He he, ha ha, ho ho, wanna hear a jo-ker? Well, that’s what I’m here for allegedly. Maybe I’ll just leave it to the professionals, like Todd Philips, the director of one of 2019’s highest-grossing pics, Joker. With the future of the DCEU up in the air currently, nobody knows for sure what’s going on, but the filmmaker certainly hopes for a future where Batman explores the remnants of Gotham City that were forever changed by Joaquin Phoenix’s antics.
Philips was chatting with Variety at the Palm Springs International Film Festival recently about the unclear future of the Joker, and whether or not there’s going to be a sequel. Nobody knows just yet, but Philips pontificated about his desires to follow the city and who it creates, saying:
“It’s a beautiful Gotham. What I would like to see someone tackle is what Batman looks like from that Gotham. I’m not saying I’m going to do that. What was interesting to me about the inclusion of Batman in our movie was, ‘What kind of Batman does that Gotham make?’ That’s all I meant by that.”
Joker’s Gotham City wasn’t exactly beautiful, was it? It kinda looked like the grungy 80’s New York City, didn’t it? I mean, that was kind of the point, making parallels to our real world and whatever. But it did seem like a starting off point for exactly what Todd is talking about, with seeing how this incisive man changed the landscape of the city, maybe even the country, forever. What would this version of Bats be like? And would someone pick up the mantle of Joker and continue putting on a happy face? Only time will tell.
There are rumblings that DC’s pushing Matt Reeves, director of The Batman, to make that film more interconnected to the greater DCEU somehow. There’s been some pushback though, as it seems like Reeves is trying to make a standalone DC film, just like Joker was/is. I guess nobody really knows what’s going on for sure though so we should just kick back and watch the sun rise over the tattered remains of Gotham City until we learn more.