The Batman Fans Aren’t Happy About HBO Max’s Gotham PD Spinoff

Just when you thought that there couldn’t possibly be any more bombshell announcements surrounding the future of the DCEU, along came the news that The Batman director Matt Reeves was collaborating with Boardwalk Empire showrunner Terence Winter to bring a small screen extension of his rebooted universe exclusively to HBO Max.

Although we don’t have much in the way of information just yet, the idea of a police procedural focusing on the crime and corruption-riddled Gotham Police Department has the potential to be something pretty special, especially when it’ll be connected to the mythology that Reeves will introduce in his big screen reboot of the Dark Knight. However, the focus will remain squarely upon the officers themselves with the costumed vigilante existing only on the peripherals.

With Justice League Dark, the Snyder Cut and now this, HBO Max’s lineup of DCEU-adjacent shows is fast becoming one of the most exciting aspects of the entire franchise, and it looks like they’ll be giving Marvel Studios a real run for their money when it comes to a stacked lineup of original shows exclusive to their in-house platform.

Obviously, Gotham just recently wrapped up after five seasons, so you would expect that Reeves and Winter have a unique approach to the material, given that we’ve just seen 100 episodes of a show that took place in Batman’s city without the Caped Crusader himself. At least, fans are hoping that’s the case, as they’ve been reacting to the news online and it seems they’re not as overwhelmingly positive about the project as you might think.

https://twitter.com/marcusshearer1/status/1281630012307800065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1281630012307800065%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Ftv-shows%2Fnews%2Fthe-batman-fans-are-freaking-out-about-another-gotham-cop-series%2F

Well, *somebody* failed to read the room. https://t.co/50Ff81ACV5

— skullsinthestars (@drskyskull) July 10, 2020

If they're not reading the room, this is going to be bad. what it should be about is Commissioner Gordon trying to clean up GothamPD vs a corrupt police union head as the antagonist, all while Batman stirs pot investigating & exposing police corruptionhttps://t.co/hTWiWw5jlk

— Kyle (@KyleFreyasfadir) July 10, 2020

https://twitter.com/ScottPRedmond/status/1281640239555948545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1281640239555948545%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Ftv-shows%2Fnews%2Fthe-batman-fans-are-freaking-out-about-another-gotham-cop-series%2F

If there's one thing we need right now it's yet another police drama about the "good cops." Way to read that room. https://t.co/F7vWvDaXEb

— Kevin Mahadeo (@kevmahadeo) July 10, 2020

https://twitter.com/glennewman/status/1281624821135224832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1281624821135224832%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Ftv-shows%2Fnews%2Fthe-batman-fans-are-freaking-out-about-another-gotham-cop-series%2F

A Batman related cop show on HBO.

Man, I can't wait to see how tone deaf that turns out to be in today's climate.

— Robert from Wisconsin (@Rob_In_WI) July 10, 2020

On one hand, it looks like WB decided which way they are going to go on Batman for the future — at least on HBO Max. But on the other, weren't we just talking about getting rid of cop shows? #TheBatman https://t.co/o2Ivn5V8xL

— Dave Baldwin (@davemabaldwin) July 10, 2020

https://twitter.com/Manimeconquest/status/1281641007646486528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1281641007646486528%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Ftv-shows%2Fnews%2Fthe-batman-fans-are-freaking-out-about-another-gotham-cop-series%2F

As you can see, a lot of people think that announcing yet another police procedural in today’s current social and political climate isn’t a great idea, even with a universally-beloved character like Batman as the selling point. Maybe HBO Max are hoping that the furor will have died down by the time the show makes it to air though, which won’t be for a while yet as The Batman isn’t even hitting theaters until October 2021.