Warner Bros. on Thursday opened Joker, its latest film inspired by the DC Comics universe. Described by director Todd Phillips as an effort to “take the comic book movie universe and turn it on its head,” the R-rated and controversial Joker isn’t intended to be the setup for a parade of sequels of spinoffs.

 

Instead, Phillips wanted to be the first to examine a major comic book creation through the lens of a 1970s-style character study like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Taxi Driver. “I was definitely influenced by the movies that I grew up on, these great character studies of the ’70s,” Phillips said during the Venice Film Festival. “And kept thinking, ‘Well, why can’t you do a genre film in the comic book world like that, and really do a deep dive on a character like Joker?’ And if you get a great actor and great people behind it, we could really do something special.”

 

 

In that sense, Joker stands alone: the film ends with no mid-credits scene or post-credits tag. Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix also have no plan for a sequel.

 

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