For an entire generation, Mark Hamill simply is the Joker. He voiced the Clown Prince of Crime first in Batman: The Animated Series, continuing the role in a variety of projects over the decades. But with the death of Batman actor Kevin Conroy, it looked like Hamill would retire his Joker. Although that still seems to be the case, both Hamill and Conroy got to play their characters at least one more time. Via IGN, we’ve learned Warner Bros. and Player First Games will include Hamill’s Joker in MultiVersus. They even made a trailer showcasing Hamill’s return, which you can watch right here:
In the teaser, the Joker says “Wait till they get a load of me.” This is a reference to yet another iconic Joker from popular culture. It’s a rather famous line spoken by Jack Nicholson’s version in Tim Burton’s Batman. We see other Warner Bros. characters who will be a part of MultiVersus in the trailer aside from Batman and Joker. There’s Arya Stark from Game of Thrones, Bugs Bunny, and Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. Those are just some of the famous characters from the Warner Bros. library who appear in MultiVersus.
In a gameplay trailer below, you can also check out more of Mark Hamill’s performance and the Joker’s MultiVersus moves.
After Kevin Conroy passed away in 2002, Hamill announced he would no longer play the Joker. He said, “Without Batman, there is no punchline.” Luckily, he had a few unannounced performances together with Conroy recorded and ready to go. One is MultiVersus, and the other appears to be the third part of the Crisis on Infinite Earths animated trilogy. The recent trailer for Crisis showed Batman and Joker fighting it out in their classic Batman: The Animated Series looks. That project is almost certainly their last one together, and should be something special for the fans.
MultiVersus launches for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S for free on May 28. This will include full cross-play and cross-platform support.
Originally published on May 9, 2024.