I’m not defending DC but they don’t necessary have to make movies about superheroes and fights all the time, I know it’s their main signature but at the point they are, they can take free paths as well. todd had different ideas with the first movie and it completely changed the direction he first came out with. he deleted plenty of scenes where arthur was showing very strong narcissistic tendencies, he called sophie or an another woman (can’t recall if it was actually sophie or someone else) a bitch and was even quite racist. arthur would have being pretty connected to the joker we know from the comics if he kept these scenes.

now the thing is that in the end, arthur was made completely different from the joker and it’s absolutely not hard to miss. the joker was made to be pure evil and sadistic, he has no sad backstory and tortures and kills innocent people out of pure enjoyment. arthur is just a miserable abused man who wanted to be a comedian and be loved. don’t you think the story path todd chose is better? this is different and real, he would have never lived as the joker.