James Gunn's DC Just Unveiled Its First-Ever Joker (Photos)

James Gunn's DC just debuted its historic, first-ever Joker, and he looks more menacing than ever. The Clown Prince of Crime is one of the most iconic villains in Batman lore, and, naturally, he's been adapted into various DC media over the years. Now, almost four years after Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC Studios in late 2022, the studio is finally adapting its own take on the Ace of Knaves. While the Clown Prince of Crime featured in 2024's Joker: Folie à Deux, DC Studios had nothing to do with the musical sequel, which was instead a product of Warner Bros. Pictures and director Todd Phillips.

DC Studios recently debuted its first Batman project in Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2, an Elseworlds-style production that also involves Warner Bros. Animation, Amazon MGM Studios, and Bad Robot. Even though Caped Crusader doesn't belong in Gunn's DCU, the Bruce Timm and J.J. Abrams series marks DC Studios' first-ever attempt at the Joker. But this is only the beginning for the Joker at DC Studios, who recently announced more plans for the villain.

This continuity's Joker, who was first teased in a cameo in the final episode of Season 1, has been reimagined too. Voiced by House of the Dragon star Matthew Needham, Caped Crusader's Clown Prince isn't like any that has been adapted on screen before. He's a stoic, no-nonsense European criminal who doesn't crack jokes like the typical Joker iterations seen in modern media.

Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2, which premiered on July 31, takes place in a gritty 1940s noir version of Gotham City where crime runs rampant, and the only man capable of protecting it is Batman. The season is packed with some of the most iconic villains in Batman lore, and the Joker isn't the only one with an unconventional twist: the Mad Hatter has been gender-swapped and goes by the name Hattie Tettch instead. 

Caped Crusader's take is inspired by the villain's earliest comic book appearances and German Expressionist cinema, an era where he didn't laugh nearly as much as later versions do. Joker stays in the shadows for the majority of Season 2 but finally makes a proper appearance in the final two episodes, revealing himself as Gotham's greatest threat and the mastermind behind a toxin that has infected Gotham's citizens and threatens to consume the entire city, turning everyone into laughing lunatics.

He infects Hattie Tettch during her live broadcast and announces his plan to murder Mayor Jessop, a promise he eventually delivers on. The season ends with a brutal fight between Joker and Batman in the finale on a building's rooftop. The battle ends with Joker being impaled by a steel pole and seemingly falling to his death while cracking a rare laugh. 

Needham described his version of the Joker to The Direct as "very serious, very cold, not fun, but absolutely evil." That marks a major departure from past portrayals by Mark Hamill, Heath Ledger, and Jack Nicholson, which have leaned heavily on the Joker's love for twisted humor.

Recently at the Annecy Festival, DC Studios announced its next big plan for the Joker: a solo anime series, Joker: Laugh Riot. In a direction that will undoubtedly prove controversial, DC is thrusting Joker into a vigilante detective role as he searches for Batman's killer and an identity beyond fighting the Dark Knight.

Unfortunately, updates have been limited about Joker's live-action future, although there have been reports that Saltburn star Barry Keoghan will return for The Batman: Part 2 to expand on his "pre-Joker Joker." With production now underway on the sequel, fans are hoping and eagerly awaiting news about Keoghan's role in The Batman 2, if he has one at all.

The Joker Is Now Expected to Appear in 3 More DC Studios Projects

The Batman: Part 2

There's no doubt that DC Studios will bring another Joker to the screen, and the most likely destination is Matt Reeves' The Batman Epic Crime Saga. Oscar-nominee Barry Keoghan plays Joker in the grounded Elseworlds corner of DC, although he only made a cameo appearance in the final scenes of The Batman, laughing alongside Paul Dano's Riddler at Arkham Asylum. 

Keoghan will reportedly reprise the role in the sequel, The Batman Part II, which arrives on February 18, 2028, but it's unclear how big his role will be this time. As Reeves' sequel is already stuffed with villains, Joker may be relegated to Arkham once again, perhaps even getting a visit from Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight for help in his latest case, as he did in a deleted scene from The Batman.

Reeves' take on the Joker is also unique, as this Clown Prince suffers from a congenital disease that disfigures his face, a choice Reeves has said was inspired by The Elephant Man.

Absolute Batman 

DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation announced an adult animated Absolute Batman series at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June, with comic writer Scott Snyder serving as showrunner and artist Nick Dragotta serving as producer. The Absolute universe has become a favorite among comic fans, flipping the script on Batman's lore by reinventing Bruce as a working-class civil engineer rather than a billionaire heir. 

In this world, the Joker is completely different as well, portrayed as an immortal billionaire named Jack Grimm V who has secretly lived for over a century, posing as his own descendants, and who has never once been heard to laugh. 

Snyder has also revealed that the show won't be a 1:1 adaptation but an expansion of the comic, so there's a good chance it will feature even more of the Joker than the version of Absolute Batman on the page.

Joker: Laugh Riot

At the Annecy Festival, DC Studios announced yet another project set in Batman's world, and this one is built around the Dark Knight's clownish archenemy himself. Joker: Laugh Riot will be DC Studios' first anime series, created by Sola Entertainment, director Yasuhiro Aoki, and executive producer Jim Krieg.

Laugh Riot is set in an Elseworlds Gotham where Batman has been murdered, a move that deeply angers the Joker, sending him on a ruthless crusade through Gotham's underworld to find the responsible party. But his violent quest pushes him closer to vigilante than villain, forcing him to confront the truth that without Batman, he doesn't know who he is.

BONUS.) The Brave and the Bold & James Gunn's DCU

James Gunn's main continuity, the DC Universe, is still lacking its own Batman, with The Brave and the Bold not looking likely to arrive anytime soon. The film centers on an older Bruce Wayne and involves the Bat-Family, a direction rarely seen in other live-action Batman adaptations. 

As the DCU establishes a seasoned Batman, who has presumably tangled with the Joker many times already, it's not too far-fetched for Gotham's worst nightmare to appear. However, given Gunn's fondness for underutilized corners of DC, the odds of him being the main villain seem rather low.

Although Batman has yet to arrive in the DCU, Gotham is gradually being established, and the Clayface teaser trailer already made key references to the Joker, most notably a sign for Amusement Mile, the abandoned amusement park the villain frequently calls home in the comics. 

If Gunn does bring Joker to the DCU, his iteration of the villain will likely stand out from the rest as well. There's also a Deathstroke vs. Bane film in the works, which could give the Clown Prince his debut in this universe alongside the Dark Knight's other adversaries, if not in The Brave and the Bold.