IsJoker 2 happeningor not? Todd Phillips has finally addressed theJoker 2reports. Additionally, the director talked about the DC villain origin movies that he is allegedly taking on.

There have been a lot of conflicting reports thatJoker 2 is not officially greenlit. First the sequel was officially happening and then all of a sudden it wasn’t. The same can be said about theDC villains origin moviesthat Phillips was going to take on. As it turns out, there’s a bit of truth to both.

As for the DC villain origin stories, that was something thatTodd Phillipspitched to the studio very early on. “When I pitched themJokerit wasn’t a movie, it was, let’s do a whole label,” Phillips said. “They shut that down quickly and I get it. Who am I to walk in and start a label at a film studio? But they said, let’s do this one.” So, there is some truth to the DC villain story, though it has been there since the beginning. Now thatJokerhas crossed the $1 billion mark, there is all kinds of wild speculation floating around.

Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix have been very open about wanting to put togetherJoker 2. However, they have never confirmed that it is actually happening. The duo had so much fun making the movie that they would like to work together again, and as Phoenix has said, there was still a lot more of Arthur Fleck to explore. Phillips had this to say about a possibleJoker 2.

“Well, a movie doesn’t make a billion dollars and they don’t talk about a sequel. Joaquin and I have publicly said we’ve been talking about a sequel since week two of shooting because it’s a fun thing to talk about. But the (THR) article was referring to other things than that that were just frankly untrue…”

As it turns out, all of the reports, mainly stemming from one article, we’re exaggerated. Todd Phillips knows that when a movie likeJokerbecomes a success, a lot of people are going to talk about it and want more of it. When it comes down to it, there have not been any official talks aboutJoker 2. Phillips explains.

“Here’s the real truth about a sequel. While Joaquin and I have talked about it, and while touring the world with Warner Bros executives - going to Toronto, and Venice, and other places - of course, we’re sitting at dinner and they’re saying, ‘So, have you thought about…?’ But, talking about contracts, there’s not a contract for us to even write a sequel, we’ve never approached Joaquin to be in a sequel. Will that happen? Again, I just think the article was anticipatory at best.”

That’s it for now. There are no talks of a DC villain origin label and there have not been any official meetings with the studio forJoker 2. Obviously, all of this stuff could still go on to happen, but it isn’t happening at this very moment. Thankfully, Phillips has set the record straight before everything got blown out of proportion even more than it already has. The interview with Todd Phillips was originally conducted byIndieWire.