‘The Batman’ could have easily ended up with an R-rating

One of the top trending topics on Twitter yesterday was the MPAA’s decision to award The Batman a PG-13 rating, with many fans voicing their disappointment that Matt Reeves’ reboot isn’t imbuing the Caped Crusader’s latest outing with a harder a edge.

Of course, there was very little chance that Warner Bros. would shut off what’s sure to be one of its biggest hits of the year from a huge portion of the intended target audience, so there wasn’t really much surprise when the official confirmation was made. As a general rule of thumb, LEGO don’t make toy sets for R-rated movies, and The Batman‘s blocky merchandise has been on display for a while now.

However, a follow up report from Variety offers that Robert Pattinson’s first outing as Gotham City’s resident nocturnal vigilante could have easily wound up on the R-rated side of the fence, such is the relentlessly dark tone of the film. In fact, many Warner Bros. insiders purportedly thought Reeves and his team would be sent back to the editing room to tone things down before the PG-13 decision was ultimately made.

Presumably, calls will be made on social media for an R-rated Director’s Cut or Extended Edition to be made available whenever The Batman comes to VOD and home video, but we’ve got no guarantees at this stage that such a thing even exists in completed form.