The Batman surprised viewers with a Joker tease at the end of the movie, but there could have been more of Barry Keoghan’s Joker as Matt Reeves got rid of an interrogation scene between him and Robert Pattinson’s Batman – however, this scene also shows that Heath Ledger’s Joker still can’t be beaten. As one of the most popular and beloved comic book characters, Batman continues to be adapted to other media, especially film, and its most recent one was Matt Reeves’ The Batman, which introduced a younger Bruce Wayne in his second year of fighting crime in Gotham City as the mysterious vigilante Batman.
The Batman saw the Caped Crusader working alongside James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and the Gotham City Police Department to catch a mysterious serial killer known as The Riddler (Paul Dano). During this investigation, Batman ends up taking a deep look at Gotham’s criminal underworld, led by Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) and Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot (Colin Farrell), with the help of Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz). The Batman had a couple of surprises up its sleeve, but the biggest one was when Edward Nashton/Riddler was sent to Arkham State Hospital, where he suddenly befriended the inmate living in the cell next to his and who turned out to be this universe’s Joker. The Joker’s appearance in the final cut of The Batman was brief, but a deleted scene showed a bit more of this obscure version of the Clown Prince of Crime, and showed that Heath Ledger’s Joker still stands as the best.
Why Heath Ledger's Joker Can't Be Beat (But Keoghan Will Be Great)
In the final cut of The Batman, the audience got only a small taste of Keoghan’s Joker, but in a deleted scene, viewers got to see the dynamic between Pattinson’s Batman and his universe’s Joker. The scene sees Batman visiting the Joker at Arkham to ask for a bit of help in decoding the Riddler’s clues, but he ends up playing mind games with the Caped Crusader. Keoghan’s Joker is physically intimidating, his laugh is as maniacal as it should, and his mannerisms are very much what you would expect from the Joker, but he’s blurry all the time as he’s seen through a glass, and the scene is so short that it doesn’t fully show Keoghan’s interpretation of this famous villain – however, it does provide a point of comparison to Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight, as both versions of the Joker were interrogated by their respective Batmans, with the villains trying to intimidate them.
Keoghan’s Joker was intriguing, but he didn’t give off the same unsettling feeling that Ledger’s version so easily radiated. Ledger’s Joker was unpredictable in every way and was more realistic and psychopathic than previous versions, particularly that of Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton’s Batman, who leaned more towards a comedic, over-the-top style. Ledger’s Joker performance set the bar way too high for subsequent versions (just take a look at Jared Leto’s Joker in the DC Extended Universe), and while that doesn’t mean Keoghan’s won’t be great or can’t evoke fear in the audience, he most likely won’t be able to beat Ledger’s Joker.
Will Keoghan’s Joker Return In The Batman 2?
The Joker’s tease at the end of The Batman makes it quite easy for him to return in a sequel, but the problem is that the future of The Batman 2 isn’t quite clear. The Batman 2 was announced back in April during Warner Bros’ CinemaCon panel, but since then, the studio has gone through big changes with a massive merger that made way for Warner Bros. Discovery, and this led to many changes in the DCEU and other DC branches. The Batman is intended to be the beginning of a new movie trilogy and a universe with spinoffs such as The Penguin, but there haven’t been more updates on the development of The Batman 2, though it’s highly likely that Barry Keoghan will return as the Joker.