The story is set in 1981 and Gotham is overrun with a plague of crime and garbage. Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) works as a Clown for a talent booking agency and he is being seen by a social worker due to his mental health issues.

Arthur wants to become a stand-up comedian and he also “suffers from a debilitating disease that makes him unable to control his laugh.” As you’ve seen in the trailer he is also the caretaker of his mom, who he lives with.

It’s explained that Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) is running for Mayor of Gotham and he is running on the promise of cleaning up the city. Here’s where things get interesting. Penny, Arthur’s mom, “worked as a housekeeper for the Wayne family for 12 years. She’s been trying to get in contact with her old employer, but he’s not acknowledging her letters.”

Arthur ends up losing his job as a clown and ends up attacking and killing three rich Wall Street guys who were “harassing a young woman on the subway.” This act sparks a movement in Gotham city to “Resist” the wealthy establishment of Gotham. As Thomas Wayne becomes the voice of the rich, the poor people rise up and start rebelling against what he’s preaching.

After Arthur losses his job he attends an open mic night at a comedy club where he flops, but he ends up becoming a viral sensation. His performance ended up being filmed by someone and the video was sent to the LIVE WITH MURRAY FRANKLIN (Robert De Niro) TV show. During this time Arthur is being investigated by the police for his involvement in the subway killings.

One day Arthur reads one of the letters his mother wrote to Thomas Wayne, and this is where things get really interesting. In the letter “Penny claims that Arthur is the illegitimate son of Thomas Wayne!!!” Now, if this is true, that means The Joker and Bruce Wayne are half brothers.

That’s all the information that was revealed. But after digging into it a little bit more I learned some more info. Apparently Arthur finds out that his mother was just obsessed with Thomas Wayne, and that they never slept together. So, Arthur may not really be Wayne’s son after all.

There are a lot of other things that I’ve found out regarding the film, but I don’t want to spoil the whole movie for you. But, as expected, it leads him to fully embracing his Joker persona and there are several other people who die by his hand on his journey into darkness.

There’s also a lot of buzz surrounding Joaquin Phoenix’s incredible performance as the Joker and people are saying he’s going to be nominated for all those Best Actor awards.

Joker will be released in theaters on October 4th, 2019.