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The director also gave an interesting update on the villain of the movie. While stopping short of confirming who it’ll be, he did say it’s a character who has “never really been done” in a film before. Presumably, that means a live-action movie, since countless rogues have featured in animated features. It could even simply mean a very different take on a character, like Mr. Freeze. But whatever the true intent of Reeves’ wording, it makes one thing very clear: The Batman 2‘s villain won’t be the Joker, despite Barry Keoghan’s introduction as the Clown Prince of Crime in the first movie.
The Batman 2 Not Using The Joker Is A Good Thing
Typically, the Joker is a go-to villain for any Batman movie. Of course, that reflects his status as the Caped Crusader’s arch-nemesis in the comics, but he’s also become the most iconic of his big-screen rogues gallery, too. So much so that, for any Batman actor who lasts longer than one movie, they do tend to face off with him at some point. Michael Keaton’s Batman faced him in his debut movie, back in 1989. Christian Bale went up against him in his second movie, The Dark Knight. They’re the only two Batman actors to get two full, solo live-action movies, and both had the Joker as a main villain, something Pattinson won’t.
Hell, even Ben Affleck faced Joker in his second outing: 2016’s Suicide Squad, albeit very briefly. And if George Clooney had donned the cape and cowl for another movie, Joel Schumacher’s Batman: Triumphant plans did include Joker in some capacity (and Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, and several others). And so it seemed likely that history was going to repeat itself, with the Joker being introduced in a cell in Arkham at the end of The Batman. This was even more direct a setup than Batman Begins‘ Joker card, after all, so surely that’s what it was building towards.
