Why DC Just Cancelled Jared Leto's Joker Movies

4. They've Realised They Don't Need The Character Anymore

Harley Quinn Birds Of Prey
Warner Brothers

To begin with, Harley Quinn was synonymous with the Joker. She was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm to be a henchman for the Clown Prince in the legendary Batman: The Animated Series, but by the time the show neared its conclusion, it was becoming apparent that the character was turning into a force of her own.

Quinn soon made the leap to DC's main comics, where she became a recurring character in the publisher's vast array of Bat-books. These stories too bore Dini's influence, with many electing to expand upon the premise featured in the classic BTAS episode, Harley & Ivy, where Quinn leaves the Joker for good, and embarks on a series of capers with Poison Ivy.

By the time the New 52 emerged in 2011, Harley and Joker couldn't have been father apart. Quinn had joined the Suicide Squad, and her once beloved 'Puddin' had literally lost his face and tried to murder her. Today? they're practically enemies, with the Joker using his abusive hold over Quinn to try and tempt her back.

Point being, the Harley of today no longer has that same synonymy with the Joker, to the point where she's become one of DC's most popular figures. They no longer need the Joker anymore, and there's much more appeal in seeing her break free from that relationship than seeing her confined within it, as has been illustrated by the sheer amount of material published where the characters don't even share the same page.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.