Interview slip has fans thinking Pattinson's Batman will crossover with Phoenix's Joker

A brief remark - and then an expletive - has got Batman fans reckoning that there's more to the forthcoming Joker and new Batman than we're being told.

Pattinson was announced as the new Bruce Wayne for Matt Reeves' The Batman, due for release in 2021, earlier this summer.

Now in an interview with Variety, a brief mention of Joaquin Phoenix starring in the new Todd Phillips Joker movie caused the Twilight star to unexpectedly clam up.

Writes Variety's Ramin Setoodeh: “At one point in our conversation, [Pattinson] offers a mundane comment about Joaquin Phoenix, who stars in Joker (a movie he hasn’t seen yet), before asking to retract it. ‘Oh s***,’ he says, adding that he’s not accustomed to thinking about spoilers.”

Pattinson then adds: “I definitely should not say that. I’m so used to pretty art-house movies, where you can watch the movie three times and still not know what it’s about.”

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So Pattinson backtracks even at the mention of Phoenix and the Joker movie, and even drops a spoiler? Looks more than a little suspicious from where we're sitting.

It would make sense that the two could meet in a future movie, of course, what with the Joker being Batman's longtime nemesis and a new Batman movie waiting in the wings.

There's even a role for Bruce Wayne's father Thomas Wayne in the Joker movie, which is set in 1981.

Read more: DC Comics plotting a black Batman

It's also been confirmed that both The Batman and Joker exist outside of the DC Extended Universe plots, which encompass movies like Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey and so forth.

Plus, both Joker and The Batman will likely take on a similar gritty tone, with Phillips' Joker a dark and brooding affair, and Reeves known best for his dark and brooding Planet of the Apes reboots.

Mind you, not everyone is into the idea.

Joker, which is being hailed as 'a masterpiece' and a potential Oscar nominee, is due out on October 4, with The Batman due for June, 2021.