The Batman did a lot right in portraying its own version of Batman, Gotham, and those who live within it. This especially goes for the “world-building” element that was deep at the heart of the film as it revealed not just Bruce Wayne and his alter ego but many other characters from the comics. Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler, Carmine Falcone, and so on were all present and accounted for. Then, at the end, we got the tease of one more person: The Joker.
Naturally, that got a lot of people talking, and that led to people asking director Matt Reeves if this was a tease for who might be the focus of the next film.
In a chat, Reeves said the Joker’s cameo in “at the end of the movie is really more contextual [for the universe], so I can’t say whether we would do him, specifically, in the movies or not.”
He went on to reveal that who we saw wasn’t technically the Joker we all know.
“What you’re seeing is a pre-Joker Joker, actually. We go back to the Conrad Veidt, The Man Who Laughs inspiration, which is a Bob Kane-Bill Finger reference. Obviously, that guy has a congenital disease. He’s sort of like Phantom of the Opera, he can’t not smile,” Reeves explained. “Instead of being like the story of the Elephant Man, where his grotesque outward appearance sort of belied the beautiful inside, this would form his nihilistic worldview and he would have an insidious understanding of human nature. That’s kind of where this psychology comes from in who this guy would be.”
Now, it should be noted that after the release of The Batman, they did a special “Riddler Puzzle” that noted that Riddler was “safe with his new friend” and that “everyone loves a comeback story”.
So while we may not seem Joker in the likely inevitable sequel…he’ll still be around…
Source: Den of Geek
