In the Batman canon, or even amongst comic books in general, there is no villain quite like the Joker. He has delighted movie-going audiences since the '60s. His sadistic plots have an instantly recognizable aesthetic to be paired forever with his masochistic laughter at his inevitable defeat. Recently, the DC franchise has relied on the Joker to be the big draw to its movies ever since Heath Ledger’s popular performance in The Dark Knight. In fact, the villain is so desirable that the TV series Gotham created their own version of the Joker despite them not being legally allowed to use his name.
But this level of popularity is a hindrance more than a help to Matt Reeves in his new movie The Batman. Audiences come into the theater loaded with expectations, everyone looking throughout the film for the next Heath Ledger. And while Reeves has promised to make his story to a place just as dark as the Joker’s twisted mind, the presuppositions of his movie being about only the one villain blind audiences to new possibilities. There is a full pallet of colorful rogues in Batman’s gallery, Clayface, Poison Ivy, Lobo, the Riddler, and the movie could be about any of them. At any rate, audience expectations are something that Reeves has to deal with, and whether he chooses to meet them or not, he’s walking through a cultural minefield filled with DC’s most dangerous supervillain.
There Are a Lot of Jokers
In every film reincarnation of Batman, there are clear stylistic differences. But more than anything, audiences love a villain. And everyone is looking at the Joker. Ever since Heath Ledger blew us all away with his incredible performance as the Joker in 2008, he's been the high mark on the pole everyone is struggling to beat. It's often that other actors' performances as the Joker are measured against Heath Ledger's. And that's the problem for Matt Reeves. Because Ledger's Joker was so good, there was even a rumor started that he overdosed on medication because of how haunted he was by his own role. And Reeves is trying to go darker than this? Any director certainly has their work cut out for them when it comes to the Joker. And should they succeed, they definitely deserve to be lauded amongst the best directors of a Batman film.
But continuing to put Heath Ledger in the spotlight makes the future Batman movies more about him than it does about Batman. This could be why audiences were so disappointed with Jared Leto's performance. He saw what audiences wanted and tried to replicate it instead of giving us something new. Granted, he had a tough act to follow, and he tried his best. But this remains one example of when a present Joker was competing with its predecessor for how dark it could get. But it wasn't the darkness that was its fatal flaw. It was just the competition.
Joaquin Phoenix astounded with his performance but understood the risks he was taking. And so, he gave audiences a way to understand the character and showed us a relatable villain that we all already knew was deathly evil. While some said that the Joker didn't need an origin story, this was a creative take on a familiar villain that added a new dimension to the character. But all it does for Matt Reeves is remove another option for his own interpretation in The Batman. But you know what they say when a door closes, a window opens. And the Joker isn't the only thing lurking in the shadows of Gotham.
Batman Has a Rich Family History
It could always be possible that a threat doesn't come from the Joker or some far-off fantasy villain. There is plenty of intrigue happening right inside the Bat Cave. Every Robin that's ever existed has abandoned Batman for one reason or another (...or died). One of them, Jason Todd, became a real problem for his former mentor, confronting him with huge moral dilemmas and even going so far as to kill the Joker. The only Robin that has yet to leave is Bruce Wayne's own son, Damien, and he is tied to Batman's oldest villain Ra's al Ghul, through his mother, Talia al Ghul. Of course, the young Wayne has a dilemma of his own, wondering where his loyalties lie while trying to create an identity for himself. And the problem of identity was big enough for the first Robin without being related to a villain.
The point is Batman's rogue's gallery is known for being one of the greatest in comic book history. So why not call up some minor league players that would already be heavy hitters in a different franchise? Gotham could still be a place where Killer Croc roams the city's sewers, or Poison Ivy hypnotizes club-goers with fungal spores. Lobo could still be from space! And Mr. Freeze could be out to put the old Batman "on ice." There are a wealth of possibilities, and any one of them could expand the world of Batman from a franchise that has been too narrowly focused on a single character to one that has as many stories as there are cells in Arkham Asylum.