Two New Joker Movies in the Works at Warner Bros.

While things are still up in the air about the future of Ben Affleck‘s Batman beyond the Justice League movie — some reports have him being replaced as the Dark Knight in Matt Reeve‘s The Batman — the future looks bright for his greatest villain, the Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker. According to THR, Warner Bros. is making plans for not one, but two movies starring everyone’s favorite lunatic, one that falls within the DCEU and one that falls outside of it in what is being called a separate, “boutique” branch of movies based on DC Comics characters.

The first Joker movie will supposedly follow Suicide Squad 2 and take place in the DCEU with Jared Leto and Margot Robbie reprising the roles of Joker and Harley Quinn in “an insane and twisted love story. When Harry Met Sally on benzedrine,” according to an insider. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who wrote and directed Crazy, Stupid, Love, are in talks to write and director the spin-off.

The second Joker movie, an origin story, will fall outside of the DCEU and star an actor other than Jared Leto in a “gritty and grounded hard-boiled crime film set in early-’80s Gotham City” directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover) and produced by Martin Scorsese. Phillips is apparently already working on the script with 8 Mile writer Scott Silver.

Warner Bros. seems to be wising up when it comes to its characters, keeping the Leto version for those younger fans who loved his portrayal in Suicide Squad, while offering up another version for those of us who cringe at the sight of his grilled grin, a Joker that could live in the world of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.