Warner Bros. Developing Joker Origin Film With Martin Scorsese

Get ready for some brand-new outings by the Joker. According to Deadline, it looks like Warner [...]

By Megan Peters

Get ready for some brand-new outings by the Joker. According to Deadline, it looks like Warner Bros. is developing a brand-new standalone film based on the Joker. Martin Scorses, Scott Silver, and Todd Phillips are being tapped to oversee the film.

According to the new report, Warner Bros. and DC are in the "early stages" of creating another Batman Universe spinoff. The standalone will focus on the Joker and tell the famous villain's origin story.

Right now, Warner Bros. has tapped a star-studded team to oversee the film. Todd Phillips of The Hangover has been brought in to co-write the script with Scott Silver of 8 Mile. Phillips is also set to direct the film while Martin Scorsese co-produces.

As Deadline reports, the Joker standalone isn't expected to be "part of any other iteration" previously seen in the DCEU. The film is slated to adopt an entirely new aesthetic which will separate it tonally from previous installments of the DCEU.

"The intention is to make a gritty and grounded hard-boiled crime film set in early-'80s Gotham City that isn't meant to feel like a DC movie as much as one of Scorsese's films from that era, like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull or The King Of Comedy," Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr. writes.

"I'm told that Phillips and Silver are writing already, but there is nothing firm on where this will fit into the DC schedule."

New Joker

If you are wondering whether Jared Leto will be brought on for this new DC standalone, you will want to tailor your expectations. Deadline's report does not seem confident about the actor's return.

Leto is the most recent actor to play the Joker on the big screen, but he will not take part in his newly announced film. The actor "will reprise in the Suicide Squad sequel and the Harley Quinn spinoff, but this new film will launch the character with a different actor, possibly younger."

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New DC Films Universe

For those of you who think this Joker standalone will fit into the DCEU, you will want to think again. Deadline's report buries a stunning tidbit of information about Warner Bros. and its plans for its upcoming DC flick. The exclusive hints the Joker film will take place in an entirely new cinematic franchise that exists beyond the DCEU.

Fleming Jr. writes that the Joker standalone "will be the first film under a new banner that has yet to be named in which WB can expand the canon of DC properties and create unique storylines with different actors playing the iconic characters." So far, it looks like the new franchise will resemble a model being used by 20th Century Fox for its X-Men films. Deadpool and Logan got their own spin-offs which operated mostly outside of the studio's pre-existing franchises. DC Films and Warner Bros. are now looking to tap into that creative freedom and give its own famous heroes standalones which aren't bound by the rules of the DCEU.

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