【2001 Archives】

Introduce a little anarchy001 Archives upset the established order and everything becomes chaos.

The DC Comics division at Warner Bros. is launching a new feature film banner to make movies from its known characters -- starting with The Joker -- but played by different actors, who would stay separate from the DC Extended Universe continuity, Mashablehas confirmed.

The Joker movie, its first and only known project so far, is being written by The Hangover writer/director Todd Phillips, who may direct Joker, too, if he plays his cards right. This bold and unprecedented cinematic spinoff plan would exclude Jared Leto, who could reprise his role in future DCEU films -- but for this project, a younger actor would take his place (and hopefully not send creepy packages to cast-mates).

And uh, if the working title becomes Young Joker, keep Ron Howard on speed-dial.

Young Joker will reportedly be set in early '80s Gotham City, homage to the intense Martin Scorsese crime dramas it intends to emulate. Speaking of Scorsese, he's producing with Phillips, according to Deadline, which broke the news Monday. Others claim he's not involved. Warners isn't saying.

And oh, hey, get this: It's an origin story.

That's right, after 77 years of nothing but chaos and mystery, of never knowing much about how he became the Clown Prince of Crime, The Joker's early years are getting backfilled.

By the guy who gave us Starsky & Hutchand War Dogs.

The Joker's origin story has been shrouded in paucity, disagreement and fragmented continuity since his creation in 1940 -- one of the things that made him such an intriguing villain. He's been sketched out around the edges at best, with everything from chemical vats to extreme violence and abuse to blame for this sadistic gangster m.o. and jester appearance.

Not much of it stuck or really mattered.

If this ever makes it into production, it fills a hole that can't be unfilled.

And if DC's really serious about sub-developing this and other characters -- which surely could include Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in some form -- it's time to rethink what superhero film canon even means anymore.

To be fair, this is DC's movies arm acting more like the publishing side, where characters are constantly in books written by different writers and drawn by different artists completely separate from the central story and timeline. DC has already shown willingness to separate its TV and DCEU casts, considering there is no crossover into the Arrowverse.

It's WB's way of saying hey, continuity purists: Why so serious?

A WB source told me that this film and banner are aimed squarely at feature-film production for theatrical release; this isn't some pocket TV or animation play -- at least for now.

Nothing's set yet, no release date, no official announcement even. Here's what it comes down to: Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver (The Fighter, 8 Mile) have to knock that script out of the park, then hope it doesn't get caught in some sadistic fool's complex trap, aka development hell.

If Young Joker passes these trials, then we'll have a whole new dimension to film franchises to reckon with -- the sub-franchise franchise. The spinoff-verse. Something that definitely breaks the rules.

But, as a wise man once said, the only sensible way to live in this world is without rules.