Barry Keoghan's Joker Draws Comparisons to New 52 Death of the Family Joker

By Timothy Adams

The Joker and Batman have crossed paths across many different forms of media, with the latest coming in the feature film The Batman. Director Matt Reeves recently released a deleted scene of Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight and Barry Keoghan's Joker, with the two having a conversation in Arkham Asylum. There's already been lots of reaction to the five-minute-long deleted scene, with Keoghan expressing he has "no words" after seeing his Clown Prince of Crime all over social media. Fans have already started comparing the look of The Batman's Joker to the one introduced in The New 52 DC Comics event "Death of the Family."

Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo were the creative team behind 2012's "Death of the Family" crossover in the Batman family of titles. It featured The Joker attempting to systematically take out Batman's supporting cast of characters such as Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Commissioner Jim Gordon. It also takes its name from 1988's controversial "A Death in the Family" which concluded with Joker murdering Jason Todd.

One of the big visual takeaways from "Death of the Family" was Joker's face. He had his face removed while an inmate at Arkham Asylum and hung up on his cell wall. When he later went to reattach his face to his body, it was loose-fitting, making Joker look even more sinister than he normally does. Keoghan as The Joker favors "Death of the Family" Joker from a distance, and fans were quick to call it out on social media.

Reeves decided to include Joker in The Batman to help flesh out and establish his version of Gotham City as one already in the process of seeing Batman's rogues gallery take shape:

"It's not an Easter egg scene," Reeves told Variety. "It's not one of those end credits Marvel or DC scenes where it's going, like, 'Hey, here's the next movie!' In fact, I have no idea when or if we would return to that character in the movies. I thought it'd be really neat if so much of the fabric of Gotham just already existed."

"...I never was trying to say like, 'Hey, guess what, here's the Joker. Next movie!'" he added. "The idea was more to say, 'Hey, look, if you think that trouble is going to go away in Gotham, you can forget it. It's already here. And it's already delicious.'"

You can read the fan reaction comparing The Batman's Joker to The New 52 "Death of the Family" Joker below.

Getting Death of the Family Joker Vibes

New 52 Inspiration

Death of the Family Design?

You Gotta Look for the Clues

We Like What We've Seen So Far

There's Some Azzarello/Berjemo Joker in There Too

Will Joker Remain a Side Character?

It's All a Vibe

Give the Makeup Crew Their Flowers

One Fan Is Turning Around

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