After months of speculation, Matt Reeves did pack Joker into The Batman, shocking fans with Barry Keoghan's big cameo in Arkham. The Clown Prince of Crime was found tempting Paul Dano's Riddler into a partnership in the finale. It hinted they'd team up, try to break loose and cause more mayhem down the line.
Reeves also confirmed there was a deleted scene where Robert Pattinson's Batman actually visited Joker in The Batman to glean insight into how Riddler's mind worked. Now that this sequence has finally been released, an intriguing moment has been stitched in where the clown inverts Heath Ledger's most monstrous Joker line. In The Dark Knight's famous interrogation scene, Christian Bale's Bat tried to extract intel from Joker as to where Rachel and Harvey were taken. While the rage inside the vigilante swelled, Joker kept it cool, making it clear he wasn't the freak or the monster -- Gotham's society was.
As Joker waxed on about people's double standards and how they refused to see themselves as criminals, he confessed, "See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve." It reiterated how meticulous he was in planning the city's downfall, wanting to hold that mirror up to reflect their true selfish natures. More so, he was challenging the Caped Crusader, whom he felt completed him, to buy into his vision as a partner.
It was quite sadistic because this ego is why Joker was killing so relentlessly. It pushed the Bat to violently assault the clown before he got tricked into rescuing Harvey instead of Rachel. In that sense, Joker proved the vigilante wasn't ahead of the curve like he was, letting emotions and a moral compass cloud his judgment and detective skills to the point that Rachel died.
In Reeves' scene, Keoghan's scarred, grotesque Joker wasn't as eloquent or loquacious, but his quiet, eerie voice got his points over. When Bat-Pat pressed him about if he had info on Riddler, Joker, after looking at the file, couldn't help but balk at how the hero came to him. Apparently, they had beef a year before, and this meeting marked their anniversary, so Joker opted to enjoy the gloating session. When Joker eventually heard the Bat had no theories as to who Riddler was, he then replied, "Really? You're always so ahead of the curve."
It was a clever, quick nod that homaged Ledger's line. But in this case, Joker wasn't leveling the Bat up, he was punching down. It was condescending, trying to show the Dark Knight he wasn't good enough for the job. It threw back to the many cartoons and comics where Joker felt they weren't equals, which stood in stark contrast to Nolan's vision. Ultimately, Batman left the asylum empty-handed, but Joker did his job, reminding the Bat that unless he got ahead of the curve, terrorists would always lay claim to the city.
The Batman is currently playing in theaters.