Warner Bros. (via director Matt Reeves) officially released a five-minute deleted scene from The Batman yesterday, giving us our first proper look at Barry Keoghan's take on The Joker.
The sequence, which sees The Dark Knight (Robert Pattinson) pay a visit to an old foe in Arkham to ask for his help in profiling The Riddler (Paul Dano), prompted a lot of discussion online, but one intriguing detail seems to have gone largely unnoticed.
As Twitter user Hawkmansworld points out, when the villain hands the files back to Batman, the paperclips are missing. We're not sure how "the world's greatest detective" missed this, but it would seem to indicate that The Joker intends to use the clips to make his escape.
This may not turn out to be a significant plot point moving forward, of course, and Reeves has even cast doubt on Keoghan returning for a potential sequel. Could this scene be setting up The Joker's role in that planned Arkham Asylum-centric HBO Max series instead?
Be sure to share your thoughts in the usual spot. You can also check out a 4K version of the scene below.
"Two years of stalking the streets as the Batman (Robert Pattinson), striking fear into the hearts of criminals, has led Bruce Wayne deep into the shadows of Gotham City. With only a few trusted allies — Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis), Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) — amongst the city’s corrupt network of officials and high-profile figures, the lone vigilante has established himself as the sole embodiment of vengeance amongst his fellow citizens."
“When a killer targets Gotham’s elite with a series of sadistic machinations, a trail of cryptic clues sends the World’s Greatest Detective on an investigation into the underworld, where he encounters such characters as Selina Kyle/aka Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), Oswald Cobblepot/aka the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and Edward Nashton/aka the Riddler (Paul Dano). As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.”
The Batman is still playing in theaters, and is set to hit HBO Max in April.