The film was also described as Taxi Driver meets Se7en meets The King of Comedy, but take this with a grain of salt, I don't know if its real or not, but tbh its kinda interesting.
>1980’s Gotham City.
>Arthur Fleck is a struggling standup comedian who moves back in with his ailing bipolar mother to take care of her.
>Arthur is a socially awkward introvert with a condition that causes him to laugh uncontrollably when nervous.
>Arthur’s stand-up routine sucks and he works part-time as a clown to cover expenses. One of his coworkers gives him a gun for protection after some punks assault Arthur.
>Arthur develops a crush on his neighbor Zazie Beetz, a single mom who works at a bank, and begins stalking her. She treats him well out of pity, which he misconstructs as genuine affection.
>Most of the movie is just Arthur slowly spiraling into insanity due to his shitty life and abusive mother. He also resents the wealthy.
>A recording of his shitty standup is shown and mocked on a popular late night talk show hosted by Robert De Niro.
>Thomas Wayne is the Mayor and people have been protesting against him for neglecting the poor masses.
>Arthur’s mother was once Thomas' secretary and tells Arthur during one of her maniac episodes that he is Thomas’ son.
>Arthur aggravates Thomas with his attempts to get close (stalking Thomas’ family at Wayne Manor, sneaking into a fundraiser and ambushing Thomas in the bathroom, etc.) and gets beaten and humiliated.
>Arthur gets into an altercation with three Wall Street types in the subway and kills them in clown getup, which becomes a symbol against the rich that oppress and abuse the poor.
>While Arthur away his mother has an episode and is sent to Arkham.
>Arthur catches Zazie with her boyfriend and makes a scene at the bank, calling her a whore and getting her fired, for which she cuts ties with him.
>Arthur finds out she was obsessed with Thomas but he never fucked her, so Arthur isn’t his son. He also learn she was aware her boyfriend was sexually abusing 4-year-old Arthur and let it happen.
>Arthur visits his mom in Arkham and kills her (off-screen).
>De Niro’s talk show tracks Arthur and invites him to a guest spot to roast him some more.
>Arthur embraces the identity of “Joker” and begins killing people who wronged him, though he spares Zazie.
>At the talk show, Joker calls for an uprising against the rich before shooting De Niro on live television.
>His speech triggers a citywide riot, during which Thomas and Martha Wayne get shot by one of his followers.
>Joker is chased by the police through the city, but eventually gets caught and arrested.
>Movie ends with Joker being committed to Arkham, so out of reality he “hears” the soundtrack (“That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra) and dances to it as the credits roll.
>Arthur does a lot of dancing in the movie. He dances with his mom, dances after killing the Wall Street guys, dances as he becomes the Joker, dances on the talk show, etc.
>Arthur dancing on the steps is to the sound of "Bennie and the Jets" by Elton John.
>Arthur only wears the full Joker costume in the third arc, roughly 30 minutes at most.