The following article contains spoilers forThe Batman.
Despite being out for almost a full month now,The Batmanstill managed to surprise fans in spectacular fashion thanks to a special piece of footage Matt Reeves decided to leave on the cutting room floor. However, as the director promptly explained, sometimes less is more, even if he’s talking about the Joker of all things.
This is possiblyDC’smost famous and fascinating villain, theMortal KombatDLC, the only one who could be elevated to such heights by Heath Ledger so that his performance in a superhero movie could be put right next to other acting legends. AndBarry Keoghan’s deleted Joker scene does deliver, the actor comes off as harrowing, his appearance alone makes it hard to watch, and in good old comic book tradition, he’s able to push Batman’s buttons like no else can, so why is less Joker actually more at this stage?
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Joker Plays Second Fiddle To No One
Reeves spoke his mind on why Joker’s longer scene didn’t make it into the theatrical version ofThe Batman even before the five-minute clip was officially released; his reasoning being that the scene did not fit in well enough with the rest of the movie because “what that scene was doing, other scenes were also doing”. That assessment feels real enough, especially when one considers just how much is already going on inThe Batman’sconvoluted story, plus the fact that this is practically a three-hour movie.
WithThe Batmanalready reachingZack Snyder’s Justice Leaguelevels of runtime, the act of merely finding the proper moment to slide in that visit to Arkham is pretty tight, especially in a movie that pretty much warrants its length with very few dull moments,thus making hard to cut scenes from. How is the obsessive vigilante that is Bruce Wayne supposed to find time for a visit to Arkham? The world’s greatest detective probably knows getting useful info from that kind of side quest is quite the long shot at best.
On top of that,The Batmanalready features a markedly different vision of the Riddler than anything that’s ever come before, meaning he is a villain that needs every second of screen time to establish himself as a worthy enemy in the eyes of the audience. TheJoker is the alpha villain in Batman’s world, and the scene that did make the cut makes it clear that if the two show up for an eventual sequel, he’ll be the one calling the shotsand -probably- manipulating the Riddler.
As Reeves eventually concluded, not only would the Joker be a hard fit inside the film’s primary story arc, his on-screen presence for a character that fans love so dearly would take away from the Riddler’s chance to shine. Fitting so too many star players inside a sports team is often hard, and it’s even arguable that the Joker’s cameo that did make the cut still detracts rather than add anything extra to the movie.
The Joker Has A Long Promising Career In Gotham
SinceThe Batmanfollows Bruce’s second year as a vigilante, then it’s clear the battle-scarred Joker sure got off to an impressive start in his criminal career, appearing on the Caped Crusader’s radar after what must have been an impressive rookie year. He seems quite proud of his accomplishments as he greets the man that most likely put him in prison to celebrate their “anniversary.”
And if there is one thing both the scene in question and the one featuringJoker trying to seduce the Riddlerinto a working partnership have in common, it’s that this is a villain that’s destined for horrible things. Reeves wanted to create a very self-contained Batman, and his movie is indeed quite self-sufficient with the Joker’s cameo being possibly the only moment when the film caves into admitting that sequels are coming.
It didn’t even take long for the Joker’s scene to be out before some clever fans started noticing possible details that might point to just how he manages to escape Arkham to continue his blossoming career. These “paperclip” theories suggest the sophomore Batman makes a rare mistake by handing Joker a folder with one too many paperclips that might just be the tool he needs to make a run for it.
It’s already been confirmed thatThe Batmanwill lead to at least two spinoff series on HBO Max, the first being the Penguin’s solo show, and the second one morphing into what’s been described as an Arkham Asylum-focused production. It doesn’t take much o put those pieces together and figure out that the latter already has a couple of very famous faces among its inmate population.
In a different era, the Joker might have been too big for television or streaming, however, Reeves has big plans for his own Batman branch in DC’s portfolio and imagining what the director could do with an ample runtimefor his realistic depiction in Gothamis an enticing prospect.
Ultimately, Keoghan’s Joker -or any Joker for that matter,- deserves to shine on his own stage; relegating him to an oddly placed cameo is doing a disservice to the character, and most crucially it would havehurtThe Batmaninstead of making it better.
