Martin Scorsese Working On A New Origin Film For The Joker

Scorsese Will Work With DC And Warner Brothers On The Spinoff

Big news in the DCEU: Martin Scorsese is planning on creating an origin story film for DC’s most notorious villain, The Joker.

According to reports, Scorsese will produce the upcoming spinoff, which will be directed by The Hangover’s Todd Phillips and co-written by Scott Silver. The film will also apparently stray from a typical DC movie, and will instead take after a classic Scorsese film.

“The intention is to make a gritty and grounded hard-boiled crime film set in early-80s Gotham City that isn’t meant to feel like a DC movie as much as one of Scorsese’s films from that era, like Taxi DriverRaging Bull or The King Of Comedy,” according to Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr.

It will be interesting to see where Scorsese takes The Joker in this upcoming project, considering the fact that there are so many takes on the villain’s origin story. The most widely accepted story, however, comes from The Killing Joke, a one-shot comic book that was released in 1988. The story portrayed The Joker as an unnamed family man who failed at his attempt to become a comedian. After returning to his previous career as an engineer, something devastating happens that pushes him over the edge, bringing him into his role as The Joker.

However, according to reports, the new movie will take a unique look at The Joker’s origin that “won’t be attached to any other iteration,” as reported by The Guardian.

Oh and don’t worry, Jared Leto will not be cast as The Joker. According to Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr, the film “will launch the character with a different actor, possibly younger” (anyone else hoping they’ll give it to Gotham‘s Cameron Monaghan?).

Feature photo courtesy Facebook.