If anything can be said about the higher-ups at Warner Bros., it’s that they have a fever – and the only prescription is more of Batman and his supporting characters.
Already, moviegoers have been vocal about their concerns of the studio supposedly having numerous films revolving around Harley Quinn in development, but the same can be said of her partner in crime, that being the Joker. I mean, not only is the Ace of Knaves expected to return in Suicide Squad 2, but we learned just yesterday that Jared Leto is also said to reprise his role in a solo flick.
Of course, said news caused many fans – myself included – to ponder the state of Todd Phillips’ Joker origin movie that’s meant to take place outside of the continuity established by the DC Extended Universe and feature an actor different from Leto as the Clown Prince of Crime.
Well, according to Deadline, Phillips’ diverging vision for Batman’s greatest foe is still alive and kicking at WB, with Joaquin Phoenix said to be in the headlining gig. Naturally, it’s expected that only one of these projects make it to the silver screen, as the outlet spoke of a race “to the finish line,” so we can only assume that the Powers That Be will go with whichever screenplay they deem better.
Now, this is just a suggestion on our part, but one solution would be for Leto and Phillips to sit down together in a room and merge their stories into one, thus allowing for only one Joker to reign supreme in theaters and not confuse audiences. Admittedly, I’m not a fan of Leto’s take on my favorite villain in all of fiction, and would much prefer for Gotham‘s Cameron Monaghan to be in his place, but I’m just playing ball.