Joker 2 raises more questions than it answers, leaving the door open for potential sequels and further appearances from major Batman villains.
While Joker: Folie à Deux upped the ante with some musical spectacles and more gruesome kills, it still teased some interesting developments for this unexplored version of Gotham. Harley Quinn, Arthur Fleck, and Harvey Dent all get their time on screen, but not all of them have happy endings.
And with theories floating around ahead of the new movie‘s release surrounding Harley and Arthur’s relationship, plus some leaks regarding the film’s ending, many are left in the dark about what actually goes down.
So, here’s some closure for the biggest questions surrounding Joker 2, with major spoilers ahead.
Is Harley Quinn pregnant?
According to Harley Quinn, yes, she’s pregnant with Arthur’s child.
Harley and Arthur get it on in Arkham right before she leaves, so it’s perfectly feasible that she did get pregnant after this encounter. There are even times in the movie when it looks like she might have something of a baby bump.
However, there’s something that throws this statement into question. This is what we know about Harley – namely, the fact that she’s a compulsive liar and manipulator.
She gets caught out in some huge lies, including the fact that her mother had her committed after she tried to burn down their apartment building. She also told Arthur that her father died in a car accident and that she grew up in the same neighborhood as him.
But this is false. Harley’s dad is alive (and a doctor), her family is from the Upper West Side, and she committed herself voluntarily. She fabricated her life because she wanted Arthur to pay attention to her and for them to form a connection.
What’s more, the sequences in which you might catch a baby bump take place inside the musical fantasies. Then, during the ending, Arthur mentions the baby to Harley, and in response she simply sings to him and says goodbye, not acknowledging his comment.
With all this in mind, there’s a very strong possibility that Harley might have made up her pregnancy to keep Arthur under her thumb.
Does Harvey Dent become Two-Face?
Harvey Dent doesn’t explicitly become Two-Face, but there is a small tease that this might be in his future since his face appears to be injured in the courtroom explosion.
After a fight breaks out when the jury is reading their verdict, a car bomb goes off outside the courthouse. Those inside are caught in the blast, including Arthur and Harvey.
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When Arthur gets up, frazzled and disorientated, he stumbles past Harvey, who’s sitting on the ground and trying to catch his breath and understand what happened.
It’s brief, but it does appear as though half of Harvey’s face was blasted more so than the other. There’s blood, and perhaps some burns.
That’s the last we see of Harvey, so it’s unclear as to whether that was merely an Easter egg or a tiny origin story thrown into the background. But since this is a more grounded version of the DC universe, then we can probably assume that this is the event that causes Harvey’s disfigurement.
Does Harley kill Arthur?
No, Harley doesn’t kill Arthur herself, but he does die after being stabbed in Arkham by another inmate.
During the final moments, Arthur is back in Arkham, having been caught by police after the car bomb explosion. After being pulled out of the TV room to go see “a visitor,” Arthur is intercepted by another inmate in the hallway.
The inmate tells him a joke but enacts the punchline by stabbing Arthur viciously in the stomach. Arthur bleeds out, all while the inmate sits in the background and carves himself a Joker smile into his own face, laughing as he does so.
So, who kills Arthur? The inmate himself is unnamed, but it’s possible he goes on to become the next Joker. As for the mastermind, this could be Harley – manipulating the incident from the outside as revenge against Arthur for letting her down.
But, more than likely, it’s actually the Arkham prison guards who set up the situation for Arthur to be stabbed. The guard who called him out disappears and doesn’t come back after the stabbing, and Officer Jackie tips his hat at Arthur in a knowing way before he leaves the room.
It wouldn’t be a surprise for the guards to promote or allow a violent attack against Arthur. They’re shown as killing another inmate (played by Jacob Lofland), and assaulting Arthur in the bathroom after he makes fun of them on TV.
Either way, Arthur’s death is a violent act of self-indulgence and revenge, leaving Gotham with a new wannabe Joker in their midst.
Joker: Folie à Deux is in theaters now.
For more, check out our Joker 2 review. You can also learn more about the Joker 2 age rating, movies like Joker to watch, and all the upcoming DC movies. And for more questions, you can also get an answer on whether Joker 2 is connected to the Batman universe.