The legacy of Batman will continue with the newest Batman movie — The Batman. Robert Pattinson is playing the character of Batman in a new film that will be released in 2022. The movie is already one of the most highly-anticipated films of 2022.
Unlike most Warner Bros. releases due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Batman will not be released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. The film will debut exclusively in theaters before heading to HBO Max 45 days after its initial release. From its official release date to the star-studded cast, HollywoodLife has rounded up all the major updates about The Batman.
‘The Batman’ Key Information
The Batman, based on the popular DC comic books, is the latest take on the Dark Knight. Twilight alum Robert Pattinson nabbed the leading role of the Caped Crusader and will take the film in a new direction with a new story. The previous live-action Batmans have been played by Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck.
Other than the cast and the first trailer, which dropped in 2020, additional specifics about The Batman have not been revealed. Warner Bros. is keeping a lot of the details surrounding The Batman under wraps for the time being. However, the trailer hints at a much darker Batman tale than we’ve seen in previous movie versions.
Affleck was initially supposed to director, star, and co-write The Batman. The Oscar-winning actor stepped back as director in 2017 while staying on as the star and producer. “It has become clear that I cannot do both jobs to the level they require,” Ben told Variety. “Together with the studio, I have decided to find a partner in a director who will collaborate with me on this massive film. I am still in this, and we are making it.” Ben eventually departed the film in 2019 and a search began for a new Batman.
With the introduction of RPattz’s Batman, president of DC Films Walter Hamada confirmed at DC FanDome in 2020 that The Batman is set on an alternate Earth known as Earth-2. “On one Earth, you have Gal [Gadot] and Jason [Momoa] and Ezra [Miller], as this Justice League and you can continue telling these stories, while on another Earth, you can have a more grounded, real, Year Two Batman.” Affleck and Keaton will be reprising their Batmans in the upcoming Flash standalone movie, which will be released in November 2022.
‘The Batman’ Release Date & Filming
Principal photography began on The Batman in January 2020. Like most productions, The Batman was shut down in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming resumed in England in September 2020. The movie was initially supposed to be released on June 25, 2021, but when filming was suspended indefinitely, the release date was pushed to October 1.
Just when production was kicking back up in September, filming was halted again because Rob contracted COVID-19, Vanity Fair first reported. “A member of The Batman production has tested positive for Covid-19, and is isolating in accordance with established protocols. Filming is temporarily paused,” Warner Bros. said in a statement. Filming resumed after Rob was cleared to go back to work.
A few weeks after Rob got back to work, Warner Bros. announced that The Batman’s release date was being delayed again. The official release date is now March 4, 2022.
‘The Batman’ Cast & Crew
Robert Pattinson was cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne in May 2019. The role of the Caped Crusader came down to Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult. The Batman marks Pattinson’s first foray into a major film franchise since the Twilight movies. Matt Reeves is the director of The Batman.
Zoe Kravitz will play Catwoman/Selina Kyle. She actually voiced the fan-favorite character in the 2017 animated film The Lego Batman Movie. Selina is a cat burglar who crosses paths with Batman in Gotham City and has notably been his love interest. Zoe revealed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that she prepared for the role by reading the Year One comic and opened up about the film. “The tone of this film very much feels like it’s own thing,” she said. “I didn’t really think about how difficult it is to make something as simple as a Catsuit original but it’s like, ‘How do you reinvent the jean jacket?’… But Jacqueline Durran, our costume designer, is amazing.”
During the DC FanDome panel in August 2020, Matt noted that Zoe’s version of Selina Kyle is “incredibly exciting.” He added, “You have an iteration that you’ve never seen of what she’s doing, but it touches on all of these iconic things that people know from the comics. It’s always about trying to square what you know with what also is new, and that is really part of the exciting process of making a Batman movie which is to find a way to make it your own, and to find a way for the actors to make it their own, and yet still connect all of these things so people go, ‘Oh that’s my Selina. I know who that is.’”
Paul Dano will star as Edward Nashton/Riddler, one of Batman’s most notorious villains. Matt revealed at the same DC FanDome panel that Paul plays a version of The Riddler “that no one has ever seen before. He’s such an incredibly creative actor, so what he’s doing I think is going to blow peoples’ minds.”
Matt also made this note about the nefarious crew in Batman’s world: “It’s actually in a weird way the origins of a lot of our Rogues Gallery characters. Selina isn’t Catwoman yet, that’s actually part of the journey. Oz is not yet the kingpin that he’s going to become, he’s The Penguin and in fact doesn’t like being called The Penguin. And The Riddler is just emerging for the first time.”
The Penguin/Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot will be played by Colin Farrell. The actor underwent a major transformation for the role, donning a fat suit and prosthetics. He revealed on his episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast that his role is a small one in the film. “I’m only in it for five or six scenes, so I can’t wait to see the film because it won’t be ruined by my presence,” he said. “Really, it’s a freebie to me. I’ll get a little bit uncomfortable for the f-ing nine minutes I have, and then the rest of it, I cannot wait to see how he [Reeves] brought this world to life.”
The rest of the cast includes John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gil Colson, Barry Keoghan as Stanley Merkel, Jayme Lawson as Bella Reál, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon. Jeffrey is the first actor of color to play Batman’s esteemed ally.
Matt also serves as a producer, along with executive producers Simon Emanuel, Walter Hamada, Michael E. Uslan, and Chantal Nong Vo. Dylan Clark is also a producer and Toby Hefferman is an associate producer.
‘The Batman’ Cast & Crew Reactions
Rob admitted that he’s excited about the different spin The Batman takes on the famous hero. “I really like [director] Matt Reeves and his setup for it,” the actor told Variety. “It’s an interesting direction. It’s something from the comics which hasn’t really been explored yet. It’s crazy shoes to fill. It’s interesting the different directions you can take with it and that the, in some ways, quite a specific character actually has a lot of leeway. When you look at the different tones of the movies and TV shows, you can do quite a lot with it.”
Matt has been vocal about how The Batman is not an origin story about the Caped Crusader’s early days. This movie will feature a very angsty Batman. “I wanted to do not an origin tale, but a tale that would still acknowledge his origins, in that it formed who he is,” Matt told Nerdist. “Like this guy, he’s majorly struggling, and this is how he’s trying to rise above that struggle. But that doesn’t mean that he even fully understands, you know. It’s that whole idea of the shadow self and what’s driving you, and how much of that you can incorporate, and how much of it you’re doing that you’re unaware of.”
The first trailer for The Batman dropped during DC FanDome in August 2020. This was our first real glimpse at Rob’s take on the Caped Crusader. The trailer begins at a grisly crime scene, with James Gordon reading off a note from Riddler, “From your secret friend. Who? Haven’t a clue? Let’s play a game. Just me and you…” He asks Batman if this means anything to him. The trailer also reveals Catwoman and Penguin.
At the end of the trailer, someone asks Batman who he’s supposed to be. Batman continually punches a guy in front of his friends and says, “I’m vengeance.”
New footage was shown at CinemaCon in August 2021. “I felt that we’ve seen lots of origin stories,” Matt said in a featurette, according to Entertainment Weekly. “It seems things go further and further into fantasy, and I thought, well, one place we haven’t been is grounding it in the way that Year One does, to come right in to a young Batman, not being an origin tale, but referring to his origins and shaking him to his core. You can have it be very practical, but I also thought it could be the most emotional Batman movie ever made.”
‘The Batman’ Spinoffs
The world of The Batman is already expanding, and we haven’t even seen the movie yet. HBO Max has already ordered a series set within the Gotham City PD, with Joe Barton set as the showrunner, according to Variety. In September 2021, Variety reported that a Penguin spinoff is in the works. Colin has reportedly been asked to reprise the role in the series, but a deal hasn’t been made yet. Everything regarding the Penguin spinoff is still in “early stages.”