The Batman: Barry Keoghan’s Deleted Joker Scene Officially Released

Barry Keoghan had a small cameo as the Joker in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, but he was initially supposed to have a more substantial role. Just in, WB has officially released Keoghan’s scene and it has Batman asking the Joker to profile the Riddler a la Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs.

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The scene takes place in the middle of the film and has Batman handing over the evidence to the Joker for him to check ‘out of curiosity.’ If anything, the Joker does get the proper profile on Riddler, and everything he says kind of makes sense when the Batman finally comes face to face with Edward Nashton.

The scene was eventually cut because Reeves said it doesn’t really serve any purpose to Batman finding out who the Riddler is. Besides that, I think it undermines Batman’s abilities as a detective needing help from the Joker. Even if that was the case, I think this would have been the perfect introduction for the character, and Keoghan’s take is absolutely disturbing, with Reeves wanting this Joker to have a genetic disease as the reason he doesn’t stop smiling.

We don’t know when the Joker is set to make a comeback, but hopefully we don’t have to wait too long. With The Batman tearing up the box office and the release of this scene, too many people are excited to see Keoghan’s full take on the character now.

No sequel has been announced yet, but The Batman is now available in theaters.