If you scoffed just at the headline then you probably already know where this post is going to go. Warner Bros. can’t seem to figure out what to do to make the DCEU work, and they are content to just throw Joker/Harley Quinn shit at the wall until something does. Their latest brilliant move is to give a solo film to Jared Leto’s Joker…yeah, the gangsta version nobody seemed to like very much from Suicide Squad. Makes sense??
Variety has the details, although they’re pretty slim at this point. Leto will star in and exec-produce which will be “paving the way” for more Suicide Squad spinoffs. Okay, THAT part actually does make sense. While we know Wonder Woman is the one true success story of the DCEU, not far behind is the villain teamup movie with $746M and at least one breakout character in Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Leto’s Joker was not popular by any means.
How many movies with these characters does Warner Bros. need, anyway? Originally there were plans for a Harley Quinn and Joker film, but that seems to have vanished to focus Robbie on Birds of Prey and other spinoffs. And let’s not forget the totally separate line of standalone movies that will include a Joker origin film directed by Todd Phillips and produced by Martin Scorsese. Rumors are Joaquin Phoenix will star in that, but your guess is as good as mine at this point.
All of this ignores what seem like dozens of other movies that have been mentioned, rumored, announced, shelved, delayed, whatever. But one has to wonder who in Warner Bros. thinks it’s a good idea to give a movie to arguably the least popular character in Suicide Squad (other than Enchantress) when so many others exist? Deadshot, maybe? I’d kill to see Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang get a run on his own. But Joker? No thanks.
