Matt Reeves’ The Batman is finally in sight. It’s been a long road: with the movie beginning as a solo adventure for Ben Affleck’s Batman before being completely retooled and separated from the DCEU. Then there were the delays caused by COVID, causing it to be pushed back from June 2021 to March 2022.
But things are looking up. Recent reports suggest it’s finished, and private screenings are taking place, with one person who claims to have seen it describing the tone as “a horror movie. Very graphic, very dark, very scary.”
That fits in with what we’ve heard about Robert Pattinson’s intentions for the character. Batman famously works on the basis that criminals are a “superstitious and cowardly bunch”, using his costume to inspire fear in them. This was particularly on display in Batman Begins, where Christian Bale’s Batman was introduced like a movie monster as he picked off the villains one by one.
Judging by the debut trailer, Pattinson’s Batman is going for a similar effect through different tactics. In a scene from the trailer, we see him openly show himself in front of a group of thugs who ask “who are you supposed to be?!” Batman answers the question by brutally dismantling a guy, snapping his arms, and promptly pounding his head into the concrete. Sounds like horror movie material to us.
It looks like Pattinson’s Batman will build a fearsome reputation for violence among Gotham’s underworld, which will likely set him on a collision course with the GCPD if he continues to put suspects in the ICU.
We’ll get a better look at his style soon. After a quiet year since the first footage, the hype machine is about to go into overdrive when the new The Batman trailer lands at DC’s FanDome next weekend.
The Batman hits theaters on March 4th, 2022.