Could The Batman Spark A New Trilogy Of Movies For The Caped Crusader?

War For the Planet of the Apes is almost upon us (July 14th) and for comic book fans, the threequel’s ongoing press tour has become a rich treasure trove of interviews and tantalizing tidbits relating to Matt Reeves and his approach to The Batman.

Now that the filmmaker is coming off the one-two punch of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the imminent War, all eyes are beginning to turn toward his next creature venture, which involves a dalliance with the DC Extended Universe. And for all of the drama that threatened to engulf The Batman four months ago – in short: Ben Affleck handed over directing duties to Matt Reeves – there is now a tangible sense of excitement swirling around the nascent project, which is expected to begin filming sometime next year, long after Justice League swoops into theaters in November.

Mining inspiration from Christopher Nolan, film noir, Rocksteady’s Arkham series (?), and even Alfred Hitchcock, much has been made about Matt Reeves’ creative approach to The Batman, but with so many ideas floating around, one has to wonder: Will Reeves and his team really cram everything into a single spinoff? Turns out the director has at the very least considered the possibility of spinning out a new trilogy featuring Gotham’s Dark Knight.

I have ideas about an arc, but really, the important thing is just to start… you have to start with one. You know, you have to start with a story that begins something. And I would be lying if I could tell you that the arcs of Apes was already planned out, because it simply wasn’t; it’s one of those things where that character was so potent, and the possibility was embedded from the beginning, but exactly how you’ve got from A to Z is not something that existed.

Soon after discussing his experience on Fox’s Apes, Reeves then hinted at the possibility of crafting a “series of stories” for Ben Affleck’s DC icon, before stressing that The Batman – that “vital first story” – is the only thing that matters at this early, early stage.

In fact, when I came in on Dawn, the story that I wanted to tell was different from the story that they had even presented me. And so, there are these broad ideas, I think, that sort of came to mind as Rise was created, of how that story could be told, but they weren’t explicitly laid-out. And when Mark and I began Dawn, we knew what our goals were, but we didn’t know how we were gonna get there, and I would say that that more relates to the way that I see a Batman story, is a kind of ambition for a series of stories, but really the most important thing is gonna be to tell a vital first story.

Bear in mind that when Matt Reeves officially climbed aboard The Batman, he completely overhauled the film’s story alongside frequent collaborator Mark Bomback, so there’s no telling how many embryonic ideas are currently pinned to the proverbial whiteboard. But is the world ready for another Bats trilogy so soon after Nolan’s The Dark Knight saga? Let us know your own thoughts using the comments section.