Bruce Wayne is going to have learn a hard lesson about himself in The Batman. Matt Reeves’ movie won’t be yet another retread of the Dark Knight’s origins, but the story still takes place in the hero’s early days. Specifically, it’s set during his second year under the cape and cowl. Bruce still has a lot to learn about himself and his city, then, and it sounds like this journey of self-discovery will be a major arc in the film.
The Batman himself Robert Pattinson spoke to Den of Geek and teased that Bruce will start out with a blinkered view on Gotham, something derived from his privileged, billionaire status. While the hero believes he’s the one who calls the shots in his hometown, Bruce will have to face the truth that he has no real control over Gotham and its people.
“[Bruce] thinks it’s his city in a weird sort of way. He thinks he’s kind of built it,” Pattinson says. But while Bruce has “the money and the castle,” he’ll learn the hard way that he has “absolutely no control or power over anything in the city.”
The comics have explored similar themes before, like in The Court of Owls arc. It’s no surprise, then, that Pattinson revealed in this same interview that he would love to see the secret society of Gotham’s elite feature in The Batman 2. He also voiced interest in having the Calendar Man show up. A serial killer who murders his victims on special days, Calendar Man is a villain from another major influence on this movie, The Long Halloween.
Similarly, Paul Dano’s Riddler has been reimagined as a serial killer with a vendetta against Gotham’s richest, which puts him up against both Batman and Bruce Wayne. The trailers have teased that Riddler knows some dark secret from Bruce’s family history that could well turn the vigilante’s faith in what he stands for upside down. Exactly what the nature of the secret is, we don’t know, but by the looks of things, it’s big.
Also starring Colin Farrell as the Penguin and Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, The Batman finally swoops into cinemas on March 4.
