There has been a proliferation of superhero movies, from Superman to Spiderman to Black Panther. Now a villain is upon us with Warner Brothers’ ‘Joker’ played by Joaquin Phoenix. Joker is obviously a Batman villain. However, the trailer seems to indicate that the movie will focus on how The Joker came to be, and Batman could simply have a supporting role.
The trailer has gotten quite the reaction. Looper described the trailer as “terrifying.” Professor Black Truth questioned why the movie was put out at all, given the proliferation of mass shootings:
Warner Bros (oops, AT&T!) has put out the trailer for their "Joker" movie.
Now considering how white males are practically all the mass shooters, like James Holmes who disguised himself as the Joker and slaughtered a movie theater, why on earth put out a movie like this?— ProfessorBlackTruth (@ProfBlacktruth) April 5, 2019
That’s sort of the point. There has been a proliferation of mass shootings and social unrest, and will only get worse as the economy continues to falter. Ralph Baker’s “Shock Exchange: How Inner-City Kids From Brooklyn Predicted the Great Recession and the Pain Ahead” predicted the folly of President Obama’s economic policies and how social unrest would be the fallout.

Joker attempts to capture the dark, dreary world “Shock Exchange” warned you about. Apparently, somebody was listening.