Martin Scorsese to produce Joker origin movie detached from DCEU continuity.
Deadline Hollywood and any number of other news outlets are currently reporting that Warner Bros and DC are in the early stages of planning yet another DC spinoff movie, this time one that will tell the origin story of Batman’s longtime nemesis, The Joker. According to reports, Todd Phillips, director of The Hangover and most recently War Dogs, is to co-write with Scott Silver who wrote 8 Mile. Phillips will direct with none other than Martin Scorsese producing the film along with Phillips. Apparently this new film will be the first project under a new banner that has yet to be named which will see Warner Bros expanding upon their huge canon of DC properties, creating unique storylines with the possibility of different actors playing the iconic characters.
The report states that this Joker origins tale will take place in Gotham City in the early 1980s and most prominently, will be detached from the continuity of Warner/DC’s own DCEU, which currently consists of Man Of Steel, Batman V Superman, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman and the forthcoming Justice League. Now as fans will know, Suicide Squad featured the most recent movie incarnation of The Joker, played by Jared Leto and as much as his portrayal was mostly poorly compared to Heath Ledger’s Oscar winning turn as the Clown Prince of Crime in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, surely it would make sense to have any Joker origins film be linked to the DCEU. For the same studio to embark upon a DC film set in a new continuity and to have it running concurrently alongside, but detached from, the DCEU continuity is an extremely odd decision from both a business and creative standpoint.
That Martin Scorsese has chosen to involve himself in such a left of field comic book adaptation is both surprising and rather puzzling. It goes without saying that any film based on such a popular DC Comics character will likely be a profitable venture. For all the critical vitriol thrown at it, Suicide Squad still made over $745 million worldwide based on a budget of $175 million. Our main point of concern with this unrelated Joker origin movie is that it will cause confusion amongst fans and such a creative misstep will surely dilute the viability and validity of the DCEU which hardly needs anything other than sensible business decisions being made to bolster it and take advantage of the recent success of Wonder Woman. Divorcing any new DC film project from the DCEU just smacks of an illogical move on Warner/DC’s part and we wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if any subsequent Joker film found itself part of the established and ongoing DCEU continuity.
Our other concern is whether or not DC can give us an origin story that doesn’t damage the established mythos of The Joker. A character as beloved as The Joker would surely benefit from an air of mystery surrounding just why he’s the twisted agent of chaos that he is. One of the most enduring and satisfying aspects of Heath Ledger’s iteration of The Joker is that we are told absolutely nothing of his past life and are therefore allowed to make up our own version of the events that created such a complex yet deeply disturbed character.
As soon as anything more solid is announced we’ll be sure to keep you in the know.