Warning: This article contains spoilers for Joker: Folie à Deux.

A two big-screen DC franchises have installments set to release in the coming years, at least two other live-action Jokers will likely have sizable roles soon.

Evidently, the Joker has been a popular DC character for a long time. In fact, it could be said that the Joker is the face of DC villains, as he tends to be the first candidate for the main antagonist role in Gotham-related stories across all media. The Joker's unpredictable personality and vague origin story provide enough material for a wide variety of adaptations, including live-action DC movies and shows. However, it's precisely these traits that make the Joker's lack of successful big-screen sequel appearances so contradictory.

Only Joaquin Phoenix and Jared Leto Have Reprised Their Joker Roles In DC Sequels

Live-Action DC Movies Have Failed To Make The Joker A Recurring Villain

In almost every DC Comics continuity, the Joker is a recurring Batman villain who keeps coming back no matter what Batman and the Bat-Family try to do to stop him. Whether by defying death or by getting replaced by a successor, the Joker is often depicted as an unstoppable force of chaos that survives as long as there's something to destroy. Therefore, it's ironic that big-screen Joker actors rarely reprise their DC roles after their respective Jokers' introduction. The only two actors to do so have been Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix — the two most controversial Joker actors so far.

Joker 2's Box Office Failure Has Nothing To Do With The DCU... But It Doesn't Matter
Related
Joker 2's Box Office Failure Has Nothing To Do With The DCU... But It Doesn't Matter

Joker: Folie à Deux's abysmal box office could spell disaster for James Gunn's DCU, despite the movie having almost nothing to do with it.

2

Both Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix's Jokers have achieved something that other live-action Joker portrayals haven't: they both explored Joker's DC lore beyond their feud with Batman. Jared Leto's Joker was introduced in Suicide Squad as a dangerous gangster obsessed with Harley Quinn, and Joaquin Phoenix's Joker starred in two solo films that dived deep into his psyche. Due to the DCEU's change of plans, Jared Leto's Joker only returned for a cameo in Zack Snyder's Justice League, and due to Todd Phillips' creative vision, Joker: Folie a Deux brought back Joaquin Phoenix's Joker only to kill him at the end.

No big-screen Joker has become the mainstay Gotham menace that DC's Clown Prince of Crime has been for decades

Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix's Jokers barely got to interact with Batman. Jared Leto's Joker exchanged some rough words with Ben Affleck's Batman in the Knightmare future of Zack Snyder's Justice League, and Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck briefly visited a young Bruce Wayne before getting kicked out of his mansion. With Leto's Joker being left behind by Harley Quinn before the DCEU's conclusion and Phoenix's Arthur Fleck getting killed in prison, it's still safe to say that no big-screen Joker has become the mainstay Gotham menace that DC's Clown Prince of Crime has been for decades in the source material.

The Joker Has Two Big Opportunities To Become A Recurring Movie Villain

The Batman Franchise And The DCU Could Do The Joker's Unstoppable Nature Justice

While the Joker's credibility has taken a big hit with Joker: Folie a Deux's massive critical and commercial failure, the villain will likely have two separate changes to make an impression on the big screen soon. The Batman's ending scenes introduced Barry Keoghan's Joker, and a deleted scene set up his conflict with Robert Pattinson's Batman. These scenes suggest that Barry Keoghan's Joker may play a primary or secondary antagonist role, possibly in The Batman - Part II and The Batman - Part III.

The Batman's most likely antagonists include the Court of Owls, Hush, Mister Freeze, and Clayface.

Meanwhile, the DCU's The Brave and the Bold movie will introduce a brand-new Batman. In the DCU's fresh continuity, a considerably experienced Batman may already have fought the Joker multiple times, and the Joker could be a recurring antagonist not only in Batman-related DCU projects but also in other characters' movies and shows. The DCU can also make the Joker a bigger physical threat to Batman and allow him to team up with other villains, which previous live-action movies have also overlooked in the past.

The Joker May Soon Receive The Live-Action Movie Break He Deserves

DC Might Need To Give The Joker A Break Before He Makes A Grand Return

Although DC movies have wasted the Joker's potential for multi-movie arcs, the Clown Prince of Crime has appeared in many DC projects over the past few years. Both The Batman - Part II and The Brave and the Bold will likely give other villains the chance to shine in a main antagonist role, and the Joker may take a break from DC movies for a few years — at least until Barry Keoghan's Joker breaks out of Arkham in The Batman - Part III and the DCU's Batman fights his joker in a sequel to The Brave and the Bold. From that point, the DCU could continue to develop its version of Joker as a recurring antagonist.

DC Movie Releases