Warning: SPOILERS for The Batman ending.

The unnamed Arkham prisoner in the cell next to The Riddler is the Clown Prince of Crime, and here’s who plays Joker in The Batman. Undoubtedly one of the biggest moments in The Batman happens towards the very end of the film, when Edward Nashton aka The Riddler is defeated and lashes out inside Arkham State Hospital, at which point the person in his neighboring cell speaks up and indirectly introduces himself as Joker.

Joker is not only the most well-known Batman villain, but he’s also one of the most iconic supervillains of all time. So far, every live-action Batman has faced off against a Joker of his own, sometimes directly and sometimes not. Even in the early days, before comic book movies and TV shows became the norm, Joker was the go-to villain to have go up against Batman — from Caesar Romero to Jack Nicholson. Then after Heath Ledger delivered a definitive take on the character in The Dark Knight, new versions appeared on TV and film throughout the 2010s, including in Gotham, Suicide Squad, and of course, Joker, in which Joaquin Phoenix became the second actor to win an acting Oscar for playing the villain.

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Next up is Barry Keoghan, who plays Joker in The Batman. (Update: Matt Reeves confirmed Joker is played by Barry Keoghan following The Batman’s release.) In one of the film’s final scenes, Joker gives Riddler a riddle of his own, to which the answer is friend, thus implying the formation of Batman’s rogues gallery in this new franchise. Although he only appeared briefly in the film, and was primarily concealed behind a glass, it’s presumed Keoghan will return as Joker should The Batman 2 happen, at which point he’ll have the opportunity to deliver his own version of the iconic character.

Barry Keoghan Plays The Joker In The Batman

Barry Keoghan may not be a household name yet, but he’ll certainly be familiar to many moviegoers. Keoghan is an Irish actor who got his start in Hollywood just over a decade ago, first appearing in small roles in films such as Stalker and Between the Canals, as well as TV shows like Fair City and Love/Hate. His career started to gain traction in the mid-2010s, ultimately kicking things up a notch in 2017 when he starred in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk as George Mills. Around the same time, Keoghan received widespread acclaim for his role as Martin Lang in The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Since 2017, Keoghan has appeared in major films like American Animals and The Green Knight, along with a small but notable role in the 2019 HBO miniseries Chernobyl, playing the role of Pavel. However, it’s only with the past several months that Keoghan became more well-known in general circles, starring as the superhero Druig in Marvel’s Eternals, and now appearing as Joker (or the unnamed Arkham prisoner) in The Batman.

Key Release Dates
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  • DC League of Super-Pets (2022)Release date: Jul 29, 2022
  • Black Adam (2022)Release date: Oct 21, 2022
  • The Flash (2023)Release date: Jun 23, 2023
  • Batgirl (2022)Release date: Apr 12, 2022
  • Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)Release date: Mar 17, 2023
  • Blue Beetle (2023)Release date: Aug 18, 2023
  • Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2022)Release date: Dec 16, 2022
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About The Author


Mansoor Mithaiwala
(1887 Articles Published)

Mansoor Mithaiwala is Screen Rant’s TV Lead Editor. He originally joined the site as a freelance writer on the Lists team before moving over to News and Features, eventually becoming an editor in 2018. Over time he’s done quite a few different things, including helping launch gaming on the site, often handling news, features, and guides simultaneously. Now he sticks primarily to movies and TV, and spends way too much time looking at analytics. It sure seems like he’s put his Political Science degree to good use, huh?

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