Another chapter of Batman cinematic history will unfold soon. Following Ben Affleck’s time as Gotham City’s Dark Knight in the DC Extended Universe, Robert Pattinson is donning the cape and cowl for Matt Reeves’ The Batman, which began filming in January and is expected to be released towards the final chunk of 2021.
In the immediate months following The Batman kicking off principal photography, we were treated to looks at Robert Pattinson in the Batman costume and the Batmobile his Bruce Wayne will be riding around in. However, today marks the biggest peek at The Batman yet thanks to the trailer coming out of the DC FanDome online event. Check it out!
Just days after Matt Reeves shared The Batman’s official logo and cool artwork from DC Comics Publisher Jim Lee, the filmmaker stopped by DC FanDome to show off The Batman trailer. As promised, we’re once again being treated to a dark take on the Batman mythos, with Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne in his second year of crimefighting and having to deal with Gotham City being terrorized by The Riddler, who will be played by Paul Dano.
We get peeks at some of The Batman’s other starring characters, including Jeffrey Wright’s James Gordon, Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman, Colin Farrell’s Penguin and Peter Sarsgaard’s Gil Colson (as well as voiceover from Andy Serkis’ Alfred Pennyworth), but obviously the eponymous character is front and center, in and out of costume. Speaking of a suited-up Bruce, arguably his best moment in this trailer comes towards the end, when he savagely beats up one of the criminals who picked a fight with him and declares, “I’m vengeance!” Anyone else get goosebumps?
We’ve seen dark Batman movies before, but Matt Reeves (who, in addition to directing, co-wrote the script with Mattson Tomlin) looks to be taking things to a new level with The Batman. Years ago, not long after he boarded the project, Reeves talked about how the movie would have a noir tone and highlight Bruce Wayne’s detective skills. He’ll certainly need them to stop The Riddler, and it’s also now abundantly clear that The Batman is rocking some major Long Halloween vibes.
As with most film productions, The Batman had to stop rolling cameras earlier this year due to the current health crisis, resulting in its release date pushed back. However, production will reportedly resume in September, and if all goes according to plan (and these days, that’s rarely ever a guarantee), then principal photography will wrap up before the year is over. Still, clearly enough footage had been captured to piece together this trailer, which is most welcome.
Despite it still being a year away, The Batman can already be looked at as the first building block to constructing a universe separate from the DCEU. Along with sequels already being planned, there’s also a series in development for HBO Max that will follow the Gotham City Police Department during Batman’s first year, thus making it a prequel. While the DCEU does its own thing with Batman, be it the Ben Affleck version or the return of Michael Keaton’s iteration, Reeves is carving out his own corner to play around with the Batman mythology, and this is an enticing first look at how that will kick off.
The Batman swoops into theaters on October 1, 2021. Look through our DC movies guide to learn what else this corner of the superhero market has coming down the pipeline, and keep your ears tuned for more new and updates coming out of DC FanDome.
