Warner Bros. developing Joker origin story film with Todd Phillips directing

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

One of Batman's greatest adversaries hasn't made much of an impact on the DCEU yet, beyond his brief appearance in SUICIDE SQUAD, but that's all about to change as Deadline reports that Warner Bros. and DC Films are in the early stages of a spin-off movie which would tell the origin story of The Joker.

Before you start thinking that the proposed spin-off will feature the return of Jared Leto, it seems that this will actually be the first film under a new banner which will allow Warner Bros. to "expand the canon of DC properties and create unique storylines with different actors playing the iconic characters." Deadline has also been told that "the intention is to make an origin story that isn’t part of any other iteration," and that the new film will launch the character with a different, possibly younger, actor. THE HANGOVER's Todd Phillips has been set to direct the film, which he will also co-write with Scott Silver (8 MILE). Phillips will also be producing the film, as will Martin Scorsese. According to Deadline, the Joker spin-off will apparently be a "gritty and grounded hard-boiled crime film set in early-80's Gotham City" which is meant to feel more like TAXI DRIVER or RAGING BULL than a regular DCEU film.

As I mentioned before, all of this is still in the early stages, so anything could change, including the involvement of Todd Phillips and Martin Scorsese, but the reveal of the as-yet-unnamed Warner Bros. banner for DC films is rather intriguing. THR's Borys Kit claims that this new label will allow for the studio to make "all kinds of DC movies of different budgets and potentially time periods unconnected to the main line of DC movies." As the DCEU grows more dense over time, the ability to take a step back and develop DC projects which don't have a connection to the main universe, or the actors who play certain characters, is certainly appealing. If it opens the door for a greater variety of DC movies and characters to step out into the light of day, I'm all for it, but for the moment, we'll have to see how this Joker spin-off pans out.

What are your thoughts on this potential Joker spin-off? Do we really need to explore the Joker's origin story? Who would you like to see take on the role?