Anywhere the Dark Knight goes, the Clown Prince of Crime tends to follow close behind, so there was always going to be speculation that the Joker was set to either be teased or make an appearance in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
We know that Colin Farrell’s Oswald Cobblepot, Paul Dano’s Edward Nashton and Zoe Kravitz’s Selina Kyle will form the trio of prime antagonists for Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader, but no self-respecting comic book blockbuster manages to get through the entire running time without planting a couple of seeds for what’s to come in the inevitable sequels.
The notion that Barry Keoghan’s rookie Gotham City cop Stanley Merkel is actually the Joker has been gaining some traction in certain online circles, with countless fan-created mock-ups imagining how the Eternals star would look as the Jester of Genocide.
Getting in on the act, Keoghan’s brother Eric commented on one of the fan art posts by saying, “So it’s finally out My Brother playing the JOKER in the new Batman Unreal Stuff.” While that’s hardly a confirmation, inquisitive eyebrows were raised when he deleted the comment in no time at all, pouring more gasoline onto the smoldering embers of scuttlebutt. The Batman is still four months away from release, which is probably when we’ll get an official answer.