Throughout the casting process of The Batman, director Matt Reeves would announce every new major addition with a social media post, and once the cameras started rolling it appeared as though all of the main players were in place. Having been shut down for months as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, though, the Planet of the Apes filmmaker would have no doubt been poring through the script he co-wrote with Bad Boys For Life‘s Peter Craig and Project Power‘s Mattson Tomlin to see if there were any scenes yet to be shot that could be improved.
The first trailer revealed that the production had more than enough footage in the can to cut together a teaser that established the tone and aesthetic of the movie, while also sending the internet into meltdown thanks to a series of major reveals. Following The Batman‘s headline-grabbing DC FanDome panel, a press release for the upcoming reboot was also released and it appears as though there’s been a last-minute addition to the cast.
Dunkirk star Barry Keoghan, who will next be seen in Marvel Studios’ The Eternals as Druig, has boarded The Batman as the Gotham City Police Department’s Stanley Merkel. In the comic books, Merkel was Jim Gordon’s first partner when he joined the GCPD, but given that Jeffrey Wright is twice Keoghan’s age and his Gordon already looks to be edging closer to the Commissioner role, it would be safe to say that some changes have been made to the character’s origins.
The 27 year-old has been touted as one of his generation’s breakthrough talents, and even if he ends up meeting the same fate in The Batman that Merkel did in the comic books, appearing in a major blockbuster from both Marvel and DC in the space of a few months is still an impressive feat for any rising young actor.
