Watch: The Batman’s Unsolicited Audition Video From Joker Actor

While Warner Bros. works hard to figure out where its future is going with the extended DC Universe, the studio can still celebrate the efforts of The Batman after its release in March 2022. This epic outing brought Robert Pattinson's new Caped Crusader and a handful of epic villains into the mix, even offering a tease for this universe's Joker, played by Barry Keoghan.

This became Keoghan's second superhero movie role to premiere in a six-month span after also having starred as Druig for Marvel Studios in Eternals, with this one giving him a chance to play the most iconic Batman villain ever. And after only appearing on screen for one scene in Arkham Asylum, fans thoroughly enjoyed his tease for the Clown Prince of Crime as he hopes to return in future movies.

But as it turns out, even though Keoghan wound up playing the Joker when all was said and done, it was his audition for one of The Batman's other villains that got him on Warner Bros.' radar.

Barry Keoghan's Newly Released Batman Audition Tape

British GQ released a 2-minute-19-second video of Barry Keoghan's initial audition for Warner Bros.' The Batman, in which he actually auditioned for the role of the Riddler.

With no dialogue in the video, Keoghan starts by coming out of an elevator donning green suspenders and a top hat. He messes around with a cane as he looks for trouble, showing the Riddler's mischievous and dangerous nature with music playing in the background.

After walking down a hall and disappearing for a minute, Keoghan comes back from around the corner with what's supposed to be a bloodied handprint on his cheek, donning a creepy smile on his face. He walks toward the camera with that mischievous grin before the video comes to a close.

Keoghan also spoke with GQ Magazine about his audition, telling the outlet point blank that he "wanted to be Riddler" and that he sent in the tape unsolicited. 

He had done this only after first hearing that the movie was in development, despite knowing that the role was already filled after a meeting with producer Dylan Clark. Keoghan initially showed Clark the tape and heard nothing back.

Then, four months later, Keoghan's agent told him that The Batman team wanted him to play the Joker, but that he couldn't say a word about it.

The full video can be seen below:

When Will Keoghan Return for DC?

Even while already working on an exciting new superhero movie for Marvel Studios, it appears that Barry Keoghan had his eye on the Batman universe for a long time before signing on.

This audition tape shows how passionate he was about getting into the movie with Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson, sending it into the company even when the role he went for was already cast. This isn't even the first time that Keoghan showed his enthusiasm for comic book properties prior to landing his blockbuster roles, having played both Peter Parker and Nightwing in amateur short films.

In the end, all this led him to playing one of Batman's most iconic villains ever in this new take on the character, setting him up for an extended future in this universe as Reeves pushes his story forward.

The big question now is where and when Keoghan will actually play this role again, especially with no guarantees that he'll even be a part of The Batman 2. But with Gotham already in disarray and headed towards something even worse, there might not be a better time for his Joker to take advantage of the chaos.

The Batman is now streaming on HBO Max.