Originally published July 21, 2018. Updated November 21, 2019.
Since being officially announced earlier this month, Todd Phillips’s Joker origin movie appears to be coming together very quickly. We’ve had confirmation of Joaquin Phoenix’s casting as the Clown Prince of Crime, Deadpool 2 star Zazie Beetz in talks for the female lead, and an October 2019 release date set in stone.
It’s possible that we’ll get some additional news later today during Warner Bros. and DC Films’ San Diego Comic-Con panel, but in the meantime we’ve got some rumoured plot details courtesy of That Hashtag Show, which reveal the Joker’s real name – and a potential connection to Bruce Wayne.
According to the site, Phoenix will portray Arthur Fleck, who returns back home to live with his ageing – and perhaps dying – mother Penny, who was “very attractive in her youth” and “obsessed with her former employer.” Here he’ll also meet single mother Sophie Drummond (Zazie Beetz) and begin his descent into madness.
The report goes on to reiterate that – as previously rumoured – Thomas Wayne will play a major role in the plot, and the site theorises that Penny could be a former employer of Wayne, and that Fleck may well be his bastard son. Yes, that would make The Joker the half-brother of The Dark Knight.
SEE ALSO: Joaquin Phoenix says his Joker movie is “unique” and not like other studio superhero movies
We should stress that these are unconfirmed reports at present, but let us know in the comments below what you’d make of this major twist on the relationship between The Clown Prince of Crime and his arch-enemy Batman…
