Let’s just hope those who received this text were quick to pick up that it wasn’t quite so serious. Per CNN, the Missouri State Highway Patrol sent out an emergency alert to mobile devices on Tuesday to warn the locals of an imminent threat. Reminiscent of the cars used by the Joker’s henchmen in Tim Burton’s Batman, the text told the residents of Gotham City to watch out for a purple/green 1978 Dodge 3700 GT with the license plate “UKIDME.”

In actuality, there is no real Gotham City in the state of Missouri, nor is there a Clown Prince of Crime currently on the loose in a purple and green car. The message was apparently sent out by error during a test with at least one person involved being a clearly big Batman fan. The Missouri State Highway Patrol later clarified the incident with a post on Twitter explaining the mistake.

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“The Patrol regularly tests the Blue Alert system to ensure it works properly when needed. During the test, an option was incorrectly selected, allowing the message to be disseminated to the public,” the law enforcement agency also said in a press release. This Blue Alert system is designed to quickly spread information about “violent offenders who have killed, seriously injured, or pose an imminent and credible threat to law enforcement.”

These kinds of mistakes are not all that uncommon. Last year, something similar happened when the Texas Department of Public Safety issued an Amber Alert describing characters from the horror film Seed of Chucky. The “suspect” was named as Chucky and the alert even included a photo of the famous killer doll. An apology was issued soon after.

We Might See a New Joker Back in Theaters in March

     Warner Bros.

The Batman is going to be the next movie to bring Batman and his Rogues Gallery back to the big screen. What has been confirmed is that starring opposite Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight are Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as Riddler, and Colin Farrell as Oswald “Penguin” Cobblepot. There hasn’t been any official indication that the Joker will be appearing in the film, but according to the rumor mill, it’s not impossible. There are reportedly two cuts of The Batman, one which introduces the Joker and another that doesn’t. Which one will screen in theaters?

In any case, we will see the Joker back in theaters soon enough. The character proved to be a tremendous moneymaker when leading a movie on his own without Batman there to thwart him. Released in 2019, Joker with Joaquin Phoenix surpassed $1 billion at the box office, becoming one of the most profitable movies of all time. It’s no wonder there are reports of Warner Bros. hoping to get Phoenix and director Todd Phillips back for a sequel, and even Willem Dafoe wants to get involved.

“There is something interesting about, like, if there was a Joker imposter," Dafoe told GQ. “So it would be possible to have not dueling Jokers but someone that says to be the Joker that isn’t the Joker. And that kind of opens up the possibility of an interesting story, particularly if you had Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, and then you had someone who was either imitating or riffing off what he did. I fantasized about that.”