Watch: Deleted Batman scene featuring Barry Keoghan as Joker

Barry Keoghan in ‘The Batman’. (Image credit: Screengrab from video uploaded on YouTube by Warner Bros Pictures)

The makers of Robert Pattinson-starrer The Batman have released a deleted scene from the movie where the Dark Knight encounters Joker -- who would prove to be his biggest nemesis.

The scene takes place in the Arkham State Hospital. Batman sneaks inside the premises to get insight into Riddler, a sadistic serial killer behind the murders of Gotham’s key politicians.

In the five-minute scene, Batman is seen interrogating an inmate sitting behind a glass wall, whose facial scars and patchy hair are discernible. He is Joker, but an early form of Batman’s nemesis. In a previous scene, the character played by Barry Keoghan is shown to have become acquainted with Riddler.

Batman seeks from Joker answers about Riddler’s motives and why he had been leaving him notes of his crimes.

“Maybe he’s a fan of yours?” Joker says in response. “Or maybe he’s got a grudge against you, too. Maybe you’re the main course."

The scene is reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter's meetings with Clarice Sterling in The Silence of the Lambs. 

“I think somewhere, deep down, you’re just terrified, because you’re not sure he’s (Riddler) is wrong,” Joker tells Batman at one point and breaks into his chill-inducing cackle.

The makers of the film say they liked the idea of insinuating at the end that Gotham was full of villains, Variety reported.

However, Matt Reeves, the director, felt the Batman-Joker scene was not necessary. “It was one of those scenes where, given how complex the narrative was, by taking it out, it kept the story moving in a way it needed to," he told  Variety.

The Batman, which released on March 4, is now on its way to make over $700 million at the box office, the second-highest grossing superhero film during the coronavirus pandemic after Spider-Man: No Way Home, Forbes reported.