The Batman director Matt Reeves discusses whether he ever considered creating a crossover with the 2019 movie Joker. After years of breathless anticipation, The Batman is finally set to debut in theaters. The film stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne and explores his detective side on a deeper level than any other Batman movie has. In this iteration, Bruce is in his second year as Batman and finds himself entangled in a cat-and-mouse game with the Riddler (Paul Dano), who has been killing wealthy Gotham City citizens. The Batman features an impressive cast that also includes Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, Andy Serkis, and John Turturro.

Though their creative teams are pretty different, there are many similarities between The Batman and the hit DC film Joker. That movie was directed by Todd Phillips and starred Joaquin Phoenix as a new, grounded version of the iconic Batman villain. Both Joker and The Batman exist in universes that are separate from the inter-connected DCEU, and they maintain a gritty, realistic style that's few and far between in this current age of superhero domination. Because of this, many fans have been taken with the idea that The Batman and Joker actually exist within the same world, or just that Phoenix could someday be Pattinson's Joker.

Related: Pattinson's Batman Has One Very Specific Similarity To Dark Knight's Joker

For his part, Reeves never envisioned his DC film connecting with Joker in any way. Speaking to Total Film (via GamesRadar+), Reeves responded to the question of whether he's ever considered having The Batman crossover with the 2019 movie. It turns out that when he first began work on his film, he didn't even know about Joker. Reeves said:

"I was finishing the Planet of the Apes movies when I first came on board, in 2017. It's been five years in the making. When I was working on the script, and got deep into the script, Joker hadn't come out yet. I didn't know what Joker was or what it was going to be.

"I became aware of it once we were very deep into the film, and the fact that they were grounding things in a way that was reminiscent of things that we were doing, that wasn't planned. Joker was always meant to be a very specific standalone that Joaquin [Phoenix], and Todd [Phillips] were doing. There was never really any discussion of crossover."

Robert Pattinson as Batman in The Batman

Therefore, it sounds like fans should expect The Batman and Joker to stick to their own unsettling universes. The Batman is rapidly expanding its own world with a variety of spinoff projects, and it seems very likely that it could receive its own Joker someday. However, Reeves might prefer to have someone new take on the part rather than find a way to combine his franchise with Joker. Fans have already put forth some excellent ideas for who could be Pattinson's Joker, with Willem Dafoe and Barry Keoghan (who actually is in The Batman) standing among the most popular options.

Meanwhile, there have been a handful of developments about a Joker 2 being in the works. As of May 2021, the plan was for Phillips to write the script, but there have been few updates since then. Still, even if it does make it all the way to production, it would be rather strange to suddenly have Phoenix's version of the Joker acknowledge Batman, whether he be played by Pattinson or not. Though their styles might complement each other, it's probably for the best that The Batman and Joker remain separate.

More: Matt Reeves' The Batman Trilogy Faces An Impossible Joker Problem

Source: Total Film (via GamesRadar+)

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