The thing about Joker that specifically appeals to clowncels is the heroic mirage imparted on the Joker.
2020, Brian Van Brunt & Chris Taylor, Understanding and Treating Incels: Case Studies, Guidance, and Treatment of Violence Risk in the Involuntary Celibate Community, unnumbered page:
Clowncel: Identifies with and admires the Joker from Batman
2021, Manuel Herrero-Puertas, "Super Whitman 1885", Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, Volume 47, Issue 1, March 2021, page 311:
As for Joker, after the FBI warned of mass-shooting threats from so-called “Clowncels,” some theaters in the United States banned makeup and costumes during the screening of Phillips’s movie (Margolin and Katersky).
2021, Aylin Kuryel, "Looking at and with images: Crowds in Joker, Joker in the crowd", in Breaking Down Joker: Violence, Loneliness, Tragedy (ed. Sean Redmond), unnumbered page:
There is a key difference here, however, in that clowncels seem to replace the self-pitying discourse common in incel forums with anger towards the rich and the powerful.
