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.