Matt Reeves’ The Batman has had a long and painful road to theaters. First came post-Justice League production woes as the project was retooled from the Ben Affleck Batman to Robert Pattinson’s. Then, while the shoot was in full swing, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Production was shut down indefinitely, the release date was delayed and though the shoot has resumed, The Batman will now premiere in October 2021.
Still, fans have been keeping a Bat-Signal lit for the project and they’ve finally been rewarded with the first official trailer for the movie, which just dropped at this weekend’s DC FanDome. Though we’ve previously seen costume tests of Pattinson in the Batsuit, this is our first look at him in full Caped Crusader action and frankly, the footage we see here is incredible and a far cry from previous Batman films.
Warner Bros. clearly has sky-high expectations for the project, too. Last month, we learned that Reeves and The Sopranos producer Terence Winter are teaming up to create an HBO Max spinoff police procedural set within the film’s universe. The platform describes it as “an unprecedented opportunity to extend the world established in the movie.”
And beyond The Batman? Well, whether it’s a success or not, sequels are inevitable, with casting rumors swirling about who’s going to be the Pattinson universe’s Joker. Further ahead, there’ve been hints that the newly multiversal DCEU could see Michael Keaton’s Batman paying a transdimensional visit to this particular Gotham City. And then, looming in the background, we get the return of Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight in Zack Snyder’s Justice League and The Flash.
In the virtual realm, meanwhile, we’re getting the Gotham Knights game and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, both of which will follow in the footsteps of the celebrated Arkham series. And so far, they both look fantastic.
The future still might be a bit uncertain, but one thing’s for sure: the 2020s are set to be the decade of Batman.