The Batman will not be an origin story, says director Matt Reeves. The story will acknowledge the character’s history, along with his “struggle.” Reeves has been pretty tight-lipped about the storyline and about what fans can expect when the movie finally hits theaters next summer. Production started earlier this year in the U.K. but had to halt due to the world’s current state of affairs. It’s unclear when The Batman, along with the rest of the entertainment industry will get back to some form of normalcy.
In a new interview, Matt Reeves talked a little about what The Batman will be about. The director chose his words carefully when discussing the movie and made sure not to give too much away. He went into detail about how he chose to handle the Dark Knight’s origins. Many fans were under the assumption that the movie was going to be another origin tale. Reeves had this to say.
“I wanted to do not an origin tale, but a tale that would still acknowledge his origins, in that it formed who he is. 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 Batman avoiding the origin story sounds like a pretty solid move. The tale has been told so many times and it’s a part of popular culture by this point, which Matt Reeves understands. Instead, it seems that will be seeing a Bruce Wayne trying to come to grips with is past, while not fully understanding what is happening at the same time. In other words, it sounds like a classic Batman story for the big screen.
Marvel Studios and Sony took a bit of the same route when introducing Tom Holland as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Homecoming. They did not have to show Uncle Ben’s death on the big screen. Instead, it’s only alluded to, which keeps the story, one that has already been told before, moving forward. This allows new fans and old fans to get on the same page without having to retread old storylines.
Matt Reeves is introducing Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader this time around. We’ve already seen some set photos from The Batman, along with a screen test, and it appears that Reeves is going for a different look than we’ve seen previously, which is also a wise move since we’ve seen so many actors take on the role in the last 25 years. Hopefully production will be able to start back up again in the near future. While we wait, you can head over to Nerdist and read the rest of the interview with Matt Reeves. The topper art is from @JohnKRegan on Instagram.
