Why ‘Joker’ Won’t Crossover With ‘The Batman’

As we approach the October 4th release date, the buzz around Todd Philips’ Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, only continues to grow. The film has already earned an onslaught of rave reviews, an eight-minute standing ovation, and the top prize at the Venice Film Festival. So far, things are looking great for DC’s latest.

As it so happens, though, all this news around the latest version of the Joker has neatly coincided with speculation on the latest version of his arch-nemesis, Batman. Earlier this year, Warner Brothers announced that Robert Pattinson would be donning the cape and cowl for Matt Reeves’ renewed story The Batman, slated for 2021. Now, with both high-profile re-imaginings in the public consciousness, many fans are already wondering: will Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker ever clash with Robert Pattinson’s Batman?

This is definitely an exciting prospect. Sadly though, Joker director Todd Philips has already put that matter to rest.

According to Variety, when asked if Phoenix’s Joker would ever meet Robert Pattinson’s Batman in a future film, Phillips said flat out, “No, definitely not.”

To explain why, Philips invoked Shakespeare. Just as creators in the past have told countless versions of Hamlet, he argues, so too will directors in the modern day choose to constantly reinvent comic book characters such as the Joker. That is, his take on the Joker need not be the definitive take that should be placed in every subsequent Batman-related project. His version is just one story, meant to be enjoyed and then put away.

The idea that a superhero-related character would never cross over into a wider universe is not at all unique. In fact, it used to be the norm. Before the rise of Disney’s powerful Marvel Cinematic Universe, audiences were content to watch Spider-Man, Batman, and Superman exist in their own worlds without any contact from other heroes. Philips’ decision to let his Joker exist alone, then, is in many ways a return to the past.

Warner Brothers allowing such a fiercely independent superhero story to go forward is a sign of a new strategy for the studio. Faced with competition from Disney’s Marvel universe, the DC Comics side of superhero films first tried to fast track their own combined heroic world with a few quick films leading up to a Justice League team up. However, a combination of mismatched visions and rushed storytelling led to bloated and confused stories that left most fans disappointed. Thus, Warner Brothers decided to place less focus on a shared universe, in favor of telling good standalone stories.

And oddly, this put the studio much closer in line with what Marvel did in the first place. The first Iron Man, for most of its run time, offered no obvious connections to a wider universe. It was only in the closing minutes of the film, in a special cameo, that the idea even appeared, not as a crucial plot element, but as an easter egg. This formula held true for all of Marvel Studios’ early films, with powerful standalone stories taking front seat before universe building.

Now, Warner Brothers appears to finally be doing the same thing. Projects such as Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam! are still set in the DC Extended Universe, but that fact is not at all crucial to the stories the films are telling. And that just goes to make them stronger.

It’s this same philosophy that has led to completely standalone films such as Joker and The Batman, focusing on solo stories so exclusively that there needn’t be any idea of a shared universe.

At a time when Marvel Studios has earned the top box office spot via their deft crafting of a shared story, it may seem odd for their main rival to be scaling back on that same strategy. But ultimately, fans do not come to see these films for the novelty of crossovers and easter eggs alone. If they did, Justice League, a movie filled to the brim with both of these things, would have dominated the box office. Fans enjoy these things, sure, but only as add-ons to the main entertainment value of a powerful narrative.

Warner Brothers isn’t slowing down their output on superhero films at all, nor should they. Audiences still love superheroes, and, despite a few misses, fans continue to love the DC Comics brand. So there is selling power in these titles, they just needed to be paired with the very thing all great movies have: a compelling story.

For those still wishing to see Batman and the Joker clash once more on the big screen, there likely isn’t any reason to worry. As Todd Philips explained, these characters exist to be reimagined again and again. So while we may never see Pattinson and Phoenix go head to head, there will surely be a Batman chasing after a Joker in a future film to come.

Todd Philips’ Joker hits theaters on October 4th, 2019. The film stars Zazie Beetz, Robert De Niro, and Brett Cullen, with Joaquin Phoenix in the title role.