Matt Reeves, Director of the DC superhero film The Batman in a recent commentary released that the Joker played by Barry Keoghan is not The Joker yet.
Reeves’ revision of the character was debuted as a cameo in the recent relaunch of The Caped Crusader, which aired in theatres in March. The film is currently available to stream on HBO Max.
Batman link with The Joker
The Batman revolves around a conflict on multiple fronts between Batman (Robert Pattinson), The Riddler (Paul Dano), The Penguin (Colin Farrell), and Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz).
Though the plot centers on the above characters, the film also rises to great lengths to lay the groundwork for other Gotham villains, including The Joker.
In the theatrical cut of the film, Keoghan’s version of the character is briefly shown in Arkham as a prisoner with a cell sharing a wall with The Riddler. As the film reaches its end, the two develop a friendship with leaps and bounds that will be explored in future projects.
As Keoghan’s Joker had a very brief screen time, very little about him is known in The Batman. However, Warner Bros. Entertainment recently released commentary from Reeves for the deleted scene between Joker and Batman which unfortunately didn’t make to theatrical cut but was released after the movie premiered.
Matt Reeves’ Commentary clears up Keoghan’s Joker
With that commentary, Reeves explains that this very character in the future will become The Joker. Though this prisoner in Arkham had run-ins with Batman, he is not the fully formed villain yet.
The whole concept of Batman having some sort of a relationship with Joker before he fully transforms into The Joker is the traditional style in DC Comics, but it’s also not unparalleled.
The Killing Joke shows Batman encountering Joker before his transformation, and The New 52 expands on that concept by hinting that The Joker was a member of The Red Hood Gang before his dip in the vat of chemicals.
This version of the initial Joker has his horrific smile from birth, but later, we will get to see those events that will make him become the true Joker. As of right now, he is just an unknown prisoner that Batman apprehended in Year 1.
From what we can understand, Batman‘s Director Reeves would take The Joker in this direction, as other films have already explored the other origins.
With Reeves’ Joker from The Batman, it can be said that our prisoner was born with traits that would transform him into The Joker.
