So we know Robert Pattinson is going to be the new Batman in Matt Reeves’ upcoming solo flick about the Caped Crusader and he’s going to do damn good job of it. What we don’t know is how this standalone film fits into the bigger DC extended film universe and whether the Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker will play a part.
Well we might’ve gotten a glimpse into what DC could be planning for Batman, Joker and beyond thanks to an accidental slip by R Patz.
Chatting to Variety, Rob dropped a mundane comment about Joaquin and Joker, only to quickly correct himself with an “oh s***” before politely asking for his comment to be retracted (which it was).
Now Rob didn’t really say anything scandalous or spoiler-y about Joker or Batman but that didn’t stop fans from speculating about DC’s plans because of his immediate reaction. Since we love a good little rumour mill here at GOAT, we’re going to jump on the bandwagon and throw in our two cents.
R Patz’s response suggests that DC has grand plans related to his Batman and Joaquin’s Joker, and our theory is that the comic book behemoth intend to eventually have those two characters crossover.
While Joker is touted as a standalone film set in 1981, there are teases of a Caped Crusader origin story sprinkled in it as a young Bruce Wayne makes an appearance. With Rob’s solo Batman outing focusing on the character’s early days as a young bat, it seems like the two will eventually meet up again in the future.
So how does this theory work when there’s already an existing DC cinematic universe involving Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash, Cyborg, Suicide Squad, and its own Batman and Joker?
Well Reeves and Todd Phillips have made it abundantly clear that the new Batman film and Joker don’t exist in the aforementioned DC cinematic universe, so there’s plenty of scope for a second universe alongside it where only Rob and Joaquin’s characters exist.
So in short, we could be getting two Batmen and Jokers.
Now Robert Pattinson or anyone involved with these films have yet to make any comments or statements regarding these rumours so don’t read into this theory too much.
But if this all comes to fruition, DC and Warner Bros. would be doing something ambitious and unique enough that even Marvel would be shooting them envious looks.
For now, we’ll just have to wait patiently and see.