Joker

Apparently DC’s Joker and Harley Quinn spinoff will be ‘Bad Santa’ meets ‘This Is Us.’

A new report reveals DC’s ‘The Flash’ solo movie will have a lighter tone, plus details about Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker movie.

Love him or hate him, Jared Leto’s Joker was certainly a very…noticeable…part of Suicide Squad. And now Gotham City’s very own juggalo clown prince of crime is getting his very own spinoff because clearly Warner Bros. has remembered just who the hell Jared Leto is and recognized that he will not tolerate being left out of that other Joker movie that may or may not actually happen. How dare they.

Hold onto your butts because that Joker origin movie just keeps getting wilder. According to a new report, Todd Phillips’ DCEU spinoff is taking a page from Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, exploring how one desperate man’s failed career as a stand-up comic in the ’80s inspired him to become Batman’s most iconic villain. Is this a movie project or a series of escalating dares?

The film would be the first DC Comics film outside the DC Extended Universe.

I’m always of two minds when it comes to critics asking actors about superhero movies at film festivals. On the one hand, I understand the needs of our industry; if you don’t at ask at least one or two questions about Marvel and DC movies, another publication will, so there’s no point in pretending that any of us are above the fray. On the other hand, though, actors who have just put their all into a dramatic performance deserver better than questions about summer blockbusters that happen to be years away. Save your superhero questions for the very end and get off them as quickly as possible, that’s my motto.

Warner Bros. and DC are making a lot of choices lately, and one of those choices is having multiple movies featuring the Joker, but not all featuring the actor who first played the character canonically in their universe. Jared Leto is not being courted for the Martin Scorsese-produced Joker origin movie, a move that makes sense considering they’re probably going for someone younger (but which does not make sense considering… who in the world was asking for a Joker origin movie??). Leto is, understandably, “a little confused” about the whole thing, but he also gets it. Kinda.

The spotlight in the DC Extended Universe is squarely on women right now. Wonder Woman is still tying moviegoers in knots; just one more good weekend will make it the second biggest DCEU movie in the U.S., and it could pass Batman v Superman for the top spot not long after. Princess Diana will get back in the spotlight in Justice League this fall, and last summer was all about Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn stealing scenes from Will Smith and the rest of the Suicide Squad. Basically DC sisters are doing it for themselves.

I don't mean to be judgmental but when you tattoo your face to look like the Joker AND it looks terrible, I'm gonna judge you a little.

By all accounts, a lot of stuff got cut out of Suicide Squad. If you believe the recent press reports, there were two totally different versions of the film competing for release: A darker take from director David Ayer, and a jokier movie edited in consultation with the company that made the film’s popular, upbeat trailers.

Jared Leto is the second name on the poster for Suicide Squad. The only actor to get billed above him is Will Smith. Leto is listed ahead of actors like Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, and Viola Davis, who, unlike the Joker, are all actual members of the Suicide Squad. Despite Leto’s billing, though, and despite the large amount of publicity surrounding his unusual version of the character (not to mention his unusual preparations to play the role, which included sending disgusting “gifts” to his colleagues), Leto has very little screentime in the final film. He’s featured mostly in flashbacks about Robbie’s Harley Quinn and her time before she was captured by Batman. When he finally appears in the contemporary story, he shows up to “rescue” Harley, fails, and crashes in a helicopter. Then he doesn’t show up again until the very last scenes of the movie, when he tries to break her out of prison.

With 'Suicide Squad' coming out very soon, all the actors have been making their way around the media. The other night Jared Leto stopped by Jimmy's show with a gift from the Joker. If you have been following the making of the movie, Leto is a method actor and would send creepy disgusting gifts to the other actors.