The Batman will be almost three hours long according to a theater listing for the film, which would set a new record as the longest Batman movie.
Better get the extra large popcorn when you go to see The Batman in March. According to the listing for the film at the IMAX Melbourne website, The Batman will have a runtime of 176 minutes, or in other words, 2 hours and 56 minutes. That puts us at pretty much three full hours of the world’s greatest detective working to solve the mystery of the Riddler, so be sure to hit the facilities beforehand as a word of advice.
At 176 minutes, The Batman would be the longest Batman movie ever to be released in theaters. The current record-holder is Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises which clocked in at two hours and 45 minutes, about 11 minutes shorter than The Batman. That’s followed by The Dark Knight which runs at two hours and 32 minutes. Zack Snyder’s crossover film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is just behind with a run time of two hours and 31 minutes.
The reported runtime also follows the reveal that The Batman is rated PG-13 for “strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material.” Many fans had been thinking the film might actually be given an R rating after the success of movies like Deadpool and Joker, but that was not the case. Even so, it’s still clear from the marketing that this will be a rather dark Batman story, putting Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight to the test as a cunning serial killer terrorizes Gotham.
The Riddler Serves as the Dark Knight’s Biggest Threat in The Batman
The Batman is not quite an origin story, picking up a couple of years into Bruce Wayne’s new life as a crime-fighter. The Riddler will be the primary antagonist, and this is a darker version of the character than what’s typically seen in other Batman stories. He seems to take some inspiration from the Zodiac Killer, from the way he dresses to how he taunts investigators by leaving clues behind at the scenes of his killings. It is set in a standalone universe with a more grounded tone than the films in the DCEU.
The synopsis for The Batman reads: “When a killer targets Gotham’s elite with a series of sadistic machinations, a trail of cryptic clues sends the World’s Greatest Detective on an investigation into the underworld, where he encounters such characters as Selina Kyle/aka Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), Oswald Cobblepot/aka the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and Edward Nashton/aka the Riddler (Paul Dano). As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.”
It’s been a long time coming for this movie, given the pandemic and its multiple delays. Finally, The Batman will be making its way to the big screen when it is released in theaters on March 4, 2022.
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