Do we really need a movie like Joker right now?

This question has divided critics in the weeks leading up to the release of the Joaquin Phoenix-led drama, centered around Batman’s clownish arch-nemesis, the Joker. Despite largely glowing reviews and the highest prize of the 2019 Venice Film Festival, Joker had a PR problem from the start. Culture warriors inside and out of the comic book world grew nauseous at the idea of a vaguely sympathetic depiction of an isolated white male turning his grievances into terror and becoming a monster.