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Joker: Todd Phillips Pitched 'DC Black' to Differentiate DC from the MCU


It's no mystery that DC has been limping behind the box office after Marvel Studios, but this has led to some neat developments—one of which is the Joker movie being directed by Todd Phillips that isn't connected to the established universe. What's interesting is, this film is said to kickstart a new branch of DC movies called DC Black.

As per Empire (via @Johnny Sobczak on Twitter) Phillips was said to have suggested the branching out as a way to compete with Marvel. The article read:"[Phillips] suggested they begin a new division called DC Black, separating itself from the current crop of DC films. It was also a way of differentiating from Marvel."

Phillips said:

"I said ‘Let Joker be the first, then let's get fucking great filmmakers to come in.' Instead of trying to live in the shadow of the beast (MCU), let's do something they can't."

Unlike the other MCU and DCEU movies, Joker promises to be a grittier, smaller film. The movie had shot with only a $30 million budget, and there won't be any huge CGI set pieces. In fact, a lot of the movie was shot on location in New York City, and that's probably the reason why there's so much leaked images of the set online.

After Shazam!, I could say that I'm very interested to go back to this more mature feel of the films that Batman v Superman was going for. I'm just hoping it's going to be a self-contained story. I don't really want it to build its own franchise, and everyone online is going to end up arguing about timelines and alternate realities.

For now, we wait for the Joker movie to hit cinemas Oct. 4.

See Also: New Joker Image has Robert De Niro's Character Meeting the Clown Prince of Crime

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