The Batman: Is It Too Soon For Another New Joker?

Recent rumors about The Batman movie reboot have pointed to what kind of villains may appear in the sequels that will almost inevitably come after the first film. Bane was one big Batman foe name-dropped for a sequel - but the other is, of course, Joker. Current rumors point to The Joker being featured in both The Batman 2 & 3, as one villain in a larger ensemble. Director Matt Reeves seems to be setting the stage for an entire Batman movie universe in his reboot, so naturally Joker would be a part of it. However, when discussion on the recent ComicBook Nation podcast, one big question came up:

Is it too soon for The Batman to bring DC fans another new movie version of The Joker?

The Batman DCEU Connections

Comicbook.com's Brandon Davis is behind the idea of Matt Reeves using The Batman to build the most complete Batman movie universe we've seen onscreen - complete with its own version of The Joker:

"I love the idea, I think this Batman Trilogy feels like it has the opportunity to be, like the most complete Batman Universe live-action story, that we will have seen... it's kind of inevitable to bring Joker into this trilogy with what we're doing, I think this really has a chance to be a complete Batman Universe."

Brandon did have one caveat about The Batman's world-building though:

"I'm almost sad that it feels like it's not going to be connected to the larger DC Universe because it seems like we're really building a world, a Gotham world... I also want to see this Batman become fully realized, and then I'd like to see him interact with Superman, and The Flash, and Wonder Woman..."

DC's Batman Universe

Host Kofi Outlaw had a different sort of desire: for The Batman to establish its own, self-contained, movie universe franchise, with its own Joker:

"I would love to see what they did on the animated front, which is just an entire corner, which is just like an entire Batman world... the whole shebang with Gotham City sirens, and Birds of Prey, and Batman, and if we want to get into things like Nightwing, and Redhood, and Joker, and all that stuff, and have it be in its own kind of universe, that doesn't have to worry about the DCEU... A Gotham that feels like an entire city, and a whole underworld, and all the rogues are there together, they don't just pop up and die off...; like, this is a whole world and I would love for it to be an isolated thing, and I don't ever need to see Superman come flying into it."

Brandon liked that concept, but definitely wanted more:

"We're gonna have an awesome fully realized Gotham, I think it would be really cool to have it operate adjacent to a fully realized Metropolis, a fully realized Central City, and have more characters that you can access. Have the Birds oF Prey out there, and we can't get too complicated in building that, because we just had a Birds of Prey movie. I would love to see Ben Affleck play Batman in the DCEU, and Robert Pattinson play Batman in a separate universe... where everybody can be there and Batman is not limited to only his characters, but, focused on his characters. This is the same way Iron Man was focused on his characters in Iron Man movies for the most part, and then became part of Avengers movies, It's a similar thing."

DCEU vs. MCU

Host Matt Aguilar thought the Marvel comparison was the wrong way to go, as DC's continuity is still too screwed up for that kind of shared universe:

"We have to get over the fact that this is not Marvel, this is not the MCU, and it hasn't been for a minute. I've let go the whole thing of interconnecting them, and having them in the same playground, I let that go because I just don't see that happening without a massive movie to just fix it all, and essentially make a "Crisis" onscreen-- But again, that brings it's own things, okay, that's not exactly easy to do."

Joker Overload

Host Janell Wheeler had a much more straightforward view: any new DC content means good content. However, in the case of Joker, she's cautious about seeing the villain again too soon:

"You guys already know I say this all the time: more content, more content, just give me more of everything. But... I am crazy about the Joker, the Joker is my favorite villain of all time ever... but I don't know why they're bringing the Joker again, because... we don't need the Joker to like Batman, like we need to like Batman for Batman. I just feel like it's kind of this go-to that people like, 'Let's throw the Joker in it, and it will be good," ... focus on other villains, focus on Batman... I mean Joker has had it's moment, and then maybe bring him back, further down the line... but for the first movie [The Batman], please no."

When would you like to see The Joker join The Batman franchise? Immediately, in a sequel, or even further down the line?

Catch the full ComicBook Nation episode below; new episodes drop every Wednesday and Friday.