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The reintroduction of a legendary - and at this point, over-adapted - nemesis was one of the biggest surprises of Matt Reeves' The Batman.
The Joker, played by Barry Keoghan, appears in the final moments of the current Batman remake, where he forms a friendship with the film's villain, The Riddler (Paul Dano), from their adjacent Arkham Asylum cells.
The Joker appears to be making his big-screen debut in a future Reeves-Robert Pattinson film, but Reeves revealed to Variety that the film's original edit included another prolonged scene with Keoghan.
Reeves revealed the deleted scene on Thursday, shedding additional light on where he intends to take his portrayal of one of the comic world's most popular hero-villain relationships.
Where to watch the deleted Joker scene from Matt Reeves' The Batman
The video was released as the latest prize from Ratalada, Warner Bros.' viral marketing website. The website's name is a reference to one of the film's Riddler mysteries. Check out the scene below.
To decrypt the clip, savvy puzzle solvers had to solve a series of hints, which immediately spread on Twitter and YouTube. The five-minute sequence is very easy, yet it offers an interesting portrayal of the hero and foe's new connection.
More about The Joker scene from The Batman
In response to the publication of this Joker deleted scene, Keoghan stated that he has "no words" for what Matt Reeves accomplished with it.
Reeves has previously spoken about his decision to include The Joker in The Batman. He wished to flesh out and establish his vision of Gotham City as one that was already in the process of forming Batman's rogue gallery.
He told Variety:
"It's not an Easter egg scene. 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."
His appearance is reminiscent of the Joker from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman comic book run, with an undercut and a ghoulish grin.
According to Reeves, the look was inspired by the 1928 short film The Man Who Laughs as well as the congenital sickness that plagued the Phantom of the Opera's titular character.
Matt Reeves' The Batman is presently running in theaters all over the world. Despite the fact that no sequel has been announced yet, the film has grossed over $600 million in the COVID-recovery box office landscape.
