Warner Bros.
Back when they announced the production of Joker, it was widely seen as a much-needed course correction of Warner Bros. DC Comics strategy.
Following the massive failure that was Justice League, it became clear that Warner Bros. attempt to recreate the magic of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had gone horribly wrong, and as a result, a film as dark as Joker was brought into the world.
In fact, the damage that the DCEU caused was so extreme that Joker director Todd Phillips specifically set the film in the 1980s as a way to clearly differentiate itself from the DC Extended Universe.
“The time [period] for me…one reason was to separate it quite frankly, from the DC universe,” Phillips said. “When I pitched to Warner Brothers, and handed the script in, to sort of make it clear, this isn’t fucking with anything you have going on. This is like a separate universe. So much so, it takes place in the past, before everything else.” [CinemaBlend]
It should come as no surprise that Phillips wanted to do everything he could to make his Joker clearly not a part of the DCEU, considering the last time they gave us a movie involving the iconic Clown Prince of Crime, it was Jared Leto’s abomination of a portrayal in Suicide Squad.
Luckily, for both film and Batman fans, Phillips succeeded in his singular vision for the Joker, as Joker has received rave reviews from critics prior to its premiere.
Joker — which stars Joaquin Phoenix, Zazie Beets Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy, and Marc Maron — will hit theaters in the United States on Friday, October 4.
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Eric is a New York City-based writer who still isn’t sure how he’s allowed to have this much fun for a living and will tell anyone who listens that Gotham City is canonically in New Jersey. Contact him: eric@brobible.com.