When Barry Keoghan was first rumored to be The Joker in Matt Reeves' The Batman, many wondered if he'd be a new take. Others felt he might end up being an amalgam of past iterations. While the rumors regarding the casting turned out to be true, it was hard to see the character in the shadows of his Arkham cell during his brief cameo. That said, his quiet voice hinted it'd be a different spin on the Clown Prince of Crime.
A lot more insight was gleaned when Reeves released a deleted scene from The Batman, which actually showed the clown being interrogated by Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight. However, while the editing was cleverly done to mask Joker's true look, one thing stood out -- his scars. It definitely felt influenced by Heath Ledger's Joker, but in this case, a remix has taken place that makes the iconic smile even scarier.
Now, Joker's smile, along with the "Why So Serious?" tagline, was pretty widespread in Christopher Nolan's marketing for The Dark Knight. It foreshadowed how pivotal they'd be in the film's narrative, with the clown asking folks to guess how he got the scars. It was an intimidation tactic as he kept making up stories, with one being that he cut his mouth to make his depressed wife laugh again, while another suggested that he was maimed by his dad.
It added a sense of mystery and intrigue to his scars, which still felt uniform and artistic despite being ugly. In that sense, these scars became a character in and of themselves, coming off chaotic yet controlled. This went on to inspire a bevy of cosplayers, patterning themselves after the clown and his makeup.
Keoghan's Joker has similar scars, which can be seen in quick snippets in The Batman's deleted scene. More so, they help create his iconic smile, but in this case, the picture painted is a lot more grotesque. The result creates a more horrific aura, compounded by Joker's entire face being disfigured by boils and sores, as well as misaligned teeth.
While many fans suspected this Joker also took a tumble into a vat of acid like in his famous comic book origin story, that's not the case. Reeves confirmed his Joker suffers from a congenital disease. Still, this Joker looks a lot more monstrous, which continues the harmful "disfigured bad guy" trope so often seen in cinema. That said, Keoghan's Joker seems more reserved than Ledger's Joker, at least vocally. It could tease a looser cannon to come, transforming this smile from Ledger's sadistic beauty to something more demonic with Keoghan.
Given how the Bat sought him out for advice on The Riddler, the Caped Crusader looking to the clown as an expert on a terrorist further suggests Joker operates without rhyme and reason, with the more terrifying scars perhaps explaining why he became this way in The Batman sequel. In that sense, with his swollen mouth and chains binding him, this Joker, akin to the Titan Joker from the Arkham video games, may be the darkest one yet.
To see The Joker's cameo, watch The Batman, now on HBO Max.