While the character has always been popular, in the last 20 years, Batman has essentially become the most popular superhero without effort. He's dominated video games with the Batman: Arkham games. He's had several animated shows (And animated movies). And, as of next year, he will have had THREE big screen, live-action interpretations. Following Christian Bale and Ben Affleck, Robert Pattison will don the cowl in Matt Reeves The Batman. However, the big question is how the new film will appraoch the now heavily satured character. In a new meeting with Den of Geek, the film's co-writer Mattson Tomlin talks about how, in keeping with Reeves desire to tell a more gritty detective story, the new film will look heavily into Bruce Wayne’s psychological make-up:
“It’s the early days. I think that, first of all, it’s a younger version than the most recent versions that we’ve seen. I think that Matt Reeves as a filmmaker, if you look at any of his work, whether or not it’s Let Me In or Cloverfield or the Planet of the Apes movies, he’s always coming from a point of emotion. It’s never the big action thing. It’s always, what is this character’s soul? I think that really looking at Batman as somebody who has gone through this trauma, and then everything that he’s doing is then a reaction to that, rather than shy away from that, I think this film leans into that in some very fun and surprising ways. I think that’s all I can say without getting yelled at.”
Tomlin also spoke with ComicBook.com, confirming how, despite COVID-19 pandemic interrupting filming about halfway through, the script hasn't been altered in any way during the break in production. Although, Tomlin talked about how some filming location changes have taken place with more in-studio shooting than originally planned:
“I mean, the movie is the movie, and I think that right now the plan is to just execute that vision. They were quite a ways into shooting as it was. And so it really is just how do you finish safely? How do you make sure that everybody can show up for work and then go home and all be okay?”
Tomlin penned the new Netflix movie Project Power, which just hit the streaming service today if you wish to get a taste of his writing style. Meanwhile, the first footage for The Batman will screen at the DC FanDome event next weekend (See information for the event's schedule here).
The Batman co-stars Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Jayme Lawson, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell. It is set to hit theaters October 1, 2021.