The following contains spoilers for The Northman, now playing in theaters.

Willem Dafoe's role in The Northman was one of the film's most intriguing elements. His stint was brief as Heimir the Fool, but it was a performance that pushed Amleth to his destiny. Interestingly, reconciling Heimir as a jester in King Aurvandil's court, the role also nodded to something Dafoe mentioned he'd like to tackle -- DC's Joker. And in this movie, Dafoe's character really was an obscene yet sympathetic take on the Clown Prince of Crime.

Fans have been vocal about Dafoe becoming Joker for years due to his looks and acting chops. After all, the nuance brought by the Oscar-winning Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix is easily up Dafoe's alley, given his diverse cadre of movies. Dafoe himself even pitched being an imposter clown in the world Phoenix and Todd Phillips built, with many feeling that, after his stint as Green Goblin in the Spider-Man movies, he could pull the roll off without a problem.

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The Northman has Willem Dafoe as a Joker

Well, The Northman is a great audition tape for Dadoe. His first big moment came when the king returned home to greet his wife, Gudrún, and son, Amleth, in the opening. Aurvandil's brother, Fjölnir, showed up, and when Gudrún offered Fjölnir a sip from her cup, Heimir began making lewd comments, hinting Fjölnir and the queen had intimate relations. It angered them but left the king amused. After all, Heimir's job was to be a comedian while getting society thinking. Theirs was a depraved world of pillaging, so it simply made sense the jester would dive into satire, whether true or not.

These are the same games Joker played with Batman, looking deeper beyond the obvious message. And it may well be that Heimir was seeding out clues about the truth that the queen cheated with Fjölnir and arranged the coup that left them thinking Amleth died. Either way, from Dafoe's wide eyes to his scary grin to his cackling laugh, all that was missing was face paint.

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Dafoe even brought the ghoulish aspect of Joker to the role. It's something touched on in the Arkham games, where Joker's ghost haunts the Dark Knight, and Batman: Beyond the White Knight, where the villain stayed alive as a tech-specter. In The Northman, however, the Norse Joker reappeared as a skull when a witch told adult Amleth of the prophecy of how he'd avenge his dad.

The royals tragically flayed Heimir because of the loyalty and spirituality he showed to the king. But as the fool spoke from the afterlife, using the witch as a vessel, he embedded immense humor in his words. Admittedly, they left Amleth scared and distrustful, which is how Batman usually feels when the Joker aids him. Nonetheless, Amleth, on a vengeance bender similar to Bruce Wayne, bought in. And just like how the Clown Prince of Crime used the Dark Knight at times, Heimir drove Amleth on as a pawn and a warped tool of justice.

See how Heimir becomes a Norse Joker in The Northman, now in theaters.