As people look forward to the next year of movies, at the top of many people’s watch lists is Matt Reeves’ The Batman. The superhero movie will see Robert Pattinson portraying the iconic Caped Crusader, and while some might’ve had their doubts about the casting early on, the footage released so far looks awesome.
We’ve seen many versions of Bruce Wayne over the years, including when he was played by Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award-winning The Dark Knight trilogy, and more recently when Ben Affleck played him in the DCEU. So what will set The Batman apart from the rest? Well, for starters, it apparently will be spookier than what we’ve seen before. “This movie, I think, is probably the scariest Batman that’s been done,” he recently told Total Film.
Will The Batman be scary?
Those keeping up with The Batman know it’ll be more of a detective story than previous movies, reportedly inspired by the comics Batman: Year One (1987), Batman: Ego and Other Tales (2000) and Batman: The Long Halloween (1996-1997). The Riddler (Paul Dano) will serve as the main villain of the film, and though we’ve seen the character portrayed by Jim Carrey and other actors before, it looks like we’ll be getting a much darker version this time around.
Although Reeves hasn’t confirmed it himself, many are convinced this new Riddler was inspired by the real-life Zodiac Killer.
Is the Joker in The Batman?
Like any superhero movie these days, The Batman will probably have a surprise or two in store for us. We already have the Riddler, Catwoman and the Penguin bopping around. might Matt Reeves include Batman’s most famous nemesis the Joker as well? The Hollywood Reporter had a report on the matter:
"Last month, the Internet went a little crazy about Barry Keoghan maybe, maybe not, playing the Joker in Matt Reeves’s upcoming The Batman. Don’t look to us for 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."
Barry Keoghan most recently appeared as Druig in Marvel’s Eternals. Might he be switching sides from Marvel to DC? For the record, officially Keoghan is playing Gotham City Police Department officer Stanley Merkel, but that doesn’t mean the Joker won’t show up; I wonder who the “certain actor” Warner Bros. is testing out is.
Alongside Pattinson and Riddler, The Batman stars Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Colin Farrell as the Penguin, Andy Serkis as Alfred and Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon. At the time of this writing the film does not have an official rating, but based on Reeves’ latest comments, it’s entirely possible it could be rated R.
Catch The Batman when it hits theaters on March 4, 2022.
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