Is Michael Keaton playing the Joker? Rumor explained
Warner Bros.Off the back of Robert Downey Jr.’s return to Marvel, another famous hero is being tied to a major villain role, with word of Michael Keaton becoming the next person to play Joker.
If Bruce Wayne heard about this, he’d probably flip a lid. There’s nobody more in opposition to Batman‘s moral compass than the chaotic and wild Joker. For as long as the Gotham vigilante has been around, that maniacal clown has always been one step behind.
Michael Keaton took over the Batman role in Tim Burton’s 1989 superhero movie, and returned as recently as 2023’s The Flash. But the word on the street is that he’s next up to play Wayne’s arch-enemy.
Is that true? Or is this a classic case of an internet rumor becoming too well-circulated? Here’s everything you need to know.
Michael Keaton’s Joker rumor is a dig at Marvel
Everybody can calm down, since nobody has confirmed that Michael Keaton is playing the Joker – if you’ve heard otherwise, it’s probably from a post on X that’s made the rounds.
An X user named @KurzedZuko made the below post on July 28, 2024, writing that Keaton had been cast as Joker in the upcoming DC movie, The Brave and the Bold.
The post has since been liked 18.2k times, with comments split between users who believe the statement, and those who know no such casting has been confirmed. At the time of writing, nobody in The Brave and the Bold cast has been announced, least of all Michael Keaton.
This post is likely a response to the huge news that Robert Downey Jr. will be returning to the MCU to play Doctor Doom, as announced at San Diego Comic-Con on July 27, 2024.
The news caused a wave of division among Marvel fans, with some overjoyed that their favorite Marvel star would be returning, and others dismayed at the predictable casting. Either way, the fact that Downey Jr. is leaving behind his hero status to play one of the biggest supervillains of all time was completely unprecedented.
The idea that Keaton, who played Caped Crusader in two Batman movies (Batman in 1989 and Batman Returns in 1992), might return to the franchise as his on-screen nemesis, is clearly a riff on the RDJ news.
So, until DC actually confirms who’s up to bat in the upcoming Batman flick, it’s safe to say that Keaton very likely isn’t putting on that clown makeup.
The Joker is already being played by two actors
The Joker position is already filled by two actors in live-action movies – Joaquin Phoenix and Barry Keoghan.
Phoenix exists in his own Joker-verse, and will return alongside Harley Quinn in the upcoming sequel Joker: Folie à Deux. His run as the Clown Prince of Crime began in 2019 with the first Joker movie.
The newest Joker actor on the block is Barry Keoghan (he’s sart of like an evil porson). He appeared briefly in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, which came out in 2022.
He comes in at the end when the Riddler is imprisoned, though he did have a larger scene with Robert Pattinson’s Batman that ended up being cut. You can watch it for yourself below:
Odds are that Keoghan will come back in a larger capacity in the upcoming sequel, The Batman 2. Any other live-action Joker actors are just going to have to wait their turn.
For more DC news and guides, check out all the best DCEU movies. You can also learn more about The Penguin TV show and find out more about James Gunn’s Superman.