A deleted scene from “The Batman” dropped on Thursday featuring a showdown between The Dark Knight and The Joker in Arkham Asylum…
SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN “THE BATMAN”
A long talked about scene that was cut from “The Batman” has now been released featuring the Dark Knight paying a visit to The Joker in Arkham Asylum.
The scene has previously been referenced by director Matt Reeves, who ultimately decided to leave it on the cutting room floor but still managed to sneak a small cameo from The Joker into the final moments of the film when he talks to Edward Nashton aka The Riddler after he’s admitted into the asylum.
Barry Keoghan plays The Joker and he’s visited by Robert Pattinson’s Batman as he seeks advice on the case involving a serial killer that will later be revealed as The Riddler. Batman can’t quite figure out why the Riddler is so interested in him, especially with the notes he keeps leaving at various murder scenes.
Reeves explained the origin behind the scene when speaking to Variety before ultimately decided to leave it out of the finished film that made it into theaters.
“I thought he would be really insecure about this and he’d probably want to find some way to get into the [Riddler’s] mindset, like in ‘Manhunter’ or ‘Mindhunter’ — this idea of profiling somebody, so you can predict his next move,” Reeves said.
It’s a bit of Clarice meets Hannibal Lecter as Batman hands over the files to the Riddler case to get a profile from The Joker, who references their first encounter that happened a year earlier.
Reeves had previously described this version of The Joker as slightly different from past iterations because this particular character is stricken with a nerve disorder that forces him to smile all the time. As you’ll see in the scene, there’s never a clear look at the Joker as he’s always kept just out of focus until the very end when his maniacal smile gets a close up as Batman is preparing to leave the holding cell.
Check out the deleted scene from “The Batman,” which is still in theaters now.
