If the 2019 film Joker built up the myth of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) as Joker, its sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, categorically deconstructs it. When the movie begins, Arthur is held at Arkham for the murders of Murray Franklin and several others. He appears to be a vastly different man from the one we saw at the end of the first film when he killed Murray. Things change when he meets Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga), another patient at Arkham, who draws out the Joker persona as Arthur faces trial for his crimes and the prospects of a death penalty. Here is everything that happens at the end of Joker 2.
Does Arthur die at the end of Joker 2: Folie à Deux?
Yes, Arthur dies at the end of Joker: Folie à Deux.
After killing Murray on live television in the first movie, Arthur, as Joker, has become a symbol of anarchy and violence to certain sections of Gotham City’s population, so much so that these people ardently believe there is no distinction between Arthur and Joker in the sequel. This is also what the prosecution, headed by the newly-minted Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) wants to establish during the trial. Conversely, Arthur’s defense team wants to prove that he and Joker are separate personalities trapped in a single body.
After Lee comes into his life, Arthur tries to embrace Joker while simultaneously being afraid of that part of him and decides to put on a show during his trial, complete with his clown make-up, for her and the public. Eventually, however, he accepts that he killed those people and admits that he suffocated his mother to her death, but not in the way Lee and his followers hoped. In his testimony, Arthur underscores his ordinariness and emerges as a victim of the brutal and uncaring society.
While the verdict is being read out, someone blows up a car outside the courthouse. Although Arthur tries to escape, he is later captured and sent back to Arkham, where a former follower and fellow inmate murders him.
Why did the inmate kill Arthur at the end of Joker 2: Folie à Deux?
To this inmate, Arthur represented the ultimate manifestation of their violent and chaotic tendencies, someone who laughed at society and broke its rules. But, Arthur’s testimony breaks that illusion, and suddenly, to him, Arthur is a sad, lonely, and miserable man, as much a victim of society as anyone else. He doesn’t deserve the inmate’s adoration, but his violence.
In the final moments of the movie, the inmate tells Arthur a joke about a psychopath and a famous clown before stabbing him multiple times. As Arthur dies, the inmate laughs manically and carves out a smile on his own face with the knife in the background, indicating that the legacy of Joker will continue.
Does Lee Quinzel die at the end of Joker 2: Folie à Deux?
No, Lee doesn’t die in Joker: Folie à Deux.
After running away from the courthouse, Arthur almost inevitably heads back to the stairs from the first movie. He seems to be hoping that Lee will be there, and she is. However, she makes it clear that she will not run away with Arthur and implies that she is not pregnant despite what she told him earlier. Lee departs, leaving Arthur alone on the stairs until the police arrive. Lee sought a fantasy of grandeur through Arthur, and just like the aforementioned inmate, the testimony disillusioned her.