Robert Pattinson’s Batman has landed.
This past weekend saw the premiere of the first ever trailer for The Batman, director Matt Reeves’ (Cloverfield, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) take on the caped crusader. While the past two decades have seen quite a number of reinterpretations of the character, The Batman is set to feature two villains we haven’t seen in quite some time: Penguin and The Riddler. The film is also not set to take place in the DCEU, so no ties to Ben Affleck’s portrayal of the character will be present.
The trailer, which is set to a cinematic version of Nirvana’s “Something in the Way,” showcases Pattinson as both Bruce Wayne and suited up. We see Paul Dano as the Riddler seeding a crime scene with clues, Zoe Kravitz as a pre-costume Catwoman, and Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon.
According to Reeves, the movie is not an origin story; this version of Batman sees the hero in his second year as a crimefighter. At this weekend’s DC FanDome event, Reeves described:
“Because it’s still early and because he is a vigilante, which means he takes the law into his own hands — I mean, if you were in a city, and there was a guy who dressed up as a bat, and showed up out of the shadows and sometimes confronted those people and beat them up because he felt what they were doing was wrong so that he could put the fear of God in them about the crimes that they’re committing, I think we would wonder, ‘Well, gee, that, that guy sounds a little dangerous…’ He’s not yet the vision of the character that he becomes, where he becomes a symbol of hope for the city. He’s early in the trajectory, and so they’re afraid of him, frankly.”
While the clip doesn’t showcase a significant amount of action, Batman is shown roughing up a criminal (in familiar Joker-esque clown makeup), using his grappling hook to ascend a set of stairs, and duking it out with Catwoman. We also get glimpses of the new Batmobile, exterior shots of Gotham (which will largely be influenced by Liverpool, UK), and clear shots of Pattinson’s Batsuit (which was purportedly developed in partnership with Pattinson and with advice from Christian Bale).
Production for The Batman is still ongoing, with the movie purportedly only around 25% finished—filming commenced in London in January of this year but was cut short by COVID concerns in March. The film is set to resume filming soon and is currently slated for an October 2021 release.
