Warner Bros.’ The Batman is out now, and fans who have seen the film already likely got a bit excited at a particular moment towards the end of the film. According to director Matt Reeves, though, fans shouldn’t expect it to be setting up a sequel
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Toward the end of The Batman, Paul Dano’s Riddler — now locked up in Arkham Asylum — comes face-to-face with a fellow inmate played by Barry Keoghan. The inmate then offers Riddler his own riddle, essentially extending his hand out in friendship before they share a maniacal laugh.
Fans with any basic knowledge of Batman are sure to know that Keoghan was none other than the Joker, the iconic Batman villain. Reeves confirmed that theory, noting that Keoghan was meant to be Joker and that he thought it would be interesting to build a version of Gotham that “already existed” and had many familiar faces already established.
“I thought it’d be really neat if so much of the fabric of Gotham just already existed,” Reeves told Variety. “And it was like an old Warner Bros. gangster movie and if you took a certain turn, you might see a character in his origins.”
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However, just because Joker appears at the end of the film, don’t mistake that for a hint that the Clown Prince of Crime will be returning for more.
“It’s not an Easter egg scene,” said Reeves of the scene. “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 … 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.’”
For now, it’s unclear just what another The Batman film will look like, as Reeves has teased tackling a litany of villains that are known to the world of Batman. With Joker already established in the film, however, it at least gives Reeves and those behind the film the opportunity to utilize the character should they wish to.
