With the new Joker movie just hitting theaters, many opinions have taken the internet criticizing Joaquin Phoenix's interpretation of Gotham City's most notorious villain, but that's not what we're here to talk about today.

Today I will explain why the Joker was actually the hero Gotham deserved.

The Joker's backstory is not concrete, it's open left to interpretation. However, in Todd Phillips's version, the Joker is the creation of a broken system, and a broken mind receiving inadequate care.

The very root of Gotham's problems is the vast wealth inequality between the rich and poor. With poor attention to Gotham's citizens living in poverty and the Wayne family practically owning the town, a natural resentment is formed against the Wayne family.

The city is in a fragile state, ready to engage in civil war at any moment, and the death of 3 Wayne Enterprise employees at the hand of Arther Fleck, was just the catalyst needed to start it.

Jumping to the plot in the Dark Knight, the Joker is viewed as the villain, always causing mayhem, even referring to himself as an agent of chaos.

But the Joker and Batman aren't too different from each other, minus the murder part.

The Joker comes from the lower class district of Gotham, he understands why the citizens are upset, Batman comes from money, and even as a disguised vigilante, he doesn't quite have the understanding the Joker does.

Batman can't do the things he can do without money, and the Joker can do Batman's job using nothing but his mind. It's not about money for the Joker, he singlehandedly got rid of the gangs in Gotham and when he took their money from them, he burned it.

The Joker was able to solve one of the biggest issues in Gotham much faster than Batman could, and by only using his wit. And the only thing Batman has been successful in is the escalation of crimes and the creation of new criminals. But the Joker attacks the source from the inside and uses the information Batman could never know (or would find out much much later) to stop the criminals in their tracks.

That's just one step of the Joker's plan to save Gotham. He knew Gotham needed a more conventional hero, and Harvey Dent filled that role perfectly. With the Dent Act later put into place, this puts every corrupt cop and government official in jail. So now the mafia is no longer a threat and the higher-ups who allowed the crime to continue are locked away. All made possible by the Joker.

The only thing left to do was to get rid of Batman, but he couldn't be killed because copy cats would quickly emerge. Batman had to disappear on his own accord, and this was done with the death of Harvey Dent.

Batman broke his only rule, but for 8 years after that Gotham lived in peace, which was the Joker's goal all along.