The controversial Joker film that DC kept under wraps will be available for free streaming this month.

It’s been quite the journey for *The People’s Joker*, a unique DC satire from director Vera Drew that delves into the transgender experience through the lens of superhero tropes. The film made its debut at the Toronto Film Festival in 2022, but all subsequent screenings were halted after a reported copyright infringement claim from Warner Bros. Discovery.

This controversy only heightened interest in the mixed-media parody, which later screened at the 2023 Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles before receiving a limited theatrical release in 2024. Since then, *The People’s Joker* has been available for streaming on Mubi, a platform dedicated to independent and international films. Now, Drew’s superhero satire is poised to reach an even broader audience, as it is set to premiere on Tubi in January.

The announcement came during an episode of *Shuffle Up and Play*, a *Magic: The Gathering* YouTube show on a well-known channel. In this episode, Drew participated in a game with three other players and took the chance to promote the film’s upcoming release on Tubi. While the movie isn’t available on the ad-supported streaming service just yet, it has been confirmed that it will debut on January 21.

This is exciting news for a film that has defied the odds. We were impressed by *The People’s Joker* during that notorious TIFF screening and have enjoyed engaging with Drew over the years. The film represents a significant advancement in the portrayal of pop culture icons and, as Drew emphasizes, offers a genuine narrative from a trans filmmaker’s perspective. As she expressed in a 2024 interview:

“If you’re watching a movie like this, where there’s a very clear main character — I hijack your brain for 92 minutes, and force you to look inside mine. So don’t you want to see somebody change and grow? Don’t you want to see somebody start as a villain, and either become more of a villain, or become a hero by the end, or oscillate somewhere in between throughout? That’s what storytelling is. That’s what mythmaking is. I get the sentiment. Representation is important. But I think the way to properly represent trans people is to treat them like human beings in film, and not like perfect angels or disgusting perverts. Somewhere in between.”

Update: Following the initial report, Tubi confirmed the streaming release date for *The People’s Joker* as January 21.