The following contains spoilers for The BatmanThe Batman has managed to keep itself in the headlines for quite some time after its release, which is already one heck of an achievement. Granted, Batman v Superman has periodically kept itself in the minds of moviegoers over the years as well, but for admittedly very different reasons. The Batman, however, appears to be receiving almost universal praise, and that energy only intensified with a certain new recent revelation.
After Warner Bros. Pictures recently released a deleted scene from The Batman featuring Barry Keoghan's Joker in all his grotesque glory, new questions immediately began circulating. Why was the scene deleted from The Batman? Will this version of The Joker show up again? What's a good fast-acting upset stomach medicine? But perhaps one of the most morbidly interesting questions to surface is this: just how did this Joker get his scars?
Well, in a fascinating reversal of expectations from The Dark Knight, it turns out these scars weren't self-inflicted, as might have been the case with Heath Ledger's iconic take on The Joker. According to director Matt Reeves, he was born that way. "It's like Phantom of the Opera," Reeves explained to Variety. "He has a congenital disease where he can't stop smiling and it's horrific. His face is half-covered through most of the film." This adds a new dimension to the character of The Joker. What if whatever made him a deranged killer affected him on the outside as well as the inside? Suddenly, some viewers may have begun to wonder why the scene was cut from The Batman in the first place.
"It's not about some version where he falls into a vat of chemicals and his face is distorted, or what [Christopher] Nolan did, where there's some mystery to how he got these scars carved into his face," Reeves continued. "What if this guy from birth had this disease and he was cursed? He had this smile that people stared at that was grotesque and terrifying. Even as a child, people looked at him with horror, and his response was to say, 'Okay, so a joke was played on me,' and this was his nihilistic take on the world."
It would certainly be a fascinating new idea to add to The Joker as such a complex, and even almost sympathetic villain. The character has been done countless times over the years, so it's refreshing to see that there's still room for creativity after so many iterations. Whether or not audiences will see more of him has yet to be seen. But Reeves has said that, while he doesn't plan on including the character in a potential sequel to The Batman, there's definitely room for stories to be told, like the upcoming spinoff focusing on Arkham inmates like him.
The Batman did a lot of things right, and while the inclusion of Keoghan's Joker has been divisive among more vocal fans, it's difficult to deny that there could be some genuinely interesting stories to tell there. Either way, there's probably going to be another Batman reboot in 5 years or so anyway, so anybody who isn't interested can just wait a bit.
The Batman is now playing in theaters.
Source: Variety