In The Batman, we're introduced to a mysterious Arkham inmate who is quite clearly meant to be The Joker. It turns out he's a fan of The Riddler's work, and it sounds like he has plans for a team-up you just know is going to make the Caped Crusader's mission to save Gotham City even harder.
In a lengthy conversation with IGN, director Matt Reeves elaborated on the scene and shares some details about a cut moment that would have explained this Batman's dynamic with the Clown Prince of Crime. However, the filmmaker was quick to point out that "the Joker is not yet the Joker."
"It's a scene where Batman is so unnerved because the Riddler is writing to him. And he's like, ‘Well, why is this guy writing to me?’ And he figures he's got to profile this killer," Reeves says. "He goes to see another killer that he's clearly had an experience with in these first two years. And this killer in this story is not yet the character that we come to know, right?"
"In the scene that you'll see in the future, you'll see that we worked on what he looked like. And he's held in this very suspenseful way, away from you visually. But I wanted to create an iteration of him that felt distinctive and new, but went right back to the roots," he added. "So he's very much out of the Conrad Veidt mold and that idea of the silent film of The Man Who Laughs."
Reeves would go on to explain that the Batverse's Joker has a "congenital disease" that means "he can never stop smiling." The director wanted to move away from the vat of chemicals and scars we've seen in previous movies, and instead explore, "What if this is something that he's been touched by from birth and that he has a congenital disease that refuses to let him stop smiling? And he's had this very dark reaction to it, and he's had to spend a life of people looking at him in a certain way and he knows how to get into your head.' This is his response, and he's eventually going to declare himself as a clown, declare himself as the Joker."
As for what the Joker scene we did get in The Batman could possibly mean for the future, Reeves chose his words carefully. "The scene is not meant to be there to say, ‘Oh, here's an Easter egg. The next movie is X.’ I don't know that the Joker would be in the next movie, but I can tell you that here's what you're seeing, is an early days version of this character, and trouble is brewing in Gotham."
How much do you want to bet that TV series focusing on the GCPD and Arkham will somehow incorporate Keoghan's pre-Joker? That does sound a little like what we saw in Gotham, of course, but a deranged killer with a permanent smile who transforms themself into the Harlequin of Hate to battle Batman could make for a compelling storyline throughout The Batman franchise.
The Batman is now playing in theaters.