By One of the best parts of Heath Ledger’s joker was that we had no idea where he came from. He routinely made up origin stories in both a fantastic way to define the character as un-moored chaos, but also a commentary on how overblown we are on origin story films for comic book characters. It was perfect for the character of the Joker, who represents a foil to Batman’s stoic and rigid form. Of course WB and DC in their never ending quest to not understand their own property don’t see it that way as was clearly illustrated by Jared Leto’s Joker and now the new origin story film for the character.
That film will be dark and gritty because that’s what DC does. A new quote from MMA fighter and actor Brendan Schaub, who shares agent Todd Feldman with Todd Phillips, the director of the Joker origin movie basically confirms this.
“My boy Todd Feldman put this together with Todd Phillips. It’s dark. It’s like a dark Joker. As a kid, he had a permanent smile and everyone made fun of him. It’s like on the streets of Brooklyn. It’s super dark and real.”
I know the Joker is a dark character and that Batman is a dark character and that darkness is all that DC knows in whatever room they lock themselves away in to make these movies, but, half of the Joker’s fun is his insanity that plays out comically. The best part of the animated series was that Mark Hamill’s Joker was scary because he was so humorous. I was hoping they could dive into that instead of some stupid thing where his brain gets twisted from people mocking him.
