Joker has turned out to be a surprise hit for Warner Bros., after they initially didn’t have enough faith in it to fully finance the pic themselves. Now that it’s breaking records at the box office, though, you can be sure that they’re keen to do more with Joaquin Phoenix’s unique take on the Clown Prince of Crime and sure enough, our intel is pointing to Joker 2 already being in development.
We Got This Covered has heard from our sources – the same ones who told us about that Arrow spinoff back in March and that Black Adam will be in Shazam! 3, which Zachary Levi has since confirmed – that a follow-up to Todd Phillips’ film is 100% on the way after the popularity of the first. Plot details are still scarce at this early, early stage, but apparently, it’ll see Arthur Fleck crossing paths with a few other Batman villains and it seems that Two-Face and the Penguin may be putting in an appearance. Both of them are also due to show up in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, but the Joker 2 versions would be completely separate, with different actors, due to the movies occupying their own continuity outside of the DCEU.
Earlier this month, we reported that DC is coming up with ideas for villain solo films in a similar vein to Joker, and these include a movie for Two-Face and another for Penguin. We haven’t had this confirmed, but we can speculate that these projects would be direct spinoffs of the Joker franchise if they end up happening, with the same actors playing the roles in Joker 2, which would presumably come before each villain’s solo venture.
Creating a franchise around Joker might seem strange considering its USP is that it’s a standalone off-shoot of the DC universe, but you can understand WB’s thinking when you realize it’s the studio’s highest-grossing movie of 2019. Plus, Phoenix has already made it clear that, unlike most of his projects, he’d be up for reprising his role. So, it looks like we should get ready for a Batman Villains Cinematic Universe to start forming in the years to come.
