Could The Batman And Joker Origin Movie Be Linked?!
Another DC shared universe?!
Just when you thought Jared Leto's Suicide Squad performance might have killed the possibility of any Joker movies in the near future, several come along at once. Not only will Leto reprise his role in his own spin-off, but he's rumoured to also appear in the Suicide Squad sequel and possibly another movie with Harley Quinn and we also have the exciting prospect of Joaquin Phoenix playing Mr J in a stand-alone origin movie.
That project is picking up lots of hype since it was announced recently (and confirmed even more recently), with suggestions that it could be based on The Killing Joke (as well as Scorsese's King Of Comedy partly) and a rumour that Robert DeNiro might be involved.
Around the speculation, only of the only real facts we know about the movie for certain is that it won't be set in the DCEU timeline (obviously, since Leto's already occupying that space). Added to that fact, we also know that Matt Reeves' The Batman has a good chance of also being in a separate universe to the DCEU.
And now, thanks to the latest episode of The Superhero News Show (via Batman News), it seems that the two movies could be linked in the same universe under DC's new label. Mark Hughes claims he's been told by two different people associated with Warner Bros. that there have been discussions about making The Batman and The Joker Origin linked:
I think Joaquin Phoenix is playing the Joker in a standalone film, that will possibly wind up not being standalone as the situation evolved with the solo Batman movies and the future of the DCEU shapes up. I haven't heard anything firm, but I've heard certainly whispers from several people that I've talked to about that project. And what it sounds like is that if that project takes shape, if Martin Scorsese is going to be on board producing a film with Joaquin Phoenix playing the Joker... so now it looks like there's going to be that project and I have heard from a few people that there is talk of if [The Joker] movie is really going to go forward and if its really that good, if we're rebooting Batman anyway, he's going to need a Joker. We can't use preexisting Jokers. So we either have Jared Leto showing up as the Joker in some sort of sequel movie, and a Joaquin Phoenix solo Joker movie, and then we have to have another Joker. Wouldn't it make more sense to take a Martin Scorsese produced Joker with Joaquin Phoenix and wait and see if it works out, then just cross that and have that be the Joker for the new Batman?
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That would also mean DC and Warner Bros would be creating two separate full universes rather than just having stand-alones (like One Shots), which would look a little like they were consciously undermining the DCEU. But comic books have alternate dimensions all the time, so at least there's some precedent to explain this timeline madness.
And frankly, the idea of Reeves potentially introducing a THIRD Joker down the line is just ridiculous, so it fits.