Joker 2 Just Cast A Giant Actor
Joker 2 is maybe the most anticipated comic book sequel in years, and the movie just cast a really big actor.
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Joker 2 (or Joker: Folie à Deux, if you’re nasty) is one of the most anticipated comic book movies in years, which is saying something, considering most movies these days are comic book adaptations. The sequel to the unexpectedly huge and critically acclaimed Joker has been very cryptic in terms of plot, but we are finally starting to get some details beyond the presence of lead actor Joaquin Phoenix. Specifically, it has been announced that Brendan Gleeson, the celebrated Irish actor of notable size will be starring in an unspecified role in Joker 2. Brendan Gleeson is likely most famous to many audiences for playing Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody in the Harry Potter franchise of films, as well as appearances in movies like Braveheart, Gangs of New York, and anything that needs a very large Irishman, really.
According to Deadline, Brendan Gleeson has been confirmed to star in Joker 2 along with Zazie Beetz. Beetz starred in the first Joker as Sophie Dumond, a neighbor and love interest to Joaquin Phoenix’s troubled Arthur Fleck. Her fate in the first movie was left ominously unstated, leading many to theorize she may have been killed by Fleck during his descent into homicidal mania. Beetz appearing in Joker 2 does not necessarily contradict that, given that she could appear as a flashback or a hallucination (fittingly for a film that is largely about mental health, or the lack of it). Of course, she could also just be alive and well, but Joker 2 does not promise to be a movie in which good things happen to anyone, so we will just have to see.
We do not yet know what role Brendan Gleeson will be playing in Joker 2. However, one of the few details we have yet been able to glean about Joker 2 is that it will largely be set in Arkham Asylum, the notorious home for the criminally insane in Gotham City. That leaves two prominent likelihoods: Brendan Gleeson could be playing one of the inmates, or he could be playing a member of the Arkham Asylum staff. If it is the former, he could be portraying either an entirely new character original to Joker 2 or one of the many, many villains that have passed through Arkham’s doors. He has a real Clayface vibe, we’re just saying.
Equally likely is the chance that Joker 2 will have Brendan Gleeson playing either the warden of Arkham Asylum, a guard, or even a doctor. The identity of the warden of Arkham Asylum has varied over the decades of Batman mythos, but the most famous characters to fill the role are Amadeus Arkham and Hugo Strange. The former is the direct descendent of Jeremiah Arkham, the founder of the institution, which has a strong and unfortunate tendency to drive its staff murderously insane. The latter character is one of Batman’s oldest antagonists, and, as you might expect, is also murderously insane. No matter how you cut it, Brendan Gleeson will likely not be portraying someone very nice in Joker 2.
