Robert Pattinson describes his Bruce Wayne as a nihilistic weirdo

It goes without saying that Batman has never been regarded as a particularly stable individual, even by the fantastical standards of the superhero world.

Orphaned as a child when his parents were gunned down in an alleyway, instead of using his vast wealth and resources to make Gotham City a safer place for everyone by funneling billions into infrastructure, healthcare, or law enforcement, Bruce Wayne instead decides to take matters into his own hands by becoming an expert in hand-to-hand combat, one who dresses up as an armored mammal to pulverize criminals with his bare hands.

Suffice to say, what makes the Dark Knight tick is going to be a key part of Matt Reeves’ grungy, gritty, and grounded reboot, with Robert Pattinson offering his unique angle on how to approach The Batman‘s complicated title character during a recent profile in GQ.

“He’s kind of a weirdo as Bruce and a weirdo as Batman, and I kept thinking there’s a more nihilistic slant to it. Because, normally, in all the other movies, Bruce goes away, trains, and returns to Gotham believing in himself, thinking, I’m going to change things here. But in this, it’s sort of implied that he’s had a bit of a breakdown.”

He’s certainly not wrong, but it sounds as though The Batman will be taking things to another level when it comes to examining why a trust fund kid feels the need to dedicate his life to vigilantism. Michael Keaton arguably played the dichotomy between Bruce and his alter ego better than anybody else, but he might well have a challenger to the throne when Pattinson debuts under the cape and cowl in less than a month.