Back in November, Mark Hamill told fans at Fan Expo San Francisco that he would no longer be portraying the Clown Prince of Gotham.
Despite being considered by many to be the best Joker of all time, Hamill believed he just couldn't play the role unless it was opposite Kevin Conroy's Batman. Conroy, who voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman across several projects, passed away in November 2022.
But it seems there was a little caveat that allowed for Hamill to reprise the iconic villain role one final time in an upcoming game called MultiVersus. As it turns out, prior to his passing, Kevin Conroy also voiced Batman in the fighting game. It's perhaps for this reason that Hamill made an exception to his previous statement and returned to the role of Joker in the game.
For those unfamiliar, MultiVersus is a free-to-play platform fighter, in the same vein as Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series. The game features an ever-expanding roster of popular characters based on Warner Bros. Discovery franchises, including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Black Adam, and The Joker (DC); Shaggy and Velma (Scooby-Doo); Bugs Bunny, Tasmanian Devil a.k.a. Taz, and Marvin the Martian (Looney Tunes); Arya Stark (Game of Thrones); Tom & Jerry (Tom and Jerry); Finn the Human and Jake the Dog (Adventure Time); Steven Universe and Garnet (Steven Universe); Iron Giant (The Iron Giant), LeBron James (Space Jam: A New Legacy); Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith (Rick and Morty); Gizmo and Stripe (Gremlins); and an extraordinary original creature named Reindog.
Warner Bros. Games revealed The Joker as the latest playable character, confirming Mark Hamill as the voice. A short teaser trailer was released in which you can hear Hamill voice a couple of lines.
"He's been waiting in the shadows for far too long," WB teased. "The Joker is officially joining the MultiVersus cast!"
MultiVersus is developed by Player First Games. The free-to-play title had been playable in an open beta that ran from July 2022 to June 2023. The game had been temporarily shut down following its beta to allow for some technical improvements. One of the biggest changes made was the change to Unreal Engine 5 which improved the game's visuals and character lighting. The game had also been rebuilt from the ground up to support a new netcode to provide a more consistent online play experience.
Now the game is nearly set for launch with a release date of May 28. It will be free to download on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC with full crossplay and cross-progression support.