Why Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker won’t be a part of 'The Batman' universe? Director Matt Reeves explains

Director Matt Reeves’ The Batman has hit theaters and fans have taken the internet by storm. Comic book enthusiasts have claimed that this version of the caped crusader is what they always wanted. While the film has just been released on the big screen, theorists cannot stop speculating about the future of Reevesverse Batman.

The Batman is claimed to be a spectacular character film, a similar film that discussed the character of the DC universe was the Joaquin Phoenix-starrer Joker (2019). Fans have gone so far as to hypothesize that the two arch-nemesis will clash against each other in future films.

Director Matt Reeves, in his interview with Total Film magazine, stated:

"I was finishing the Planet of the Apes movies when I first came on board [Batman], in 2017. It's been five years in the making."

The filmmaker added:

"When I was working on the script, and got deep into the script, Joker hadn't come out yet. I didn't know what Joker was or what it was going to be."

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Why the highly speculated 'The Batman' and 'Joker' crossover is impossible

Joaquin Phoenix as Joker (Image via Warner Bros)

Although Joker and the new Batman film share similarities when it comes to grounding their larger-than-life characters, both films still differ drastically in tone. While Joker is an extensive character film, The Batman is still a glamorous adventure through the Gotham skyline.

The timelines established in both the films also conflict with the potential crossover. While Joker’s origin story was a period piece set in 1981, The Batman is set in the present day of the fictional city.

Joker smashed the traditional structure of comic book films set by Marvel and DC. Todd Phillips brought forth a supervillain film without the ‘Super.’ The Academy Award-nominated film encouraged Reeves to make The Batman.

Fans can still hope for an event like the MCU’s No Way Home to occur where the two goliaths face each other. Perhaps the upcoming Flash flick, which is rumored to break the multiverse boundary, will make this possible. Matt Reeves clearly rejected the idea of a crossover as he revealed:

"I became aware of it once we were very deep into the film, and the fact that they were grounding things in a way that was reminiscent of things that we were doing, that wasn't planned."

He added:

"Joker was always meant to be a very specific standalone that Joaquin [Phoenix] and Todd [Phillips] were doing. There was never really any discussion of crossover."

All fans can do now is enjoy the action-packed superhero flick. The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle, Paul Dano as the Riddler, and Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, is a film that you must definitely watch.