The Batman is currently streaming on HBO Max (and also still in theaters in some places), but Apple has an exclusive commentary track from Director Matt Reeves, which has illuminated many on why the film ended on a meet-cute between two Batman villains.
Spoilers, I guess?
After blowing up parts of Gotham, the Riddler (Paul Dano) is seen in his cell, lamenting that he didn’t fully end up creating all the chaos he wanted. Then, a kind friend from the next cell, the Joker (Barry Keoghan), lifts him up. It is the beginning of a twisted kind of friendship.
“It was meant to be something delicious for the audience to sort of experience those two characters meeting, and in fact for the Unseen Prisoner to say to him, ‘Riddle me this,’ which is of course right out of Batman ‘66,” Reeves explains in the Apple commentary, according to The Wrap.
“This for me was tracking because the Riddler was in the action of the third act in a very particular way, and the last we’d seen him he was saying ‘Boom!’ in his window as the bombs went off,” Reeves said. “We hadn’t yet seen him take in the fact that Batman had been able to pull things back from the brink and that his plan had not played out. I really wanted to see the end of that arc for Riddler.” Because even conspiracy incels should have some narrative structure.
“By not having this scene, not only did you not get to see what I think is a fantastic performance from both actors—from Barry and from Paul here—and when Paul starts laughing after Barry does, I find it so delightful, and it was a great texture change and a tonal change from what is a sort of painful ending to the movie,” Reeves continued. “That in this moment of the power vacuum that people are already scheming. When you took this scene out, it didn’t have that sort of same resonance. That was critical, actually, to the ending of the movie and to the finishing of the Riddler’s arc, as well.”
Well, I wanted it to be Two-Face/Harvey Dent personally, but considering that Riddler and Joker are two peas in a pod, their bromance makes sense. It would even actually be fun to see them actually team up one day. Maybe once we’ve had a slightly longer break from the Joker. Clayface is right there. Casting Barry Keoghan in the role means you are certainly going to make good use of him, but he can play all different kinds of creepy, so just let him be the Joker and Clayface if you want.
For me, the scene between these two characters builds on the connective tissue of Gotham that Reeves created. These are not separate universes with the villains switching up each time, but a large ecosystem of corruption, pain, and bloodshed. Of course these two would meet, conspire, and have a twisted kind of friendship. Plus, now we have a cute reason as to why their costume colors are so similar.
(via Gizmodo, image: Warner Bros.)
