Martin Scorsese To Produce Joker's Origin Batman Spin-Off

Warner Bros and DC are working on an origin story of Batman villain The Joker, according to a report in the Hollywood online news site, Deadline.

Martin Scorsese has been signed-on to produce the feature and it will be directed by The Hangover's Todd Phillips, who will co-write the film alongside 8 Mile writer Scott Silver.

Jared Leto will play the character in the forthcoming Suicide Squad sequel and Gotham City Sirens, but it is believed that a different actor, younger actor will be handed the role - although with Scorsese being on board you probably can't rule out Dicaprio being given the nod.

"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 Driver, Raging Bull or The King Of Comedy," Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr writes.

Here's how Twitter reacted to the news:

With Heath Ledger's role in The Dark Knight being so iconic, whoever ends up playing the lead will have big shoes to fill.

Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros

Topics: The Joker, Batman

James Dawson

James Dawson is a Journalist at LADbible. He has contributed articles to LADbible’s ‘Knowing Me, Knowing EU’ series on the EU referendum, the 'Electoral Dysfunction' series on the 2017 general election, the ‘U OK M8?’ series tackling mental health amongst young men, and for its ‘Climate Change’ initiative in partnership with National Geographic.

@thejaytoday