Yesterday Matt Reeves, out of the blue, dropped the official five-minute-long deleted scene featuring none other than Barry Keoghan’s take on the Joker and it was fascinating, to say the least. Here it is.

After watching the scene it was obvious why it had, in fact, been deleted, and yet it’s one of the greatest deleted scenes I’ve seen in a while.

Every iteration of the Clown Prince is vastly different thanks to the wide range of actors that have portrayed him. Sticking to movies, Jack Nicholson’s take on the Joker provided the most Clown Prince vibes.

He was a bit of a goofy gangster but he had that ruthless maniacal Joker quality that makes him, in my opinion, still one of the best versions of the character.

Heath Ledger’s Joker was literally iconic. From the first moment, we see his scarred, painted face appear on the screen accompanied by Hans Zimmer’s incredible score it was very clear that this iteration of the character would be one we wouldn’t forget. He was unhinged, smart as heck, but most importantly, he was terrifying. I still remember seeing him as a little girl and being quite haunted by the guy.

Then there was Jared Leto’s take on the character which is universally considered the worst iteration of Joker. I don’t know what Leto was going for but it didn’t work out. The sexier design of the character made it easier to watch him being lovey-dovey with Harley Quinn but Leto just made the character feel ridiculous instead of believable.

Then there was Joaquin Phoenix’s take on the character which garnered the man his first Oscar because he did one heck of a job bringing Arthur Fleck to life. This Joker was a more sympathetic one even though the movie did not relinquish from revealing that he was just as mad as the Joker needs to be.

His standalone film revealed the creation of the Joker in a mesmerizingly artful way. By the end, you get why he’s the Joker so perfectly and yes, I’ve seen this movie multiple times.

Now we have Keoghan’s version of Joker which may be the most maniacal version of them all. At times we can see the somewhat normal side to him. The side that’s smart and calculating. And then there’s the other side. The side that makes him distinctly the Joker.

To be honest, I’m not quite sure about this iteration…yet. The design of the character is incredibly disturbing, maybe even more disturbing than Heath Ledger’s version which is saying something. I think it’s the laugh that is a little offputting at the moment. It feels like he’s laughing just to laugh because he’s the Joker and the Joker laughs a lot but it doesn’t exactly feel natural or that warranted.

I’m kind of hoping we keep the Joker as a background villain for right now since he’s been used so much and I think that’s why it’s brilliant Matt Reeves put him in this movie. He wants to let us know that Batman has already run into this character which means we don’t have to wonder when Joker is going to show up. It gives Reeves room to play with Batman’s Rogue Gallery and I’m really hoping to see a lesser-known Batman antagonist make an appearance in the sequel.

What do you think about the deleted scene and do you think we should get more Joker in the sequel? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day.