Who plays the joker in the new batman movie

It's the question Batman fans have been pondering for a while: does the Joker feature in the latest superhero film?

The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves, picks up with Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) in his second year fighting crime.

However, Bruce faces one of his most deadly adversaries yet in the form of a serial killer targeting citizens of Gotham City.

This villain, who leaves puzzles and clues in his wake, is known as The Riddler (Paul Dano)...

Along the way in his journey, Batman will come across nightclub worker and cat burglar Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz), influential gangster Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and the Penguin himself, Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot (Colin Farrell).

The Batman cast also includes Jeffrey Wright as police officer Lieutenant James Gordon, Peter Sarsgaard as corrupt district attorney Gil Colson, Jayme Lawson as mayoral candidate Bella Real, and Andy Serkis as Batman’s loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth.

However, there is one additional cast member who is creating much chatter.

Eternals star Barry Keoghan features in the films, but who exactly is he playing? Could he be playing The Joker?

In the meantime, for your guide to all of the Batman movies and how to watch in order see our explainer here.

**Spoiler warning for The Batman**

Well, yes, Barry Keoghan is portraying The Joker.

Despite initial reports that Keoghan would be playing Gotham City Police Department officer Stanley Merkel in the film, the Irish actor only appears in one scene towards the end of the film.

The character that Keoghan portrays is credited as 'Unnamed Arkham Inmate' but his maniacal laugh, discoloured hair and general encouragement of chaos towards The Riddler/Edward Nashton in the closing scene in Arkham Asylum leaves little doubt about who the character is.

The inmate's appearance is mostly obscured as he is viewed through a peephole in his cell door but what we can see certainly resembles the iconic character known as the Clown Prince of Crime.

The character had been due to appear more in the film too, according to director Matt Reeves.

Speaking to IGN, Reeves revealed that The Batman would have gone to the Joker at Arkham for aid in profiling the Riddler in a scene that was cut from the film but will release at some point.

Comparing the scene to the iconic visits of Clarice Starling to Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, Reeves revealed: "He goes to see another killer that he's clearly had an experience with in these first two years. And this killer in this story is not yet the character that we come to know, right?”

"So everybody's in their infancy. So in the comics, these characters often declare their alter egos in response to the fact that there's a Batman out there. And so here, we have a Joker who's not yet the Joker."

Perhaps we have a villain for the proposed sequels to The Batman already in our midst?

Reeves hinted that this is only the early days of the character and while he may not be the focus of a follow-up he would likely appear.

He's also apparently not fallen into a vat of chemicals or is scarred like the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), but instead is suffering from a "congenital disease" and can't stop smiling.

Prior to the film's release, The Hollywood Reporter addressed internet rumours that Barry Keoghan could be playing The Joker in the film.

They penned on their newsletter on 11th December: “Last month, the internet went a little crazy about Barry Keoghan maybe, maybe not, playing the Joker in Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman.

“Don’t look to us to answers on that one. But we can tell you this: Multiple sources tell us that Warner Bros has been testing two different cuts of The Batman, one with a certain actor, one without. And the final test screening occurred last week, with the decision now made as to which version the studio likes, says one source.”

Keoghan is also known for his role as Druig in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the film Eternals.

Recent portrayals of The Joker have included Joaquin Phoenix in Joker and Jared Leto in Suicide Squad and Zack Snyder's Justice League.

The Batman is out now in cinemas.

While you’re waiting, check out more of our Sci-Fi and Fantasy coverage, or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.

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(CNN) Spoiler warning: At the end of "The Batman," director Matt Reeves has a scene where Paul Dano's The Riddler is at Arkham Asylum, sharing a cell with an "Unseen Arkham Prisoner" with a distinct laugh.

Reeves has since revealed that the character, played by actor Barry Keoghan, is The Joker.

An earlier scene between Robert Pattinson's Batman and the character at the prison was cut, according to Reeves, who discussed all this on director's commentary for "The Batman."

"A lot of people ask me, 'Is this a set up for another movie?' and to be honest it really isn't," Reeves says in the commentary. "This for me was tracking because Paul and 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, and 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."

Reeves continued: "So that was critical, actually, to the ending of the movie and to the finishing of the Riddler's arc as well. What we'll do with these characters in the future remains to be seen, but it was never meant to be an Easter egg scene, to say like, 'Oh guess who we're using in the next movie.' 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."

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

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.”

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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