In any fresh iteration of a major comic hero, the chance to see certain heroes and villains pop up all depends on one thing: the tone. That concern was readily apparent this year, as the new movie releases of 2022 included co-writer/director Matt Reeves’ The Batman reboot of Gotham City. With Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader scoring a decisive box office hit, it’s time to think more about how the famed Rogue’s Gallery of Gotham could get their due, and Reeves certainly has an idea.
Apparently, it may be time to get ready for potential movies focused solely on the villains of the Batman universe. The potential strategy is apparently being workshopped right now, per a profile THR ran on how the DC Extended Universe is trying to right the ship after former head Walter Hamada’s departure. It’s not all going to be under Matt Reeves’ hand though, as he’s allegedly farming out these villain pitches to other creatives, and meeting to discuss the possibilities.
This is where things start to get fun, as the report mentions another eclectic grab bag of Batman nemeses for this universe to potentially employ in its expansion. In particular, the report cited above mentions “characters ranging from the Scarecrow to Clayface to Professor Pyg” as a sampling of the folks being considered to ruin Batman’s day. With fiends like that, the tone of the universe this version of Bruce Wayne inhabits may or may not have to change.
That trio of baddies alone signals a sort of sliding scale of what we could expect from this potential DC cinematic experiment. It should be noted though that none of those prospects are too outlandish for a movie branded as The Batman; though Clayface would aptly need the most work to fit into the more grounded noir-tinged Gotham City of Matt Reeves. Fingers crossed that a meeting is in the works with The Midnight Club’s Mike Flanagan, who is “ready to go at any time” to bring that story to life.
Whether or not these villainous stories need to play a direct part in the universe of The Batman is also a question worth asking. Though Matt Reeves may be helping to develop individual Rogue’s Gallery movies, Reeves could be setting up other creators with ways to explore those pieces of the canon that may seem too outlandish for the mainline of movies he’s creating. Even within the same universe, standalone adventures could be written off as rumors; at least until one of the movies breaks a box office record and needs to be folded into the main films stat.
Needless to say, whatever universe Matt Reeves has cooking is in its early days. Right now, the confirmed priorities are the Colin Farrell/Penguin HBO Max series, as well as the development of The Batman 2’s script. Currently being drafted between Reeves and recently promoted co-writer Mattson Tomlin, that sequel is already spinning the heads of comic and film fans with potential Batman villains that could appear.
There will never be a shortage of movies based on the works and wonders of Batman. As always, it’ll be a question of how and where these continuing stories will carry the torch through the streets of Gotham. At the moment, you can revisit the most recent trip to that fair city through The Batman, which is available to rent or own, as well as streaming with an HBO Max subscription.
