Matt Ryan’s tenure playing occult detective John Constantine in the Arrowverse has seen him rub shoulders with a whole bunch of DC heroes and villains, including Green Arrow, the Legends, Damien Darhk and more. But what other iconic characters from the DC library would the actor like to be paired with in the future?
While attending last weekend’s Wizard World in Cleveland, Matt Ryan revealed that of all the possible team-ups out there, he would like to see Constantine come up against Batman’s nemesis the Joker. Following the chance where his character got to meet Batman in the Justice League Dark animated movie, Ryan now wants to see what would happen if Constantine faced off against the Clown Prince of Crime.
“I always wondered how Constantine would be with the Joker. Most of the time when I think of John in a situation with the other heroes, I can kind picture what would happen. With the Joker, I don’t know. I love the way they wrote his interaction with Batman [in Justice League Dark]. There’s not a lot there in terms of dialogue, it’s just the one liners like calling him ‘Batsy’ and whatnot. Those little things. In a way, they’re kind of very similar, John and Batman/Bruce Wayne. I really like that dynamic, and what was [also] great about Justice League Dark was being able to play some of those relationships with characters that we didn’t get to on the show – even though it’s just a voice thing. It was really great to explore those dynamics. I’ve just got the Joker in my head now, though.”
Ryan’s discussion of Justice League Dark reminds us that, though his dream of appearing opposite the Joker is probably a long shot in the Arrowverse, it’s totally possible for it to happen in a future DC animated movie. The actor’s interpretation of the fan favourite character meant that he was the natural choice to voice the part in the film, so hopefully he’ll get an invite to return at some point. He’s already got his own animated series coming to CW Seed, after all.
As for how Constantine and the Joker would interact, Ryan has a sneaky suspicion that the pair would actually get on, seeing as they both possess “a dark soul.” Not that a good guy like John could actually become best pals with the mass murderer, mind you.
“What would the first scene be if those guys get together? I think the Joker would like John Constantine. He’s a dark soul, and they could almost be friends but John’s soul kind of wouldn’t let it happen.”
The next time we’ll see John Constantine is on March 19th’s episode of Legends of Tomorrow, “Necromancing the Stone.” His webseries then arrives on March 24th.
