An infamous, genre-bending comic book parody embraced by trans and queer audiences is finally streaming, and it’s free. The People’s Joker, the legally precarious fan film inspired by DC’s iconic villain, is now available on Tubi and MUBI, nearly three years after it was controversially banned. The movie currently holds a 96 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. Creator Vera Drew, who stars, directs, and co-writes the film, shared the news in an Instagram video yesterday.
The film follows an unfunny aspiring clown who numbs herself with a fictional drug called Smylex before embracing her identity and transforming into Joker the Harlequin, defying Gotham’s anti-comedy laws. Pulled from TIFF in 2022 after legal pressure from DC and Warner Bros., the ban sparked the global Free The People’s Joker movement. Since then, the film has screened at Outfest, been released on Blu-ray and VHS, and earned critical praise, including Richard Brody calling it the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen. The People’s Joker is now streaming on Tubi and MUBI in North America.
