DC is about to triple down on its villains. Director Matt Reeves received all kinds of approval for his recent new tackle the Caped Crusader in 2022’s “The Batman,” nevertheless it’s honest to say that star Robert Pattinson ended up upstaged by the massive bads layered all through the script: Paul Dano’s Riddler together with his David Fincher-inspired method, John Turturro’s creepy mob boss Carmine Falcone, and particularly Colin Farrell because the scene-stealing Penguin, Oswald Cobb (a personality so interesting that he is since been spun off into his personal profitable “The Penguin” sequence on HBO). However do not forget that there was even a last-minute tease for one other main DC antagonist with Barry Keoghan’s Joker, who acquired much more display screen time in a deleted scene that Warner Bros. dropped quickly after the movie’s launch. The hypothesis since then has been that the upcoming “The Batman: Half II” would focus way more on Gotham’s well-known Clown Prince of Crime, however we’re now receiving phrase that the studio is planning some severely large issues for him sooner or later.
The rumor comes from the Marvelvision podcast, hosted by movie blogger Derek Faraci and former critic Devin Faraci (a dependable supply of insider information however who, it needs to be famous, has had a controversial previous within the movie critic neighborhood), of their newest episode tied to HBO’s ongoing “The Penguin” sequence. In a scoop that /Movie can independently verify we have heard from our personal sources in current days, Faraci reveals that WB is looking forward to future plans for the Joker — a few of which can embrace a Joker-centric spinoff sequence, which might lead as much as a serious look within the third “The Batman” film. Learn on for extra particulars!
Barry Keoghan could return in a Joker sequence earlier than a lead villain function in The Batman: Half III
The success of “The Penguin” may need wider-reaching results than we ever thought. As in style as Batman has all the time been amongst followers and basic audiences alike, there isn’t any denying that viewers have gravitated in the direction of the superhero’s villains many times. (That nicely may’ve lastly run dry for a spell with the current flop “Joker: Folie à Deux,” although studio executives certainly hope that was an aberration.) If this newest growth is to be believed, the Joker will likely be making a grand return to the small display screen and the massive display screen within the years forward. At roughly the 21-minute mark of the most recent Marvelvision podcast episode, Devin Faraci reveals:
“Apparently Warner Bros. has been chatting with Barry Keoghan about his return to ‘The Batman’ franchise, and my understanding is that — I do not know if he is in [‘The Batman: Part II’] or not, however he is the primary villain of [‘The Batman: Part III’]. And the explanation why they’re having an actual discuss it’s as a result of the plan is to do a Joker-oriented sequence that connects ‘II’ and ‘III’ the way in which that ‘The Penguin’ connects [‘The Batman’] and [‘The Batman: Part II’].”
That mentioned, he instantly cautions that it is unclear whether or not this will likely be precisely in the identical vein as “The Penguin,” with the Joker positioned because the protagonist of the sequence very like Oz Cobb. Reportedly, this might both be a full-fledged Joker sequence or, as Faraci places it, merely “a sequence the Joker is in.” That leaves a good quantity of wiggle room for WB and Matt Reeves, however this actually traces up with earlier reporting that Reeves was trying to develop the sequence in a villain-centric route. Something may change between now and the discharge of “The Batman: Half II” (which has been pushed again a full yr to 2026), so keep tuned for additional updates.
