Barry Keoghan

2022 - 3 - 2

batman movie - matt reeves - the batman post credit scene

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Comicbook.com"

The Batman: Barry Keoghan's Mystery Character Revealed (Comicbook.com)

The Batman is now out to the masses, and the DC Comics epic has undoubtedly left viewers with a lot to process. The nearly-three-hour blockbuster presented ...

We are already telling other stories in the streaming space, we're doing stuff on HBO Max, we're doing a Penguin show with Colin [Farrell], which is gonna be super cool," Reeves shared with The Independent at The Batman's premiere. This is completely different from the role that Keoghan was initially reportedly cast as, with the initial official listing arguing that he was playing Stanley Merkel, a somewhat-recurring Gotham police officer. The Batman is now out to the masses, and the DC Comics epic has undoubtedly left viewers with a lot to process.

On That New Villain Who Appears at the End of <i>The Batman</i> (TIME)

On That New Villain Who Appears at the End of The Batman · How we meet an unseen Joker in The Batman · Barry Keoghan has proven himself a compelling comic book ...

Batman and Catwoman manage to foil the attack, to the Riddler’s dismay. The DCEU has grown complicated in recent years. Barry Keoghan is best known for playing another comic book character, Druig in The Eternals. Though that movie was stuffed with A-list talent (including Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, and Harry Styles), it failed to dazzle critics or make history at the box office. By the end of the film, Batman has captured the Riddler, though that was the Riddler’s plan all along. He may recruit the Riddler, the Penguin (played by an unrecognizable Colin Farrell in this film), and a whole rogue’s gallery of heroes to battle the Caped Crusader. Then Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for playing the Joker in a dead-serious take on the villain in 2019’s Joker. So, currently, there are three different Jokers roaming three different Gothams, which is scary and more than a little confusing.

So <em>The Batman</em> Snuck a Joker In There After All (menshealth.com)

In 'The Batman' Barry Keoghan is credited as 'Unseen Arkham Prisoner,' but really he is playing The Joker.

Assuming a sequel to The Batman gets made, it'll be exciting to watch Keoghan take on the role of perhaps the most famous villain in superhero history. At the end of the movie, after Riddler's plan has gone belly-up, he's sitting in prison when a mysterious voice starts talking to him. And those villains are so compelling, that you also probably had the thought—who needs the Joker? But Matt Reeves knows. Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins went another direction with its origin story, but ended with a cliffhanger teasing The Joker, who would enter in the sequel, The Dark Knight, in a legendary, Academy Award-winning turn by actor Heath Ledger. Even the DCEU had its own Joker, played by Jared Leto and showing up in Suicide Squad and Zack Snyder's Justice League. And there's Falcone's right-hand man, The Penguin (somehow, Colin Farrell), full of bluster and frankly hilarious. There's also crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), a charismatic and ruthless figure who works in the shadows.

Barry Keoghan's Joker is a horrifying revelation (GQ Australia)

'The Batman' director Matt Reeves has released another piece to the puzzle of who the next villain in the series will be.

If Keoghan is confirmed as The Joker, it will be a massive moment in his career which has been on a roll recently. In the lead-up to the film, Barry Keoghan was credited with a role as Officer Stanley Merkel, Jim Gordon’s partner, but that was just some clever sleight-of-hand. In the cell next to him, a prisoner consoles him, telling him how unfair it is that Batman got in his way.

Batman fan art shows what Barry Keoghan would look like as The ... (HITC)

The Batman release is imminent and rumors surrounding Barry Keoghan's role has inspired a wave of fan art illustrating the actor as The Joker.

It was previously reported that The Batman received a PG-13 rating, despite rumors of the film being catered towards mature viewers. While The Dark Knight’s arrival is front and center, actor Barry Keoghan also has a role in the latest adaptation worth keeping an eye on. We explore what Barry Keoghan’s role could be in The Batman, share a collection of fan art depicting the actor as The Joker, and explain why the film has been given a PG-13 rating, despite DC fans beckoning for an R-rated superhero film.

'The Batman's Joker Scene: Barry Keoghan's Secret Role Explained (Hollywood Life)

'The Batman' features an epic Joker scene, and the Clown Prince is played by Barry Keoghan. Here's what you need to know.

And so here, we have a Joker who’s not yet the Joker,” he told IGN. The Batman is now in theaters. And because the movie is not an origin tale for Batman, but it’s his early days, it really is an origin tale for the Rogue’s Gallery’s characters,” Matt said. And he’s like, ‘Well, why is this guy writing to me?’ And he figures he’s got to profile this killer.” When Riddler asks who this mysterious fellow prisoner is, The Joker replies, “Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?” There’s a brief, shadowy glimpse of The Joker’s scarred face through the prison door. When The Riddler is arrested and thrown in Arkham Asylum after wreaking havoc on Gotham, he comes in contact with a fellow Arkham prisoner. The Riddler and Carmine Falcone are the main enemies in The Batman, but one key scene seemingly revealed Batman’s next foe in an inevitable sequel.

The biggest Easter egg in 'The Batman' involves Barry Keoghan, star ... (The Daily Dot)

At the end of the movie, we see the incarcerated Riddler (Paul Dano) speaking with another inmate in Arkham Asylum. Officially credited as “Unseen Arkham ...

This will only increase the complaints that the Batman franchise is too reliant on the Joker, while villains like Poison Ivy still haven’t had a chance at a “mature” reboot. At the end of the movie, we see the incarcerated Riddler (Paul Dano) speaking with another inmate in Arkham Asylum. Officially credited as “Unseen Arkham Prisoner,” this mysterious figure is shrouded in shadows, virtually unrecognizable as Keoghan—but he’s quite clearly meant to be the Joker. He has serious facial scarring, he makes a reference to clowns, and he bursts into a hysterical laugh. Keoghan only appears in one scene, but it’s an important one that lays the groundwork for a sequel.

'The Batman 2' villain: How [Spoiler] sets up the sequel (Inverse)

The Riddler isn't the only bad guy locked in Arkham Asylum. Here's who else awaits in 'The Batman' sequel and what it means for the future of DC's "Earth-2" ...

All we know for sure is that with the Joker now in this universe, anything can happen when an agent of chaos is let loose. At the end of The Batman, Barry Keoghan’s Joker seems open to collaborating with the Riddler. Why? And how, exactly? I’ve previously mentioned that the Riddler and Joker have a history together in comic books. What differentiates Keoghan’s Joker from others — again, with what little we’ve seen of him thus far — is his willingness to work with others. But with his scarred clown makeup and piercing laugh, it’s mighty obvious who it is: It’s the Joker, played by actor Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk, Eternals). We’ve seen previous Jokers in action, from Jack Nicholson’s mischievous parades to Heath Ledger’s domestic terrorism.

The Batman Director Explains the Inspiration Behind Barry ... (IGN)

The Batman director Matt Reeves and Warner Bros. have released a deleted scene featuring Barry Keoghan's Joker – officially credited as “Unnamed Arkham ...

“And the idea for me, why I kept that scene in the movie, even though I cut the first scene that I'm describing, is because it was important for me at the end. “But it was also this idea that in this moment, now that the stranglehold of Falcone has been broken, it means that there is a moment of not only hope, but it's also the moment of greatest danger in the city in a long time because it means that everyone is going to grab for power. And we tested it, and I realized that for me, on the one hand, it finishes the Riddler's arc, because you know the way his story plays out and you see him in the wake of what's happened and how Batman has been able to thwart what he was doing. And when Selina [Kyle] is talking to Batman at the end of the movie and they're having their very poignant goodbye because they're always going to be on the opposite sides of things, she says to him, ‘You know this place isn't going to change.’ And when I took the scene out, the stakes of the scene changed, because that scene shows you that, when she says that, you've just seen it and you see the two of them [Joker and Riddler] next to each other. And it made Mike and I think about — I was talking about The Elephant Man because I love David Lynch. And I was like, ‘Well, maybe there's something here where it's not something where he fell in a vat of chemicals or it's not the Nolan thing where he has these scars and we don't know where they came from. And this killer in this story is not yet the character that we come to know, right?” Reeves said. Again, though, that’s not what Reeves said is the condition that Keoghan’s character has in the film.) And because the movie is not an origin tale for Batman, but it's his early days, it really is an origin tale for the Rogue's Gallery's characters,” Reeves said. But I wanted to create an iteration of him that felt distinctive and new, but went right back to the roots,” Reeves said. And he's like, ‘Well, why is this guy writing to me?’ And he figures he's got to profile this killer,” Reeves said, revealing things then took an almost Silence of the Lambs/Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter-like turn. In our interview, Reeves detailed what that deleted scene was about and elaborated on the inspiration behind his Joker’s look. Reeves first told us about this Arkham Asylum scene and why he ultimately cut it in the interview below, which was originally published at the time of the film’s release.

Barry Keoghan

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