The Batman 2: Joker Actor Teases Preparation for Potential Return

Warner Bros. Discovery is all in on Matt Reeves’ The Batman franchise with them signing the director to an overall deal. Reeves has also been developing several spinoff series that include a Penguin spinoff, a series that is set in Arkham Asylum, and one that will focus on the GCPD. A sequel to The Batman is in development, with the director already penning the script and will reveal his plans to DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran in a few weeks. Gunn recently debunked a report that claimed that they were working on a way to merge The Batman universe with the universe they’re creating and that Batman will have a major role in the DC Universe. During the ending of the film we see Joker (Barry Keoghan) and Riddler (Paul Dano) forming a friendship and possibly setting them up for an appearance in the sequel. Keoghan recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he teased his return as the Clown Prince of Crime.

“Obviously I’d love another crack,” Keoghan revealed. “I’ve got a ton of back work done on him. If an opportunity does arise but, you know, they make the call, and I’ve got to respect that.”

“Definitely. Definitely. Definitely, because I’ve got a few other things I’d love to bring. Actually, I have this little half-Moleskin book I’ve written a lot in already and so yeah, I want to show people what that is.” The Batman star added when asked what he would do if he was the one to make the call.

Keoghan’s Joker look has quickly been compared to the Death of the Family arc where the Joker’s face is cut off and reattached, further disfiguring the criminal clown left with green hair, bleached white skin, and a permanent rictus grin after falling into a vat of acidic chemicals. Reeves revealed the inspiration for his take on the Joker: a homage to the mutilated mouth of Conrad Veidt’s Gwynplaine in The Man Who Laughs, the 1928 silent film that influenced the DC Comics character. 

“He can never stop smiling. And it made Mike [Marino] and I think about — I was talking about The Elephant Man because I love David Lynch. And I was like, ‘Well, maybe there’s something here where it’s not something where he fell in a vat of chemicals or it’s not the [Christopher] Nolan thing where he has these scars and we don’t know where they came from,” Reeves explained. “What if this is something that he’s been touched by from birth and that he has a congenital disease that refuses to let him stop smiling? And he’s had this very dark reaction to it, and he’s had to spend a life of people looking at him in a certain way and he knows how to get into your head.’”

Directed by Matt Reves, The Batman stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton/the Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as GCPD’s James Gordon, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson, Jayme Lawson as mayoral candidate Bella Reál, Andy Serkis as Alfred, and Colin Farrell as Oswald “Penguin” Cobblepot. The film is streaming on HBO Max now.

What do you think about his comments? Are you excited to see him return? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @NateBrail up on Twitter!