With news of a Joker and Harley Quinn spinoff movie along with an origin story centering on the Clown Prince of Crime – for the record, the latter takes place outside of the DCEU – there have been a lot of question marks raised over Warner’s DC Extended Universe and, in particular, Jared Leto’s future in it. Or lack thereof.
To his credit, the Blade Runner 2049 actor voiced his commitment to the role of Gotham’s most notorious villain for both Suicide Squad 2 and Gotham City Sirens earlier in the summer, even if the latter has reportedly lost its place in the DC lineup thanks to Birds of Prey. But fear not, for the studio still has big plans for Leto’s version of Mr. J, as they’ve just announced he’s getting his very own standalone movie.
Variety has the scoop, telling us that the actor will star in and executive produce the project, which is set to pave “the way for future films branching from Suicide Squad.” Plot details are obviously non-existent at this very, very early stage, but the outlet’s report notes that the “idea is to expand on the world created by Suicide Squad and tie into future installments of that property.”
While this is certainly interesting news, especially as most people felt that Leto’s role in his last DCEU flick was little more than a glorified cameo, it can also be seen as yet another sign that at this point, the studio’s completely lost control of their once promising cinematic universe. The rate at which they’re announcing new projects – many of which stall and never go anywhere – is alarming, and only confusing rather than streamlining what’s already a perplexing franchise.
It’s not that we don’t want to see Jared Leto’s Joker get his own movie, just that we don’t think now is the right time to be announcing it. The future of the DCEU is very much in the air at the moment, with many fans feeling uncertain, apprehensive and just plain confused over which direction it’s heading in – again, due to how many projects WB announces that seemingly die off without any real explanation from the studio.
But that’s just us. What do you make of this news? Should Leto’s Clown Prince of Crime get his own solo outing? Make yourself heard down below!