The Joker is an important character in DC Comics lore, but there's no way Warner Bros. should be spending so much time figuring out what to do with him on the big screen. Their plans have been muddled at best, with solo movie starring Jared Leto's verison of the character seen in Suicide Squad, a possible appearance in Birds of Prey, past rumors of a Harley Quinn/Joker movie, and lastly a standalone origin story starring Joaquin Phoenix that would be part of a completely different label. It's unnecessarily complicated, but now we're hearing a report that suggests a more focused direction from DC Films going forward.
According to Forbes' Mark Hughes on the Superhero News Show, Warner Bros. may have Phoenix's Joker also be part of Matt Reeves' The Batman. Hey, it makes sense. There have been shifting stories regarding Reeves' film. One day it's part of the core cinematic universe alongside Justice League, the next it's part of this separate banner for standalone movies. Hughes also casts doubt on Leto being the Joker for long if Phoenix really works out...
“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… 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 it’s 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?”
Honestly, it sounds like Warner Bros. may use The Batman as a backdoor reboot of the entire DCEU. That would cause some interesting ripples in films like Wonder Woman 1984, Aquaman, and so forth. But really, would anybody miss Leto's Joker? I kinda liked him, but if he was written out I wouldn't shed a tear over it. Mainly I'll just be happy when ANY decision is made and we can stop all the guesswork.
