The Batman Director Matt Reeves Reveals Joker’s Tragic Backstory

Another live-action take on DC’s iconic Joker villain emerged in the final minutes of Matt Reeves’s hit new film The Batman. Played by Barry Keoghan, this version of the Joker was mostly seen and not heard in The Batman, speaking to Riddler from the shadows of his Arkham cell. Last week, however, Reeves and Warner Bros. released a deleted scene from the film that gave fans a much better look at the new Joker, and sets the stage for his relationship to Robert Pattinson’s Batman.

Unlike the more recent iterations of the Joker, Keoghan’s version has physical issues that go all the way back to birth. This Joker has problems that come from disease and defects, not just effects of chemical solutions or knife scars around his mouth. Following the release of the scene, Reeves opened up about Joker’s backstory during an interview with Variety.

“It’s like Phantom of the Opera,” Reeves explained. “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.”

“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,” the director added. “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.”

At this point, there’s no word as to when we might see Keoghan’s version of the Joker next. The Batman will almost surely get a sequel, but Reeves is also working on an HBO Max series dedicated to Arkham. It would make sense for Joker to appear there, as well.

“There might be places,” Reeves said of the Joker’s next appearance. “There’s stuff I’m very interested in doing in an Arkham space, potentially for HBO Max. There are things we’ve talked about there. So it’s very possible. It also isn’t impossible that there is some story that comes back where Joker comes into our world.”

Are you looking forward to seeing more of Keoghan’s Joker? Let us know in the comments!