This year has seen the debut of a major new character in the Bat-corner of the DC universe, one who’s been grabbing a lot of headlines. Punchline is the Joker’s latest girlfriend and partner-in-crime, a replacement for former beau Harley Quinn. Intended as the polar opposite of Dr. Quinzel, the silent serial killer has been created by James Tynion IV, Guillem March and Carlo Pagulayan for their current run on Batman, debuting in issue #89.
However, her instant popularity may mean a jump to the screen could be right around the corner. In fact, We Got This Covered has heard from our sources – the same ones who told us a Green Lantern show is coming to HBO Max and Robert Pattinson had beat out Nicholas Hoult for the role of Batman – that Warner Bros. already has plans to bring Punchline into the DCEU. At this early stage, all the options are being considered, which means an appearance in a future Batman movie is a possibility, as is a role in some other DCEU property.
There’s even a chance that she could get her own HBO Max TV series down the line. At present, it seems they’re just entertaining all these avenues, but the bottom line is that they want her in the DCEU. And apparently they’re already setting their sights high for who could play her.
According to our intel, Kristen Bell is one name on the list for Punchline. Of course, the Frozen star is a bit of a left-field choice for a couple of reasons. For one, the merciless villainess is nothing like the bubbly characters Bell is known for and also, Punchline appears to be of Asian descent in the comics. As we know so little about her at this stage, this has yet to be confirmed, but it’s something that fans largely agree must be the intention.
Still, it’s unclear what exactly Warner Bros. plans on doing with Punchline in the DCEU and they could very well be making some changes to the character when they transition her to live-action. Or perhaps they’re just planning to loosely adapt her. For now, we’ll have to wait and see, but it sounds like they definitely want her in the franchise and we imagine it’ll happen sooner rather than later.