The Batman director Matt Reeves has revealed why he kept the mysterious Joker scene in the final cut of his movie. The Batman is, of course, the most recent interpretation of the iconic DC hero. In Reeves' new imagining of the world of Gotham, actor Robert Pattinson takes on the role of Batman, and is the first actor to play a version of the character to exist outside of the DCEU since Christian Bale took on the role in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. The Batman follows the titular Caped Crusader in his second year of crime fighting, as he tracks down a mysterious new serial killer called The Riddler (Paul Dano). Since the film's release, it has been acclaimed by both critics and fans alike, and some have even called it the best Batman film to date.
Close to the end of The Batman, there is a scene in which the Riddler is shown locked in Arkham Asylum in a neighboring cell to an obscured stranger who offers to be his friend. While the inmate is named "Unseen Arkham Prisoner" in The Batman's credits, he has a very distinctive laugh, which lead many viewers to draw the conclusion that the character is this film's version of the infamous Joker. This has since been confirmed, as Reeves released a deleted scene in which Batman visits the Joker (played by Barry Keoghan) in Arkham to ask for help in catching the Riddler. Despite cutting this scene, Reeves decided to leave the final interaction between the two villains in the film.
During the director's commentary for The Batman (as reported by The Wrap), Reeves has revealed exactly why he left the scene in the movie, despite removing other references to the Joker. Reeves has admitted that while many fans have asked if this is a set up for a sequel to The Batman, he never saw it that way. Reeves has stated that he made a cut of the film which removed the scene between the two villains, however, the issue with it was that audiences never got to see how the Riddler reacted to Batman pulling "things back from the brink." For Reeves, without the scene, the Riddler's story arc does not have a conclusion. See his full quote below:
“A lot of people ask me, ‘Is this a set up for another movie?’ and to be honest it really isn’t. This for me was tracking because Paul and The Riddler was in the action of the third act in a very particular way, and the last we’d seen him he was saying ‘Boom!’ in his window as the bombs went off, and we hadn’t yet seen him take in the fact that Batman had been able to pull things back from the brink and that his plan had not played out, I really wanted to see the end of that arc for Riddler.”
While Reeves did state that it was not a deliberate set up for a sequel, he has gone on to say that he feels it makes Selina Kyle's (Zoë Kravitz) final line about Gotham never being able to change more powerful, as the audience can already see more trouble brewing. Reeves has also stated that, despite wanting to take a break from the world of The Batman for a while, he does have plans for a sequel, so perhaps Reeves is only giving the necessary information about why the scene was left in.
Of course, audiences may have to wait some time to truly learn if the scene was a sequel set up or not. Whether it is or not, Reeves was right that the Riddler's story wouldn't feel finished if the scene were cut. Without it, the last time the Riddler would be seen was as he watched his plan supposedly succeed, which leaves no satisfaction for the audience at the end. The Joker's small surprise cameo doesn't really feel out of place either despite his previous scene being cut. Having the Joker locked in Arkham certainly feels right for any fan who knows the material, and it is definitely good world building on Reeves' part. Whether or not the Joker is used in the future, this particular scene does not take away from The Batman being an epic installment in the legacy of the hero.
Source: The Wrap
