6 Batman Characters Who Can Appear In Joker Sequels (Not Bruce Wayne)

Todd Phillips’s Joker franchise can include six characters connected to Batman aside from Bruce Wayne. Joker focuses on professional clown Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), who gradually becomes the Clown Prince of Crime while inspiring an uprising against Gotham City’s elite. Though the 2019 movie tells a standalone story, Phillips and Phoenix are returning for a sequel, Joker: Folie a Deux, in which Lady Gaga will appear as Harley Quinn. Additionally, the sequel will take an even wilder turn from its predecessor by being a musical.

Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of Arthur Fleck created a completely new origin story for Batman’s famed arch-nemesis, while the movie also showed radically different versions of both Bruce Wayne (Dante Pereira-Olson) and Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen). With the rules set in place by Joker, many other Batman franchise characters can appear in these movies in their own re-invented forms. With that said, the tone established by Joker does rule out superpowers and other larger-than-life elements, making some Batman characters better suited for the sequel than others. Here are the six Batman characters who could appear in Joker: Folie a Deux and beyond.

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Commissioner James Gordon

With Joker being so steeped in the urban decay of Gotham, the GCPD will continue to be present in the franchise, and a new version of Commissioner James Gordon would be a natural character to appear. In Joker: Folie a Deux, Arthur Fleck might not become a true Gotham crime boss, but he could step up his general crime game with Harley Quinn by his side. Depending on how closely Folie a Deux follows the first Joker, Arthur would begin the sequel already a wanted man by the GCPD. That could set up how Commissioner Gordon enters the story, leading the charge in tracking down both Arthur and Harley.

Harvey Dent

In tandem with Commissioner Gordon’s potential role in Joker: Folie a Deux, Harvey Dent could fit just as easily into the sequel as Gotham’s district attorney. With Arthur and Harley causing chaos and havoc throughout the city, that would draw the attention of the city’s D.A. just as much as the police. While the role could be akin to that of Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, it is obviously important that his potential appearance in Joker: Folie a Deux not be too similar.

Joker: Folie a Deux could reimagine Harvey along the lines of Joker‘s version of Thomas Wayne as a corrupt politician who suffers a similar downfall. This may or may not see Harvey fully become Two-Face, but the Wayne family’s role in Joker shows how Todd Phillips might strive to vilify Harvey as a symbol of Gotham’s status quo.

Carmine Falcone

Joker showed a version of Gotham City completely overrun by poverty, squalor, and crime, which could make Joker: Folie a Deux a great place for crime boss Carmine Falcone to appear. Tom Wilkinson previously played Falcone in Batman Begins, with John Turturro playing Falcone in The Batman, and he is a character who would require little if any reworking to fit into the Joker universe.

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Indeed, Joker did not deeply explore the organized crime of its version of Gotham, and Falcone could be the perfect Batman crime boss to rule Gotham’s underworld with an iron fist in these movies. He could even be a direct antagonist who views Arthur and Harley as his biggest criminal rivals, and he could also get in on the musical side of Joker: Folie a Deux.

Dick Grayson

Another member of the Bat-family who could fit well into Joker: Folie a Deux is Dick Grayson. With that said, Bruce Wayne’s appearance in the first Joker ensures that Dick’s possible role in the sequel would not show him as Robin or Nightwing and would probably put a similarly dark spin on his origins. With Bruce potentially becoming a villain after Joker, Dick could also be shown as a child sent on a dark path.

Joker: Folie a Deux could introduce Dick either as a member of the Flying Graysons or as an orphan living on the streets of Gotham City. Alternatively, the movie could throw another curveball and show Dick as a teenager or young adult who drifts into Arthur and Harley’s hemisphere through their criminal machinations. In turn, that could set up Joker: Folie a Deux‘s re-invention for Dick, showing him joining forces with Arthur and Harley on their crime spree as part of the upside world of the Joker movies.

Hugo Strange

The Joker sequel will feature Arkham Asylum as a setting, and this could set up the psychotic Hugo Strange for an appearance. What makes him a particularly enticing villain for Joker: Folie a Deux is how malleable his role could be, depending upon how directly the sequel may or may not follow Joker. If Folie a Deux acts as a direct sequel to Joker, it could reveal him as one of the psychiatrists in Arkham Asylum working on Arthur’s case, only to further deepen Arthur’s madness with his own.

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If Joker: Folie a Deux is more of a musical one-shot, Hugo Strange could appear more as an avatar of insanity in Arthur and Harley’s minds, which could support the theory of Arthur imagining Joker‘s story. With Folie a Deux translating to “Madness for two,” showing Hugo as a figure only seen by Arthur and Harley could present him in an even more sinister light.

Victor Zsaz

Another grounded Batman villain who could appear in Joker: Folie a Deux is the psychotic killer Victor Zsaz. With his trademark of making cuts in his flesh for each of his victims, Victor Zsaz could easily be the kind of violent sociopath with a fearsome reputation in Gotham’s criminal underbelly.

Victor Zsaz has also had only a few chances to shine on film before, having a very minor role in Batman Begins (played by Tim Booth) and appearing as a secondary villain Birds of Prey (played by Chris Messina). With the Joker movies devoting their attention mainly to Batman villains, Joker and Harley’s romance could lead them to meet Victor Zsaz, either as a friend or enemy, showing the many potential directions Joker: Folie a Deux could go with him.

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