The Batman’s director, Matt Reeves, just unveiled a deleted Joker scene that sees Batman meet with the iconic villain at Arkham Asylum. Reeves (and Warner Bros. Pictures) made the scene available online. In it, Batman goes to Arkham to meet with the Joker played by Barry Keoghan (Marvel’s Eternals).
In true detective fashion, the scene was first made available through the Riddler’s website rataalada.com. The site plays a critical role in the film. The fact the site was real and accessible was teased on a post-credit Easter Egg. There, fans have to answer three questions, and if correct, they are rewarded with the 5 plus minute scene. But we did that for you! Check it out:
In the scene, Batman meets with the Joker to form a profile on The Riddler. He asks the madman’s help to understand how the Riddler thinks. While interesting to see, the film (which already clocks in at 3 hours) didn’t need the inclusion of the Joker. After all, the movie already had the Riddler, along with the Penguin (Colin Ferrell), and Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz). It also features the Capo di capo of the Gotham crime families, Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). Did it really need Batman’s biggest rogue in such a small part? Was the studio afraid we wouldn’t know it was a Batman movie without an explicit Joker reference?
Keoghan does appear in a later scene, but then he’s mostly just a voice on the other side of the door. As another inmate at Arkham (credited as “Unseen Arkham Prisoner”), he has a scene with Dano’s Riddler.
Keoghan has reacted to the release of this Joker deleted scene by saying he has “no words” about what Matt Reeves achieved with it.
Reeves spoke about the decision to include Joker in The Batman, making it clear to fans he did it in order to “help flesh out and establish his version of Gotham City,” one that is already in the process of seeing Batman’s rogues gallery arrive on the scene.
“It’s not an Easter egg scene,” Reeves told Variety. “It’s not one of those end credits Marvel or DC scenes where it’s going, like, ‘Hey, here’s the next movie!’ In fact, I have no idea when or if we would return to that character in the movies. I thought it’d be really neat if so much of the fabric of Gotham just already existed.”
“…I never was trying to say like, ‘Hey, guess what, here’s the Joker. Next movie!'” he added. “The idea was more to say, ‘Hey, look, if you think that trouble is going to go away in Gotham, you can forget it. It’s already here. And it’s already delicious.”
The Batman is still playing in theaters. It arrives on HBO Max on April 25th.
