Willem Dafoe’s recent performance in Spider-Man: No Way Home reminded fans how great he is at playing psychotic villains. Because of this, audiences have fantasized for a long while about him taking on the role of The Joker. And Dafoe is well aware of this fan-casting, as he himself has stated multiple times that he would be up for the role. However, his recent pitch for the character is much different than most would expect.
During a recent interview with GQ, Dafoe revealed his desire to star in a Joker sequel alongside Joaquin Phoenix. He said he’d been thinking about the role for a while, stating “There is something interesting about, like, if there was a Joker Imposter,” which would put quite the spin on the character. Dafoe goes on to say “So it would be possible to have not duelling Jokers but someone that says to be the Joker that isn’t the Joker…if you had Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, and then you had someone who was either imitating or riffing off what he did.”
While this would certainly make for a unique interpretation, the idea actually somewhat resembles the Batman storyline named “The Return of the Joker.” And Dafoe’s pitch would make for an interesting spin on the comic by bringing it into the grounded Joaquin Phoenix’s world.
What Is The Return of the Joker About?
“The Return of the Joker” is a comic book storyline that continues after the highly popular “A Death in the Family.” After Joker is brutally injured from the previous story, he takes a back seat from crime as he recovers. However, another man claiming to be The Joker starts terrorizing Gotham, and tarnishing the reputation of the real one. After feeling demoralized, the real Joker takes on the persona of his alter-ego, The Red Hood, and resumes his crimes in the city.
Once Red Hood regains his confidence, he goes after the fake Joker to retake the spotlight. Batman stays in pursuit of them both, but isn’t able to prevent their bloody confrontation. With the imposter Joker seeing his idol, he decides to jump into the same vat of Ace Chemical acid in which The Joker was born, only for him to instantly die a gruesome death.
How Willem Dafoe’s Joker 2 Pitch Could Reinvent Return of the Joker
An animated movie named Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker already exists, yet it doesn’t resemble the comic storyline. Willem Dafoe’s pitch could align much closer to the original, though of course some changes would still have to be made. Joker takes place when Bruce Wayne is just a young boy, and so Batman would have to be taken from the story entirely. While he is prevalent in the comic, the main stars are the two Jokers, and so the story could definitely be adapted to fit.
Perhaps the most interesting twist would be making the plot fit within the grounded world set in Joker. While The Return of the Joker is dark and gritty, there’s still some comic-book goofiness to it, such as the idea of Ace Chemicals creating The Joker. And so Joaquin Phoenix’s version would have to adapt to the mental illness side of Joker’s creation, and cause him to think about what makes The Joker persona more than a simple murderer.
While this idea may not be the exact Willem Dafoe Joker that fans have been asking for, it’s an interesting enough twist that many would be on board with. The Joker has seen so many actor interpretations, that adding a unique spin to the next Joker sequel would be a much-welcome shake-up to the formula.
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