The Batman is here, and with it is arguably the most comic book accurate version of Gotham city to date. The comics often depict Gotham as dark, dimly lit, and almost always raining. Even in the day, the city, filled with criminals like the Joker, Two-Face, the Riddler and countless other villains, is often dark and cloudy even if it’s not raining.
This is the exact kind of Gotham city that is shown in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. While there is some sunlight, it’s often raining or at the very least dull, and much of it takes place at night. There’s a remarkable attention to detail here to perfect the look, from having rain but not too much rain, to the sound design to make sure the weather wasn’t overwhelmingly distracting. More broadly, the depiction of Gotham city helps to bring the Batman comic books to life, truly evoking the feeling of this movie’s source material. This is not unlike Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man film, which also embraced the title character’s comic book roots with a visual style that mirrors that of the web slinger’s early run.
Upon revisiting this first Spider-Man film, which is something many fans have done in recent months as Tobey Maguire returned to the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home last year, the comic book inspiration is abundantly clear. Not only is Raimi determined to depict Peter Parker’s origins in a way that is accurate to his beginnings in the comics story-wise, the whole look of the film is directed like a comic book. From the unique camera angles to riveting New York City swinging sequences that were far more advanced than any live-action Spider-Man before it, this movie truly feels like the audience is watching a comic book, if that’s possible somehow.
When looking at the MCU, this franchise takes a lot more liberties when it comes to story and style. There isn’t the same effort to recreate the comic books as there was in Sam Raimi’s films, particularly the first, as Kevin Feige and the rest of the creative heads at Marvel Studios seem intent on creating their own modern style and look. It’s something that’s clearly worked, as the popularity of the MCU shows, but it means that a superhero movie actually feeling like a comic book is a lot rarer these days.
This makes what Matt Reeves does in The Batman all the more unique in the modern day. Christopher Nolan’s Gotham was essentially just Chicago, with little to no attempt to cover up some of the city’s most famous landmarks. It works extremely well for what Nolan is going for, just as what the MCU does (although criticism of the look of recent Marvel seems to be fair and grounded), but neither exactly invoke a comic book in the way that previous Spider-Man man movies did or, more recently, The Batman. The colors and dark tones are clearly inspired by the incredible artwork seen in Batman comics throughout the years, and it’s nice to see Reeves pay homage to the amazing work of these artists by adapting their work for the big screen.
Beyond just Gotham city, the story also feels like a comic book. Batman comics are often grounded in a mystery with the title character as the detective and Jim Gordon at his side, and this is exactly what Reeves does in his film. The structure of a detective Batman going around Gotham city to find a serial killer wreaking havoc and sewing chaos in his home is almost identical to that of the comic books, highlighting this similarity between The Batman and Spider-Man. The actual plot of the film, with The Riddler looking to put a light to the corruption in the city, involves many major players in the Batman franchise, like Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin, and Carmine Falcone. Reeves somehow manages to craft a story in which all of these Bat-characters are not only involved but integral to the plot, which is exactly what the comics did with a sprawling ensemble seen in The Long Halloween and other famous stories.
The Batman and Spider-Man are two incredibly different films, of course. One is an extremely heightened, light superhero origin story that deals with themes like growing up and becoming an adult, as well as responsibility in life. The other, The Batman, is a much darker, more somber outing that deals with subject matters like serial killers, mental illness, police brutality and corruption, and much more. If anything, though, this just highlights how different these two characters are at their core, especially the modern, 21st-century interpretations. The Batman and Spider-Man are vastly different films, but they both invoke the feelings of their comic book to create a story that feels like a lived-in issue of their source material.