further reading: Cutting Room Floor
Jeff Goldblum holds this dark classic up as one of the best he’s ever seen. In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, when he was running through a list of his favourite films, he spoke about the Scorsese flick and said that everything comes together in a way which is fun to watch and also quite twisted.
“For funny movies, Scorsese – you know, I have an affection for The King of Comedy. It’s just fun to watch,” he said, “I like Rupert Pupkin… it’s hilarious. I like that it’s dark, and how this guy gets to be famous. But I like De Niro’s performance; I like Jerry Lewis; I like Sandra Bernhard. I like the Ray Charles song that comes on at the beginning. It’s terrific.”
The line between horror and comedy remains as thin as ever. The plots of The King of Comedy and Joker seem to overlap and intertwine consistently, as was Todd Phillips’ intention. However, one film we see as a deranged comic book epic, while the other is a dark comedy praised as one of the best films ever by Hollywood royalty. What a laugh.
