Deadline has reported that Alec Baldwin is set to join Todd Phillips’ Joker origin movie as Thomas Wayne.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Baldwin’s version of the Wayne patriarch will be a different take on the character in the Joker film:
“But this being a movie project that will veer off-center from the traditional Batman canon, sources say the script paints Thomas Wayne as a cheesy and tanned businessman who is more in the mold of a 1980s Donald Trump.”
Baldwin isn’t a stranger to playing Trump seeing as he’s played the President numerous times on Saturday Night Live.
The question now becomes whether or not this change in character could work for the upcoming Joker film. Thomas Wayne is a character who’s been prone to drastic personality changes in the past. In most iterations, including Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, the Waynes simply act as their son’s main motivation for becoming Batman.
However, Telltale’s Batman series painted the Gotham figurehead in an entirely different light as this version of Thomas Wayne actually contributed to the mob problem in Gotham City.
In the iconic Flash story dubbed Flashpoint, it was Bruce Wayne who was shot and killed in Crime Alley that fateful night instead of his parents. Thomas then takes up the role of Batman but his version is a bit more….what’s the word…. trigger-happy than the original Bats. Oh, and Bruce’s mother (yes, I know her name is Martha) becomes The Joker. Gotta love time-travel.
Alec Baldwin joins star Joaquin Phoenix, Robert de Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, and Marc Maron as the latest addition to the cast of Todd Phillips’ Joker origin movie.
What are your thoughts on Baldwin’s casting as Thomas Wayne? What do you want to see in a Joker origin film? Let us know in the comments and be sure to follow us here at The Nerd Stash for all of your nerdy news and needs!