The credits for "The Batman" call him the "Unseen Arkham Prisoner" – but real fans
know where they've seen him before.
Warning: spoilers for "The Batman" ahead.
Teasing a villain for the next movie at the end of the current one is, at this point,
standard operating procedure for comic book movies.
The most recent "Batman" movie, "The Batman," includes just such a scene.
It's set in Arkham Asylum — Gotham City's notoriously insecure institute for the "criminally
insane."
The scene in question features an exchange between Paul Dano's Riddler and a familiar
murderous clown played by rising star Barry Keoghan.
Most audience members will tell you that the scene is a clear setup for a "Batman" sequel,
one that once again sets the Dark Knight on a collision course with the Clown Prince of
Crime.
But there's more to this brief exchange between two super-criminals than might immediately
meet the eye.
Director Matt Reeves revealed in an interview published in conjunction with the film's release
that he intended for the moment to have a thematic significance within "The Batman"
itself, rather than functioning as a glorified advertisement for future films.
"New friend of yours?"
"I'm not so sure."
In a YouTube interview with IGN, director Matt Reeves provided some insight into the
Barry Keoghan Joker scene in "The Batman," linking its function within the film to some
of the movie's overarching themes.
Reeves explained that in his initial cut of the movie, he removed the Arkham sequence
between Riddler and Joker, thinking it unimportant to the movie's overall story.
But when he did so, the stakes within another, more crucial sequence — a scene later on
between Catwoman and Batman — were diminished.
Catwoman and Batman care about each other, but at the end of the day, they're working
on opposite sides of the law.
They're also divided by their attitudes towards Gotham City — while Batman clings to a desperate
hope that his crime-fighting efforts can somehow make a difference in the grand scheme of things,
Catwoman is of the opinion that the city will "never change," and that each quelled threat
will ultimately be replaced by a new one.
Remind you of anything?
In "The Batman," audiences already understand the grim truth of Catwoman's words, because
they've just seen the Joker himself enter the picture.
How can Gotham ever change when that guy's on the scene?
The Joker scene, then, is a potent illustration of the seemingly limitless number of threats
to the public's health and well-being that the numerous villains of Gotham City will
always present.
This may be the Riddler's movie, but the Riddler is far from the only villain in Gotham.
He's just one of them – and now he has a new friend.
"If this continues, it won't be long until you have nothing left."
Matt Reeves shared some additional insight about Barry Keoghan's scene in "The Batman"
in an interview with Variety published the day after his conversation with IGN.
Reeves explained that originally, there was another scene with Keoghan's "unseen Arkham
prisoner," which saw Batman go and visit the detainee, who greeted him like an old friend.
The deleted scene, which Reeves hopes to show viewers one day, is said to have a similar
vibe to the scenes between Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the
Lambs."
"Hello Clarice.
It's good to see you again."
In addition to lending thematic weight to Catwoman's philosophical outlook on Gotham
City, Reeves explained that Keoghan's Joker was likewise featured in order to accentuate
the preponderance of eccentric characters in Gotham and further develop the film's central
location.
The director said,
"I thought it'd be really neat if so much of the fabric of Gotham just already existed,
and it was like an old Warner Bros. gangster movie, and if you took a certain turn, you
might see a character in his origins."
Furthermore, the implied threat the Joker poses to Gotham city is meant to reinforce
the fact that Batman's work is forever ongoing.
Reeves explained that the scene's inclusion helped audiences, quote, "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."
According to Reeves, whether or not Keoghan reprises his role as the Joker in a future
film has yet to be determined.
But at the very least, Reeves has made it clear that his scene in "The Batman" serves
a clear purpose, whether he shows up again in a future movie or not.
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