Barry Keoghan: who is the Joker actor, how to watch deleted The Batman scene, and who were previous Jokers?

The Batman director Matt Reeves has released a previously unseen scene in which Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader meets Barry Keoghan’s Joker.

The scene is available to viewers through a website that can be unlocked by answering three riddles - this is everything you need to know.

Who is Barry Keoghan?

Barry Keoghan is an Irish actor who you likely recognise from films such as The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Dunkirk, The Green Knight and Eternals, and HBO miniseries Chernobyl.

His most recent role is that of the “unseen Arkham prisoner” (although fans will quickly be able to figure out his real character) in The Batman, starring Robert Pattison (The Lighthouse, Good Time) and directed by Matt Reeves.

In 2017, Keoghan was included in the Irish Times list of Ireland’s 50 greatest film actors.

Keoghan grew up in Summerhill in Dublin, Ireland, and was born on 18 October 1992. The actor, alongside his brother Eric, spent seven years in foster care growing up, living in 13 different foster homes between the ages of five and 12.

Keoghan’s mother was unable to take care of her two sons due to a heroin addiction and at 12, she died.

Talking to the Guardian, Keoghan said: “Foster care was a big part of my life. My mother dying of drugs is not easy for any kid.

“Anyone dying is not easy, but certainly not a mother. Me and my brother, we stuck together. The foster families were good to me and then my nanny took me in.”

Keoghan got his start in acting after answering a casting notice he saw in a shop window for the Irish crime drama Between the Canals. It was bagging a small role in the drama that led him to begin studying at The Factory, an acting school in Dublin.

It was in 2013 that he appeared as Wayne, the infamous cat killer, on the Irish drama series Love/Hate, and from there featured in ‘71 in 2014, and then in Mammal and Trespass Against Us in 2016.

For his role in The Killing of a Sacred Deer, in which he starred opposite Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman, Keoghan won an Irish Film and Television Award.

Keoghan’s other on screen credits include Black ‘47, American Animals, Living with Lucy and Calm With Horses, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019.

Outside of acting, Keoghan is also an amateur boxer who still describes boxing as “his dream”. He had been set to enter into the ring at Ireland’s Celtic Box Cup in September 2017, but an injury prevented him from participating.

Talking to Vice in 2017, Keoghan said: “I box in Ireland now - the Celtic Core. It’s something I do on the side.

“I’m not serious about it, just some bit fond.”

How can I watch the deleted The Batman scene?

In the final cut of the film, the Joker is only seen briefly at the end of the movie, during a short conversation with a locked-up Riddler - however, as director Matt Reeves has revealed, there was originally meant to be a scene shared between the Joker and Batman.

Reeves has released the deleted scene himself - but he’s making fans work for it first.

On Thursday 24 March, Reeves tweeted a screenshot of the scene with the caption: “Who gets the last laugh…?”

In his tweet is also a link to rataalada.com which takes fans to a webpage in which you have to solve a riddle before you are allowed to see the clip.

The page is formatted like an old school RPG text adventure game - to begin, it says, “There you are. Let’s play a game, just me and you. You ready?”, to which you can proceed by either tapping the Y key for yes and the N key for no.

How to solve the riddle

For those of you who want to take a crack at solving the riddle yourself - stop reading now.

For those of you who just want to breeze through the riddle solving process to get to the clip (or those who have tried to solve it but can’t), you can continue on.

In order to see the five minute long clip, you need to answer three questions correctly in order for the truth to be “exposed”.

The first question asks: “It’s not a joke, but sometimes you need to shout it twice to really mean it.”

The answer that you then have to type in is: “Ha.”

The second question is: “To wit: a wild card in the truest sense.”

The answer is: “Joker.”

The final question is: “Once you’ve been set up it hits you at the end. Straight on.”

The answer: “Punchline.”

After answering all three questions correctly, you will then be redirected to an unlisted YouTube video from the Warner Bros Pictures official account where you can watch the clip and share your thoughts in the comments with fellow fans.

What happens in the clip?

In the newly released clip, we see Batman meeting the Joker in Arkham Asylum, where Batman asks for the Joker’s help in understanding the Riddler.

Batman presents the Joker with a file on the serial killer and, upon inspection, the Joker comments on how “meticulous” it is, and reveals that the killer had been “planning it his whole life”.

He says: “He’s a nobody, wants to be somebody. The Mayor… the commissioner… he’s got ambition.”

When Batman asks why the Riddler has been sending him vigilante letters, the Joker replies: “Maybe he’s a fan of yours. Or maybe he’s got a grudge against you too. Maybe you’re the main course.”

Throughout the clip, viewers are teased with glimpses here and there of the Joker’s appearance, showing scarred hands, his scarred face and missing patches of hair.

What are fans saying?

Overall, fans have responded very enthusiastically to Keoghan’s Joker, with many hoping to see much more of him in the role in future films.

One person commented: “The fact that this Batman and Joker already have history is a great move honestly. Barry shows incredible potential as the Joker. Hopefully we see more of him in the Arkham Asylum show.”

Another wrote: “Wow. Not only creepy AF, but a Joker that actually looks like he fell into chemical waste. Really well acted. Love that they have a symbiotic history already.”

“The reveal of the Joker here was amazing. The idea of having him blurred out until the very end was a great choice. I also like how he and The Batman have history already. And Barry’s laugh was perfect! I hope we get more of him and Pattinson!” wrote another.

Why was the scene cut from the film?

Talking to Collider earlier this month, Reeves discussed why the scene never made it into the final cut of The Batman.

He said: “There is a scene that I would love the audience to see that I didn’t put in. Not because anyone asked me to cut it, but because I didn’t think that within the larger narrative it worked, that it was necessary.

“But it’s a really cool scene with that same unseen prisoner in Arkham. There was an earlier where Batman, because he’s getting these cards and letters from the Riddler, and he’s thinking, “Why is this guy writing to me? I’m supposed to be anonymous and he’s putting a lens on me. I don’t like that,” and so he goes to kind of profile this kind of serial killer.

“And you see him meeting with somebody who is obviously a serial killer himself, so, because it’s not Batman’s origin, but it is the origins of these other characters, you’re seeing a version of this character who, yes, when you see the unknown prisoner, you’re like, “Well, gee, I think that’s who that is.”

“Well, that is who that is, but he’s not yet that character.”

Reeves added: “This was a really cool scene, and what Barry [Keoghan] and Rob [Pattinson] did in that scene was super cool.

“So at some point, I definitely want the audience to see that scene, just because they could see this really cool scene, but it isn’t something that’s part of the overall narrative that is like, “Oh, I wish…” I won’t even put it in the movie. It won’t be a different cut. The cut that is out there in the theatres, that’s the cut.”

Who has played the Joker in the past?

The Joker has seen a number of different actors take on the role over the years, with varying degrees of success amongst fans.

The most iconic Joker that most would probably list as their favourite version is that of Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain, 10 Things I Hate About You), who starred in the role in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Ledger posthumously won an Oscar for his performance, which marked the first acting Academy Award for a superhero film.

The first iteration of the character on screen was in the 1966 TV series Batman, and its film adaptation of the same name, played by Cesar Romero (Falcon Crest, Fantasy Island).

Jack Nicholson (The Shining, The Departed) starred as the villain in the 1989 Batman, and in the 2014 to 2019 TV series Gotham the story of the Joker is explored through two twin brothers, Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska, played by Cameron Monaghan (Shameless, Mercy Street).

The most controversial portrayal of the Joker is probably that of Jared Leto’s (WeCrashed, House of Gucci) version, who first appeared in Suicide Squad and then again in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

In 2019, Joaquin Phoenix (The Master, Her) stepped into the role in Joker, which focused on the origins of the character, named Arthur Fleck. Like Ledger, Phoenix picked up an Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going. You can also sign up to our newsletters and get a curated selection of our best reads to your inbox every day.