When it comes to naming the best actor to have played Batman in live-action, it most often boils down to a straight shootout between Michael Keaton and Christian Bale, even if the vast popularity of the SnyderVerse has seen Ben Affleck gain plenty of backers.
Robert Pattinson will be looking to instantly crash that particular party in less than twelve weeks when Matt Reeves’ The Batman comes to theaters at long last, with the latest reboot seeking to strip the character right back to basics and rebuild him from the ground up.
Speaking to Empire, Pattinson would tease what makes his spin on the comic book favorite different from the multiple versions that came before, and it’s all to do with Bruce Wayne’s much more low-key existence.
“Bruce has been hiding away. He’s not really a socialite at all. He’s building all these little contraptions and things, just with Alfred. And even Alfred thinks he’s gone insane!”
We’ve seen Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney and Affleck as Dark Knights that have been in the game for a long time, so they’ve got the experience and gadgets to back it up. We first met Bale’s Caped Crusader for his origin story, but even then, Lucius Fox played a huge part in shaping the billionaire playboy into the costumed crimefighter.
From the sound of it, The Batman will find Pattinson’s Bruce as a recluse still figuring out how to handle superheroics, which presents plenty of storytelling opportunities and character beats we haven’t seen before.