It really seemed like DC and Warner Bros. were headed in the right direction.
Batman Vs. Superman and Suicide Squad were monumentally disappointing, but Wonder Woman was the slam-dunk that caught everybody by surprise.
And just when you thought things were about to get better, DC/Warner Bros. gave one of the most perplexing announcements.
The Joker is one of the greatest and most iconic villains in comic book and film history.
It really took the world by storm when Jack Nicholson first portrayed him in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman.
Then nearly 20 years later, Heath Ledger delivered his version of the psychotic Joker, which was so good that it garnered him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
And let’s not forget about Mark Hamill’s outstanding voice acting in the animated series, video games, and movies.
But a day apart from each other, Warner Bros. announced two different Joker movies that are not only going to be played by different actors, but they’re also claiming that one of them isn’t in the main DC universe – something they’re calling “The Extended Universe.”
Entertainment Weekly reports:
“EW has confirmed that Warner Bros. is developing an untitled movie about the origins of the Joker, with The Hangover helmer Todd Phillips on board to direct and co-write the script with Scott Silver (8 Mile).
The Joker movie is to be the first project produced under a yet-to-be announced banner separate from the continuity of the mainstream DC Extended Universe, which encompasses films such as Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad, and the upcoming Justice League.
The new banner is intended to bring unique story angles to the studio’s iconic heroes and villains.”
The very next day another Joker film was announced.
Variety reports:
“Warner Bros. is developing an untitled tentpole movie starring Jared Leto as the Joker and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.
Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who direct and exec produce NBC’s “This Is Us,” are in final negotiations to direct the villain movie as part of the expanding DC Entertainment universe.
Leto and Robbie will reprise the roles they played in the studio’s 2016 super-villain mash-up “Suicide Squad.” The studio has not unveiled any logline other than a “criminal love story.”
And the Joker-Harley Quinn project is separate from Warner’s recently unveiled standalone Joker origin movie being developed as a potential directing vehicle for Todd Phillips of “The Hangover” — which will not star Leto.
Ficarra and Requa directed Robbie and Will Smith in the 2015 heist movie “Focus.” Their other big-screen credits include “I Love You Phillip Morris,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love” and “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.”
Why they would do something that is in direct conflict of each other is bizarre, but you have to remember that this is all about keeping the rights to a film.
This happened famously in 1994 – Bernd Eichinger was about to lose the film rights to Fantastic Four because he had to produce it or lose it back – so he hired Roger Corman to produce a super low-budget film in order to maintain the rights and it was an ashcan copy that was never released.
It’s why you’ve seen three different Spidermans in 10 years.
Now we have two different Jokers who are pretending the other doesn’t exist.
This is why DC is a joke and will never be Marvel.