Joker

Put on a happy face.

RELEASED 1 Oct 20192h 2m★ 8.1 TMDB★ Essential pick

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.

Why it matters in DC

Arthur Fleck's story centres a Gotham figure outside the usual Batman-led conflict. Its significance in the catalogue is as a separate character study of identity and social alienation, rather than an origin that should automatically be assigned to other versions of the Joker.

Watch these first

4 titles to watch before Joker — 5h 27m in total.

Reign of the SupermenOptional background1h 27m★ 7.0+1 before this
The Death of SupermanOptional background1h 21m★ 7.4
Justice League vs. the Fatal FiveOptional background1h 17m★ 6.7
Batman: HushOptional background1h 22m★ 7.1

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How these titles are selected

Story prerequisites are curated. Likely prerequisites are inferred from sequel numbering or explicit synopsis references. Recommendations are earlier stories in the same continuity; background picks are separate adaptations. Series lists cover whole shows, not an episode-by-episode watch order.

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Where it fits in the DC universe

Joker is title 1 of 2 in our Joker viewing sequence. Joker begins Arthur Fleck's separate Gotham story, continued by Joker: Folie à Deux. It is not an origin assigned to the Jokers in Batman, The Dark Knight or the DCEU. Watching it as the first half of its own pair preserves the distinctions between interpretations that use the same villain's name.

Explore this viewing sequence