The panel for Matt Reeves’ The Batman was perhaps the best way to close out the first day of the DC FanDome digital event. Robert Pattinson will have massive boots to fill as the new live-action Dark Knight, and all eyes will be on him to carry the mantle of the Bat forward in 2021.
The new 2-minute teaser trailer above was literally the last few minutes of DC FanDome, and what better way to do a curtain call for the event. Pattinson, whom Reeves lauds as a versatile acting “chameleon”, has never looked better in black. The Batsuit itself bears multiple dents and scratches, which highlights just how deep Bruce Wayne has been in this gig, despite being only two years in the vigilante scene, as described by Reeves.
Pattinson’s Batman is depicted as a much more violent version of the character, literally brutalising a thug that seems to be sporting Joker-like makeup (hmm…), and then whispering “I’m vengeance” in their ear. If this spine-chilling performance is just a taste of what’s to come, then we’re already on board with this new take on the Dark Knight.
And of course, Pattinson wasn’t the only one who was featured in the trailer. Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Jim Gordon, Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Colin Farrell as The Penguin, and Peter Sarsgaard as District Attorney Gil Colson were all present as well.
Additionally, one other masked character – presumably Paul Dano as The Riddler – was featured as well, issuing various challenges to the Batman in the form of riddles. From what we’re seeing, it looks as though he will be the main antagonist of the film, despite the presence of Farrell’s Penguin and John Turturro’s Carmine Falcone (not shown) in the mix as well.
While the teaser above does speak volumes of what’s to come, Reeves also added a new interesting tidbit regarding The Batman. In this movie, seemingly set in an entirely new timeline in the DCEU, Bruce Wayne has been fighting crime as a masked vigilante for about two years now, and is seen as a pain in the posterior in the eyes of the Gotham City Police Department, which, as Reeves describes, is corrupt (and will be expanded upon in the new Gotham P.D. spinoff series on HBO Max). As such, Reeves explains how it is up to Wayne to deal with being a public enemy, while at the same time protecting Gotham City from the threat of the Riddler.
How exactly this will pan out remains to be seen, but given how this trailer was made with only a quarter of the film currently shot is impressive, to say the least. Now we have about a year to deal with all this new information until The Batman releases in theatres on 1 October 2021.
Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds into real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a Witcher’s body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly blurts out terms such as “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because never once does he stop thinking about his next Dungeons & Dragons game.
Natalie
