La Ron S. Readus
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The True Origin of DC Black (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2019-09-11 20:01:00 +0000 UTC
Readers, ever since the announcement of Todd Phillips’s Joker, the internet just went...well, you already know
As I stated multiple times, I was NOT on board with the concept when it was initially announced for multiple reasons
One of the main ones was that because Martin Scorcese was attached to it as a producer at the time, I just saw it as a way for Warner Brothers to get an Oscar nomination
I’m also one of those individuals that believe Joker as he stands in the current DC comic book Universe and ever Universe that’s branched off of it doesn’t need a film centered around him
Then I found out that Joker was pretty much an Elseworlds film when the concept of DC Black was introduced to us back in 2017.
/We didn’t have an official name for it at the time, mostly due to the fact that there WASN’T one. But it was revealed in an article Vulture produced about the future of DC Films that a film label would be created for movies that were completely outside the universe of the main film continuity, that Todd Phillips’s Joker would be the first to be released from that label, and that it’s official title would be revealed “soon-ish”/ Vulture - DC Films
The person that gave Vulture that information was none other than Geoff Johns. Previous Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment and is currently one of the main producers for DC properties for movies and television at Warner Brothers.
Since that article that referenced Geoff Johns, there hasn't really been anything official released regarding the name of this Elseworlds movie edition label
/They didn't even show that such a label existed when the first trailer for Joker came out a over a year and a half later, instead opting for the general DC logo at the end/ Joker trailer 1
So if that's the case, then where did we all get the idea to call this label DC BLACK?
/Well, that has a lot to do with the fact that on March 8th 2018, DC Comics announced a new imprint under its name called DC Black Label, allowing comic book writers and artists the privilege of telling Elseworlds-esque one shot stories that are more mature in nature, without being mistakenly associated with or limited to the continuity of the mainstream DC Universe/ https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2018/03/08/dc-launches-new-publishing-imprint-dc-black-label
Some of the first titles included Batman: Damned, Batman: White Knight, and Frank Miller's Superman: Year One. Also known as toilet paper.
Then over three months later, Hollywood Reporter released an editorial written by Borys Kit about the strategy changes Warner Brothers were making to DC Films after the release of Justice League.
/Todd Phillips’s Joker was mentioned as a movie that COULD be launched under a new label that could be branded as either DC Dark or DC BLACK/ DC Black - Hollywood Reporter
And while Warner Brothers didn’t confirm this bit of information, even when the teaser trailer dropped 10 months later, people began to run with that idea while at the same time taking DC’s March announcement of the DC Black Label imprint as a sign of what was to come from DC Films. Thus shortening the comic book imprint DC Black Label, in order to create the fan-made DC Films label DC BLACK.
So while that's all well and good and while we did get SOME form of confirmation via Geoff Johns -- who is still producing DC television and movie properties for Warner Brothers -- that the currently fan-named DC Black will be a thing, along with talks of it being backed up by a source at The Hollywood Reporter
The fact of the matter is that since those two articles we have received TWO trailers for Joker, it's been screened at both the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, and it's about to be released worldwide in less than a month.
Considering all the eyes that HAVE seen Joker so far haven't even hinted that the official name for DC Black was revealed at the festival screenings -- especially since those kind of displays usually appear before the start of the film -- a lot of us are wondering why the movie that's supposed to kick this label off has yet to solidify its existence.
And that's the thing. Because despite earlier reports, not only is Todd Phillips's Joker is an experiment, but the entire concept of DC Black for films was his idea.
According to an interview he had with the LA Times, it was PHILLIPS who brought the idea of the label to Warner Brothers, saying that he pitched it at the same time he pitched Joker
It was a way he thought would allow MORE filmmakers the wiggle room they always wanted to make with these characters without it jeopardizing their main continuity.
/The thing that's interesting about that, however, is that ACCORDING to Phillips, Warner Brothers wants to see how well the movie does first before setting anything in stone./ DC Black - LA Times
So that's probably why we haven't heard much official word about the Elseworlds-like label since Geoff Johns' interview with Vulture; they're not trying to make anything official until they see how well Joker does first.
As far as to why Geoff Johns said what he said in that interview if that’s the case? Well, that could've went a lot of ways.
Maybe DC Black was INITIALLY gonna be a go by that time but Warner Brothers decided to not pull another Dawn of Justice without updating Johns on their current standing.
Maybe Johns shot the gun a bit too early during the interview while the idea of DC Black was still on the idea board.
Until either himself or Warner Brothers explains, we may never know whether or not what Geoff said that day was a slip up, if what Todd Phillips told the LA Times is indeed true.
But one thing that IS true, is that the call for more movies like this from DC Films and Warner Brothers will definitely be dependant on the success of Joker in the box office. Whether we want them or not.
