Don’t look askance at us, bats. Image: Warner Bros.
More so than almost any other superhero film in the last few decades, Matt Reeves’ Batman is what it is. Of course, there is room for the story to continue, but the film stands on its own, with no hints of the future or links to other films. And better than that.
Of course, there is one big exception. And while the movie doesn’t directly confirm anything about this character, like the rest of the movie about him, it’s pretty straightforward and obvious. However, Reeves confirmed that the teaser is what you think it is, but it’s also not.
After Batman foils the Riddler’s plan, we see the Riddler in prison talking to another prisoner. – What they’re saying? says this mysterious character. “One day you are at the top. Next time you’re the clown.” Billed in the credits as “The Invisible Prisoner of Arkham” and played by The Eternals star Barry Keoghan, his laugh, look and clown reference make you believe he’s the Joker. And guess what? This. “He is who you think he is,” Reeves told a group of reporters a few weeks ago. But like other characters in the film, from Batman and Gordon to Rogues like Catwoman and the Penguin, this isn’t exactly the Joker we know from comics and movies.
“The point of the film is that it’s not an origin story for Batman, but an origin story for every Rogues’ Gallery character you come across,” Reeves said. “So Selina Kyle isn’t Catwoman yet, and Penguin isn’t the main character yet, and the character you’re talking about isn’t the character you’re talking about yet. But really, it’s him.”
Interestingly, other versions of the film had more of this early Joker. Speaking to Variety, Reeves said he actually filmed another scene with Keoghan as the Joker that hit the cutting room floor. In the movie, Batman doesn’t know how to defeat the Riddler, and – in the vein of The Silence of the Lambs and Mindhunter – he decides to break into Arkham and ask the Joker about the Riddler.
“As well as [Joker] says, “It’s almost our anniversary, isn’t it?” Reeves explained. “You get the idea that they’re in a relationship and that this guy obviously did something and Batman somehow got him into Arkham.”
This story isn’t explained in the scene, but the Joker really turns things around on Batman. After asking him to understand how he thinks, the Joker breaks the bad news to Batman. “[Joker tells Batman] “What do you mean by saying you want to know how he thinks?” Reeves explained. “You guys think the same.” What he actually does is get into Batman’s head. And he vehemently resists the idea. So that was the scene. It was the scene that unsettled him.”
However, the scene was eventually cut because it slowed down the pace of the film. But Reeves thinks he will release it sometime in the future. “It’s a really creepy, cool scene,” he says. “It was a scene that was supposed to introduce this guy and just tease the audience to say, ‘Oh my God, is he here too? And he’s not the Joker yet – what will it be? And then it seems so adorable in the story, since we already set it up to be the end of the story, the end of the Riddler arc, be it that he was in the cell next to this guy.”
Speaking of the future, while a Batman sequel is already in development, Reeves doesn’t necessarily think that since the Joker appears at the end of this film, he will 100% be the star of the next one. “This is not an Easter egg scene,” Reeves said. “This isn’t one of those scenes in the end credits of Marvel or DC where it goes like, ‘Hey, here’s the next movie!’ In fact, I have no idea when we will return to this character in the movies.”
Head to Variety to learn more about this new Mr. Jay – casting, looks and more. Batman is in theaters now.
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