Joaquin Phoenix breaks silence on controversial Joker 2 ending

Regardless of whether you loved or hated it, the Joker 2 ending is here to stay. It’s sent the internet into meltdown, but Joaquin Phoenix hasn’t weighed in… until now.

It’s been out for less than a week, but it’s safe to say Joker 2 isn’t quite what DC fans had in mind. The sequel’s ending has proved to be the most controversial talking point of the bunch – although we think it makes room for a Harley Quinn sequel.

Here’s the Cliff Notes version: Arthur is found guilty of all counts of murder, finds out Harley has gone off him, gets taken back to prison after being recaptured, and then is killed by another inmate.

The Joker 2 ending – particularly the final death scene – was deemed “pretty good” by one person at least: Joaquin Phoenix himself.

In a recent interview with IGN, he explained, “There’s a warmth in that [death] scene, which is nice. That’s all that I was thinking about that I was after, is here’s this young man who’s telling me a joke and he’s nervous to tell me the joke, I can tell that he’s nervous, and I’m going to hear him out. And it’s a pretty good setup.”

Warner Bros.

Director Todd Phillips – who has taken a large portion of blame for why Joker 2 is “so bad” – agreed with Phoenix, stating the ending did something for Arthur the first movie never did.

“I think Joaquin is so beautiful in that scene. It’s such a small nothing. I mean, beyond the death thing. That moment where he’s looking at the kid and he’s kind of giving the kid a polite laugh in the setup. He’s showing appreciation for the comedy and appreciation for putting yourself out there,” he added.

While Phillips and Phoenix might feel positively about it, that doesn’t mean everyone else does.

“Joker 2 ending so bad it might create the real f**king Joker” one fan posted on X/Twitter, with a second weighing in, “The ending to Joker 2 really killed every last ounce of interest I had in that world.”

As we said ourselves, “It’s not a bad ending to Arthur’s story. The problem is that Phillips doesn’t invest the payoff that U-turn. Everything about the film is non-committal: its identity as a comic book movie, its nods to wider Gotham (Harvey Dent ends up with half his face scarred, a grace note included as nothing more than an Easter egg), and its half-hearted, aggravating musical numbers.”

Joker 2 is in cinemas now. Find out who we think killed Arthur Fleck, what the worst scene in the movie is, and answers to all the questions you’ll have after watching it.