The Joker origin story in the pipeline from Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese is set to produce an origin story behind DC Comics villain and Batman nemesis The Joker.

The ‘Goodfellas’ legend will join with ‘8 Mile’ screenwriter Scott Silver, who will co-write the project, with ‘The Hangover’ helmsman Todd Phillips doing the rest of the co-writing, and the directing.

According to Deadline, the movie will form part of a new strand of DC movies from Warner Bros that will ‘expand the canon of DC properties and create unique storylines with different actors playing the iconic characters’.

But Jared Leto, who last played the maniacal supervillain, and who will play him in the ‘Suicide Squad’ sequel and the Harley Quinn spin-off will likely not be the man behind the make-up in this new iteration.

It’s thought that it will pick up the Joker’s story as a young man with a different actor playing him.

According to reports, the movie will be set in a gritty vision of Gotham City in the early 80s, and will be a ‘hard-boiled’ crime movie, which is perhaps where Scorsese will bring some of his unique expertise.

Where it will fit in the Warner Bros release schedule is not yet known.

Still to come in the DC Comics movie universe are ‘Justice League’ in November, ‘Aquaman’ in December, 2018, ‘Shazam’ in 2019, ‘Wonder Woman 2’ in 2019, ‘Cyborg’ in 2020 and ‘Green Lantern Cops’, also in 2020.

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