Warner Bros. Japan dropped a new trailer for The Batman and fans are convinced the new footage is teasing none other than The Joker.The trailer, which comprises a combination of both old and new footage, features two snippets that fans are calling attention to. The first is a collection of newspaper clippings at the 12-second mark. One of the images of Bruce Wayne, seen in the bottom left, seemingly hides a sinister smile in the background. Others are also pointing to the trailer's last line uttered by an unknown man. "I've been trying to reach you, Bruce Wayne," says the figure, immediately followed by a chilling laugh. The footage was enough to spark widespread speculation across social media.
Many fans are convinced that the actor uttering the final line is Barry Keoghan, who was recently rumored to appear in The Batman as the iconic villain. Through a now-deleted exchange with a fan, Eric Keoghan wrote, "So it's finally out My Brother playing the JOKER in the new Batman Unreal Stuff." Neither Keoghan brother elaborated on the potential leak but the message did align with other rumors that Koeghan would feature as the Clown Prince of Crime in The Batman. While neither confirmed nor denied, fans were quick to throw their support behind Koeghan.
At the time of writing, The Joker has not been confirmed to appear in The Batman. The film will feature four main villains that will push Bruce Wayne to his limit: Carmine Falcone, Catwoman, The Penguin and The Riddler, who is being framed as the film's core protagonist. Following the latest trailer, some fans are convinced that the final voice belongs to Paul Dano's Riddler.
The Batman is set in the early stages of Bruce Wayne's war on Gotham City's criminal underworld. Taking place outside of the mainline DCEU, director Matt Reeves stated that the film won't serve as an origin story. "For me, what was exciting was not doing that, not doing the origin, not doing what we'd seen done so beautifully in other movies, but instead to meet him in the middle of this criminological experiment, to see him in the becoming of Batman and to see him make mistakes as Batman and see him grow and fail and be heroic, do all of the things that we associate with Batman, but in a way that felt very human and very flawed," said Reeves.
Starring Robert Pattinson, Paul Dano, Jeffery Wright, Andy Serkis and Zoë Kravitz, The Batman releases in theaters on March 4, 2022.
Source: Twitter, YouTube