Joker Movie Director Wants To Develop Portfolio Of DC Comics Origin Stories

It would seem after the stellar success of Joker, director Todd Phillips will be taking on other [...]

By Matthew Aguilar

It would seem after the stellar success of Joker, director Todd Phillips will be taking on other DC origin stories, creating his own small pocket of the DC movie universe. According to THR Phillips walked into Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich's office on October 7th, which was after the film had opened to $96.2 million. At that meeting, he proposed getting the rights to develop a portfolio of DC characters' origin stories as opposed to just one at a time, something that Emmerich balked at, at least initially. That said, Phillips did leave the meeting with the rights to at least one other DC character's origin, though we aren't sure which ones.

UPDATE: A conflicting report says there is currently NO plan for a DC Villain Origin Series at WB.

Now, the proposed idea played out a little differently according to Borys Kit, who said "Ballsy Hollywood play: After JOKER opening weekend, Todd Phillips went to WB and demanded access to origin stories of ALL the DC villains...He didn't get it but did walk away from one or two."

So, it would seem after opening weekend Phillips met with Emmerich about doing a slate of origin films, and from that meeting emerged with at least one and possibly two films to work on next. The assumption would be another villain based film, and Lord knows DC has plenty of material to work with, though there are already some projects that are eating up the more well known villains at the moment like Suicide Squad and Batman.

Lex Luthor would seem like a good fit, as would several Batman villains like Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, The Riddler, and more, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Joker stars Phoenix (Arthur Fleck/Joker), Zazie Beetz (Sophie Dumond), Robert De Niro (Murray Franklin), Brett Cullen (Thomas Wayne), Frances Conroy (Penny Fleck), Marc Maron (Ted Marco), Douglas Hodge (Alfred Pennyworth), Josh Pais (Hoyt Vaughn), Bryan Tyree Henry, Bryan Callen, Shea Whigham, and Glen Fleshler. You can find the official description below.

"Drama. Joker centers around the iconic arch-nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. The exploration of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study but also a broader cautionary tale."

Joker is in theaters now.

Are you excited for more Todd Phillips origin stories? Let us know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter for all things DC Comics!

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