Will Barry Keoghan’s ‘Joker’ Get the Last Laugh in ‘The Batman’ Trilogy?

Barry Keoghan’s Joker may get the last laugh in The Batman trilogy, according to reporting from ComicBook.com. After the actor made a cameo in 2022’s The Batman movie — and a five-minute deleted scene that was eventually released online — director Matt Reeves insisted that the brief cameo wasn’t setting up The Batman Part II.

“It’s not an Easter egg scene,” Reeves explained in a 2022 interview. “It’s not one of those end credits Marvel or DC scenes where it’s going, like, ‘Hey, here’s the next movie!’ In fact, I have no idea when or if we would return to that character in the movies.”

According to a report in the Marvelvision podcast, the Joker isn’t in The Batman Part II, but will instead be the main villain in The Batman Part III. The report also claims that Keoghan will first reappear in a spinoff series. In the way that Penguin is the bridge between The Batman and The Batman Part II, this rumored series would link the next two films.

However, we should warn that the majority of these rumors and reports are just clickbait. In a recent interview, Penguin star Colin Farrell said that he knew nothing about The Batman sequel and the only definitive word on him appearing at all in it came from director/writer Matt Reeves who said that The Penguin series will lead right into the sequel and that Oz Cobb will be in it. Nothing about how much or if he’s the big bad.

And while Reeves recently said there are talks about other series they can do with HBO/Max, nothing official has been announced. A new rumor floating around the last few days claims that Barry Keoghan lead Joker series was in the works and that he would be the main villain for a third Batman film. Keoghan appeared briefly in The Batman as the Joker though the majority of his scenes were cut, he is the voice trying to befriend the Riddler at the end of the film.

Keoghan has also said he knows nothing of the plans for his character and co-head of DC Studios, James Gunn, just took to social media to debunk the rumor all together saying definitively that there is no Joker series in the works. So if you trust James Gunn, that should be the end of that. Besides, anyone else getting tired of Joker?

Warner Bros. Pictures has dated The Batman Part II for October 2, 2026.

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