Barbarian's Director Reportedly Wants A DC Movie, And I'm Sold On The Idea

While there was a time when Zach Cregger was best known for his comedic work, particularly on the TV show The Whitest Kids U’ Know, these days he’s churning out more intense fare as a filmmaker. I’m of course referring to his movies Barbarian and Weapons, the latter of which opens on the 2025 release schedule in July in just a few weeks, not to mention him helming the Resident Evil reboot. Now there’s a rumor circulating that Cregger is looking to make a specific kind of upcoming DC movie, and I’m down for the idea he’s allegedly come up with.

Back in 2022, Zach Cregger mentioned that he’d written a movie that “takes place in the DC Universe” and is a “Batman-adjacent thing,” despite the fact that he’s not “normally” into superhero movies. He later described this script as the “best thing” he’s ever written, and now scooper Daniel Richtman (via ComicBookMovie) is claiming that Cregger has written a Joker and Harley Quinn movie. Richtman added that while he’s not sure if Cregger has pitched his side to DC Studios co-head James Gunn, he intends to do so.

I don’t even need to know any specific plot details right now, I’m absolutely game to see what kind of story Zach Cregger has crafted for the Clown Prince of Crime and his cheery moll. Admittedly, it’s ironic for me to say considering that I feel like The Joker has been overdone in film and TV as of late. I’m not a fan of the Joaquin Phoenix-led Joker movies, and it’s expected that we’ll see more of Barry Keoghan’s Joker in Matt Reeves’ The Batman saga.

But with the right kind of vision, even a character like Joker can have fresh life breathed into them, and I think Zach Cregger can make that happen. That said, I do hope that whatever he’s written can fit within the DC Universe shared continuity rather than The Batman franchise. I want to see a more comics accurate Joker and Harley Quinn paired together following the more realistic take that Joker: Folie à Deux delivered.

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Assuming that James Gunn meets with Zach Cregger and decides to greenlight the project, this would be the second DCU movie focused on a Batman villain. Clayface is set as one of the 2026 movie releases and will star Tom Rhys Harries as the shapeshifting antagonist. That movie has been described as an R-rated “Hollywood horror story,” and with Zach Cregger having written the script, it’s a strong bet it’s also going to be an R-rated horror story.

And then, of course, there’s the DCU’s Batman movie, titled The Brave and the Bold, which was announced as part of the franchise’s opening Gods and Monsters slate in early 2023. It still doesn’t have a release date though, so there is a world where we could see a Joker and Harley Quinn movie before The Brave and the Bold. Meanwhile, Weapons opens in theaters on August 8.