This story will contain spoilers for The Batman. Not for scenes that made it, because it pertains to a deleted sequence. But that scene will tie to scenes that you DO see in the movie, so if you do not want to know, exit now.
If you are still reading this story, then you have seen Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and you know what happens at the end of the movie. Robert Pattinson’s caped crusader has triumphed over The Riddler (Paul Dano) and banished him to Arkham Asylum, where Riddler starts a conversation with a mysterious cellmate about “comeback stories” in Gotham. They share a riddle about friendship, and this mysterious character (played by Barry Keoghan of The Eternals) begins to cackle, hinting at him becoming The Joker of this world.
Matt Reeves will tell you that the character in that cell ISN’T yet the Joker, and that he will have to go through a few more significant transitions before he fully embraces his identity as the Clown Prince of Crime. But he thought it was important to establish that character as existing in this world, and even having a relationship with The Batman (Robert Pattinson). In fact, as Reeves tells CinemaBlend, we almost saw more of these two together on screen. He says:
There is a scene, a couple of scenes, that aren’t in the movie because I didn’t think that they worked in the movie to make the best movie. There are scenes that I love. … There’s another Arkham scene that involves the unseen prisoner that you see near the end of the movie, and Batman goes to him in order to profile The Riddler, because he is being written to. That’s a scene that I’m really excited about.
The Batman is a three-hour movie, so suggesting that scenes were trimmed out might surprise some audience members. Especially a scene involving more of the character who is expected to morph into The Joker. Given that this is Year Two of the Bruce Wayne we are meeting, I did ask Matt Reeves who his Batman might have faced off against in his rookie campaign, given what Pattinson says about his own preparation, and the director once again pointed to Barry Keoghan’s mysterious villain… making him even more important in Batman’s world.
Matt Reeves went on to tell us:
The unseen prisoner is one of the characters that he would have confronted in Year One, and that’s how he ended up (in Arkham). So they have a relationship. There’s actually… one of the lines from the scene that’s not in is that unseen prisoner says to (Batman), ‘It’s almost our anniversary, isn’t it?’ And you realize that they have a relationship that exists before that character – who IS the character that you think he is – before that character becomes THAT character, he hasn’t declared himself that character, but they have a relationship that begins very, very early and is very… they’re sort of entwined with each other in a very specific way. The idea in the comics that the Rogues Gallery create themselves in response to the appearance of this vigilante in Gotham who becomes known as The Batman – I wanted this character to be a character who hadn’t yet declare himself, but all the seeds were there.
As you can tell, Matt Reeves has put plenty of thought into the development of this unique take on Gotham, establishing a deep legacy for the main characters and also weaving the history of the Waynes, the Arkhams, and the lifelong criminals into the tapestry that makes up The Batman. Our own Eric Eisenberg praises that development in his review of The Batman, while Robert Pattinson is now on record as to who he thinks the villain of a Batman sequel might be.
The Batman is in theaters as we speak. Check out our guide to upcoming DC Movies to see what will arrive in theaters in its wake.
