The Batman: Fake Scenes Were Filmed to Avoid a Major Spoiler

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WARNING: Spoilers for The Batman below.

Director Matt Reeves has stated that, to avoid a major spoiler getting out, he shot several fake scenes with Irish actor Barry Keoghan during production of The Batman. The long-awaited movie has finally hit the silver screen after quite a few production delays, and reviews have been extremely positive for the Caped Crusader's latest big-screen adventure.

For months, it was thought that Keoghan was playing GCPD officer Stanley Merkel in the film, but he isn't present in any police scenes throughout. At the end of The Batman, Keoghan makes his appearance, but not as an officer. The end of the film features a scene in which the Riddler, incarcerated for his crimes, has a small conversation with an unseen fellow inmate in a nearby cell (credited as «Unseen Arkham Prisoner»). Not much of his face is shown, but what is shown is a seemingly disfigured jawline and a scruffy hairdo. The mysterious man presents the main villain with a riddle: "The less of them you have, the more one is worth," to which the Riddler eagerly answers, "A friend!" The scene ends with the two of them sharing a maniacal laugh, letting audiences know that the Joker, Batman's most famous nemesis, could be featured in the sequel. The «Unseen Arkham Prisoner» is played in the movie by Keoghan, who was recently seen as Druig in Marvel's Eternals.

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During Reeves' interview with IGN, not only did he confirm that the obscured prisoner is in fact the Joker, but he also claimed that he shot a number of fake scenes with Keoghan in order to keep this major reveal from leaking to the public. When the film's first trailer was released back in August