The Batman 2 Cast Is Still Missing One Key Villain
Maybe the Joker really is wild.
Saying The Batman Part II has been a long time coming would be a massive understatement. Matt Reeves’ Nirvana-soundtracked, gritty take on the Caped Crusader hit theaters all the way back in 2022, and the next chapter won’t premiere until October 2027, after two different year-long delays.
But finally, things are heating up, and Reeves has taken to social media to introduce his cast, person by person, using clips from previous projects. But despite this big introduction, one of the few characters we have already met is completely missing from the list.
Matt Reeves’ announcement of The Batman Part II cast missed a characer introduced in the first movie.
Matt Reeves has been posting on Twitter throughout the past few days, introducing cast members we knew about, like Robert Pattinson or Jeffrey Wright, and even some we didn’t, like Bryan Tyree Henry. Pretty much everyone involved was announced, including Scarlett Johansson and Sebastian Stan, but fans quickly noticed one glaring absence: Barry Keoghan, who was introduced at the end of The Batman as the Joker, living within the walls of Arkham Asylum.
At the time, it seemed like a Marvel-style tease as to the next movie’s Big Bad, but later statements Reeves made completely upended this theory — apparently, the main villain of The Batman Part II is one who has never been adapted on screen before. But that didn’t completely disprove the Joker appearing altogether; he could always just show up as a minor villain or even make another cameo at the end, like a Reeves-verse Nick Fury.
Barry Keoghan’s appearance as The Joker in The Batman Part II may not have confirmed a sequel appearance.
But with no clip of Keoghan in Banshees of Inisherin, or Saltburn, or even a Sabrina Carpenter music video, now it seems like the Joker will be completely absent from the movie. Perhaps Reeves is keeping his cards close to his chest, and the Joker could still appear somewhere, but clearly his involvement isn’t something that Reeves wants his audience to expect.
Could this mean that Keoghan’s Jokers appearance from the first movie could be ignored completely? It’s been years since then, so it’s understandable if plans have changed from the original strategy, but the Joker is so synonymous with the Batman story that fans are sure to clamor for him to take the spotlight eventually.
But as they say, the devil’s greatest trick was convincing people he doesn’t exist. Perhaps the Joker’s greatest trick was convincing audiences he wouldn’t appear in this sequel.
