Another new Joker may be coming to Matt Reeves Batman movies, but do we need one?

Whenever a new actor gets cast as Batman, it’s an event. Who’s it gonna be this time? How will they interpret the iconic role? From Adam West to Michael Keaton to Kevin Conroy to Christian Bale to Ben Affleck and now Robert Pattinson, who will star in The Batman from director Matt Reeves, every body brings their own spin to the part.

And where there is Batman, there is the Joker, who generates just as much hype. Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto…at his best, the Joker outshines the Batman himself, running away with whatever story he’s a part of. Hell, the recent Joker solo movie starring Joaquin Phoenix became the most profitable comic book movie in history!

The Batman, which is scheduled for release in October of 2021, will feature a plethora of villains from the Caped Crusader’s famous rogue’s gallery, including Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler and Colin Farrell as the Penguin. (And also Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon and Andy Serkis as Alfred; this movie has spared no expense when it comes to casting.) Now, an Insider at The Direct has it that Reeves wants to bring in the Joker for the follow-up to The Batman, as well as for the third movie, assuming things get that far.

Now, this is just a rumor, but it’s not that much of a stretch. Of course Warner Bros. wants to make a trilogy of new Batman movies — one is never enough in today’s sequel-happy Hollywood — and of course they’d want to feature Batman’s most iconic nemesis at some point. According to this report, we’re talking about an all-new Joker here, not a crossover with Joaquin Phoenix’s version. I can believe that, too. As fun as it might be to see Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck face down with Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne, the new Joker movie has a tone all its own very distinct from what we usually get in superhero films. Plus, after failing to get the DC Extended Universe off the ground with stuff like Justice League, Warner Bros. is apparently focusing more on standalone movies and movie series. The upshot: I doubt we’re looking at a crossover.

And that means they would hire someone entirely new. Honestly, after cycling through so many incarnations of the Joker over the past decade and change — Ledger was a high point, Leto a low — and with a solo movie series about Phoenix’s Joker potentially taking off, I could do with a little break from the Clown Prince of Crime. It’s already work trying to reboot a character like Batman for the umpteenth time, inviting comparisons to Batman’s past, without doing the same thing for the Joker. Batman has a lot of villains, both famous and not-so-famous. Maybe give some of them a shot before going back to the Joker well?

If The Batman is a success, I imagine we’ll see a new Joker regardless of what anyone thinks. And I’ll probably enjoy it, because the character is a ton of fun to play with for any actor worth their salt. There’s a big wide world of superheroes and villains out there, is all I’m saying.

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