Aside from a synopsis or some such thing, odds are we won’t know too much about The Batman‘s story until opening weekend. Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t fall back on our comic book collections while boning up before venturing to the nearest cinema.
If any singular literary work is said to have influenced Matt Reeves while assembling his blockbuster, it’d have to be The Long Halloween. After all, we’ve been told to expect a film noir murder mystery, and few Batman comics have pulled off that element so well. Plus, Robert Pattinson himself did kind of hint at that recently, as did our trusted source flat-out telling us Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s 13-issue classic served as inspiration.
Another person seemingly confirming this notion is that of filmmaker and comic book writer Kevin Smith on an episode of his Fatman Beyond podcast. After co-host Marc Bernardin made mention of hearing rumors himself, Smith backed them up, saying:
“To be fair, I heard it, too, and I heard it from a good source, too.”
For those unfamiliar, The Long Halloween was a year-long murder mystery which took place not long after Batman first took up cape and cowl. And in it, he was tasked with uncovering the identity of a serial killer dubbed “Holiday,” who knocked off someone on a major holiday each month. All throughout, the most notorious villains populating Gotham City put in appearances.
Some aspects of the book were included in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, though the bulk of the material remains untouched in the live action realm. That said, there’s plenty for Reeves to pick over. And should you be late to the party, it’s highly recommended that you pick up a copy of The Long Halloween because I believe it to be one of the best Batman stories ever written. Rumor has it that an animated adaptation is on the way, but Warner Bros. have yet to make an official announcement.
The Batman opens in theaters on June 25th, 2021.