Willem Dafoe has been a fan-favourite choice to play The Joker in the DCEU, and more specifically The Batman franchise, for some time now. Spider-Man: No Way Home drove home how perfect he would be for a role like the Clown Prince of Crime, but the actor has a slightly different idea.
Talking to GQ, Dafoe was asked if he enjoys playing villains. "I don’t know what that is," he said with a smile. "I’ll play dumb. You play characters. I could say, 'Oh yeah, it's fun to play villains 'cause you can do things that you can't do in life, or it's fun to play with your dark side.' But I don't know. I'm not thinking about those things."
Despite that, he has an interesting spin on The Joker that would see him share the screen with Joaquin Phoenix's Harlequin of Hate. "There is something interesting about, like, if there was a Joker imposter. So it would be possible to have not duelling Jokers but someone that claims to be the Joker that isn't the Joker," Dafoe pondered.
"That opens up the possibility of an interesting story, particularly if you had Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, and then you had someone who was either imitating or riffing off what he did. I fantasised about that. But other than that I am not talking to anybody [about it], you're the first one."
It would be undeniably fascinating to see two Jokers clash on screen, especially if it means Dafoe and Phoenix get to work together. This also sounds a lot like the Three Jokers comic book series that established that there has been more than one version of this villain that's plagued Batman over the years.
If a Joker sequel happens, we're not necessarily banking on it heading in this direction. However, we'd hope these comments at least make Warner Bros. aware Dafoe is interested in the role!
Recently, it's been rumoured that Barry Keoghan might play the villain in The Batman, but the nature of the Multiverse means the door could still be open to Dafoe bringing a different Joker to life.