'Joker: Folie à Deux' Continues the Clown Prince's Gritty Story — Will Batman Be a Part of It?

The state of both DC Comics as a multimedia brand and Warner Bros. as a studio continues to receive criticism on a regular basis. Amid the controversy, one of the few projects still moving forward under both labels is — unsurprisingly — the highly anticipated sequel to 2019's Joker. The original film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a troubled man who eventually becomes the eponymous and iconic DC villain. This original origin story received polarizing reviews but was successful enough for a continuation.

Joker: Folie à Deux, which is set to release in October 2024, continues Arthur's story as he descends deeper into madness while undergoing treatment at Arkham Asylum. He'll also be joined by Harleen Quinzel (Lady Gaga), a fellow inmate at Arkham who falls in love with Arthur.

The film is set to continue its trend of portraying classic Batman villains through a grounded lens, but will the Dark Knight himself finally make an appearance? Will Batman be in the second Joker film?

The previous Joker film was a standalone story, taking place in its own continuity and lacking any sort of involvement in other existing DC cinematic storylines before or since. Nevertheless, the movie did sneak in its own ties to a larger Batman-related universe. At the end of the 2019 film, Arthur Fleck incites riots throughout Gotham City as part of the final phase in his metamorphosis into his Joker persona.

Amid the chaos, a young Bruce Wayne witnesses his wealthy parents being killed by a rioter. As any Batman would tell you, this event will inevitably trigger Batman's origin story and his subsequent epic rivalry with the Joker.

But will Folie à Deux touch upon this at all?

From what we can tell, it isn't likely. Though several actors have been cast in the movie in undisclosed roles (including young British actor Harry Lawtey in a reported "big role"), there seems to be no indication that any of them will portray the Caped Crusader. However, director Todd Phillips has expressed interest in seeing how Batman would be interpreted in the Gotham he created.

In a 2020 interview with Variety, Todd told the outlet, "What I would like to see someone tackle is what Batman looks like from that Gotham. I'm not saying I'm going to do that. What was interesting to me about the inclusion of Batman in our movie was 'What kind of Batman does that Gotham make?'"

While that doesn't necessarily mean Batman won't be in the film, there is very little indication to suggest that he will appear at all.

Joker: Folie à Deux is scheduled to hit theaters on Oct. 4, 2024.