Joker has gone down a treat with audiences and critics alike. Once you get past the controversy surrounding its subject matter, you’ll notice that it’s certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and is breaking records at the box office. It’s not a leap to suggest, then, that Warner Bros. will be hoping to replicate its success by giving other iconic DC villains their own films. Maybe like Superman’s nemesis, Lex Luthor?
Mikey Sutton, of the Geekosity Facebook group, has claimed that the studio is developing a standalone movie starring Lex. The bold hook of the film, Sutton says, is that Superman wouldn’t exist in this version and would be “pure fiction in this alternate universe.”
Sutton writes that the project will chart Luthor’s journey from “awkward intellectual kid to corrupt wealthy businessman to president of the United States.” He goes on to speculate that it would be R-rated, much like Joker, and feature Lois Lane in a key role. Perhaps as both Lex’s First Lady and “the reporter who brings him down.”
Sutton claims that the Lex Luthor movie will be “a political tragedy” that in his words “screams Oscar bait,” which is something that WB is keen on after Joker is already being linked to a Best Actor nom for Joaquin Phoenix. “While Luthor doesn’t have the flash and manic colors of the Joker,” he writes, “WB sees this as a project that can reap accolades and huge BO from adults with the right writer a[n]d director [and] actors.”
While this remains to be confirmed, We Got This Covered has heard from our own sources that Warner Bros. is starting to develop a few other solo movies for Batman villains, including Two-Face, Mr. Freeze and the Riddler. These would be separate from the DCEU with all-new actors, much like Joker. So, don’t expect Jesse Eisenberg to return if this talk of a Lex Luthor movie is on the money.
