Is Joker in The Batman? Matt Reeves Discusses Deleted Scene

With the release of The Batman less than a week away, the press tour has begun and in an interview with Tech Radar, director Matt Reeves talked about a deleted scene that he really liked that involved Eternals actor Barry Keoghan whose role has yet to be revealed, but has been the cause of a lot of speculation.

“There were scenes we cut that I liked. In fact, there’s a scene with the unseen prisoner (the role Keoghan has been credited as), who appears at the end of the movie in Arkham with the Riddler. There was an earlier scene where Batman went to Arkham to profile the Riddler, and Barry is in that scene. It’s a very cool scene, and I’m sure we’ll release the scene after the movie comes out, because it’s a really cool deleted scene.”

Originally it was reported that Keoghan would be playing GCPD officer Stanley Merkel, but a since-deleted Tweet by Keoghan’s brother claimed the actor was playing the Joker.

The film already introduces various members of the Dark Knight’s rogues gallery including Paul Dano as the Riddler, Colin Farrell as Penguin and Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, so it would make sense to have them tease another for a future film… but the deleted tweet aside, the description given by Reeves of the scene and knowing that Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s The Long Halloween was a partial influence on the film makes me think of how in the comics Batman goes to Calendar Man for help finding the Holiday Killer. We will find out for sure this Friday when The Batman hits theaters.