Having largely steered clear from tentpole productions for more than a decade following his time as Edward Cullen in the Twilight film series, Robert Pattinson is jumping back into blockbuster territory for Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Pattinson will be the latest actor to bring the eponymous DC Comics superhero to life, and naturally this first movie was conceived as the start of a new Batman film trilogy. With that in mind, there have been calls for Pattinson’s Twilight costar Kristen Stewart to play The Joker in The Batman continuity, but don’t get your hopes up about that happening.
While promoting her new movie Spencer, Kristen Stewart was asked on her thoughts about the social media campaign for her to take over as The Joker on film, following actors like Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix. The actress informed Variety this isn’t something that particularly interests her, saying:
Not ‘no,’ but not the most stoked I’ve ever been. Let’s do something new.
Giving moviegoers the first live-action female Joker would certainly be an interesting way for Warner Bros and DC to spice up the Batman film franchise. There is also some precedence for this, because in the Flashpoint continuity, Martha Wayne became The Joker after her son Bruce was killed, while Thomas Wayne became that timeline’s Batman. Obviously it would be someone else with the chalk-white skin and green hair in The Batman universe, but even if Matt Reeves and the rest of The Batman creative minds decide to cast an actress as their Joker, evidently they shouldn’t put Kristen Stewart on their consideration list.
Instead, the Spencer actress would rather pour her acting energy into playing a new character who’s comparably frightening to The Joker, who’s been Batman’s arch-nemesis for over 80 years. As Kristen Stewart put it:
I love the energy behind that. It’s really been done so well. I feel like, maybe, we don’t traipse over, but I love that gusto. Let’s figure something else out. I’m totally down to play a freaky, scary person.
Of course, we don’t even have any guarantee that The Joker will surface in Robert Pattinson’s Batman world. Ok yes, the chances of that happening are fairly strong given the supervillain’s popularity, but with Joker having been played so often in live-action in recent years, maybe Matt Reeves would rather highlight villains who haven’t had nearly as much time to shine. Case in point, The Batman is spotlighting The Riddler and The Penguin (played by Paul Dano and Coin Farrell, respectively), neither of whom have appeared in a live-action Batman movie since the ‘90s. Maybe for The Batman 2, Reeves would rather give someone like Mr. Freeze another chance at cinematic glory, or perhaps he’ll even use someone who hasn’t appeared on the big screen yet, like The Mad Hatter or Professor Hugo Strange.
Naturally if it’s announced that The Joker will appear in any sequels to The Batman, we’ll let you know. For now, Robert Pattinson’s first outing as the Caped Crusader is on track for March 4, 2022. As for Kristen Stewart, you can see her performance as Princess Diana of Wales when Spencer is released on November 9.
