The Batman is a DC icon that tends to go by many names – Gotham’s Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader, even the World’s Greatest Detective.
That’s a legacy that clearly isn’t lost on Matt Reeves, director of War For the Planet of the Apes. Following much back-and-forth, and after Ben Affleck vacated the director’s chair – don’t worry, he’s still on board to don the cape and cowl – Reeves signed on to direct and produce The Batman for Warner Bros., and the past few months have uncovered scores of rumors pertaining to the movie’s style, its purported inspirations, along with the characters seemingly in line to appear opposite Affleck’s masked vigilante.
With War For the Planet of the Apes now on the verge of release (our review), Matt Reeves will no doubt spend a fair chunk of the threequel’s press tour soliciting questions relating to The Batman and, more specifically, his creative approach to the much-touted DC spinoff. He’s drawn parallels between Andy Serkis’ radically evolved chimp and the Dark Knight, and even name-dropped the great Alfred Hitchcock as a point of reference – now, Reeves has teased the possibility of a “noir-driven” offshoot to the DC Extended Universe.
Speaking with New Trailer Buzz (with a tip of the hat to Screen Rant), Matt Reeves hinted at a Batman movie that focuses more on Bruce Wayne’s detective skills, along with the inner struggle raging beneath the surface.
I think there’s a chance to do an almost noir-driven, detective version of Batman that is point-of-view driven in a very, very powerful way that is hopefully going to connect you to what’s going inside of his head, and inside of his heart.
The Batman is still without an official start date, and considering that Reeves is just coming off a mega-budget tentpole in War, that rumored 2018 release date seems to be little more than wishful thinking. Those pining for another glimpse of Ben Affleck suited and booted can at least look forward to the launch of Justice League on November 17th. Beyond that, however, it remains to be seen when he’ll show up again.