Barry Keoghan’s Joker isn’t staying locked in that Arkham cell. He’s coming back for The Batman Part II, and it’s exactly what that closing scene in 2022 promised.

From Cameo to Confirmed

Keoghan’s first go at the role was barely a scene — Mr. J only appears briefly at the end of 2022’s The Batman, as his silhouette can be seen while he forms an alliance with the unsuspecting Riddler in Arkham Asylum. Warner Bros. later gave fans a taste of what they were missing: Keoghan’s Joker only appeared in a glimpse at the very end of The Batman, with audiences able to get a better look at the character in a deleted scene. That extended cut showed exactly why people wanted more — a far darker, viciously scarred version of the character, who bests even Batman’s detective skills as he plays a Hannibal Lecter-esque role.

Now it’s real. Variety reports that Barry Keoghan is reprising the role of the Joker after all, following his introduction in 2022’s The Batman. That said, don’t expect him running the show — this doesn’t confirm that he will be the central antagonist of The Batman - Part II story, and it’s still very likely that the sequel will have a different Batman villain as the main threat.

Keoghan won’t be alone in Gotham’s underworld this time. The sequel’s shaping up as a full rogues’ gallery: Joker, Dent, Riddler, and Penguin are all active in this version of Gotham, setting up a rogues’ gallery that mirrors Bruce’s own psychological descent. Sebastian Stan is rumored for Harvey Dent, Colin Farrell is locked back in as Penguin, and Scarlett Johansson has been linked to the cast as well. Reeves has said his Joker take draws from something older than the comics — director inspiration traces to the 96-year-old horror movie The Man Who Laughs, with the idea that his worldview is sort of formed by his being disfigured from birth, like a cruel joke that life was playing on him.

The film is currently scheduled to be theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on October 1, 2027. That’s a long wait for five minutes of asylum menace to pay off — but the Arkham cell door just swung back open.

What it means next: with Dent, Penguin, Riddler and now Joker all confirmed in the same Gotham, Reeves is building toward something closer to a full-blown crime saga than a single-villain sequel — the only question left is who’s actually running it.