Expectations are high for the upcoming Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix. The film received an eight-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival over the weekend, and reviews already have it pegged as a possible early Oscar contender. But beyond that, the future of the DC movie universe is really starting to look bright, with Robert Pattinson signed on to be the next Batman.
In one of his first interviews after accepting the bat role, Pattinson made a tiny slip-up that has fans thinking his Batman will share a universe with Phoenix's Joker:
Pattinson won’t say whether he’s committed to additional “Batman” movies. “I don’t know anything,” he says. “I’ve got an idea how to do about four scenes, and then I’m working on the rest gradually.” At one point in our conversation, he offers a mundane comment about Joaquin Phoenix, who stars in “Joker” (a movie he hasn’t seen yet), before asking to retract it. “Oh s—,” he says, adding that he’s not accustomed to thinking about spoilers. “I definitely should not say that. I’m so used to pretty art-house movies, where you can watch the movie three times and still not know what it’s about.”
This is strange moment in the interview. Why would Pattinson even mentioning Joker be something he would want to retract? Fans on Reddit and elsewhere have already begun to speculate that this might mean his Batman might cross over into Phoenix's Joker universe.
Others argue that it's likely he didn't want to mention it because it would spark rumors exactly like this. Elsewhere on Reddit, fans have begun trying to do the math to see if it would even make sense for these characters to share the same universe, considering Phoenix's Joker takes place in the early '80s—meaning a modern day Batman would make Joker in at least his 60s.
At this point, I don't care how the timeline adds up, put Pattinson and Phoenix in a movie together, you cowards.
Matt Miller is a Brooklyn-based culture/lifestyle writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Esquire, Forbes, The Denver Post, and documentaries.
