A deleted scene from The Batman has the Joker looking realistic — too realistic as far as some fans are concerned.
“Do you think the Joker design from The Batman might be too extreme for the general public?” Vince_Tsung asked their fellow Redditors about the newest live-action rendition of the DC Comics supervillain.
“This is my least favorite design,” reads the top comment, courtesy of Randal_ram_92. UsidoreTheLightBlue replied that they thought Joker couldn’t look worse than Jared Leto’s version from the DCEU, but this Joker, played by Barry Keoghan, beat it.
The main issue fans seem to have with Keoghan’s Joker is that he looks grotesque. “Goddamn try and make something that isn’t uncomfortable to look at,” wrote grassytree3264. “You don’t have to make the Joker look absolutely disgusting to be scary,” added BatmanNerd81. “The Joker doesn’t need to look this fucked up,” stated papagarry with authority.
Another contention is that he looks “stupid.”
However, Financial_Score5183 noted that this “is what [the Joker] would realistically look like after an acid splash,” referring to one of his many origin stories. “I don’t like his design, but it’s probably the most realistic,” seconded My-Dude42069.
User xenongamer4351 pushed back against the acid theory, saying that it’s not canon in The Batman‘s universe according to director Matt Reeves:
Not everyone dislikes the Joker’s graphic design, but if enough people voice their disgust, perhaps Reeves will change it. After all, the scene was deleted, which, according to WEEGEMAN, was so “they didn’t have to marry the design.”