After the Caped Crusader defeated The Riddler in The Batman, he was sent to Arkham Asylum and quickly found a friend. The cell next door was confirmed to be home to The Joker, though a deleted scene and comments from director Matt Reeves made it clear he's not quite the Clown Prince of Crime...yet.
A deformed, deranged serial killer imprisoned by Batman during his first year protecting Gotham City, the stage has been set for the unnamed villain to eventually transform into a twisted new take on The Joker.
Reeves, however, has admitted that, after cutting the villain's reunion with the Dark Knight, he also considered scrapping that meeting with The Riddler. With that in mind, there's really no guarantee The Joker will take centre stage in The Batman 2, and we're sure Reeves is looking to avoid comparisons to Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight!
During a recent conversation with Josh Horowitz, Barry Keoghan shared his hopes to reprise the role, but confirmed he's in the dark about any future plans.
"Obviously I'd love another crack. I've got a ton of back work done on him. If an opportunity does arise but, you know, they make the call, and I've got to respect that. I've got a few other things I'd love to bring. Actually, I have this little half-Moleskin book I've written a lot in already and so yeah, I want to show people what that is."
We're definitely intrigued to see what the Eternals star could do with the role, but Warner Bros. may want to put this idea on ice to avoid overshadowing or clashing with Joaquin Phoenix's take on the maniac in Joker: Folie à Deux (up until now, the studio has appeared convinced fans are unable to distinguish between two different versions of the same character).
We'll see what happens, but should HBO Max's planned Arkham Asylum-set spin-off become a reality, then we'd say it's more likely the Harlequin of Hate shows up there.
Work continues on The Batman sequel, but a release date has not been set.