'Joker' broke through the stigma that seems to be against superhero films at Oscars: Joe Russo

"Avengers: Endgame" co-director Joe Russo says he is happy that Todd Phillips-directed "Joker" could make it to the top categories at the 2020 Oscars, rising above the "stigma" attached with the superhero genre.

"Joker", starring Joaquin Phoenix as the titular DC supervillain, is leading Academy Awards nominations with 11 nods, while "Endgame" is nominated for a visual effects Oscars.

Calling "Joker" a "beautiful piece of filmmaking", Joe said the movie is dark and disturbing but has an important message at its core.

"'Joker' was a very tragic, very modern story and really representative of existential isolation and the crisis a lot of people are feeling. The moment in it when he's on the talk show, where it's the idea of everyone in the world right now grabbing their megaphones and trying to shout each other down, and he's reacting against that.

"It's certainly a dark movie and a disturbing movie with a very important message to it. We're ecstatic that it's being recognized. It broke through the stigma that seems to be against these films, certainly at the Academy," the director said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Joe and his brother Anthony Russo have just wrapped the principal photography on the Tom Holland-starrer crime drama "Cherry".