Among the biggest films to be touted at this weekend's DC FanDome event was Matt Reeves' entry into superhero territory with The Batman. And even though, thanks to the pandemic shutdown, he'd only shot around 25% of the film, he still had a teaser to show, which promises a dark, moody detective story.
Eschewing the very well-trod story that is Batman's tragic origin, Reeves' film will instead be set in Year Two, with Wayne established as Batman but still figuring out his credo. “It’s not an origins tale, but you’re meeting him in the early days. A lot of the other stories showed he had to master his fear and himself, to become Batman,” said Reeves, adding that the Wayne we meet "is in the middle of this criminological experiment and watch him make mistakes. He’s not having any of the effect that he want to have, that’s when the murders begin to happen."
In keeping with Gotham City usual style, there's a virulent strain of corruption running through it, and some of that will impact Bruce Wayne personally, which makes it appear that his family won't be squeaky clean. In addition to the Caped Crusader working on his methods, we'll also find the villains – Paul Dano's Riddler, Colin Farrell's Penguin and Zoë Kravitz' Selina Kyle/Catwoman – all on different stages of their destined journeys.
Reeves also mentioned his cinematic touchstones for his film, including Chinatown, and dropped word on the Gotham PD series he's developing alongside Terence Winter for HBO Max. It'll be set in Year One, with the Batman story as more of a mythological background, and will explore the city's corruption from the angle of a crooked cop in the midst of a battle for his soul.
The Batman is currently aiming to be out on 1 October, 2021, but given that Reeves and co. are only just about to resume work on the film, that could still change. Based on this first look, however, we really want to see this one as soon as possible.