Now that superhero movies are more popular than ever, it's not uncommon to see an actor perform in two different superhero franchises. Sometimes even concurrently! Josh Brolin did just a few months ago when he reprised Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and then debuted as Cable in Deadpool 2 a few weeks later. Now it looks like Brolin's Deadpool 2 costar Zazie Beetz, who played the oh-so-lucky Domino, may follow a similar path, as it's being reported that she's in talks to join Joaquin Phoenix's Joker movie, which is simply called Joker.
If Zazie Beetz signs a deal to appear in Joker, THR has heard that the actress would play a single mother who catches the interest of the man who will one day become the Clown Prince of Crime. Since Joker is a standalone movie unconnected to the DC Extended Universe, presumably this isn't the first in a series of movies, and thus wouldn't interfere with Beetz playing Domino in the future. Plus, I suspect that if this woman is around whenever this man turns into The Joker, she's probably not long for this world.
Zazie Beetz rose to prominence for her role as Vanessa Keefer in the FX series Atlanta, while her other credits include a recurring role on the Netflix series Easy and the Dean Devlin-directed movie Geostorm. In Deadpool 2, Beetz's Domino was recruited by Wade Wilson to join the definitely derivative X-Force, and unlike her teammates Bedlam, Shatterstar, Zeitgeist, Vanisher and Peter, she made it our of their first mission alive (although, SPOILER alert, Wade time traveled in the mid-credits scene to prevent Peter from dying, among other things). Beetz is expected to reprise Domino for X-Force, but assuming she also signs on for Joker, that adds even more comic book cred to her resume.
No specific plot details for Joker have been revealed yet, but the movie, which is budgeted at around $55 million, is described as a "dark character study," similar in tone to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. Unofficially, it's been rumored that Joker will be set in the 1980s and adapt The Killing Joke, the storyline which portrayed the eponymous character as a failed comedian who turned to a life of crime after one bad day. Aside from Joker himself and this single mother Zazie Beetz might play, it was reported last week that Frances McDormand was approached to play Joker's mother, though she passed on the role.
Directed by The Hangover's Todd Phillips, who also co-wrote the script with Scott Silver, Joker will be released in theaters on October 4, 2019, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. Don't forget to also look through our 2018 release schedule to find out what movies will arrive later this year.
