THE BATMAN Director Teases [SPOILER] Could Return In Arkham Asylum Spinoff Coming To HBO Max

THE BATMAN Director Teases [SPOILER] Could Return In Arkham Asylum Spinoff Coming To HBO Max

The Batman director Matt Reeves has talked more about the movie's big cameo, teasing that character's possible future in the Batverse, including in one of the spinoff TV shows in the works for HBO Max.

News
By JoshWilding - Mar 06, 2022 11:03 AM EST
Filed Under: The Batman
Source: Variety

In The Batman, The Riddler meets an unexpected new ally in the bowels of Arkham State Hospital who is credited simply as "Unseen Arkham Prisoner." Played by Eternals star Barry Keoghan, it's since been confirmed that the mystery character is The Joker...well, a "pre-Joker."

According to director Matt Reeves in recent interviews, Batman caught the Clown Prince of Crime during his first year in Gotham City, but the villain has yet to embrace his identity as The Joker. This movie hints that he might be close to doing so, though, as the psychopath is clearly looking to escape the confines of Arkham alongside The Riddler in a quest to take revenge on the World's Greatest Detective.

Asked about The Joker's Batverse future, Reeves suggested to Variety that we could see him in the "Year One" TV series coming to HBO Max. "There’s stuff I’m very interested in doing in an Arkham space, potentially for HBO Max. There are things we’ve talked about there. So it’s very possible. It also isn’t impossible, that there is some story that comes back where Joker comes into our world."

That would make sense, especially if Batman appears in the show to help the GCPD catch the serial killer. Nothing is set in stone, though, and the filmmaker was quick to point out that there's no guarantee we see more of the Harlequin of Hate, especially with so many iconic previous iterations. 

"It’s something to think about with the Joker. It’s been done well, a number of times. I said to Barry, right from the beginning, ‘Look, I don’t know where this is going to go. I can’t promise that it’ll even ever come back. I don’t know.’ And I still feel that way now. I’m not sure exactly."

We're certainly intrigued to see what comes next, and Reeves - with or without The Joker - clearly has big plans for the franchise. Hopefully, we'll learn more about future plans in the coming weeks.

The Batman is now playing in theaters worldwide.

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Dacci
Dacci - 3/6/2022, 11:14 AM
I don't know how you have that scene and not have him return.
ElricReturns
ElricReturns - 3/6/2022, 12:18 PM
@Dacci - Jokers inclusion is honestly my most frustrated element about the Batman. It's the one creative decision Matt made I strongly dislike and question his leadership and choice making.

If you include Joker at all, it's because you have a definitive next chapter mapped out and it utilizes the character in an essential way. You don't bread crumbs a character like Joker with vague intentions. You either make a power move to use the character in a remarkable way because the story you tell next requires him, or you leave him alone.

The way he explains it, that it hints that Gotham is to become more broken... I didn't get that. If you introduce a new character played by an actor like Barry... make the character Hugo Strange talking to Riddler, and as he leaves his cell, we follow Hugo down a hallway where we see a frozen cell, a cell with wild foliage, a cell covered in clay, a dank sewer like cell, a cell with dates carved all over, and finally a cell with a man laughing hysterically. Implying Gotham is about get wild.
TheSuperMex
TheSuperMex - 3/6/2022, 1:07 PM
@ElricReturns - bro it’s going to be alright.
Origame
Origame - 3/6/2022, 5:02 PM
@Dacci - first scene of the batman 2

Jim: "I can't believe both riddler and joker jumped off that skyscraper yesterday"

Batman: "yeah that was crazy. Well what's this about a mummy guy you were talking about?"
Origame
Origame - 3/6/2022, 5:07 PM
@ElricReturns - really don't get your problem. Only issue I have is that it's too obvious a place to take the series.
Kurban
Kurban - 3/7/2022, 1:09 AM
@ElricReturns - idk, that comes off too...Sony Sinister 6-y to me.
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 3/6/2022, 11:14 AM
*Look, I don’t know where this is going to go. I can’t promise that it’ll even ever come back. I don’t know.’ And I still feel that way now. I’m not sure exactly*


That isn't very encouraging 😳.....



Is he making it up as he goes along 😕?
noahthegrand
noahthegrand - 3/6/2022, 11:18 AM
@AmazingFILMporg - I think it’s more he’s trying to build a larger world and he probably thinks it’s a good idea to have a Joker around already in that world
blitzkreg
blitzkreg - 3/6/2022, 11:22 AM
@AmazingFILMporg - You do know sometimes script changes are happening while a movie is filming. At least he was upfront about not knowing where it is heading, and i like that.
MaddAddaM
MaddAddaM - 3/6/2022, 11:51 AM
@AmazingFILMporg - “are they making it up as the they go along?”

The number one fan boy question that reveals to the class that you have absolutely no idea how most long running narratives in tv, comics, film and even theatre have been and will be crafted.

Hell, even most creators who swear they mapped out 9 films (I’m looking at you George) are bold faced liars or still unable to deliver perfectly plotted and executed storylines in the end.

Some of the greatest Batman stories of all time were essentially written month to month with only the loose outlines to guide them.

Go read a book about writing, spend a few years crafting and making a story and then get back to me with this complaint. You just sound foolish.
MahN166A
MahN166A - 3/6/2022, 12:28 PM
@MaddAddaM -

Take a midol and calm the hell down. Your response didn’t require that level of rudeness. You don’t need to educate someone by being an asshole.
MahN166A
MahN166A - 3/6/2022, 12:31 PM
@AmazingFILMporg -

Things can change on the fly at any given moment in production of any film. Best to really think of his response as him being FLUID with any given situation.
He perhaps has other things he wants to do first with these films before bringing the Joker in. Maybe based on fan response of the Joker in the Blu Ray deleted scene, he may make a different decision of what we will get with The Joker.

For all we know, these scenes are just establishing that the Joker does exist and that is all we will get while he tackles other villains.
Desrow
Desrow - 3/6/2022, 11:18 AM
@JoshWilding @RorMachine

The Batman $128M+ opening


https://deadline.com/2022/03/the-batman-box-office-1234970969/
bobevanz
bobevanz - 3/6/2022, 11:18 AM
I'll admit the arkham scene with him was really unnecessary, also how did he get captured? Were the goons in the beginning part of his group? It felt like a check box from WB, idk where they'd go with it either, but I can almost guarantee we get Harvey Dent in the second one, the city needs a new DA.. one they can trust wink wink lol also Calendar Man was Falcone's son in the comics so that could play in the sins of the father narrative that was established.
KWilly
KWilly - 3/6/2022, 11:26 AM
@bobevanz - I liked the scene, but I didn't need it. It definitely felt like WB said, "Matt, you can do whatever you want with this film... But you have to tease the Joker in there somewhere."
MahN166A
MahN166A - 3/6/2022, 11:44 AM
@bobevanz -

The notion in this universe (in my head canon) is that Battinson has already dealt with him before. And this is further established when Reeves says that Batman has to consult The Joker in regards to the Riddler’s actions and direction.
BestAtWhatIDo
BestAtWhatIDo - 3/6/2022, 12:12 PM
@SatsuiNoJXA - Reeves confirmed this. Their history is hinted at in the deleted scene. Bats put him away in year one.
MahN166A
MahN166A - 3/6/2022, 12:21 PM
@BestAtWhatIDo -

Yep.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 3/6/2022, 11:19 AM
I will say after second viewing, it felt more like the riddles and the story was fitted around set pieces. And that happens in most of these films but some are able to hide that better than others. This is a good movie you just can't go in expecting the revelation to Riddlers menace to be earth shattering. Because it's very real world in that it's really just about corruption and anger. People didn't like Riddler wanting to flood city and target innocents but his line sticks out: " we asked why us well now everyone will ask why them". His point is that the city is so [frick]ed that it doesn't matter if your just a bystander you still take the heat that's life in this city. I dug that. Wish riddles were less cheese and that's on Matt. I would prefer he take a back seat and Bring in a writer, stay on as director for sequel. Keep the noir keep the talking heads but less repeating things about scenes prior as if you don't trust the audience or your script.
noahthegrand
noahthegrand - 3/6/2022, 11:25 AM
If they’re going with Bruce becoming a more public Bruce Wayne in the sequel they could do something with him taking back control of Wayne Enterprises and while he was gone whoever was in charge was doing some messed up experimental stuff that resulted in Poison Ivy, Mister Freeze, or possibly a body horror inspired Clayface that he know has to deal with as part of his arc and to like take responsibility for his inaction running Wayne Enterprises that let that stuff go on

If Clayface is too out there as is they could go the route that for now he can just change his physical appearance and that the chemicals used on him are addictive so when he takes enough of them in the third act then he can turn into the big monster. They could go “The Thing” route and make it really paranoia inducing

If they set the sequel in a partly flooded Gotham in the snow though with Freeze as the villain I can already see how great the shots would look
MahN166A
MahN166A - 3/6/2022, 12:21 PM
@noahthegrand -

Yeahhhh! I like that pitch for Clayface.

I was personally thinking Kirk Langstrom working with Professor Pyg or something.
Langstrom trying to mix Bat DNA with human DNA and Pyg goes rogue by taking his research and trying to take regular Gothamites and create animal mutant hybrids.
And I think Pyg can be great for this universe!
But Langstrom’s Man-Bat creates a negative Stigma of The Batman.
Gotham thugs and citizens are already on the fence about Batman, and with a giant bat creature going around mauling and killing citizens and thugs, this pushes a narrative against Batman.

And this usually gets stirred up with the whole: “It was a giant BAT!”
SirDuckAlot
SirDuckAlot - 3/6/2022, 11:26 AM
That Joker laugh was terrible... Should've cut that scene entirely.
MahN166A
MahN166A - 3/6/2022, 11:46 AM
@SirDuckAlot -

I’ve heard worse: Leto.
I just hope they don’t actually do anything with the Joker aside from just establishing the fact that he does exist here
HulkisHoly
HulkisHoly - 3/6/2022, 8:06 PM
@SirDuckAlot -

Yes it was. Super cringe. Felt like a kid trying to do the joker laugh. Not threatening at all.
I also think that he should just cut the scene out for home release
KWilly
KWilly - 3/6/2022, 11:30 AM
Kinda off topic, but when Batman hit his head on the street lamp, I lost it lol. I'm guessing that wasn't the intention, but that was the funniest scene in the movie
GhostDog
GhostDog - 3/6/2022, 11:46 AM
@KWilly - people audibly laughed in my theater
MahN166A
MahN166A - 3/6/2022, 11:47 AM
@KWilly - LMAO! I was like, DAMN!!
That hurt.
Bruce is still learning.
KWilly
KWilly - 3/6/2022, 11:53 AM
@BlackBeltJones - OK, so I'm not alone in that scene lol
MahN166A
MahN166A - 3/6/2022, 12:10 PM
@KWilly - LMAO NAH. You ain’t.
There were actually people in my theater laughing and making fun of that scene cause they were like: “Batman is dumb in this shit!”

And I am rolling my eyes overhearing this cause I am just like: “Ya’ll never read Year One or Two and you don’t understand that Battinson is not a SEASONED Batman. The dude is gonna [frick] up.
Not only in terms of physicality but also with pre-planning, ethics and detective skills.

He is still figuring himself out……

That said, watching him [frick] his shit up was enjoyable!
Supercat6376
Supercat6376 - 3/6/2022, 4:54 PM
@SatsuiNoJXA - exactly!! Same for all the rounds he takes to the chest. Man is still in the early stages.
MrKeyzerSoze
MrKeyzerSoze - 3/6/2022, 11:35 AM
Maybe the worst scene of the movie... but still exited to see what Matt Reeves is gonna deliver in the future
MahN166A
MahN166A - 3/6/2022, 11:50 AM
I was very much hoping that we weren’t getting The Joker at all. Confirmed the rumors with that scene and not to mention with another scene. Barry Keoghan being cast might change my mind once we see the interrogation scene on the Blu Ray.

Either way. I really hope that that scene was only establishing that he does exist in this universe, and we don’t see him at least until the last film of this iteration.

Reeves is saying that these films are supposed to be origin stories of the rogues gallery. That said, he needs to not play it safe by going with The Joker in his films.
Explore the other villains.

And I honestly wish that if he was going to show Joker, that there could have been a huge build up and not show it the way they did here.

Show Batman trying to figure out what’s going on with The Riddler, The Mob, the Corruption of Gotham; but at the same time, show other crimes being committed that he has to tackle at the same time, deciphering clues such as, oh I don’t know, fish that were poisoned by chemicals and sold on the market.
He figures out that the poison came from Ace Chemicals and then continues trying to investigate who was responsible little by little as more clues and murders have similar M.O.s

Just little easter eggs such as that.

Second movie can have a different villain or two, while still seeing the Joker dropping clues of his existence in the film before we saw him in the third.
And it all builds to the Joker’s reveal.
Create an aura or mysticism around the character that we haven’t seen before!
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