10 Things That NEED To Happen In Upcoming Movie Sequels
1. The Joker Is Relegated To A Cameo - The Batman 2
Though The Batman is primarily focused on the Dark Knight's (Robert Pattinson) dealings with The Riddler (Paul Dano), the film ends with a surprising sequel hook when the Riddler ends up in Arkham State Hospital next to a similarly deranged inmate.
We see only a brief glimpse of that inmate, played by Barry Keoghan, who is nevertheless clearly supposed to be The Joker, seemingly setting in motion the character's appearance in the already-confirmed sequel to The Batman.
Matt Reeves has since confirmed that Keoghan was indeed playing a proto version of the Joker before he formally adopts that name, but also stated that it's not yet clear if the character will definitely show up in The Batman 2, let alone play the primary villain.
Reeves stated that the cameo was intended more to illustrate the chaos and growing instability in Gotham City, rather than a direct, Batman Begins-esque nod towards the Caped Crusader's next adversary.
And hopefully Reeves follows through with that - we've seen so much of the Joker in movies over the years that it'd actually be refreshing to put him on ice for the foreseeable future.
With a massive rogues gallery of compelling villains to choose from who have never had the big-budget movie treatment before - Hush, The Court of Owls, Hugo Strange, and so on - it'd feel like a waste to just revert back to a supervillain who is starting to feel over-exposed.