Is Joker 2 a Prequel to The Dark Knight?

The ending of the first Joker movie doesn’t tease a follow-up, but that didn’t stop Todd Phillips and Co. from running it back. However, the ending of Joker: Folie à Deux, aka Joker 2, opens the door for something else. So, is Joker 2 a prequel to The Dark Knight?

How Joker 2 Could Connect to The Dark Knight

The ending of Joker 2 is explosive, to say the least. Arthur briefly escapes custody, only to have the one person he really cares about, Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn, break his heart. This leads to him being sent back to Arkham, where he intends to live out the rest of his days. However, people in the facility have other plans for him, with another inmate stabbing Arthur, leaving him to bleed out on the floor.

It’s what the inmate does next, though, that starts a discussion about Joker 2 being a prequel to The Dark Knight. After taking out Arthur and telling him a joke about clowns, he turns the blade on himself, cutting up his face and potentially teasing the rise of a new Joker. Of course, facial scars are nothing new for the character, but there’s one iteration that wears them more proudly than others: Heath Ledger’s.

The Joker in The Dark Knight is mysterious, never revealing the real origin of the scars on his face and providing little information about his past. So, it’s very possible that the Joker in Christoper Nolan’s continuity has been around for years or even decades, laying low until the GCPD catches wind of him at the end of Batman Begins.

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Unfortunately, as fun as that connection would be, there’s little evidence to support it outside of a character taking a knife to their face. After all, most of the events around Gotham, especially the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents, are inconsistent between the two franchises. Sure, there could be a retcon or two, but Phillips’ Joker movies are very much their own thing, creating a new version of the Joker story that doesn’t really have anything to do with Batman.

Maybe a third Joker movie changes things and makes it clear that WB is trying to connect one massive DC franchise to another, but until that happens, Joker 2 and The Dark Knight will just be two movies that make use of the same iconic villain.

And that’s whether Joker 2 is a prequel to The Dark Knight.

Joker 2 is in theaters now.