In Joker: Folie à Deux, Lady Gaga‘s Harley Quinn loves Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck exactly the way he is — ’cause baby, he was born this way.
One month ahead of the premiere of Todd Phillips’ Joker sequel, Warner Brothers dropped a new teaser showcasing how the pop superstar’s character enables the iconic DC Comics villain’s descent into madness. In the 30-second clip, Phoenix cackles while sitting in the back of a police car, standing in the rain at a facility and, at one point, attacking a judge in a courtroom, the volume of his creepy laughter slowly increasing throughout.
“He’s a monster,” an unseen voice says, while another adds, “This is a very disturbed individual.”
But as Joker is swarmed with press and adoring fans, Gaga counters, “He’s not sick! He’s perfect.”
Set to hit theaters Oct. 4, Folie à Deux will show Fleck awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While institutionalized, he meets Quinn, and the pair embark on a chaotic musical journey that leaves viewers wondering what’s real and what’s imagined.
In a full-length trailer posted in July, for instance, the two characters waltz to Frank Sinatra’s “When You’re Smiling” in glamorous outfits before taking the stage of a 1960s-esque variety show, both wearing their signature clown face paint. “I got the sneaking suspicion we’re not giving the people what they want,” Joker says into an old-fashioned microphone in the trailer, to which Quinn replies, “It’s OK, baby — let’s give the people what they want.”
The teaser comes a couple weeks after Gaga dropped “Die With a Smile” with Bruno Mars, her first proper single since 2022’s “Hold My Hand” from the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack. The duet debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Watch Gaga enable Joker as Harley Quinn below.
