The Batman might be the most vague title that Warner Brothers has ever given for a Batman-centric movie. Past live-action films like Batman Returns, Batman and Robin, Batman Begins, and Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice have all had the movie synopsis right there in the title. Just one three-letter-word differentiates next year’s The Batman from 1989’s original Batman. However minor and vague, there are still clues to be gathered here about the possible story in The Batman.
Perhaps this iteration of Batman will be stripped down to the basics: he witnessed the horrific death of his parents as a child and has vowed to rid Gotham City of crime in their names. Batman is the human pinnacle of intelligence, physical prowess, and is a master detective. That is the most famous superhero in the world, in a nutshell.
It is useful in this exercise to consider Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice a Batman film, even if he was not the sole protagonist. In that film, Bruce Wayne has been Batman for a couple of decades. He was incredibly nihilistic and harsh, having lost a Robin and who knows what else in his time as a crime-fighter. Audiences uncharacteristically witness Batman mowing down enemy combatants with his Batmobile. He also has the armor, weaponry, and know-how for how to defeat Superman, a godlike character in both comics and movies alike.
However, in the recently-released trailer for The Batman, fans see a protagonist who is more to-the-point. The Batmobile is an enhanced muscle car, his suit is built to withstand bullets instead of blows from Superman, and his combat style is not murderous. This could be a return to form for Batman, and more faithful to fairly recent source material from the comics.
At this time, it is unclear if The Batman belongs in a shared universe with other superheroes. But perhaps he does. If he were just called Batman, this suggests a familiarity with the character, as if he has been on the scene for some time. However, calling him The Batman suggests that he is a relatively new entity in Gotham City, whereas characters like Superman and Green Lantern might be well-known in their respective cities.
Perhaps this Batman is new enough to Gotham City that he is still considered a myth by many, a la the graphic novel Batman: Year One. One of Batman’s more famous quotes is, “Criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot.” If that is true in Gotham City, then perhaps criminals whisper in the shadows about ‘The Batman.’ Maybe The Batman is the Caped Crusader’s coming out party thanks to The Riddler’s schemes.
It is also possible that The Riddler has a bone to pick with Batman. Maybe The Riddler coins the term ‘The Batman,' suggesting that they are not all that different under their masks. This would not be an original story thread, as The Joker in The Dark Knight played heavily into this theme. But, The Riddler clearly has a vendetta of some sort with Batman, as the trailer displays. Why he has a vendetta, however, likely will not be answered until The Batman hits theaters.
Playing off of the last point, perhaps Batman is considered a rogue by some in Gotham City. After all, he is a vigilante who takes justice into his own hands. Calling him ‘The Batman’ would make him seem in league with The Riddler, The Penguin, The Joker, The Mad Hatter, and more. It is possible that this young Batman is over-eager in his willingness to fight crime, and perhaps has made some mistakes in the public eye.
Perhaps director Matt Reeves sees The Batman as a chance to reboot the franchise. This would be similar to what James Gunn did with The Suicide Squad. Both previous iterations were financial successes but critical duds, unfamiliar to the source material and tonally inconsistent. The Batman might be the avenue to wash the audience’s mouth clean of an older, murderous Batman that they witnessed in Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. This will prove confusing with Ben Affleck reprising his role as Batman in the upcoming The Flash movie, but that is the state of the DCEU right now. It is not a cohesive, consistent place.
Matt Reeves might be swinging for the fences and trying to create the authentic, character-defining Batman film. Fans and critics alike would welcome this. The Batman films from the late ’80s and ’90s were extremely campy, with Batman Forever and Batman and Robin demonstrating that late director Joel Schumacher did not care for, or perhaps take care of, Batman as a character. The Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy, while critically acclaimed, is not really authentically Batman. The character makes drastic mistakes in each film, and is more of a very wealthy cop in a cape than anything else. Lastly, Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League gave audiences whiplash with how tonaly different Batman was from one film to the next. With all of these missteps, the path is clear for Matt Reeves to leave his lasting mark on the beloved character.
Unlike previous DCEU trailers, The Batman’s story is not completely laid out for all to see months in advance of the movie coming to theaters. All that can be done at the moment is speculate, but as of now, The Batman looks to be one hell of a shrouded ride.
The Batman comes out in theaters on March 4th, 2022.