Keep an eye out for the Bat-Signal! Robert Pattinson’s The Batman is finally hitting theaters in 2022.
Fans first caught a glimpse of the Twilight actor’s brooding take on the comic book character in an August 2020 teaser for the superhero film which was written and directed by Matt Reeves. In the nearly three-minute clip, Pattinson’s young Bruce Wayne is a total emo kid who dons smudged black eyeliner and listens to Nirvana while seeking revenge for the loss of his parents.
“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” a man asks. After beating him up, Pattinson’s Batman responds, “I’m vengeance.”
The Lighthouse star is the twelfth actor to play the Caped Crusader since Lewis Wilson first donned the suit for 1943’s Batman. The star-studded list of former Batmen include Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Val Kilmer, Ben Affleck and The Dark Knight’s Christian Bale. However, Pattinson hoped to put a new spin on Bruce Wayne’s alter ego.
“Batman’s not a hero,” he told The New York Times in October 2019. “He’s a complicated character. I don’t think I could ever play a real hero — there’s always got to be something a little bit wrong. I think it’s because one of my eyes is smaller than the other one.”
After Pattinson’s casting was made official in May 2019, fans expressed their concerns that the British actor wasn’t right for the role, but that criticism never concerned him much. “To be honest, it was less vitriolic than I was expecting,” he told Variety in September 2019 in regards to the online hate. “It’s much more fun when you’re an underdog. There’s no expectation of you.”
Comic book fans might disagree with the Good Time star, since there is always a little expectation and a lot of excitement for a new Batman movie. Like his star, Reeves wanted to do something a little different for his take on the Defender of Gotham City. He wanted to leave theatergoers in tears.
“I felt that we’ve seen lots of origin stories,” the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes director explained in a 2021 featurette for The Batman, explaining why he wanted to tackle a story that featured a young Bruce Wayne, before he really became the superhero fans know.
Reeves added, “You can have it be very practical. But I also thought it could be the most emotional Batman movie ever made.”
Keep scrolling to read everything there is to know about The Batman:
The Batman was originally slated to hit theaters on June 25, 2021, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the film’s release was rescheduled for October 1, 2021. However, after a crew member contracted COVID-19 in September 2020, the film was forced to pause production and the theatrical release date was once again moved. The movie is now set to come out on March 4, 2022.
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Pattinson plays the titular role and will be joined by Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler and an almost completely unrecognizable Colin Farrell as the Penguin.
Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard and Barry Keoghan round out the cast.
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Reeves is behind the camera for The Batman. He got his start as the cocreator of the WB series Felicity before going on to direct Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and its sequel, War for the Planet of the Apes.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics
The latest Caped Crusader film is an origin story that is “very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale,” Reeves told The Hollywood Reporter in January 2019, adding that he hopes the story “will be thrilling but also emotional.”
The plot of the film was kept tightly under wraps, but the Let Me In director said his movie is “more [about] Batman in his detective mode than we’ve seen in the films.” He added, “[Batman is] supposed to be the world’s greatest detective, and that’s not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been. I’d love this to be one where when we go on that journey of tracking down the criminals and trying to solve a crime, it’s going to allow his character to have an arc so that he can go through a transformation.”
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In the first trailer for the film, Batman is being terrorized by the Riddler, who some fans suspect is inspired by the Zodiac Killer — and not just because they both have a thing for puzzles. Leaked images of Dano in character show him wearing a mask and clear glasses, which look similar to the getup worn by the infamous serial killer who terrorized Northern California in the ‘60s.
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After seeing a sneak peek of the film, Pattinson let fans know they’re in for a treat. “I’ve seen some of the movie now and it’s kind of really cool,” he told Variety in September 2021. “It’s really cool.”
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When Kravitz auditioned for the Catwoman role, she wanted to keep things real with her director. “It was important to give him an idea of what it’s really like to work with me,” she told Another Mag in September 2021. “To say what I really think and, if we’re on set together, to ask the questions I want to ask. I tried to come at it from the angle where I am showing him what I see and feel about this character. I believe that’s why it happened and I got the role.”
The High Fidelity alum reportedly beat out Joker’s Zazie Beetz and Baby Driver’s Eiza Gonzalez for the part.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics
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