What Does The Ending Of Joker REALLY Mean?

5. Gotham Falls

One of the best things about Joker is how it explores where Batman's Gotham comes from as much as where Joker does. When we're introduced to the city, it's like any other really, though it bubbles on the edge of civil unrest because of inequality and financial neglect of everyone but the top 1%. It's very much tied into our modern political climate and the culture of unrest.

From there, Joker is essentially an origin story for Gotham itself that could quite easily lead into the Nolan films or even Tim Burton's (with a little more imagination). The establishment is corrupt, at odds with the people and those who rise up champion outsiders and "freaks" as their idols.

It doesn't take a lot to imagine that this Gotham could end up losing its way so much that it ends up needing Batman. And the whole story adds an element of greater tragedy, as the slight retelling of the story means that Gotham's fall to worse corruption, crime and darkness ended up being kicked off by well-intentioned people fighting corruption and inequality.