THE BATMAN Star Barry Keoghan Shares His Hopes To Return As The Joker In Matt Reeves' Planned Sequel

THE BATMAN Star Barry Keoghan Shares His Hopes To Return As The Joker In Matt Reeves' Planned Sequel

Eternals star Barry Keoghan made a surprise appearance as an early version of The Joker in The Batman, and the actor has now opened up on his hopes to return as the Batverse's Clown Prince of Crime...

By JoshWilding - Jan 16, 2023 11:01 AM EST
Filed Under: The Batman

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. 

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GhostDog
GhostDog - 1/16/2023, 11:38 AM
PapaSpank54
PapaSpank54 - 1/16/2023, 2:06 PM
@GhostDog - deadass the worst part of the Batman hands down.
tmp3
tmp3 - 1/16/2023, 11:39 AM
i’ve always thought he was solid, but his work in banshees was just fantastic. really skyrocketed him into one of the most interesting young actors today for me.



they really [frick]ed up his introduction as the joker though, what a mess haha. lot of potential in the role still, hopefully with better material than a lame ending stinger
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 1/16/2023, 11:51 AM
@tmp3 - I’ve got to agree. Only thing I didn’t like or love about the movie was the scene between him and Riddler. Didn’t work for me on any level.
tmp3
tmp3 - 1/16/2023, 12:10 PM
@PlusUltra - i think he has a lot of potential in the role going off of his recent performances, but wow - reeves did a next level fumble on introducing audiences to a new joker. i actually didn’t mind the deleted scene of him, was a significant improvement on the scene with him and dano
SATW42
SATW42 - 1/16/2023, 11:48 AM
I'm good only because the Joker has been done to death at this point. Batman has such a rich rogues gallery that there's plenty of grounded serious villains he could go after.

One often forgotten storyline that I think would work perfectly in the world Reeves has built is the 3 part story the Destroyer, about a man who was bombing modern buildings that were replacing the more gothic look of the city and it went into the history of gotham much like The Batman did.

IMO, Joker should stay this ominous kind of figure that Batman has already fought whose myth lurks in the shadows of the city, but is never the main point.
Fares
Fares - 1/16/2023, 11:48 AM
I can't wait to see more of him, and especially a full look at that disgusting face. The makeup artist responsible for his look and Penguin's is killing it.
tmp3
tmp3 - 1/16/2023, 12:11 PM
@Fares - love how farrell always goes out of his way to mention the makeup artist mike marino by name every single time he talks about penguin. dude seems like such a genuine guy.
also yeah, incredible prosthetics work on display
Fares
Fares - 1/16/2023, 12:38 PM
@tmp3 - Yeah Farrell seems to be a really down-to-earth guy in his interviews. It's very apparant in the recent THR actors' roundtable.
SuperCat
SuperCat - 1/16/2023, 11:54 AM
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 1/16/2023, 1:07 PM
@SuperCat - lol
SuperCat
SuperCat - 1/16/2023, 1:46 PM
@slickrickdesigns - 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
marvel72
marvel72 - 1/16/2023, 2:50 PM
@SuperCat -

AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 1/16/2023, 11:56 AM
Redesign him or get the [frick] outta here!🤡
TheVandalore
TheVandalore - 1/16/2023, 12:00 PM
I wish either there was no Joker at all in The Batman, or that they included both Joker scenes. I don't think the short scene they used worked.
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 1/16/2023, 12:04 PM
Meh. Wasn't really feeling the direction they went in with Joker. Not only that, but he just felt shoehorned into the movie.
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 1/16/2023, 12:26 PM
@ModHaterSLADE - Agreeing.
Twenty23Three
Twenty23Three - 1/16/2023, 12:22 PM
The scene with the joker speaking to the Riddler felt so out of place and like it was studio mandated. Personally I’m good not seeing Joker at all, from what we saw of the deleted scene the look for him was terrible and I’m just bored of the character by now. I could maybe get onboard with him always being behind the glass interacting with characters but not as the main villain
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 1/16/2023, 12:25 PM
Sick of The Joker. And they'll have to revise that prosthesis if they intend to make him a main character in any sequel. But Keoghan has more than enough acting chops.

His character in 'The Killing Of A Sacred Deer' freaked me out: understated - chilling - relentless - totally lacking in empathy - dangerous.

I'd like to see a take on the Joker like that.
tb86
tb86 - 1/16/2023, 12:49 PM
I feel like Joker doesn’t need to be in these movies as he seems to has his own film series.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 1/16/2023, 1:05 PM
It’d be nice to see some other villains before we get Joker again.
I’d like love to see Clayface, Mister Freeze, Death Stroke or some other villain we haven’t seen go against Batman yet.
AvalonX
AvalonX - 1/16/2023, 1:11 PM
I didn't care for his version of Joker at all. I'm not sure what this trend is making Joker more and more grotesque. I'd argue we haven't really seen a comic accurate Joker. One with the flamboyantcy of the Hammil Joker, the charism of Nicholson's, and the mannipulations of the Ledger Joker.

No one has really nailed this yet and Leto's Joker doesn't really have an good qualities to me, this one is closest to that. Being a little too clever to be different.
HulkisHoly
HulkisHoly - 1/16/2023, 1:17 PM
I’m honestly hoping Reeves pulls a Lucas and just removes that scene from all future copies of the movie because it was so shoehorned in and the scene was just cringey anyway.
LordHarryLatts
LordHarryLatts - 1/16/2023, 1:34 PM
I sure hope not. I thought he was terrible.
AC1
AC1 - 1/16/2023, 1:50 PM
I haven't seen much of Barry's work but he seems pretty good from what I've seen and think he could play a decent Joker. Having said that, the character being shoehorned into The Batman for a pointless cameo was one of my least favourite parts of the movie, and I really don't like what they did to him visually. Having said that they can't really change his look without breaking continuity now so they're kinda stuck with what they've got.
narrow290
narrow290 - 1/16/2023, 1:57 PM
We can realistically go the next 30 years without the damn Joker not even animated!
Himura
Himura - 1/16/2023, 2:37 PM
He's a great actor but we havent seen enough of him for me to fully get on-board. It was also the most forced character introduction in an overall fantastic film.

We don't need another Joker right now though. Give me Mr. Freeze in this franchise. Hell or even Clayface.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 1/16/2023, 2:55 PM
@Himura - if Penguin is getting a show, I kinda want Clayface getting one as well. The Mud Pack could definitely make for compelling protagonists.
marvel72
marvel72 - 1/16/2023, 2:52 PM
He was one messed up looking Joker,I liked the take but save him for the third movie.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 1/16/2023, 2:54 PM
Really wasn't a fan of his Joker, but that's probably because I set the unrealistic expectation for myself that this universe should have a Joker like Telltale's Batman.

If he shows up again soon though, I think the Arkham show makes sense.
1stDalek
1stDalek - 1/16/2023, 3:27 PM
I really enjoyed what he did in the deleted scene, and I think he's a great actor, so yes, I hope he gets the call, and they keep building him up to a Batman vs Joker movie ending the series. I just want them to tone down the prosthetics, they're way too much.

Reeves wanted to have all the villains form the Adam West movie and that's fine, but his Joker inclusion didn't work. He should have filmed something else if the deleted scene didn't work for him, another way to cameo him would have been the way to go.
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