Who Could Play the Next Joker?

The DCU Joker situation

The Joker is the most-iconic villain in comic-book cinema, but the character's appearance in James Gunn's new DCU has been deliberately delayed. Gunn has prioritized building out the DCU's hero lineup — Superman (2025), Supergirl (2026), Clayface (2026), and the planned Brave and the Bold Batman film (2028) — before introducing the franchise's most-recognizable antagonist.

The competitive Joker landscape is currently split across multiple separate continuities. Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar-winning Joker exists in its own Todd Phillips Elseworlds franchise (now stalled after Folie à Deux's underperformance). Barry Keoghan made a brief appearance in Matt Reeves's The Batman (2022) and is expected to return for The Batman Part II (October 2027). Neither is part of the mainline DCU.

The top 10 candidates, ranked

Skarsgård's Pennywise performance in It (2017, 2019) is the closest performance in modern horror-comic-book cinema to what a Joker requires — unhinged-but-controlled menace, theatrical physicality, and the ability to create dread from facial expression alone. He has been the most-frequently named candidate across both fan polls and trade-publication speculation since 2024.

Dafoe has publicly campaigned for the Joker role for years, citing his physical resemblance to comic-book renditions and his demonstrated villain craft in Spider-Man (2002) and the broader Spider-Man: No Way Home multiverse-return. At 70, he reads as the older-Joker variant from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. The narrative obstacle: Dafoe's Norman Osborn / Green Goblin makes Marvel-to-DC double-casting awkward.

Murphy's Oscar-winning Oppenheimer performance and his Peaky Blinders work both demonstrate the controlled-quiet-menace register a serious Joker requires. His pale-skinned, gaunt physical type matches comic-book Joker visual descriptions more closely than any other working actor. The obstacle: Murphy previously screen-tested for Batman opposite Christopher Nolan and was cast as Scarecrow in the Dark Knight Trilogy — a return to the DC universe in a different role would feel narratively-loaded.

Driver's range — from terrifying (Kylo Ren) to emotionally-devastating (Marriage Story) — gives him the broadest tonal palette of any speculated candidate. His Joker would likely emphasize the character's tragic-fool dimension over pure anarchy. The obstacle: Driver has publicly preferred director-driven prestige films over franchise tentpoles since the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Miller's We Need to Talk About Kevin performance demonstrated the unstable-young-male menace that Joker requires. The major obstacles: Miller's substantial legal and personal controversies in 2022-2023 make casting them in any major studio role politically-impossible for the foreseeable future. The DCU is also unlikely to bring back a former DCEU cast member following the Flashpoint reset.

The frequently-rumored "Batman swap" — having Pattinson play Joker opposite a new Batman — is impossible in the DCU because Pattinson's Batman is contracted to Matt Reeves's separate Elseworlds continuity. Within his Reeves continuity, however, Pattinson playing Joker in a non-Batman film would be creatively compelling. The Lighthouse demonstrated his command of unhinged-character work.

Scott's Moriarty in Sherlock demonstrated charisma-as-menace at a level matching what cinematic Joker requires. His broader emotional-range in All of Us Strangers and Fleabag shows the dramatic depth that the modern character study Joker (Phoenix's template) demands.

The most-frequently-named "dream casting" in fan circles. Day-Lewis's three Best Actor Oscars and his method-acting commitment would produce something genuinely-unprecedented. The fundamental obstacle: Day-Lewis officially retired from acting in 2017 and has shown no signs of reversal. Brief returns for prestige projects (Phantom Thread postscript) suggest he remains highly-selective.

The Skarsgård patriarch (and Bill's father) has produced career-best villain work in recent years through Andor's Luthen Rael. At 75, he reads as the elder-Joker variant — possibly suiting a Dark Knight Returns-influenced reimagining. The challenge: a 75-year-old Joker is unlikely as a primary franchise antagonist for the multi-decade DCU runway Gunn is planning.

Mark Hamill is the most-acclaimed Joker voice in animation history — Batman: The Animated Series, The Killing Joke, the Arkham video games. A theoretical animated DCU Joker role with Hamill is the most-defensible "casting" any speculative list could nominate. For live-action, Hamill is essentially impossible — his physical type doesn't match the modern Joker visual template — but his voice work remains the gold standard.

Why DCU is delaying the Joker introduction

James Gunn's DCU strategy has explicitly prioritized hero establishment before villain reveal. The MCU's success with Thanos (teased across multiple Phase 1-2 films before his Avengers: Infinity War centrepiece) is the template — establishing the franchise's emotional and narrative weight through the heroes' relationships, then introducing the major antagonist when their threat will land with maximum impact.

The DCU's analog would be introducing the Joker only after the new Bruce Wayne is established. Brave and the Bold (2028) focuses on Damian Wayne and the Bruce-Damian father-son dynamic. A future DCU film — likely 2029-2030 — would introduce the new Joker properly. For complete context on the broader DCU production trajectory, see our recent reporting.

Related guides

• Every Joker Actor Ranked — all 7 cinematic Jokers reviewed.
• Who Could Play the Next Batman? — DCU casting speculation.
• The Dark Knight — Heath Ledger's definitive Joker.
• Joker (2019) — Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar-winning take.
• Best Marvel Villains Ranked — for franchise-villain comparison.