When word leaked from test screenings about The Joker being in The Batman, excitement for the movie definitely increased. Now we've seen it, it's fair to say the exchange between the Clown Prince of Crime and The Riddler was a little ambiguous, though director Matt Reeves has confirmed it was indeed the classic villain, albeit a version who has yet to fully transform into the Harlequin of Hate.
This Joker has a congenital defect that's given him a permanent, lifelong smile, and is an insane serial killer who was put behind bars by the Dark Knight during his first year in Gotham City. Now, Reeves has shared some new details on how that big deleted scene with the villain was set to play out.
Explaining that Batman was going to sneak into Arkham to speak to The Joker in a bid to learn why The Riddler was sending him messages, Reeves tells Variety, "I thought he would be really insecure about this and he’d probably want to find some way to get into the [Riddler’s] mindset, like in ‘Manhunter’ or ‘Mindhunter’ - this idea of profiling somebody, so you can predict his next move."
"And this guy says, ‘It’s almost our anniversary, isn’t it?' You realize that they have a relationship, and that this guy obviously did something, and Batman somehow got him into Arkham."
After Batman tells The Joker he wants to know how The Riddler thinks, the demented Arkham inmate responds by saying, 'What do you mean, you want to know how he thinks? You guys think the same.' Reeves adds, "What he’s really doing is getting into Batman’s head. And [Batman] is resisting this idea violently. And so that’s what that scene was. It was a scene to unsettle him."
As for why it was cut, the filmmaker believes it wasn't ultimately necessary and leaving it on the cutting room floor "kept the story moving in a way it needed to. It’s a really creepy, cool scene. That was the scene that was meant to introduce this guy and just to tease the audience to go like, ‘Oh my god, he’s here too? And he’s not yet the Joker - what’s this going to be?’" However, with it no longer in the movie, Reeves very nearly cut that scene with The Riddler at the end of the movie too.
"I initially tested it without it; when I put it back in, the scores for the ending went back up," The Batman director notes. "And I think it wasn’t just that people enjoyed seeing that character. It changed people’s response to the very ending of the movie, to see that Gotham was still Gotham, and that Batman really didn’t have a choice. He has to keep doing what he’s gonna do."
Reeves has said on multiple occasions that The Joker's cameo isn't meant to necessarily set the stage for the villain to take centre stage in the sequel, but we are intrigued to see what the future might hold in store for Batman's greatest foe in this "Batverse." A team-up with The Riddler appears to be first for him, but whether this well is one the franchise could revisit is obviously up for debate.
The Batman is now playing in theaters worldwide.