After Arthur’s trial begins, in a moment of madness, he fires his attorney and opts to represent himself in full Joker makeup. Even as it becomes clear he doesn’t stand a chance at making anyone believe that Joker is actually an alternate personality brought on by Arthur’s childhood trauma, he has the support of hundreds of people outside the courthouse, and cameras are covering the trial live. Everyone is watching. It’s the big spotlight and the show that Arthur has always dreamed to have. That’s when he accepts the truth: there is no Joker.
Joker does not exist. Arthur Fleck committed those murders. Joker is just a man in clown makeup who succumbed to his own darkness. He knew what he was doing when he pulled the trigger. Arthur admits this live on TV, and he even reveals that he’s also responsible for the death of his mother. This disappoints the cult of Joker that has risen up around him, especially Lee, who has been coming to court each day to support him. Upon Arthur’s admission, Lee walks out of the courtroom, and despite a musical plea from Arthur over the phone later that night before the closing statements and verdict the next day, she does not return.
However, Arthur’s court case is about to take an explosive turn … literally. A car bomb goes off outside the courthouse, blasting through the courtroom wall and creating a scene of debris and devastation. When Arthur awakes after the initial blast, he runs away through the massive hole in the wall amidst all the panic and smoke. He even gets some help from a couple loyal followers, one fully dressed as Joker appeared in the 2019 movie, the other wearing a clown mask. But as they quickly shuffle him off in a car in a fast escape through the city, there’s only one place he wants to be.
Arthur returns to his old neighborhood, specifically the stairs where he so famously danced. Lee is waiting, but she’s not there for him. She wasn’t in love with Arthur, she was only in love with Joker. Since Arthur made it clear that Joker wasn’t real, Lee isn’t interested in running off with him anymore. Lee only loved Arthur as long as he was Joker, because the criminal clown made her feel less alone in her own insanity. That’s not exactly the strongest way to start a relationship.
Arthur is left alone again. The police find him, and he’s taken back to Arkham. Without the legacy of Joker to paint him in a respectable light among the insane people of Arkham, he’s left vulnerable. He’s stabbed violently by another inmate, who leads into the murder with a joke not unlike the one Arthur used to lead up to the killing of Murray Franklin. Arthur killed Joker, but another Joker was waiting just around the corner.
