Yesterday brought a huge info-dump of details on what director Matt Reeves has got planned for The Batman. The core of it was that Ben Affleck definitely won’t be back, as Reeves is looking to tell a story about a Bruce Wayne who’s 15-20 years younger than the version we’ve got to know in the franchise so far.
Mario-Francisco Robles of Revenge of the Fans broke the news and at the time, revealed that Year One was being bandied about as a potential influence for The Batman. This caused fans to worry that Reeves was going to retread ground previously covered by Christopher Nolan in Batman Begins. Following that outcry, Robles has now followed up his report by clarifying that the movie will not be “based off” Frank Miller’s comic book. Rather, that’s just what his sources have been comparing Reeves’ plans to.
What’s more, Robles has pointed out that fans might have wrongly inferred from this that The Batman will offer yet another version of the Dark Knight’s origins. Instead, it seems that Reeves just wants to feature a Caped Crusader who’s still fairly new to his double life but won’t rehash what made him don the cowl in the first place.
Though we shouldn’t expect a close adaptation of Year One, then, Robles has revealed that there are a few other classic comic book arcs that will serve as inspirations here. Apparently, sources close to the director have name-checked Dark Victory and Zero Year as two possible influences. The former, from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, would fit with Robles’ comments that The Batman will have noir aspirations, while Zero Year from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo is a curious choice, as it’s another version of the Dark Knight’s origins story.
These conflicting inspirations paint a slightly confusing picture of The Batman – it might not be an origins story even though two thirds of its influences are? – but it definitely sounds like Matt Reeves is aiming for more of a stripped-back detective tale for his movie, which is something fans have been wanting to see for years.