New episodes of Batwoman return to The CW this week, and it’s safe to assume that the ante is going to be upped as the series ends its third season. One major player in the newest batch of episodes has been Marquis Jet (Nick Creegan) the half-brother of Ryan Wilder / Batwoman (Javicia Leslie) whose dark past has been unveiled over the course of the season. As fans have learned over the course of the season, Marquis was electrocuted by The Joker’s joy buzzer when he was a child, an event that set him on a dark path to now becoming the newest incarnation of The Joker in the present day. While we don’t know exactly what Marquis has up his sleeve for the rest of Batwoman‘s third season, it’s safe to assume that viewers are in for a wild ride.
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ComicBook.com recently got a chance to chat with Creegan about bringing to life a new incarnation of the iconic DC villain, and the research process that has gone into that. We also spoke about his hopes of approaching Marquis as “an embodiment of empathy” for viewers, the response he’s received from fans, and his dream team-ups within the DC multiverse.
DC Comics
ComicBook.com: On the comic side, were you a big comic fan before you landed Batwoman. and before you realized you were playing The Joker? If not, what was your research process like once you figured that out?
Nick Creegan: Honestly, I really was not a huge comic book fan growing up. I had cousins that were really into Marvel and DC, so I’ve seen comic books, and I’ve checked them out myself before, but I can’t consider myself a fan. After really getting to know comic book fans, I’d be doing them a disservice to say that I was one before. But after I did get the role, I did do research.
I found out exactly how many different renditions of The Joker actually existed. I found out that The Joker was technically dead in the DC Universe, which worked well for the Batwoman story as well, because the original Joker obviously kidnapped Marquis, and that’s how he was initially influenced. It felt like an ode to the legend of The Joker, to become what I was becoming. But yeah, I did my homework. I really respect the fans that really have been making this their life for so long. It’s such an in-depth universe. I can’t imagine how long it would take me to fully get up to speed on all the comic books that have been released, to lead to where we are now.
Fan Response
What has it been like for you to see the fan response, not only to you making history by being the first Black Joker, but then just seeing the fan response to your character in general?
The fan response has honestly been my favorite part of all of this, to be totally honest. As an actor, or an artist, period, you would hope that at least a few people enjoy and appreciate what you’re doing. But whenever I go on Twitter every Wednesday, I see how excited people are to tune in. People are telling me that they’re going to be dressing up in cosplay as my character. It’s just something that I would’ve never imagined a year ago, to see people actually loving this. It just means everything to me. We do is for people to enjoy. No matter if it’s one person, or a thousand people, if we can touch the lives of people who truly live for this stuff, it just means a lot. Especially that there are conventions based on this type of fandom. It’s been a lot of fun for me. I’ve been learning a lot, as well, from the fans. It’s really awesome.
Mental Health
One thing I really loved about your performance is how it deals with mental health — with the trauma that Marquis has gone through and how that led him to this point, while also still allowing him to be unhinged as the Joker. I was wondering if you could speak to your approach with that, because I think it really translates on screen and strikes a really good balance.
Thank you. Personally, my own issues with depression and anxiety have been prevalent in my life. I’ve been able to get therapy and work through things, and I’m huge on meditation and self work and soul work. With Marquis, you get to see what it’s like for a person who didn’t get help, and has a family dynamic that’s not conducive to good mental health practices. I really wanted Marquis to be an embodiment of empathy for people, because when people first start to see Marquis, they’re excited that Ryan has her brother there and they’re seeing this bond form, but there was always something a little off. I love to pay attention to fans who kind of saw something off with him. They didn’t fully trust him. He was yearning for a family dynamic, and you got to see that when he didn’t get that, he just went off on the deep end. But I think he’s really just yearning for love and belonging. That was my goal, to have people feel empathy for him and not necessarily agree with his actions, but think about their own lives and say, “Damn, I might have a friend or a family member who I have overlooked and not really paid attention to.”
The other part of it is — Marquis is a guy who dresses well. He seems put together. He has some charisma and comedic undertones. At the end of the day, you saw how not put together he actually was. I wanted this to show people, “You can look like you have everything together on the surface, but if you’re not seen or heard, then there’s a lot that people could be missing. So you should definitely check up on your friends and family members, who you may just assume have it all together.”
Marquis and Ryan
The dynamic that Marquis has had with Ryan across the season, especially now that it’s pivoted to this new twist on the Batman and Joker dynamic — what has it been like for you to develop that with Javicia? Both of the sibling dynamic, but also this new take on this iconic rivalry.
It’s been awesome. The first day I got to set, Javicia was everything that you would want a scene partner to be. She was warm. She invited me in. Our first scene together was when I stepped into the office and saw her and Robin Givens in there. I’m like, “Wow, these are two very dynamic women that I’m getting to work with.” I didn’t know what to expect. It was just complete kindness on set. Whenever you can trust your scene partner, that’s when you can actually go places and try risky things, and trust each other to fully hold each other it down. That’s been the dynamic. Obviously, there are a couple episodes left that people haven’t seen yet, but in the season finale, Javicia and I have a scene together that shows that amount of trust, which I’m super excited for fans to see. Javicia has become like a sibling off set. I’m able to joke with her and tease her a little bit. It’s kind of like a watered down version of how Marquis is with Ryan.
Villains
Over the course of the back half of the season, we’ve seen Marquis team up with other villains, between crossing paths with Poison Mary, and then with Victor Zsasz and Kiki. What has it been like to have other antagonists and villains to bounce off of, and further Marquis’s dynamic as a super villain?
It’s really fun. As an artist, you love whenever you can kind of team up with people and feed off each other’s energy. Even though the scene with Victor Zsasz and I was really short, it was just an incredible experience. I think that was the first person I got to actually share a screen with who is technically a villain, or another bad guy, who’s been on an episode previously. That was a lot of fun. Kiki, she’s played by a legendary actress who I’ve seen ever since Scrubs. That was really awesome to build with her on set, and just being able to feed off each other has been a lot of fun.
I guess nobody has seen the next episode, so I can’t talk about that yet, but there’s a lot to look forward to in terms of who Marquis teams up with. I hope, for this character, that he just continues to team up with some more legendary villains as we go on.
Multiverse
The DC Multiverse has essentially been opened, and Batwoman and the Arrowverse have a huge tie to that. If you could pick a dream character, or actor playing a character, that you would want to cross over with, who would it be?
I’ve always loved The Flash. I saw Javicia cross over and do [the Armageddon crossover] with them this season. I would love for myself to go on there, and maybe have some kind of crazy fight with The Flash as Marquis. I think that would be pretty cool. I’m hoping that Marquis Jet can grow as a character, and hopefully DC adopts him as somebody that they want to put in other projects. I don’t think there is another dream role. The Joker, to me, is the epitome of everything I would want as an actor. Maybe some other villains in the Batman universe, but yeah. I really feel like I do have the dream role right now.
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New episodes of Batwoman debut Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW.
