Why DC Just Cancelled Jared Leto's Joker Movies

6. Warner Bros. Are Restructuring Their Future DC Projects

It's been clear since the middle of 2018 that Warner Bros. were keen on restructuring their DC plans for the future. At the time, Zack Snyder and Geoff Johns were the two principle architects of the franchise, but with back-to-back critical duds and a commercial disappointment in Justice League, something obviously needed to change. Before Justice League, though, WB had gone ahead and announced several new films, including The Flash (now on hold), Cyborg (status unknown), a David Ayer-helmed Gotham City Sirens (cancelled), and the aforementioned Joker features starring Leto.

Aquaman, despite being a part of that initial slate, boasted a drastic difference in tone compared to its predecessors, and it ended up dominating at the box office. Shazam! too looks like a massive tonal departure compared to the likes of Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, and given what we've seen of Birds of Prey so far, it's likely that film will follow suit.

Warner Bros. are clearly taking the franchise in a different direction compared to when Snyder and Johns were at the helm. The latter is still said to be involved in some capacity, but DC's future projects already indicate that they're trying something new.

Among the films currently said to be in production include Green Lantern Corps, a reboot that'll focus on Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart; a whole new Suicide Squad film helmed by Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn; Matt Reeves' Batman reboot sans Ben Affleck; and Supergirl herself is even said to be replacing the Man of Steel for the time being.

Add to that Ava DuVernay's New Gods, which will be an adaptation of Jack Kirby's cosmic Fourth World saga, and you have a slate that differs drastically to the one WB announced years ago, which included the likes of Nightwing, Deadshot and Justice League Dark.