Warner Bros. surprised us with their announcement that they’re moving ahead with their Joker origin movie. Set in the "˜80s, the film will tell the story of how the character came to be. And it’s shaping up to be an interesting project!

Todd Phillips, director of the origin movie, cast Joaquin Phoenix as The Joker, and rumor has it that he’s courting Robert De Niro for an important supporting role. In addition, Martin Scorsese is going to produce. With these big names and a pretty consistent budget, Phillips may have a pretty hefty critical and financial hit on his hands.

But comic book movie fans may have a problem with the new Joker-related developments. Phoenix isn’t going to be the only Joker on the block, as another movie starring Jared Leto is also in the works.

Rumor has it that Phoenix’s origin film will launch a brand new DC movies label that will focus on Elseworlds stories such as Superman: Red Son, which was teased by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island). Another theory is that Warner Bros. is planning to completely reshape the DCEU.

So Warner Bros. finds itself in the position of having three actors play The Joker in three separate movies at the same time. In addition to Leto and Phoenix, a third and younger actor will be needed to star opposite whoever may play the young Batman in the reboot.

But if Phoenix’s origin movie is a success, his character could be the link to the Batman character in the reboot. Mark Hughes of Forbes said on the Superhero News Show that it all depends. Director Matt Reeves has reportedly already turned in the Batman reboot’s first act. And the reboot features a much younger Bruce Wayne.

I think Joaquin Phoenix is playing the Joker in a standalone film, which will possibly wind up not being standalone as the situation evolves with the solo Batman movies and the future of the DCEU shapes up. I haven’t heard anything firm, but I’ve certainly heard whispers from several people I’ve talked to about that project.

And what it sounds like is that if that project takes shape, if Martin Scorsese is going to be on board producing a film with Joaquin Phoenix playing the character…so now it looks like there’s going to be that project, and I have heard from a few people that there is talk of if [The Joker] movie is really going to go forward and if it's really that good, if we’re rebooting Batman anyway, he’s going to need a Joker. We can’t use pre-existing Jokers.

So we either have Jared Leto showing up as the Joker in some sort of sequel movie, and a Joaquin Phoenix solo Joker movie, and then we have to have another Joker. Wouldn’t it make more sense to take a Martin Scorsese-produced movie with Joaquin Phoenix and wait and see if it works out, then just cross that and have that be the Joker for the new Batman (via Screen Rant)?

As of now, Warner Bros. hasn’t set a release date for either of their films featuring The Joker.