Kevin Smith reveals Joker’s original, Batman-erasing ending

As superheroes continue to reign supreme at the box office, it took one of the most iconic supervillains in all of fiction to introduce audiences to perhaps the darkest film of the genre to date. I'm speaking of course about Todd Phillips' JOKER, a film that earlier this year presented fans with a more grounded and psychological take on one of Batman's most nefarious of nemeses. Upon its wide release in theaters, audience members from all across the globe were introduced to Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck, a struggling stand-up comedian who is driven insane and becomes the psychopathic criminal mastermind known as the Joker. As Arthur's tragic (and in some cases relatable) tale of disenfranchisement unfolds, a dark and dreadful vision of resetting the status quo through violence begins to bloom, though recently, filmmaker Kevin Smith had revealed that the final moments Arthur's journey could have been much, much darker.

On a recent episode of his Fatman Beyond podcast, the View Askewniverse mastermind revealed that the original ending of JOKER included an element that, by all rights, would have erased Bruce Wayne, and by extension, Batman, from the DC Universe.

So [Arthur's] in the hospital and he laughs, chuckles. And the lady goes, 'What's so funny?'" Smith recalled. "And he says, 'I was just thinking of something funny.' What was supposed to happen was, you flashed back to the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne. And it was him killing Thomas and Martha Wayne. And [Bruce] was screaming and crying. And [Joker] turned to walk away, then he turned back, shrugged, and shot the kid. CREDITS.

Of course, anyone who's seen the film knows that it was an unnamed follower of Joker's fear-mongering philosophies that killed Thomas and Martha Wayne, leaving a young Bruce Wayne to contend with a future haunted by that life-altering event in Crime Alley. I'll say this much, if Phillips was looking for JOKER to be a one-and-done affair, this alternate ending certainly would have been one way to go. However, seeing as the film grossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, I'm guessing that Warner Bros. is thrilled that he changed the ending, thereby leaving Arthur's story open for potential sequels.

What do you think of Phillips' original ending for JOKER? Would you have been okay with Arthur effectively wiping Bruce Wayne off the map as an alternate take on the lore? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.