When it comes to DC movies, we have questions.
Just what is going on with the Joker?
What's going to happen with Harley Quinn?
And where is the DCEU actually headed?
Well, nobody's really got any answers to all that, but it's not for lack of trying.
Here are a few DC movie theories that, if true, would change everything.
Over the last few decades, the Joker has become one of the world's best-known baddies.
So it's no wonder that DC is tryingtheir best to get the most out of one of their most iconic
characters — namely by producing not one, but two Joker-centric films.
Of course, first there's Joker, the award-winning, R-rated take on a failed comedian becoming
the grease-painted face of an anarchist movement, starring the frankly astonishing Joaquin Phoenix.
But then you've got the controversial Joker from Suicide Squad - a slightly more modern,
tatted-up version, performed by a husky-voiced Jared Leto.
But are these two Jokers in the same cinematic universe?
And if so, how?
Which is the real Joker?
Well, one popular theory claims that they're both Jokers, with the Joker being more of
an idea than a single person.
Specifically, some fans believe that Leto's Joker was at one time Jason Todd, one of Batman's
own Robins - before he was brutalized and brainwashed by a previous Clown Prince of
Crime.
That would handily explain the memorialized armor in the Batcave reading, "Ha ha ha, joke's
on you, Batman."
"And I thought my jokes were bad."
Of course, it's also possible Joker truly is a standalone film, with no connection whatsoever
to the wider DCEU.
But that's less fun, isn't it?
DC has agotten something of a bad rap for making their movies just a little too gritty
and dark.
But Joker has fully embraced the much-lampooned edginess of DC, creating a film that goes
where no superhero film has dared to go before.
This formula appears to be successful, too.
Joaquin Phoenix's performance has been praised left and right, and Joker has won all sorts
of accolades and awards.
In fact, rumor has it that Joker is just the first of DC's Black, a new label for DC movies
that exist outside the DCEU as we know it - and which are somehow even darker than the
already grim and gritty films of the DCEU.
Back in 2017, writer Mark Millar tweeted to director Jordan Vogt-Roberts that DC was pitching
directors for an adaptation of the comic storyline Superman: Red Son.
This alternate timeline imagines what would happen if Superman had landed in the Soviet
Union rather than Kansas.
In case you're wondering, Superman fighting for Stalin rather than the American Way turns
the Cold War into a superhuman arms race, rather than a nuclear one.
Such a dark and politically charged plot seems tailor made for a DC Dark label, and with
Joker's recent successes, there's a chance we could see it hit screens soon.
According to the teaser trailer for the action-packed, gritty girl power film Birds of Prey, Harley
Quinn is kinda over clowns.
And the film's subtitle, And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, would seem
to say it all.
Harley is done with being the Joker's minion, so she finally cuts ties with the Clown Prince
of Crime.
She's doing her own thing, with her own friends - namely a bunch of super-powered women who
want to protect a young girl from Black Mask, a vicious crime lord.
"We're bad guys.
It's what we do."
The first of a proposed trilogy, these films will bring to life some of Gotham's favorite
femme fatales - one of whom could well be Poison Ivy.
The potential introduction of Poison Ivy into the DCEU has comic fans excited about what
it could mean for Harley.
After her big breakup with Mr. J in the comics, Harley finds love and support in a new relationship
with Ivy.
Margot Robbie herself has even said that their intimate relationship was one of her favorite
parts of the comics - and something she hopes to explore in future films.
Before fans dive into Atlantis once more for the DCEU's second Aquaman film, they'll be
taking a detour a little further down: deep into the Trench.
One of the scariest scenes in a DC film so far, James Wan's 2018 blockbuster features
a moment where Arthur and Mera barely make it of the terrifying depths of the Trench.
Now, Warner Brothers are giving the DC Universe its first true horror movie, set to take place
among the many sharp-toothed creatures of the Trench.
With a Trench spinoff in the works, fans are wondering if Wan will do for Aquaman what
he did for The Conjuring universe.
What started with just a single film in that world quickly blossomed into many, including
Anabelle, The Nun, and The Curse of La Llorona, to name a few.
Similarly, some are hoping for the gradual development of a kind of Aquaman Cinematic
Universe, with fans theorizing that The Trench will be the first of many films that will
explore the undersea world.
Most of the Justice League members have gotten their own movies by now, so when will it finally
be Barry Allen's turn?
Well, it's been long confirmed that there is a solo Flash flick in the works, but due
to creative differences and Ezra Miller's packed schedule, it's gotten caught up in
development hell.
But maybe that's for the best, since according to Miller, the Flash film will see the DCEU
"torn asunder."
But maybe the DCEU getting torn a new one might be a good thing.
The Flash will apparently be centered around the Flashpoint storyline, in which Barry creates
an alternate timeline by going back in the past in order to save his mother.
But this new reality is kinda messed up, to say the least.
Fans have suggested that the topsy-turvy universe created by Flashpoint would be a logical explanation
for the establishment for an Elseworlds or DC Dark series of films.
Others, meanwhile, have said that this adaptation of Flashpoint will serve as a hard reboot
for the whole of the DCEU, giving Warner Brothers the chance to start anew.
This would easily explain the existence of the upcoming new Robert Pattinson Batman,
as well as a new Superman, should Henry Cavill decide to hang up the cape for good.
One thing is for sure: while other cinematic universes have entered the Endgame, things
are just getting started for DC.
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