Joker: Folie à Deux and its surprising genre choices are actually in line with Harley Quinn's original real-world creation story. After the solid success of Todd Phillips' first Joker movie, audiences were naturally excited about the prospect of a follow-up film, as while the original could have remained a standalone spinoff based around the Joker's ambiguous origins, there are several plot threads that also teased potential further installments. As a result, the announcement of the sequel led to much speculation regarding which path would be taken with it - and the reveal that Joker 2 will be a musical thriller only increased the number of theories on the topic.

In fact, for a good period of time, many outright didn't believe Joker: Folie à Deux would be a musical, as this was something of a large departure from the first film. Even Joker 2 composer Hildur Guðnadóttir described the decision as "surprising", though this was in the context of explaining that "I think it’s somehow logical at the same time. It’s both logical and also very surprising. For me as well as the audience." The composer's assurance that this unusual decision is logical already appears to have some weight to it even before the movie releases, as there are various reasons this call for Joker 2 makes sense, most especially given how it ties to Harley Quinn and her on-screen history.

How Joker 2 Pays Off Harley Quinn's Origin

Harley Quinn's real-world origin story saw her created by Paul Dini for the Batman: The Animated series cartoon, who was inspired by a scene within the Days of Our Lives show where Arleen Sorkin comes in dressed as a singing and dancing roller-skating clown. As such, having Joker 2’s Harley be in a musical is an understated but great reference to this origin, and makes the surprising choice of format for the sequel - given the original Joker was not a musical - make more sense. Between Harley's origins, and setting up further effective plot twists, Joker: Folie à Deux's musical shift definitely appears to be a smart decision.

Why A Musical Joker 2 Is A Genius Idea

If Joker 2 wants to keep its audience on their toes, repeating the same methods of ensuring that reality is ambiguous at points in the plot would present a risk. Viewers are primed to be looking for the same clues that eventually led to Joker plot twists and showed Arthur Fleck's seemingly loose grasp on reality, meaning the best way to keep things pleasantly mysterious and suspenseful is to completely take the audience by surprise.

As such, the idea of a musical Joker: Folie à Deux is a seriously promising one, as even those who go into the movie knowing to expect this can't predict how and when the musical element will manifest, and how real these sequences actually will be. Though they could be entirely the creation of Fleck's own mind - or possibly even the product of Harley Quinn's mind instead - there's also a very real chance the scenes will retain an element of reality to them, as was the case with the original movie. If the sequel intends to keep things hazy and unclear like the original Joker, this is the best avenue to do so without repeating too closely that which came before.