Is Barry Keoghan's Joker In The Batman 2? Here's What We Know So Far
The film that changes how you will hear "Ave Maria" forever, Matt Reeves's "The Batman," also puts a horrific spin on the Joker. Only revealed in the movie's final moments, Barry Keoghan is fascinating as the Clown Prince of Gotham. Even though he is barely in frame as he speaks to Paul Dano's The Riddler — a role Keoghan coincidentally had been vying for — the actor's maniacal laughter set the internet on fire. Many wondered if this meant Reeves would put the Joker in the planned sequel to "The Batman." Keoghan wondered the same, as he told GQ in a personal profile he had excitedly sent Reeves a listicle ranking onscreen interpretations of the character.
"There were seven and I was number four," he said. "Lads, with four minutes of screen time, not bad eh!?" A deleted scene from "The Batman" shows an interaction between the Caped Crusader (Robert Pattinson) and his nemesis in Arkham Asylum. There, audiences get a closer look at how physically decrepit Reeves' version is, but more importantly, how magnetic Keoghan is in the role of the Joker. And if he were to be invited back, the actor wouldn't say no.
"As soon as that call comes," he told GQ, "I'm there man, I'm there."
The Joker isn't a guarantee in The Batman 2
Heath Ledger, Mark Hamill, Jared Leto, Joquin Phoenix. The list of modern Jokers is arguably exhausting. And Matt Reeves may not disagree with that statement. When he decided to include the character in the revamped Rogues Gallery, it was a version that wasn't quite the infamous archetype fans know him to be. He is more or less a plot device to further Batman's character. In the deleted scene, the Joker tells Batman that the Dark Knight thinks the Riddler's victims deserved it. And to an extent, this is true. But this is clear throughout the film, so the scene was cut. Reeves explained to IGN his intention was never to set up another film, as Christopher Nolan had done with the Christian Bale trilogy.
"The scene [with Riddler] is not meant to be there to say, 'Oh, here's an Easter egg. The next movie is X,'" Reeves said. "I don't know that the Joker would be in the next movie, but I can tell you that here's what you're seeing, is an early days version of this character, and trouble, as always, is brewing in Gotham." This decision is regrettable for Barry Keoghan, who feels like one of the fresher takes on the character. But not including him could be a blessing in disguise. With DC implementing every interpretation of the Joker under the sun at this point, steering away would save fans from more Joker exhaustion.