9 Possible Reasons The Joker Scene Got Cut Out From The Batman
4. The Parallels Between Batman And The Riddler Becomes Too Spelled Out
In the course of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, we get to realize that Batman and The Riddler are two sides of the same coin: Both are vigilantes who use fear and intimidation against the criminals, wearing costumes and doing morally questionable things.
We are so used to The Riddler taunting Batman with his riddles, that we never saw coming that Matt Reeves’ version of The Riddler was trying to cooperate with Batman by giving him clues. The most satisfying twist in the movie is that The Riddler is a big Batman fanboy - commentary that Batman’s vigilantism is inspiring madmen to do the same.
The satisfaction of this twist comes from how obvious their similarities are, yet we never realize it, only for this to hit with how obvious it is when The Riddler finally points it out.
The problem with the deleted scene with The Joker is that it removes us from this satisfaction. In the scene, The Joker taunts Batman about how similar Batman and The Riddler are, laughing while he does it. Through context clues, we can recognize that the deleted scene happened fairly early in the movie, thus robbing us of the satisfaction of the revelation when The Riddler finally says it.
Sometimes deleted scenes get deleted for a reason.