Between the news that Warner Bros. plans to launch a series of films set outside the continuity of the DC Extended Universe, starting with a Joker origin story, and director Matt Reeves stating that The Batman is "not part of the extended universe," it may be safe to conclude the studio is taking a truly comic book approach to its superheroes and supervillains.

RELATED: Why The Joker Solo Film Is a Smart Move for Warner Bros.

The Joker film is an obvious bid to launch an Elseworlds-style cinematic universe, in which familiar concepts are remixed to fit different visions, with no links to previous or future continuity. Reeves' statement, made a month before the Joker news broke, most likely doesn't mean Ben Affleck will play Batman in two separate continuities so much as, like in the comics, the vigilante's solo adventures will not affect -- or be affected by -- other events in the DCEU. In short, don't expect The Flash to show up in Gotham City with an update on Darkseid's plan, even though the odds are the Batman who appears in his own solo film will be the same one who battled Superman, befriended Wonder Woman and recruited the League.

With DC Entertainment President & Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns more fully steering the DCEU, and with the success seen with the company's television properties, both with series that hew close to the source material (The CW's Arrowverse) and those that stray from the comics, yet still maintain the same flavor (Gotham, iZombie, Lucifer and Preacher), it make sense that Warner Bros. Pictures would want to follow a similar path. While the DCTV shows regularly feature crossovers, the majority of what takes place in The Flash has little to no direct impact on Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow or Supergirl. Rather than making the shows weaker, or more confusing, deliberately leaving the series largely independent of each other makes the the smaller crossover more fun and the larger events more meaningful.

We're seeing a glimmer of that approach creeping into the movies already -- or at least in the DC Films projects Warner Bros. has revealed in recent months. In addition to the previously announced movies, which essentially make up a Justice League family, we've got multiple Gotham City-based heroes poised for their own adventures. Essentially launched in 2016 by Suicide Squad, the Bat-family umbrella will introduce a number of Batman's enemies and allies to the DCEU, presumably having their own adventures, unencumbered by servicing storyline fallout from the Justice League's feature debut.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='DC%20Comics%20HAs%20Been%20Using%20This%20Storytelling%20Approach%20for%20Decades']



DC Comics Has Been Using This Storytelling Approach for Decades

All of that appears to be an example of the television and film divisions taking cues from how DC Comics has built its publishing universe. Think of it like this: DC Comics releases dozens of titles a month, most of which are set in the same superhero universe. Everything that happens in Batman's corner of the DCU, in the pages of Detective Comics, All Star Batman and Batman, is in continuity for the character. Likewise, everything the Dark Knight experiences in Justice League, JLA, Suicide Squad and that guest appearance in Blue Beetle is also in continuity. Those writing Batman's books aren't obligated to reference every little event the character experiences in the team titles or guest appearances; they don't even have to reference each others' titles, if they don't want to. However, when a major event comes along, like Dark Nights: Metal, not only do the Bat-titles often feed into the big storyline, so to might recent developments in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps or Action Comics.

dark-nights-metal-header

Listening to Reeves' comments about his Batman film's place in the DCEU, it makes more sense to assume this is the approach he and Affleck are taking. It's not so much that they're building an out-of-DCEU-continuity Batman so much as they're approaching the film as its own story, unencumbered by overt ties to the rest of the upcoming feature slate. That doesn't mean what happens in this movie won't have an impact on the character's personal development and how he's portrayed in Justice League 2. However, we aren't going to see Bruce Wayne discussing over tea with Alfred how best to prevent Cyborg from hacking into the new Batmobile.

RELATED: Joker and Harley Quinn Movie Reportedly in Development at WB

Then, there's the truly non-DCEU films, beginning with the Joker origin story, an idea that really brings into focus the theory that Warner Bros. is deliberately shaping its approach to DC's characters based on the comics and, yes, the television shows.

There's no denying that Gotham, with its completely out-there approach to Batman continuity, which reshapes the characters' origins, motivations and personalities to fit whatever twisted mold the show's creators need to fill, is essentially an Elseworlds story come to life. Yes, it's a consistent target of ridicule on social media, but millions of fans tune in every week to see what part of the Dark Knight's 70-plus years of continuity will be revamped next, with Jerome's is-it-or-isn't-it Joker proving to be particularly enticing. It makes sense, then, that the Joker would be the first choice to launch a franchise of out-of-continuity films based on a deep bench of villains and heroes, not unlike DC Comics' long-running Elseworlds imprint. It makes even more sense when you consider that, just a few months ago, word surfaced the studio is asking writers to pitch scripts based on Superman: Red Son, the Elseworlds series that explored what might have happened if Kal-El's rocket had landed in the Cold War-era Soviet Union instead of a farm in Kansas.

Superman_WW Red Son

Of course, this could all change, literally, overnight. In the time it took to write this article, we went from a world in which Jared Leto was expected to reprise his Joker role in Suicide Squad 2 and Gotham City Sirens, but not the solo Joker film, to one in which a Joker and Harley Quinn spinoff is believed to replace Gotham City Sirens.

So while we're confident (for now) that Affleck is only playing one Batman, and he's firmly entrenched in the DCEU, that could turn on a dime if, say, we learn that The Batman takes place after the reality-altering events in The Flash: Flashpoint. But, like everything else we've discussed, that would simply be another example of Warner Bros. taking its cue from DC's publishing side. After all, you can't run a superhero universe without the occasional reboot or massive continuity shift.