Despite its record-breaking opening weekend, Joker is almost certainly the darkest superhero ever made. Its closest competition is, of course, James Gunn’s Super, a pitch black comedy in which Rainn Wilson plays a tortured nobody who tries to become a makeshift crime-fighter but mostly winds up beating the heads of people who cut in movie lines in with a pipe wrench. There aren’t many jokes in Joker — just the sight of a sad, poor, no-longer-medicated man losing his mind and going beyond Bernie Goetz.
Luckily the chuckleheads of the internet have been making jokes for it. That’s right: Joker has become a meme farm. There are a number of them going around, such as replacing the trailer’s soundtrack with the theme from Evangelion. One of the more popular involves taking that shrieky cackle Joaquin Phoenix created for his antihero Arthur Fleck and dubbing in a laugh from another famous person. Like, let’s say Seth Rogen.
the joker but he laughs like seth rogen pic.twitter.com/KbvMt5Ij7b
— freddy kroger (@ryanheezy) October 8, 2019
Or Bill Hader.
The Joker but he laughs like Bill Hader. pic.twitter.com/dMqf3osV9y
— Bill Hader's seagull laugh (@LaughBill) October 8, 2019
Or Samuel L. Jackson.
the joker but he laughs like samuel l. jackson pic.twitter.com/v0F3gZCl4R
— 𝙠𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙖 (@NE0SMATRIX) October 8, 2019
Or Clippers player Kawhi Leonard.
the joker but he laughs like kawhi pic.twitter.com/pfZKr8ILIL
— Kazinho (@kazmalone_) October 8, 2019
Or Peter Griffin.
The joker but he laughs like Peter Griffin pic.twitter.com/dyX5RvaEEb
— Radja Afif (@RadjaAfifKedah) October 8, 2019
What about Nicki Minaj?
the joker but he laughs like nicki minaj pic.twitter.com/Pr5A4ORcZU
— gina (@chalameche) October 8, 2019
Or perhaps Phoenix’s fellow comic book movie star Tobey Maguire?
the joker but he laughs like tobey maguire https://t.co/rKGRu5US5M pic.twitter.com/6JmyVQ2ZlF
— Julian🤷♂️ (@MilkyJohnWick) October 8, 2019
Harry Styles?
The Joker but he laughs like Harry Styles pic.twitter.com/O4fw0k3l09
— rosie 🎄 (@styleshozier) October 8, 2019
You know who has a chortle that really destroys the ear drums? Ricky Gervais.
the #joker but he laughs like @rickygervais pic.twitter.com/LBd196HfAi
— HenningNo. Harder (@JimmyTweetboy) October 8, 2019
There are fewer more iconic chuckles than that Return of the Jedi sidekick.
The Joker but he laughs like Salacious B. Crumb… pic.twitter.com/DKK99ASfo2
— John Maffeo (@MaffManJones) October 8, 2019
This being the internet, the meme was bound to come full circle.
the joker but he laughs like the joker https://t.co/Foc0U0JU2h pic.twitter.com/wYayIB46tJ
— Corey. (@CoreyHolland) October 8, 2019
As always, good job, internet.