10 Movie Concepts That Shouldn't Have Worked (But Somehow Did)

Back when Todd Phillips' Joker film was announced in 2017, many fans were shocked to hear about the concept of a film dedicated to the Clown Prince of Crime. Also, this film would have absolutely zero connection to the DCEU and that left many fans questioning who the newly cast Joaquin Phoenix's nemesis would be, if not the Ben Affleck iteration they had become accustomed to in the series at this point.

However, it quickly became apparent through Phillips' comments on this film being a character study and it not even 'follow anything from the comic books', that we would be getting a very different Joker to what we were used to - one that didn't need to share the screen with a Batman in order to be interesting.

Fans were quite anxious about the prospect of a Batmanless Gotham and many felt that DC wouldn't even have the courage to fully commit to a story based solely around the iconic villain.

Yet, Phillips proved that he knew what he was doing in distancing Arthur Fleck from the Caped Crusader and his 'cautionary tale' about a man who found himself let down by the system, not only produced arguably the best performance on screen this year - in Phoenix's Fleck - but a clear statement that The Joker could hold an audience's attention without the constant presence of an immovable object.