According to Kevin Smith, the original ending for Joker has young Bruce Wayne being killed. The film is an origin story of the Gotham city villain in which Joaquin Phoenix plays the title character. Joker released to divided reviews from critics, although that didn’t stop it from becoming a box office juggernaut, passing $1 billion worldwide before the end of its run.
In his own right, Smith is a prolific filmmaker who has been involved in all facets of production from writing to acting to directing. Additionally, Smith is an ardent comic book fan, and has worked on a variety of projects adapting comics into film. In 1996, Smith worked on a script for Superman Lives, a DC film that never made it to release. Over the years, Smith has become a well known fixture in the DC comics world, and one of the foremost experts on Batman.
The speculation that there may be an alternate ending to Joker comes from comments made by Smith on his Fatman Beyond podcast, via YouTube. In talking about the potential other ending of Joker, Smith says:
Smith goes on to exclaim how this alternate ending would’ve outraged him as a Batman fan but elated him as a fan of film. Referencing this doomed version of Gotham, Smith says “This world has no Batman, it’s just all f-cking Joker’s, I was like that’s Network f-cking deep man.” Network (1976) is a drama-satire film in which a news anchorman creates a media circus after announcing he’s going to commit suicide live on air. The scene in Joker where Arthur kills Murray Franklin live on air is somewhat of an allusion to the events of Network.
He’s in the hospital and he laughs, chuckles, and the lady goes. “What’s so funny?” and he says, “I was just thinking of something funny.” What was supposed to happen was you flashed back to the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne and it was him killing Thomas and Martha Wayne and the boy was screaming and crying and he turned to walk away, then he turned back, shrugged, and shot the kid. Credits. What the f-ck man!
This alternate ending makes a lot of sense within the context of Joker. Many fans and critics have been debating the Joker movie’s ambiguous ending scene in the hospital where Arthur laughs at a joke that the doctor “wouldn’t get.” According to Smith, Arthur may be laughing about the fact that he killed the entire Wayne family, something far more sinister and dark than previously proposed theories. Whether this alternate Joker ending was ever a real possibility is something that even Smith doesn’t know, as he’s quick to say, “Maybe this is completely wrong, but I f-cking hope it’s true.” Perhaps director Todd Phillips or the star, Phoenix, will confirm or deny Smith’s revelation about Joker soon.
More: Batman Theory: Bruce Wayne Becomes A Different DC Hero Because Of Joker
Source: Kevin Smith/YouTube
