Earlier this week, comic book fandom was shaken to its core when it was reported that Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment are planning an origin movie for one of their most famous and iconic characters, the Joker.

But there is a caveat, a second half of the announcement that was possibly an even bigger surprise: The movie will not be a part of DC's only-just-coming-into-its-own Extended Universe. Rather than expanding on the Joker that was introduced to the DC Extended Universe, the Joker whose origin will be revealed will exist outside of the established DC films continuity.

RELATED: Joker Movie Reportedly in Development With Martin Scorcese

The still-untitled branch of the studio will bring to the screen different versions and interpretations of DC's most popular heroes -- something akin to what the fans know as the DC Multiverse, or the Elseworlds stories. These movies will theoretically feature new twists on the characters we all know and love, with a level of creative freedom allowing for movies be set in any reality, in any time period, and star any actor. In short, movies that wouldn't be beholden to the rules or history established by the current DCEU. That is exactly the plan for this just-announced Joker movie, which will explore a new version of the classic villain in an '80s-set Gotham City, with the titular role played by a different actor than Jared Leto.

The possibility of telling new and different stories with established character unconstrained by continuity is an appealing idea. Indeed, many classic DC stories take place outside of the main continuity the DC Universe, like Kingdom Come and Superman: Red Son, the latter of which was already rumored to be the subject of a possible live-action adaptation. But while a dark crime movie set in the past of Gotham City sounds intriguing, it's a mistake to center it around the premise of the Joker's origin.

joker-solo-comic

Introduced in 1940, in Batman #1, the Joker arrived with pale skin, green hair, a purple suit, and a smile on his face. With toxin and a penchant for killing people. He appeared fully formed, as the character he was always supposed to be. Her was no origin story; the obviously insane criminal appeared out of nowhere to haunt Gotham and its citizens. And therein lies the real truth of the Joker. As a super-villain, he works best as a character who emerged from the dark, a character whose real strength lies in his mystique. He's so popular in part because the audience doesn't know everything about him. Too much information can take away from a mysterious character's appeal, and answers can take away from the aura these characters have.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='How%20DC%20Comics%20Has%20Handled%20the%20Many%20%27Origins%27%20of%20The%20Joker']



How DC Comics Has Handled the Many 'Origins' of The Joker

DC Comics knows and respects that fact. While there have been quite a few attempts at explaining Joker's origins, ultimately all of these stories ended with a question mark. In Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke – a story that could be seen as the quintessential Joker graphic novel – Joker told the story of his humble beginnings as a failed comedian who turned to crime out of desperation, who was manipulated by a gang to wear a red hood and fell into a vat of chemicals. It's a story that most people are familiar with as the accepted origin story of the Joker, and was partly adapted to the screen in Tim Burton's '89 Batman film. But Moore's Killing Joke ends not with definitive answers; the Joker himself makes a point of stasing that all of this could be wrong, that he might not be remembering the events correctly at all, or is simply lying. He tells us that if he should have a past, he would rather it be a multiple choice.

That notion is as much a part of the character as his smile. It's a part of his definition, and of who he is. There is an uncertainty about him based in the fact that the only thing for certain when he's involved is that everything he says can be a lie, or a joke. Take Christopher Nolan's modern interpretation of the character, for example, as brilliantly played by Heath Ledger. In The Dark Knight, the Joker exploded onto the Gotham City scene, and rather than a definitive origin, he had a new story to tell about how he got his famous scars whenever he had the chance. He was no one. He was everyone. He, like his Killing Joke counterpart, was anyone who was one small stumble or push away from madness.

In the modern version of Batman's origin, as told by writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo, we see the Red Hood Gang and their eponymous leader, the Red Hood, a man with quite a grin on his face, begin to terrorize Gotham. He taunts Batman at every turn, and he, too, ends up falling into a vat of chemicals. Even then, it's never actually made clear if this is the Joker or not. There is enough given to make you wonder, but there are also just as many blanks and questions to make you uncertain -- and that only works to add to the mystery of the character.

RELATED:> Batman is the Villain, Joker's the Hero in Sean Gordon Murphy's White Knight

Later, Snyder and Capullo presented the "final" confrontation between Batman and Joker, the ultimate war, in a story called Endgame. It gave a whole new wrinkle to the Joker, as it set the possibility that the Joker was a supernatural creature, a grinning ghost as old as Gotham City itself, and maybe even older. But the question looms, did the Joker just plant all the evidence that pointed to this? Was it all just an elaborate joke? There was never an actual answer, just more questions and theories.

the joker

The fact that his past is shrouded in mystery is what makes the Joker stand apart from the rest of Batman's rogues gallery. He is a force of nature that can't be explained, a character that carries a chilling air of unease around. He is terrifying because of the uncertainty he walks on, a path paved with blood and unpredictability. An answer, an origin, makes him human. It makes him real, relatable and sympathetic, and that is something the Joker should never be.