Warner Bros is reportedly planning to make a movie on the version of Joker played by Jared Leto in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad (2016), Variety reported.
The studio is reportedly planning to expand the universe established in Ayer’s film by creating standalone movies on its characters. It has already announced a movie on Harley Quinn, Joker’s lover, who was played by Academy Award-nominated Margot Robbie in Suicide Squad.
Leto’s Joker film will become the second film on Joker to be under production by Warner Bros and DC Comics once an official announcement is made. Last year, the studio announced that Todd Philips (The Hangover, War Dogs) will be co-writing and directing an origins tale for Joker. This film will be produced under a new banner that will focus on origin stories while coexisting alongside the ongoing DC Cinematic Universe.
Joaquin Phoenix has been in talks to play the Joker in this movie. 8 Mile (2002) screenwriter Scott Silver is writing the film while Martin Scorsese has been roped in as one of the producers.
The psychopathic Joker, arguably the greatest nemesis of Batman both in its comic book universe and the movies, has so far been played by Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger and Jared Leto. While Nicholson was lauded for his portrayal of Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), Ledger went on to redefine the character in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor posthumously. Leto, meanwhile, had little more than a cameo role as Joker in the poorly received Suicide Squad.