Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese recently told reporters she will "take the villain role" if it helps grow women's basketball, and she is dressing the part for Sunday's game against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.

As Justin Tasch of the New York Post noted, Reese will wear custom-painted Reeboks with a Joker design for the highly anticipated contest:

"I let Marvin do whatever," Reese said of the shoes that were painted by Marvin Baroota, per Tasch. "He drops the shoes on me at 10 o'clock the day before we leave. He brings the shoes to me and I'm just like, 'All right, I'll wear these.'"

She isn't the only one with head-turning shoes paying homage to a famous villain in Sunday's game.

Clark broke out the Kobe Grinches for the contest:

Anything that happens in a game involving Clark and Reese is going to draw additional attention, including shoe choices.

After all, the two rookies will forever be connected to each other after multiple high-profile showdowns at the collegiate level. Reese's LSU Tigers defeated Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2023 national championship game, and the former famously pointed to her ring finger and performed the "you can't see me celebration" that Clark had previously done.

Yet the Hawkeyes earned some revenge in this year's Elite Eight, and Clark also won their first matchup in the WNBA.

Indiana defeated Chicago 71-70 on June 1 in a game that led to plenty of discourse that went beyond the final score. Sky guard Chennedy Carter knocked Clark to the ground with a foul that was later upgraded to a flagrant 1 by the WNBA upon review.

Reese, who faced criticism for appearing to celebrate the foul on Clark from the bench, was fined $1,000 after the loss because she did not make herself available to the media.

Despite the apparent rivalry between the two, Reese told reporters in March there is no personal animosity and it all comes down to being competitive between the lines.

"I don't think people realize it's not personal," Reese said. "Once we get out between those lines, if I see you walking down the street, it's like, 'Hey, girl, what's up? Let's hang out.' I think people just take it like we hate each other. Me and Caitlin Clark don't hate each other. I want everybody to understand that. It's just a super-competitive game. Once I get between those lines, there's no friends. I'm going to talk trash to you. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get in your head the whole entire game, but after the game, we can kick it. I don't think people really realize that.

"That's fine. I'll take the villain role. I'll take the hit for it, but I know we're growing women's basketball. If this is the way we're going to do it, then this is the way we're going to do it. You either like it or you don't."

She will have shoes designed after one of the most famous villains in cinema history for Sunday's rematch, so it appears like she is at least embracing the role.