Batman could face off with Joaquin Phoenix's Joker in the Worlds of DC someday. That tantalising tease comes directly from Joker director Todd Phillips, who has steadily backed away from his stance that there would be no sequels since the movie became the first R-rated film to make a billion dollars at the box office.
His latest intriguing comments were made to Variety, where he threw out the idea of a Batman movie set in the world he created with Joker.
"It's a beautiful Gotham. What I would like to see someone tackle is what Batman looks like from that Gotham," he said.
Phillips then clarified: "I'm not saying I'm going to do that. What was interesting to me about the inclusion of Batman in our movie was, 'What kind of Batman does that Gotham make?' That's all I meant by that."
The filmmaker has previously insisted the success of Joker actually isn't down to its connection to the largely Batman mythology.
"I mean, I think there are themes in the movie that really resonated with people," he said. "None of us thought an R-rated movie could do over $1 billion across the world. But I think the themes in it really resonated."
A Batman movie set in the world of Joker apparently came very close to being an impossibility, according to writer-director Kevin Smith.
The Fatman Beyond podcast host recently claimed that Phillips' original ending for Joker would have further changed DC Comics canon by directly having Arthur Fleck murder Thomas and Martha Wayne, as well as young Bruce, stopping the caped crusader before he donned his tights for the first time. Luckily for Robert Pattinson – and our dreams of a Joker v Batman match-up – that ending was scrapped.
Joker is in cinemas now
Night News Editor
Justin has been with Digital Spy since 2010, and in that time, has covered countless major news events for DS from the US.
He has worked previously as both a reporter and sub editor for the brand, prior to taking on the position of Night News Editor in 2016.
Over more than a decade, he has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. As a US contributor to Digital Spy, Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo.
