Will there be a Joker 3?

Of course, the reality turned out to be very different: after breaking $1 billion at the global box office, faring very well during awards season and generally becoming something of a cultural phenomenon, it wasn't long before Warner Bros walked back its earlier claims and greenlit a follow-up.

That film has now arrived in cinemas, and it's safe to say that Joker: Folie à Deux has once again cooked up a bit of a storm, albeit of a different nature to last time.

The sequel has had an underwhelming opening at the box office, reviews have been generally lukewarm – and many fans of the first one have defiantly taken against it (often for the wrong reasons).

Given this response – and, ahem, the nature of the ending – you might be thinking that a Joker 3 seems highly unlikely. But is that the case? Read on for everything you need to know.

Will there be a Joker 3?

At this stage, the honest answer to this question is probably not.

While nothing has been confirmed by Warner Bros yet, the lacklustre box office takings coupled with the film's twist ending and Todd Phillips's own vocal misgivings about continuing in the DC world all point towards the chances of a third film being pretty much dead in the water.

"It was fun to play in this sort of sandbox for two movies, but I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world," Phillips previously told Variety ahead of the film's release.

Of course, that was before we even knew what happened at the end of the film, in which Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck is brutally killed off by a fellow inmate at Arkham.

Given that that moment sees the identity of the Joker passing from Fleck to the young inmate – evidenced by the latter carving a smile in his face and laughing maniacally – there's the outside chance that another film could focus on this new Joker instead.

But that seems like a very unlikely proposition, especially considering that the star power of Phoenix was one of the main attractions of these films. No disrespect to Connor Storrie, but it's safe to say the relatively unheard-of young actor doesn't have the same draw.

One other possibility is that a further film could be less a sequel and more a spin-off. Folie à Deux introduced new versions of two iconic Batman characters in Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn (or Harleen 'Lee' Quinzel, as she's referred to in the film) and Harry Lawtey's Harvey 'Two-Face' Dent (whose origin story is explicitly referenced).

So, perhaps the seeds have been sewn for a film looking at the wider world of Gotham?

But even that doesn't seem especially likely.

"It’s not really where this movie is headed, for me," Phillips told The Hollywood Reporter when the possibility of a standalone Harleen film was mentioned. "I feel like my time in the DC Universe was these two films."

So, unless there are any drastic changes of heart, it's probably best to assume that we won't be paying any more visits to this particular version of Gotham anytime soon.

But fans need hardly worry about a lack of DC projects in the future. Robert Pattinson's 2022 film The Batman – which recently spawned a TV spin-off focusing on Colin Farrell's Penguin – is getting a sequel in 2026, which could very well feature Barry Keoghan's take on the Joker after his brief cameo at the end of the first film.

And then there's the small matter of James Gunn and Peter Safran's reimagined DC Universe, which will launch next year with Superman.

One film already confirmed for that universe is The Brave and the Bold, which will introduce yet another version of Batman and explore members of the "Bat-Family", including his son Damian Wayne as a version of Robin.

So, Joker 3 might not happen, but it won't be too long until we're back in Gotham once again...

Joker: Folie à Deux is now showing in UK cinemas.

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