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Matt Reeves ’ “The Batman” isn’t a superhero movie. Not really. All the trappings are there: the Batmobile, the rugged suit, the gadgets courtesy of trusty butler Alfred. And of course, at the center, is the Caped Crusader himself: brooding, tormented, seeking his own brand of nighttime justice in a Gotham City that’s spiraling into squalor and decay.

But in Reeves’ confident hands, everything is breathtakingly alive and new. As director and co-writer, he’s taken what might seem like a familiar tale and made it epic, even operatic. His “ Batman ” is more akin to a gritty, ‘70s crime drama than a soaring and transporting blockbuster. With its kinetic, unpredictable action, it calls to mind films like “ The Warriors ” as well as one of the greatest of them all in the genre, “ The French Connection .” And with a series of high-profile murders driving the plot, it sometimes feels as if the Zodiac killer is terrorizing the citizens of Gotham.

And yet, despite these touchstones, this is unmistakably a Matt Reeves film. He accomplishes here what he did with his gripping entries in the “Planet of the Apes” franchise: created an electrifying, entertaining spectacle, but one that’s grounded in real, emotional stakes. This is a Batman movie that’s aware of its own place within pop culture, but not in winking, meta fashion; rather, it acknowledges the comic book character’s lore, only to examine it and reinvent it in a way that’s both substantial and daring. The script from Reeves and Peter Craig forces this hero to question his history as well as confront his purpose, and in doing so, creates an opening for us as viewers to challenge the narratives we cling to in our own lives.

And with Robert Pattinson taking over the role of Bruce Wayne, we have an actor who’s not just prepared but hungry to explore this figure’s weird, dark instincts. This is not the dashing heir to a fortune prowling about, kicking ass in a cool costume. This is Travis Bickle in the Batsuit, detached and disillusioned. He’s two years into his tenure as Batman, tracking criminals from on high in Wayne Tower—an inspired switch from the usual sprawl of Wayne Manor, suggesting an even greater isolation from society. “They think I’m hiding in the shadows,” he intones in an opening voiceover. “But I am the shadows.” In the harsh light of day, Pattinson gives us hungover indie rock star vibes. But at night, you can see the rush he gets from swooping in and executing his version of vengeance, even beneath the tactical gear and eye black.

As he’s shown in pretty much every role he's taken since “Twilight” made him a global superstar in 2008, working with singular auteurs from David Cronenberg to Claire Denis to the Safdie brothers, Pattinson is at his best when he’s playing characters who make you uncomfortable. Even more than Christian Bale in the role, Pattinson is so skilled at making his beautiful, angular features seem unsettling. So when he first spies on the impossibly sexy Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle, slinking into her leather motorcycle gear and shimmying down the fire escape in her own pursuit of nocturnal justice, there’s an unmistakable flicker of a charge in his eyes: Ooh. She’s a freak like me.

Pattinson and Kravitz have insane chemistry with each other. She is his match, physically and emotionally, every step of the way. This is no flirty, purring Catwoman: She’s a fighter and a survivor with a loyal heart and a strong sense of what’s right. Following her lead role in Steven Soderbergh ’s high-tech thriller “Kimi,” Kravitz continues to reveal a fierce charisma and quiet strength.

She’s part of a murderer’s row of supporting performers, all of whom get meaty roles to play. Jeffrey Wright is the rare voice of idealism and decency as the eventual Commissioner Gordon. John Turturro is low-key chilling as crime boss Carmine Falcone. Andy Serkis —Caesar in Reeves’ “Apes” movies—brings a paternal wisdom and warmth as Alfred. Colin Farrell is completely unrecognizable as the sleazy, villainous Oswald Cobblepot, better known as The Penguin. And Paul Dano is flat-out terrifying as The Riddler, whose own drive for vengeance provides the story’s spine. He goes to extremes here in a way that’s reminiscent of his startling work in “ There Will Be Blood .” His derangement is so intense, you may find yourself unexpectedly laughing just to break the tension he creates. But there’s nothing amusing about his portrayal; Dano makes you feel as if you’re watching a man who’s truly, deeply disturbed.

This is not to say that “The Batman” is a downer; far from it. Despite the overlong running time of nearly three hours, this is a film that’s consistently viscerally gripping. The coolest Batmobile yet—a muscular vehicle that’s straight out of “ Mad Max: Fury Road ”—figures prominently in one of the movie’s most heart-pounding sequences. It’s an elaborate car chase and chain-reaction crash ending with an upside-down shot of fiery fury that literally had me applauding during my screening. During a fight at a thumping night club, punctuated by pulsating red lights, you can feel every punch and kick. (That’s one of the more compelling elements of seeing this superhero in his early days: He isn’t invincible.) And a shootout in a pitch-black hallway, illuminated only by the blasts of shotgun fire, is both harrowing and dazzling. Greatly magnifying the power of scenes like these is the score from veteran composer Michael Giacchino . Best known for his Pixar movie music, he does something totally different with “The Batman”: percussive and horn-heavy, it is massive and demanding, and you will feel it deep in your core.

Working with artists and craftspeople operating at the top of their game, Reeves has made a movie that manages to be ethereal yet weighty at the same time, substantial yet impressionistic. Cinematographer Greig Fraser pulls off the same sort of stunning magic trick he did with his Oscar-nominated work in Denis Villeneuve ’s “Dune”: Through pouring rain and neon lights, there’s both a gauziness and a heft to his imagery. His use of shadow and silhouette is masterful, and does so much to convey a sense of foreboding and tension. I could write an entire, separate essay on the film’s many uses of the color red to suggest energy, danger, even hope. And the costume design from the great Jacqueline Durran —with Dave Crossman and Glyn Dillon designing Pattinson’s rough-and-tumble Batsuit—put just the right finishing touch on the film’s cool, edgy vibe.

This is the most beautiful Batman movie you’ve ever seen—even if it’s not really a Batman movie at all.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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The Batman (2022)

Rated PG-13 for strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material.

176 minutes

Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne / Batman

Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle

Paul Dano as The Riddler

Jeffrey Wright as Lt. James Gordon

John Turturro as Carmine Falcone

Peter Sarsgaard as District Attorney Gil Colson

Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth

Colin Farrell as Oz / The Penguin

Matt Reeves

Writer (Batman created by)

Bill Finger
Peter Craig

Cinematographer

Greig Fraser

Costume Designer

Jacqueline Durran
William Hoy
Tyler Nelson
Michael Giacchino

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The Batman Reviews

It starts with an original vision of the hero, has an inspired cast, creates a self-sufficient story and elevates it with a stylized direction that's in line with the film's substance. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Nov 20, 2023

The Batman is an ALL TIME BEST FILM. Matt Reeves has crafted the DEFINITIVE take on The Caped Crusader that Pattinson will define for generations to come. Brooding and brutal, I didn’t want it to end.

Full Review | Sep 27, 2023

The Batman isn’t just another entry in a trilogy or a multi-directed Batman starring three Bruce Wayne’s. It’s a love letter to fans who have waited decades for a faithful adaptation of Batman.

Full Review | Sep 25, 2023

This latest Batman tale is grounded, noir and detective based, and a highly realistic entry into the movie mythos of the caped crusader.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Sep 7, 2023

It’s a part-serial killer mystery, part-superhero adventure, and part-crime drama stuffed in a 3-hour runtime that can feel loaded but never dull.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 18, 2023

Not only does the central plot feel like a rehashing of other films and comic books, the entire movie plays like a patchwork quilt of past works.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 10, 2023

A phenomenal take on the caped crusader that will leave you wanting more from this Batman world.

Full Review | Aug 9, 2023

The Batman becomes less of a full-throttle action romp and more of a detective tale, an arc that hasn’t been filmed before.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jul 29, 2023

BEST Batman Film yet…. Beautifully made with incredible action sequences, a thrilling mystery, & amazing characters. You can’t get any better than this & wherever smart Reeves goes next door will I.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

With an incredible score by Michael Giacchino, and a backdrop of Nirvana songs to elevate the mood, The Batman is a fantastic film. The acting and fighting sequences will keep audiences on the edge of their seats.

Matt Reeves delivers a distinctly darker, more intense, frighteningly realistic noir thriller than past adaptations, with an aggressively vengeful Bruce Wayne / Batman and a fear-inducing, mysterious, lunatic Riddler.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jul 25, 2023

Even with a runtime of nearly three hours, The Batman leaves the audience wanting more. While ultimately fumbling the ending, the characters, performances, plot, and visual appearance leave enough behind to warrant a return to this version of Gotham.

The Batman is everything a superhero film should be. It’s gritty, stylistic, and most importantly, there’s an intrinsic balance between the action and quiet moments, which Matt Reeves masters superbly through this adaptation.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jul 23, 2023

In a lot of ways, the disjointed editing in The Batman leaves much for the viewer to process; not enough time exists for key character moments.

Full Review | Jun 5, 2023

... In this Batman -- very different from Nolan's, Burton's or Schumacher's -- everything seems more appeased, more contained, more... human. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 12, 2023

They turned revealing an antagonist's presence to the audience without the victim's knowledge into a suspense-driven art. Here, Reeves taps directly into these tactics to phenomenal effect...

Full Review | Jan 9, 2023

This is the ultimate Batman movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 6, 2023

Batman's superpower has always been that he's the smartest guy in the room. ... His title as the Dark Knight Detective has never been showcased on film as well as it was in The Batman.

It may take three hours for Bruce to learn this lesson, but it's an incredible three hours. It may be fun to watch Pattinson put on black make-up and strap into the Batsuit to fight some bad guys, but there's much more to this story than just that.

Full Review | Original Score: 9.8/10 | Dec 30, 2022

THE BATMAN exceeds my expectations and passes the bar of a reboot. It justifies its own existence with great storytelling, insights into humanity and human society, and powerful performances.

Full Review | Dec 28, 2022

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‘The Batman’ Review: Who’ll Stop the Wayne?

Robert Pattinson puts on the Batsuit and cats around with Zoë Kravitz in the latest attempt to reimagine the Caped Crusader.

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By A.O. Scott

The darkness in “The Batman” is pervasive and literal. Gotham City in the week after Halloween, when this long chapter unfolds, sees about as much sunshine as northern Finland in mid-December. The ambience of urban demoralization extends to the light bulbs, which flicker weakly in the gloom. Bats, cats, penguins and other resident creatures are mostly nocturnal. The relentless rain isn’t the kind that washes the scum off the streets, but the kind that makes a bad mood worse.

The Batman — not just any Batman! — is less the enemy of this state of things than its avatar. On television in the 1960s , Batman was playful. Later, in the Keaton-Clooney-Kilmer era of the ’80s and ’90s, he was a bit of a playboy. In the 21st century, through Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy and after, onscreen incarnations of the character have been purged of any trace of joy, mischief or camp. We know him as a brooding avenger, though not an Avenger, which is a whole different brand of corporate I.P.

But a modern superhero is only as authentic as his latest identity crisis. Both the Batman (Robert Pattinson) and “The Batman” itself struggle with the vigilante legacy that has dominated the post-Nolan DC cinematic universe. “I am vengeance,” our hero intones as he swoops down to deal with some minor bad guys. He doesn’t seem happy about it. He’s grouchy and dyspeptic in his costume, and mopey and floppy in his Bruce Wayne mufti. Having fed on Gotham’s violence and cruelty for years, he now finds that the diet may not agree with him.

For nearly three hours, “The Batman,” directed by Matt Reeves from a script he wrote with Peter Craig, navigates a familiar environment of crime, corruption and demoralization in search of something different. Batman’s frustration arises most obviously from the intractability of Gotham’s dysfunction. Two years after the city’s biggest crime boss was brought down, the streets are still seething and the social fabric is full of holes. Drug addicts (known as “dropheads”) and gangs of hooligans roam the alleys and train platforms, while predatory gangsters and crooked politicians party in the V.I.P. rooms.

This isn’t only a bum deal for the citizens of Gotham. It’s a sign of imaginative exhaustion. Fourteen years after “The Dark Knight,” the franchise and its satellites (including “Joker”) have been mired in a stance of authoritarian self-pity that feels less like an allegorical response to the real world than a lazy aesthetic habit.

That’s where “The Batman” begins, but — thank goodness — it isn’t necessarily Reeves’s comfort zone. In his contributions to the “Planet of the Apes” cycle (he directed the second and third installments, “Dawn” and “War” ), he demonstrated an eye for ethical nuance and political complexity unusual in modern-day blockbuster filmmaking.

Glimmers of that humanism are visible in the murk (the low-light cinematography is by Greig Fraser), but for Reeves the path out of nihilism is through it. A masked serial killer (eventually revealed as Paul Dano) is stalking Gotham’s leaders — including the mayor and the district attorney (Peter Sarsgaard) — leaving behind encoded messages and greeting cards for Batman. His signature is a question mark, which even a casual comic-book fan knows is the sign of the Riddler.

Upholding a genre cliché, he sees himself less as Batman’s nemesis than as his secret sharer, using more extreme means to accomplish similar ends arising from parallel motives. The Riddler exposes the connections between Gotham’s power structure and its underworld, links that seem to have eluded the Caped Crusader and Lieutenant James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), his ally in the police department. The mythology of the Wayne family — in particular the martyrdom of young Bruce’s parents — is held up to revisionist scrutiny. What if we’re wrong about Batman? What if he’s wrong about himself?

These are potentially interesting questions, but it takes “The Batman” a very long time to arrive at them. Luckily, there are some diversions in the meantime, most notably the arrival of Zoë Kravitz’s Catwoman, also known as Selina Kyle. Like the Riddler, Catwoman is Batman’s self-appointed vigilante colleague, seeking payback on behalf of women who have been exploited, abused and killed by members of Gotham’s criminal and official elite. The prickly alliance that arises between these masked, pointy-eared cosplayers adds a much-needed element of romance with a just-perceptible hint of kink. Maybe there will be a place for fun in the DC universe.

But not just yet. Don’t get me wrong. There are things to enjoy here, in addition to Kravitz’s nimble work: John Turturro, hammy and slimy as a top mobster; Colin Farrell, almost unrecognizable as the oleaginous Penguin; Andy Serkis as Alfred; a crackerjack car chase; Michael Giacchino’s eerie score.

The problem isn’t just that the action pauses for long bouts of exposition, as long-past events are chewed over by one character after another. Or that Pattinson, in and out of the Batsuit, is almost as much of a cipher as any of the Riddler’s scribblings. It’s the ponderous seriousness that hangs over the movie like last week’s weather — the fog of white-savior grievance that has shrouded Gotham and the Batman for as long as many of us can remember.

“The Batman” tries to shake that off — or rather, as I’ve suggested, to work through it. Maybe it shouldn’t have been so difficult, and maybe the slog of this film will serve a therapeutic or liberatory end. Let’s hope. I can’t say I had a good time, but I did end up somewhere I didn’t expect to be: looking forward to the next chapter.

The Batman Rated PG-13. Grim and occasionally gruesome. Running time: 2 hours 55 minutes. In theaters.

A.O. Scott is a co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

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In back-to-basics 'The Batman,' Robert Pattinson shines in the darkness

Glen Weldon

Even in a cowl that blocks his peripheral vision, The Batman (Robert Pattinson) can still serve side-eye. Jonathan Olley/Warner Bros. hide caption

Even in a cowl that blocks his peripheral vision, The Batman (Robert Pattinson) can still serve side-eye.

Let's get this out of the way at the top.

No, you don't see Thomas and Martha Wayne die.

You heard that right: Mercifully, in Hollywood's latest effort to begin Batman yet again, director and co-writer Matt Reeves skips the venerable, too-oft-told origin story.

No pearls. No popcorn. No alley. No mugger. I come before you today to make it known: Our long bational nightmare is over.

Be honest: If I hadn't told you this, you'd have spent the entirety of The Batman 's two-hours-and-fifty-five-minute running-time (!) crouched defensively in your theater seat, hovering in a constant state of low-level dread, waiting for those damn pearls to start hitting the pavement yet again. Well, I'm here to tell you: They don't.

(There's a part of me convinced that we wouldn't have arrived at this welcome, long-overdue cultural milestone if it weren't for one very dumb, very dark, and very good blink-and-you-miss-it joke in the underrated gem of film called Teen Titans Go! To the Movies back in 2018. The part of me in question is my inflated ego, because I predicted the joke would have that effect , back then.)

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Setting the scene (in gotham).

Smartly, The Batman begins in media-property res, as it were, establishing that wealthy scion-of-the-city Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) has been strapping on a bulky bulletproof batsuit for two years, spending his nights clomping around rooftops and delivering beatdowns to street gangs and robbers and their ilk. (The film's Foley artists really earn their keep; the Caped Crusader's every footfall resounds like thunder, and every time he turns his head we hear the squeak of worn leather.) He's already found an ally in not-yet-Commissioner Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), and his butler Alfred (Andy Serkis) has more or less gotten used to Bruce's Chiroptera -themed war on crime.

Even so, he's carrying a lot on his shoulders, over and above all that Kevlar. There's a serial killer (Paul Dano's Riddler) targeting some of Gotham's most prominent citizens and leaving clues for Batman at his crime scenes. There's a cocktail waitress who's gone missing and her friend Selina (Zoe Kravitz) is prepared to slap on a cat-eared beanie and deal with the mobsters who took her. Selina's boss, the Penguin (Colin Farrell, buried under mounds of prosthetics) may or may not be mixed up with all that, and is definitely mixed up with Gotham crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro).

Reeves and his co-writer Peter Craig have settled upon a back-to-basics approach to Batman and his world. Where Tim Burton went goth, Joel Schumacher went swoonily over-the-top, and Christopher Nolan strove for a kind of stoic, masc, gunmetal-gray realism, Reeves' The Batman seems less hung up on stylistic flourishes that betoken his particular directorial perspective and more concerned with combining disparate, pre-existing elements of Batman lore in novel ways.

In the thriller 'Severance,' Adam Scott's humanity hangs in the (work-life) balance

That, of course, is the job, with respect to a franchise like Batman. He's been around for 83 years, and spent most of that time cycling through the same rogues gallery. Over the years, some creators have found success adding the occasional new villain to the mix, but it remains a rare occurrence.

That might have something to do with how simply and effectively Batman's extant, O.G. foes manage to highlight the different facets of his character. Historically, a given story's villain pulls Batman into a distinct and recognizable genre. A Joker story? Psychological thriller. Catwoman? Noir. Penguin? Mob story. Scarecrow? Horror. Riddler? Mystery.

Nerds like me, who value the semiotic tidiness of all this, may quibble with the film's Riddler, whose methods and motivations Reeves seems determined to simultaneously Jokerize, and Baneify, and Ra's al Ghulicate.

Let me be clear: Most moviegoers won't care about keeping Batman's villains true to their historical essences — to them, it'll sound like I'm whining about having my peas touching my mashed potatoes. But the fact remains that it's tough to get a bead on Dano's interpretation of the character, even after his mask comes off. That may be intentional, but it's not particularly satisfying.

This Batman is back-to-basics

Reeves doesn't seem interested in offering us a singular, discrete and distinctly Reevesian cinematic Batman. Instead, what he's accomplished is something that looks and feels more akin to the kind of Batman story you could pick up in a comic book shop today than any previous Batman film has managed to achieve.

Or, more specifically, a multi-issue Batman story arc, because that nearly three-hour running time lends the film a distinctly unhurried, deconstructed sense of storytelling. So many characters gets introduced in the first hour that when the film's various plotlines begin to complicate, they don't so much deftly intersect as slam headlong into each other. The story's big reveals aren't permitted to stick around very long before getting summarily reversed or minimized, so they tend to land without much much of an impact. Connections between characters grow muddier just when they're meant to become clear.

Along the way, the fans get duly serviced: Wright's Jim Gordon does his narrative duty as Officer Exposition, reading Riddler's clues aloud to Batman like a kindergarten teacher at Story Time. Kravitz's Catwoman flirts and fights and must be dissuaded from choosing violence. Farrell's Penguin is ... is basically Robert De Niro's Al Capone, really.

Production designer James Chinlund's Gotham is filled with capital-G Gothic elements, but though the city's architecture sends plenty of buttresses flying hither and yon, it feels lived-in and functional, unlike the Gothams of Burton and Schumacher, which never stopped looking like the painstakingly designed movie sets they were.

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Robert pattinson's batman puts the emo in emote.

But it's Pattinson who makes the film what it is. It's not surprising that he can brood — he made his bones in the Twilight franchise, where he spent much of his screentime glittering and sulking. But since then, he's made a series of bold choices in idiosyncratic films; on paper, his taking up the Bat-cowl might seem like a step backwards.

But Pattinson's Bruce/Batman is a searching, wounded, haunted soul with a My Chemical Romance haircut. The black makeup he smudges across his eyelids before donning the mask feels less like a costume choice and more like an extension of his truest, most emo self. Pattinson's jawline is sharp enough to slice Manchego, and this iteration of the Batman costume has been designed to highlight that fact — in close-up, he looks like a lovingly rendered illustration.

As the tenth actor to wear the Batman costume in movies (yes, I'm counting the two dudes who did the '40s movie serials), he tackles the role's signature limitation — the way it strips its performer of access to facial expressions — with aplomb. There's a scene later in the film that calls for Batman to seem impassive to the person he's speaking to, but it's necessary for all of us in the audience to register that in truth he's freaking the hell out. In close-up, Pattinson's eyes glisten, his taciturn mouth ever-so-slightly tightens. He sells that moment, and others like it.

As a result of this expressive vulnerability, Pattinson's Batman is unique in following a clear narrative and emotional arc over the course of the film. Whereas Christian Bale's Batman, for example, was bellowing "SWEAR TO ME" from the jump, Pattinson's starts the film whispering his every utterance: The ASMR Crusader. But as he's confronted by a series of revelations about Gotham and his family's connections to it, his anger waxes and wanes; he begins to question himself and his methods. By the time the credits roll, he's not the same Batman he was when the film began — his motivation has changed, and Pattinson ensures that we can see that change, in every frame. He holds himself differently. He's more centered, more assured. He's grown up.

Could it all have taken place in less time? Does every one of the film's 175 minutes justify its existence? If it were just 20 minutes shorter, might some of those needlessly complicated plotline pile-ups have been avoided? These are legitimate questions that I started grappling with the moment the lights came up.

But while Matt Reeves' The Batman was unspooling before me, I didn't check my phone, didn't think about the passing of time. No, the film isn't a Nolanesque game-changer, nor does it manage to step out of the long shadow of previous Bat-films to do anything so grand as define Batman for a new generation. And that's fine; it doesn't seem much interested in doing so.

What it does do, quite effectively, is tell a solid Batman story, with the most soulful and vulnerable Batman to ever grace the big screen. And that much, at least, is new.

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Characters are killed, dead bodies are seen. Guns

Kissing. Woman seen in underwear while dressing. B

Sporadic use of "s--t," "a--hole," "ass," "d--k,"

Part of a long-running and massive superhero franc

Part of the plot revolves around a fictitious drug

Positive Messages

Ponders the nature and cost of vengeance and what it means to genuinely help people (i.e., "Am I doing this for myself, or for others?"). Also touches on how social media can spread misinformation (and, subsequently, violence), the idea that power corrupts, and what it takes to remain a good person.

Positive Role Models

Batman is a troubling character, as he uses violence to solve problems, but he also uses his head, and he learns the difference between vengeance and trying to do good in the world. Lt. Gordon is also a great character here, remaining decent and law-abiding within a deeply corrupt system.

Diverse Representations

Several iconic Batman characters, including Selina Kyle and Lt. Gordon, are Black, as is a woman named Bella Reál, who's running for mayor of Gotham. It's implied that Selina is in a romantic relationship with a woman (she calls her "baby"); Selina also kisses Batman. Other people of color are seen in small roles or in background.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Characters are killed, dead bodies are seen. Guns and shooting. Brutal beating with a metallic tool. Characters in death traps. Heavy punching, kicking, beating, martial arts fighting. A woman is hit with a pool cue and choked. Taser. Hitting with baseball bat. Severed thumb. Explosions. Car chase with multiple crashes. Sounds of woman being killed on a recording (screaming). Major flooding. Minor blood spatters, scratches. Corner store holdup. Building set on fire. Crime scene photos. A child is said to have found his dead father's body. Dialogue about 12-year-old orphans becoming "dropheads," rats chewing on fingers, babies dying of cold, etc.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Kissing. Woman seen in underwear while dressing. Brief sex-related dialogue.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sporadic use of "s--t," "a--hole," "ass," "d--k," "pr--k," "goddamn," "son of a bitch," "oh my God," "scumbag," and "freakin'." "Christ" and "Jesus" used as exclamations.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Part of a long-running and massive superhero franchise. Oreo cookies are mentioned in end credits but not prominently featured in movie. (Oreo is releasing a limited edition, movie tie-in Batman cookie.)

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Part of the plot revolves around a fictitious drug business; the drug consists of drops placed in people's eyes. Addicts, called "dropheads," are shown. Minor drinking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Batman is a new/rebooted take on the iconic superhero. This Batman ( Robert Pattinson ) is conflicted and violent but also uses his head and learns as he goes along. The movie's action violence is intense, with killings and dead bodies, guns and shooting, explosions and crashes, lots of fighting (punching, kicking, hitting with objects, choking, etc.), a severed thumb, violence against women, descriptions of upsetting events, and more. Language isn't constant but includes several uses of "s--t," "son of a bitch," "goddamn," and more. Characters kiss, there's sex-related dialogue, and a woman is seen in her underwear as she dresses. Part of the plot revolves around a fictitious drug business; the drug consists of drops placed in the eyes (addicts are called "dropheads"). The movie is more diverse than previous takes on the Dark Knight, deals thoughtfully with the nature and cost of vengeance, touches on how social media can spread misinformation, and, even with a 175-minute runtime, is one of the best Batman movies to date. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

Parents say (72)
Kids say (183)

Based on 72 parent reviews

"The Batman" Isn't Meant for kids, It's meant for those who understand Batman

Read this for a accurate age review for the batman.., what's the story.

In THE BATMAN, it's Halloween night, and the mayor of Gotham City is brutally murdered. The killer leaves a clue behind for the Batman ( Robert Pattinson ), who's still in the early years of his superhero career. The clue is a riddle that reveals the fact that the mayor had a secret mistress. Batman finds out that the woman is under the protection of Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman ( Zoë Kravitz ) -- but she still gets kidnapped. To try to find her, Selina helps Batman infiltrate a secret nightclub where politicians and criminals are entertained. There, Selina catches the attention of the district attorney ( Peter Sarsgaard ). Then the mayor's killer, known as the Riddler ( Paul Dano ), strikes again, killing the D.A. and leaving more clues for Batman and Lt. Gordon ( Jeffrey Wright ). They learn they must find "the rat" -- i.e., someone who has been leaking sensitive information. But even when this mystery is solved, can The Riddler be trusted?

Is It Any Good?

This riveting take on Batman is, refreshingly, more of a detective story than an action spectacle -- although it does offer that element, too, as well as complex characters and relevant themes. Directed by Matt Reeves , The Batman makes wise adjustments in just about every respect, finding a solution for Christian Bale 's aggravating growl/whisper line delivery (Pattinson speaks softly, but he never strains) and for the soulless, gray color scheme of the Zack Snyder movies. Reeves' movie is dark (and often rainy), but he bathes the images in a warmer brown tone, with orange and yellow highlights, bringing a weariness and a desperation to the proceedings. And, while there are many villains here, the film -- unlike the 1990s sequels -- never feels cluttered. The Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin (a completely disguised Colin Farrell ), etc., each occupy their own space in the story.

Moreover, Batman is more human and vulnerable here, "oofing" at the impact of blows and occasionally getting winded. Blessed with Pattinson's wounded, armored performance, this is arguably the most interesting character arc we've seen in a Batman movie. At the start, he sees himself as an avenging angel, but as the story goes on, he learns that things aren't that simple, that there are gray areas. There are consequences. A third-act climax touches on the dangers of misinformation and social media, paralleling certain terrifying real-life events. Reeves needed a lot of time to lay all this out, as well as some much-needed downtime to build characters and relationships; the result is that The Batman clocks in at a jaw-dropping 2 hours and 55 minutes. But it honestly never feels too long. It's arguably the most confident and mature Batman film to date and one of the best.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The Batman 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

How are drugs depicted? What do the drops appear to do? Are they glamorized? Does the movie focus more on the effects of the drug or on the business around it?

What does Bruce/Batman learn over the course of the movie about vengeance?

The Riddler is able to summon up an army via his social media posts. How does this reflect real life? What can be done to avoid the potential negative effects of social media?

Did you notice diverse representations in the movie? Do you consider any of the characters to be role models ?

Movie Details

In theaters : March 4, 2022
On DVD or streaming : May 24, 2022
Cast : Robert Pattinson , Zoe Kravitz , Peter Sarsgaard , Paul Dano
Director : Matt Reeves
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors
Studio : Warner Bros.
Genre : Action/Adventure
Topics : Superheroes
Run time : 175 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material
Last updated : May 11, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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The Batman First Reviews: Not Just a Good Batman Movie, but One of the Best Comic Book Movies Ever

Critics say matt reeves' gritty, grounded take on the "world's greatest detective" is one of the best we've seen, from robert pattinson's performance down to the cinematography and the score..

TAGGED AS: Action , batman , blockbusters , DC Comics , DC Universe , dceu , Film , films , movie , movies , Superheroes

The Dark Knight returns again in The Batman , a fresh take on the titular DC Comics character, this one with Robert Pattinson making his debut as the Caped Crusader. Directed by Matt Reeves ( War for the Planet of the Apes ) and co-starring Zoë Kravitz , Colin Farrell , and Paul Dano as the respective Batman villains Selina Kyle (otherwise known as Catwoman), the Penguin, and the Riddler, the movie promises gritty, grounded superhero fare crossed with a crime thriller. Does it work? Let’s find out with a breakdown of the first reviews of the first live-action solo Batman movie in a decade.

Here’s what critics are saying about The Batman :

Is this the Batman movie we’ve been waiting 83 years for?

The Batman is the closest thing to a comic book accurate version of the characters we’ve seen on the big screen thus far. – David Gonzalez, Reel Talk, Inc.

Never has the Dark Knight been portrayed in such a thoroughly authentic and exciting way. – Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

The Batman is a unique commemoration of the Batman mythology and its stylistic and tonal shifts across its 80-year history. – Jake Cole, Slant Magazine

One of the best DC films of all time… The Batman is a breath of fresh air… a masterpiece. – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

It’s more of the same, and not nearly as good as what came before… or even particularly good in its own right. – Evan Dossey, Midwest Film Journal

How does it compare specifically to other Batman movies?

The Batman is immersed in dark undertones, not unlike Batman: The Animated Series. – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

Reeves presents the most robust version of Gotham we’ve seen since Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman . – Peter Debruge, Variety

Reeves has made the best Batman film since The Dark Knight. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

If The Dark Knight is Batman’s Heat, this is Batman’s Se7en. – Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews

(Photo by ©Warner Bros.)

What about comic book movies in general?

Not only is it a match for the strongest of those outings, it’s also up there with the best comic-book movies overall. It’s that good. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

The Batman deserves every cinephile’s attention and discussion as it cements its place as one of the essential comic book films of the last 20 years. – David Gonzalez, Reel Talk, Inc.

Among the best of the genre, even if — or more aptly, because — what makes the film so great is its willingness to dismantle and interrogate the very concept of superheroes. – Peter Debruge, Variety

Sits alongside greats like The Dark Knight , Avengers: Endgame , and Spider-Man: No Way Home as one of the best superhero movies ever made. – Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

The Batman feels… like something superhero filmmaking hasn’t been in a long time: a full-on cinematic meal. – Jeffrey Zhang, Strange Harbors

The Batman should tell audiences that other superhero movies are possible, and yet more, they can be had outside the formulaic tentpoles filling theaters today. – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

How is Robert Pattinson in the title role?

Pattinson’s performance will likely divide viewers, but his Batman is an angry, simmering character perfectly suited to the story being told. – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

He quickly enters the pantheon of all-time great Batmans, and that’s not a hot take. But an accurate one. – David Gonzalez, Reel Talk, Inc.

He delivers the best live-action Batman since Michael Keaton. – Kirsten Acuna, Insider

His work here is every bit as transformative and groundbreaking as what we saw from Joaquin Phoenix in Joker . – Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

As Bruce Wayne, Pattinson is a revelation. – Jake Cole, Slant Magazine

He looked too “grunge” as Bruce Wayne. He seems like a teenager as opposed to a full-grown adult with money and power at his disposal. – Allison Rose, FlickDirect

Which villain stands out?

Colin Farrell undoubtedly steals the show as The Penguin… the best take on Oswald Cobblepot we’ve seen on screen. – Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

Kravitz is a stand-out with her ‘40s style femme-fatale lilt and her ability to embody slinky and smart in equal measure. – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

Kravitz is the best live-action Selina Kyle to date. – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

There is no denying that Kravitz is the best version of the character thus far. – David Gonzalez, Reel Talk, Inc.

The highlight on the supporting character front is Dano’s Riddler, who manages to be far creepier and more unsettling than comic book movie villains typically manage. – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

Paul Dano [is] utterly petrifying every second he’s on-screen. – Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson

Suggesting an Oscar nod for Dano’s Zodiac-style Riddler won’t be out of the question. – Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews

Do any of them come close to Heath Ledger’s Joker, though?

Paul Dano makes the Riddler as terrifying as he is magnetic… It’s a performance every bit as good as Heath Ledger’s in The Dark Knight , and it’ll haunt your nightmares. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

Pattinson and a typically superb Dano share an interrogation scene to rival Bale and Ledger’s in The Dark Knight . – Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews

He’ll inevitably be compared to Heath Ledger’s Joker… but this is a different kind of madness that Dano nails — it’s less outward-facing and maniacal and more terrifying in its intensity. – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

While Dano never reaches the level of Ledger, it’s pretty clear to any viewer that this may go down as the second-best villain in any Batman film. – David Gonzalez, Reel Talk, Inc.

Ever since Heath Ledger won an Oscar for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight , every actor treats Batman villains like they’re King Freakin’ Lear. His final monologue is grossly overplayed… It’s annoying. – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

(Photo by Jonathan Olley/©Warner Bros.)

How is the action?

Exhilarating. – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

Reeves brings a sharp perspective to these characters. Particularly through the fight choreography. – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

Perhaps most thrilling is the appearance of the Batmobile… The show-stopping street pursuit sequence uses the car in thrilling ways and keeps character drive continually at the forefront. It’s phenomenal. – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

A car chase between the hero and the Penguin [is] an incomprehensible mess. – Jake Cole, Slant Magazine

Is this a more realistic portrayal of Batman?

You thought Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman was realistic? Matt Reeves says Hold my Batarang… This is a Batman story told with a commitment to reality which instantly distinguishes it from all other films featuring the character. And it works incredibly well. – Germain Lussier, io9.com

A refreshingly grounded approach that even Christopher Nolan’s ostensibly realistic trilogy of movies lacked. – Jake Cole, Slant Magazine

The most grounded feature we’ve seen with Batman since, well, the serials of the ‘40s. – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

As a “grounded” movie, [it] tries to unpack the privilege of Bruce Wayne but ends up with a story that basically features him teaming up with cops who grow to trust him as one of their own. – Evan Dossey, Midwest Film Journal

Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Robert Pattinson as Batman in The Batman

Does it work as a detective film?

The best detective story to date — yes, including animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm . – Douglas Davidson, Elements of Madness

The Batman presents easily the most investigative work this character has been granted in live-action form since the Adam West-led 1960s television show. – Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson

It finally makes “the world’s greatest detective” deserving of the title. – Kirsten Acuna, Insider

It’s more of a detective procedural than a superhero movie. Law and Order blended with horror featuring costumed vigilantes. – Germain Lussier, io9.com

By mostly keeping you with Bats, it elevates the detective angle and adds an intrigue that keeps you gripped throughout the near-three hour runtime. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

Reeves lays it out relatively elegantly, such that audiences can follow the many twists of Batman’s investigation. – Peter Debruge, Variety

How does the movie look?

Stunning. The Batman is a dark movie. A very dark movie. And so when there’s light, it almost paints the frame, creating exquisite shots and sequences throughout. – Germain Lussier, io9.com

The cinematography by Greig Fraser is phenomenal. The way in which The Batman works with shadow and light makes for a gorgeous aesthetic that complements the seedy underbelly of Gotham with Batman’s journey. – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

Cinematographer Greig Fraser has taken a cue from the movies of David Fincher to deliver a world of rainy nights and overcast days where shadows and smoke coil through the city’s alleyways and streets. – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

Reeves does craft some piercing images… a fiery highway chase and a fight by strobe light all make for thrilling imagery. – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle and Robert Pattinson as Batman in The Batman

What about the score?

The score is sublime, and there’s not a single scene in the movie that doesn’t benefit from the composer’s work in some way. – Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

Michael Giacchino’s haunting score perfectly captures the noir vibe. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

Michael Giacchino’s operatic score lives on the edge of unsettling. – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

The musical score by Michael Giacchino is simultaneously beautiful and haunting. – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

The music in this film felt like a supporting character… absolutely incredible. I’m almost certain this score will earn some award accolades down the road. – Jamie Broadnax, Black Girl Nerds

Are there any major issues?

One could fairly knock The Batman for refusing to have fun. – Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews

The script does get a bit too talky at times as excessive exposition takes hold. – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

It also contends with a few other bumps along its relatively smoothly-paved road, like having its characters summarize for the audience what they should already know during bulky exposition dumps. – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

The Batman is trying to be an entire trilogy in one film in case the studio takes Batman in yet another direction. – Jake Cole, Slant Magazine

Is it too long?

Pacing is never an issue (though the run time is long, it feels positively brisk). – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

While [Reeves] could have cut off about 20 minutes of footage, the movie doesn’t tend to drag as the plot keeps the viewer engaged throughout the almost three-hour running time. – Allison Rose, FlickDirect

Its three hour runtime flies by, although its third act feels a little overstuffed with what could be considered three ending points. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

There’s a temptation to have wished The Batman was shorter, more honed in on one character… The noir elements aren’t wholly pulled through, often slipping due to the elongated runtime. – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

Does it still make us optimistic for Batman’s cinematic future?

The Batman reminding us just how incredible these stories can be is welcomed, and the future looks bright for our new Dark Knight. – Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

It’s good to be excited again about the future of Batman. – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

It’ll leave you desperate for another visit to this impeccably-crafted world. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

The ending leaves you craving for more. – Jamie Broadnax, Black Girl Nerds

I cannot wait to see where [Reeves] takes the franchise from here. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

The Batman is in theaters on March 4, 2022.

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Cast & crew
User reviews

When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption and question his family's involvement. When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption and question his family's involvement. When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption and question his family's involvement.

Matt Reeves
Peter Craig
Robert Pattinson
Zoë Kravitz
Jeffrey Wright
8.1K User reviews
544 Critic reviews
72 Metascore
38 wins & 181 nominations total

Bruce Wayne …

Selina Kyle

Lt. James Gordon

The Riddler

Carmine Falcone

District Attorney Gil Colson

Unseen Arkham Prisoner

Officer Martinez

Chief Mackenzie Bock

Commissioner Pete Savage

Mayor Don Mitchell, Jr.

Mrs. Mitchell
Mitchell's Son
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia Colin Farrell stated that he went to Starbucks to try out his prosthetics and makeup for the Penguin for the first time. Nobody recognized him, but he got a couple of stares from people.
Goofs When Batman takes his shirt off toward the beginning to the film, he has a large scar on his shoulder. The scar is gone later in the movie, when he appears shirtless while laying out the clues he's gathered on the Riddler case.

Batman : Our scars can destroy us, even after the physical wounds have healed. But if we survive them, they can transform us. They can give us the power to endure, and the strength to fight.

Crazy credits After the credits finish, a final message from Riddler appears through a computer terminal screen that says "GOOD BYE ?" followed by a quick flash of Riddler's URL that is featured in the movie.
Connections Edited into The Batman: Deleted Arkham Scene (2022)
Soundtracks Ave Maria Written by Franz Schubert Arranged by Jeff Kryka Performed by The Tiffin Boys' Choir

User reviews 8.1K

slightlymad22
Mar 4, 2022
How long is The Batman? Powered by Alexa
What happened to Jonah Hill possibly playing The Riddler?
Why isn't J.K. Simmons returning as Commissioner Gordon?
Is The Riddler supposed to be a serial killer in this Batman film?
March 4, 2022 (United States)
United States
Official Site
Batman: Vạch Trần Sự Thật
Necropolis Cemetery, Glasgow, Scotland, UK (Batman and Selina leaving the cemetery)
Warner Bros.
DC Entertainment
6th & Idaho Productions
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$185,000,000 (estimated)
$369,345,583
$134,008,624
Mar 6, 2022
$772,245,583

Technical specs

Runtime 2 hours 56 minutes
IMAX 6-Track
Dolby Digital
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Surround 7.1
12-Track Digital Sound

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The Batman review: Robert Pattinson plays the proto superhero in Matt Reeves' sleek neo-noir revival

So serious.

Even Batmen get the blues. Still, Robert Pattinson 's damaged young billionaire may be the Darkest Knight yet: He journals, he broods, he plucks a single blueberry from a silver urn and gazes at it mournfully. For nearly three hours he gives great mood — and while that is not quite the same thing as a great movie, writer-director Matt Reeves ( Cloverfield , Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ) nearly wills it to be in his sprawling, operatic update (in theaters March 4).

The batsuit, at least, is intact; so is most of the mythology. If Bruce Wayne has a tuxedo though, it's buried somewhere deep in his dry cleaning. He's still obscenely rich but not yet the playboy we know: On the rare occasions that he's home, he wanders through his decaying mansion like a wraith, trailed by the faithful Alfred (an elegant, underused Andy Serkis ); mostly he's on the streets of Gotham City, swooping in wherever vigilante justice must be served. And when the mayor is murdered in what looks like a ritual killing, he finds out he has a new fan: A question mark who calls himself the Riddler ( Paul Dano ) is taking out the city's most powerful men, and leaving little mash notes for Batman behind at the scenes of the crime.

There's a squat, snarling Penguin who might know something about that, played by a patently unrecognizable Colin Farrell . (What is Hollywood's recent fetish with casting the prettiest actors, then burying them in Shrek-face prosthetics?) There's also Selina ( Zoë Kravitz ), a cocktail waitress who seems to take in an unusual amount of strays and has her own nocturnal alter ego. Catwoman has always been an antagonist and a mousetrap for Batman, but she's never really been his lone love interest. Here, the script has so reduced Bruce's social calendar that only a handful of core characters remain: Selina, Alfred, good cop Jim Gordon ( Jeffrey Wright , radiating decency). A dapper John Turturro is the suave, menacing mob boss Carmine Falcone, and Peter Sarsgaard , a drowsy-eyed D.A.

In fact nearly everything but the score — a baroque teeth-rattling monolith by Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino — and a few requisite fiery set pieces feel stripped away. The dialogue comes in short, sharp bursts of hard-boiled noir, as if the actors only have enough oxygen for small sentences, and the inky austerity of Reeves' none-more-black color palette recalls movies like Blade or The Crow more than it does Tim Burton 's boi-oi-oing camp or Christopher Nolan 's swaggy, cerebral opulence.

Kravitz is feline and fiercely lovely, a girl with her own private pain and motivations; Dano feints and giggles, a simpering loon. (In a world where Heath Ledger's Joker still exists on celluloid, alas, pretty much every kind of pulp villainy that follows is bound to feel like pale imitation.) But it falls on Pattinson's leather-cased Batman to be the hero we need, or deserve. With his doleful kohl-smudged eyes and trapezoidal jawline, he's more like a tragic prince from Shakespeare; a lost soul bent like a bat out of hell on saving everyone but himself. Grade: B

The Batman reboots the Dark Knight to mesmerizing results

Matt Reeves and lead Robert Pattinson deliver a Batman you’ve never seen before.

Engulfed in blue smog with a front grill glowing red, the Batmobile of Matt Reeves’ The Batman looks and moves like a terrifying demon.

Its rear muscle car spoilers evoke devils in medieval paintings, and the fiery blast of its engine roars like a biblical dragon. Behind the wheel is someone equally otherworldly: A fully transformed Robert Pattinson brings a freakish spin to an enduring DC superhero. You’ve seen gritty Batman before. But you’ve never seen gritty Batman like this .

Operatic, simmering, and replete with a smoky noir atmosphere, The Batman is an enthralling package of contradictions. It is in many ways the ideal amalgamation of Batman and his 80-plus years of history; it’s a movie where his vengeance doesn’t negate the camp fun of a climax set in “Gotham Square Garden,” a gag practically ripped from the Adam West era.

In other ways, it’s subversive of popular notions of what the Dark Knight should be. See Bruce cake on black eye makeup, his leaner physique, and his royal botching of a dramatic escape. What’s been subtext in analyses of Batman — a calculating sociopath whose wealth can’t buy him resolution — is now all on the surface. And it’s the first time that Batman has ever felt dangerous.

The Batman will go down as another game-changer, with its unique take on an iconic hero that is more of a feral vigilante than a crusader.

Robert Pattinson stars in the title role of The Batman , a new interpretation of the DC Comics superhero from director Matt Reeves.

The Batman is set in its own universe. From the jump, Reeves pushes back against the superhero industrial complex to leave out needless universe-expanding Easter eggs. In this canon, “The Batman” is a known entity with unknown capabilities. He has been a folk legend at work for two years. When his signal is in the sky, criminals shudder in dark corners and darker alleyways out of fear they’ll face the fury of the vigilante.

“I can’t be everywhere,” narrates Pattinson in the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman as he journals. With a straight face, he remarks, “I am the shadows.” Fear is an effective deterrent.

But Bruce Wayne suspects his efforts have done little to lift Gotham City from its apathy. What’s worse, he lacks the trust of Gotham and its people. Walking into a crime scene, he’s gawked at with suspicion by the police. Batman’s despair that his work’s been for naught is proven right by a string of high-profile murders, committed by cryptic mastermind Riddler (Paul Dano). The Riddler — whose eyes pop behind translucent glasses and whose first appearance is one of the scariest intros ever in a superhero movie — provokes Batman to seek the truth to his family’s legacy.

“What lends The Batman an air of danger is how eccentric its hero is.”

Joining Pattinson and Dano is Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, a lieutenant in the Gotham PD who risks his badge by working with Batman. In makeup, an unrecognizable Colin Farrell plays the Penguin, a gangster club owner, while John Turturro is slick mafioso Carmine Falcone. Andy Serkis is the paternal Alfred, and Zoë Kravitz is bewitching as Selina Kyle/Catwoman.

It’s deceptively easy to dismiss The Batman at first blush. Thirty-five years after Frank Miller’s seminal The Dark Knight Returns , 17 years after Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins , and six years after Batman v Superman , framing Batman through the gritty filter is hardly ingenious. What’s more, The Batman ’s obvious comic book inspirations, from The Long Halloween to Hush to recent tales by Scott Snyder and Tom King, all tap into the same well of “dark.”

Matt Reeves’ specific modulation feels more lateral to that than progressing forward. But like the visible stitching on Pattinson’s cowl, Reeves’ potent impact as an artist is in the details.

The Batman stars a more animalistic Batman than past iterations, with Pattinson inhabiting his role like an eccentric vigilante rather than a noble crusader.

Reeves’ vision of Gotham City is textured, not sprawling; the story unfolds over just a handful of locations, which lends The Batman an unusual feeling of containment. It’s a place soaked in rain, as though nature itself wants to wash away the grime. Here, the most famous city in comics sits between Nolan’s sleek Chicago and Tim Burton’s gothic graveyard, once described as “hell erupted through the pavement.”

In The Batman , Gotham City isn’t hell so much as it is purgatory. It’s a damned place crowded with bodies and empty of ambitions. Even the more benevolent politicians have ulterior motives, and they’re always in someone else’s crosshairs. ( The Batman also sports one of the most regionally specific Gothams ever put to screen, with its large ensemble of characters speaking in various New York accents.)

“Pattinson may be the steamiest Batman yet.”

Reeves’ film is noir through and through; the movie is sandwiched with narration, and for once, Batman conducts real detective work, not simply sitting behind a beefed-up gaming PC doing all the work. But what lends The Batman an air of danger is how eccentric its hero is.

In defiance to previous Batmen, who rendered Bruce Wayne’s playboy lifestyle into an aspirational male fantasy, Pattinson plays things rough, jagged, and ascetic. This Batman isn’t living the old origin story, but he’s still young and angry. Pattinson is most evocative of Michael Keaton, whose approach to Bruce Wayne as a social recluse in Burton’s 1989 film was innovative and the least replicated.

Pattinson spends most of the runtime in costume as Batman. It’s a creative choice of Reeves, who argues that Batman is the true identity, and Bruce Wayne is the mask. That’s not a terribly original thesis — that was Batman Begins ’ theory too — but how Reeves tells it is no less compelling.

Evocative of Tom King’s Batman , The Batman features Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz in a budding romance pregnant with tension and eroticism.

Despite the absence of an active love life, Pattinson may be the steamiest Batman yet. Though there is nothing explicit, The Batman’s abundance of leather and moisture oozes eroticism within the boundaries of PG-13. Reminiscent of the “Bat/Cat” romance seen in Tom King’s comics, Kravitz and Pattinson are magnetic as a couple, their bodies close but their principles islands apart.

Like its subject’s gunslinger-like gait as he strides towards the camera, The Batman is methodical and deliberate. It wields the might of a thermonuclear detonation in the delicacy of a poison needle. The movie boasts some of the most exciting action set pieces ever constructed, plus plenty of tense and euphoric moments. Nevertheless, it is a movie that focuses more inward than outward. Even the movie’s stirring climax, powered by a literal shot of adrenaline, underlines its core idea: This Batman is totally unlike any iteration of the hero you’ve seen before.

The Batman is many things — gripping, funny, and scary, as well as overlong and overly plotted — but it is primarily a complete reinvention of an icon that, through sheer will, shows why this character Batarangs back to our screens the most.

The Batman opens in theaters on March 4.

This article was originally published on Feb. 28, 2022

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The Batman Review

04 Mar 2022

Batman has become Bat-ubiquitous. Gotham’s protector is rarely far away from the screen; this year alone, there is the return of Michael Keaton ’s Bruce Wayne, the cinematic debut of Batgirl , and the animated DC League Of Super-Pets , which features Ace the Bat-hound, Batman’s pet dog. He is everywhere. An icon. The challenge for The Batman ’s writer-director Matt Reeves : how to make a totemic, mythic figure of pop culture feel new .

Reeves’ approach, it seems, is evolution rather than revolution. Comparisons with Christopher Nolan ’s era-defining Batman trilogy are unavoidable — it shares Nolan’s serious, neo-noirish tone, and one set-piece is reminiscent of The Dark Knight — but the difference to, say, Batman Begins is that this is emphatically not an origin story. There is, gratifyingly, no new recreation of Bruce Wayne’s parents being murdered. Like Spider-Man: Homecoming , this is ‘post-origins’: a superhero still in his early years, grappling with youthful naivety and what his masked identity actually means.

Working with his cinematographer Greig Fraser, Reeves has rendered perhaps the best screen realisation of Gotham so far.

So, in Robert Pattinson , we get a very different Bruce Wayne. Where Christian Bale and Ben Affleck embraced the macho side of the character, Pattinson looks like a boyish vampire, his skin tone only a shade warmer than in Twilight . His is the first screen Batman to be fully seen wearing the eyeshadow required of the character’s costume, which evokes Robert Smith from The Cure. In the suit he’s methodical and muscular; out of it, he’s racked with insecurity and self-doubt. A repeated needle drop of Nirvana’s ‘Something In The Way’ confirms it: this is emo-Bats.

As a new direction, it makes total sense for this most brooding of superheroes. And though the humourlessness sometimes flirts with self-parody — Pattinson’s narration, delivered like Rorschach’s journal, grumbles mainly about vengeance, fear, justice, the usual stuff — the mood is justified by a believably dark bad guy. In a crowded rogues’ gallery (shout-outs to Zoë Kravitz ’s instantly charismatic Catwoman and Colin Farrell ’s bafflingly convincing prosthetic Penguin), this is the Riddler’s show, anchored by a chilling Paul Dano performance. He’s a bespectacled terrorist of the Trump era, driven by an incel’s misplaced sense of injustice and a love of fiendish puzzles. (And latte foam art.)

Fully embracing the “world’s greatest detective” comics reputation that cinematic Batmen often forget, Reeves thus plays things out like a twisty David Fincher -esque thriller. (Some of the Riddler’s clues could have been ripped from the pages of the Zodiac killer.) Occasionally the knottiness of the plotting will leave you feeling that near-three-hour runtime, but it is never boring, the narrative propelled by a series of grisly conundrums through Gotham’s seedy underbelly.

What will also hold your attention is how beautiful that underbelly looks. Working with his cinematographer Greig Fraser, Reeves has rendered perhaps the best screen realisation of Gotham so far; walking a careful tightrope between gritty realism and heightened pulp (lots of neon, lots of rainfall) without ever overplaying their hands. The result is some remarkable film craft, of a level rarely seen in modern blockbusters. Michael Giacchino’s brilliant, minimalist score completes the effect, building on the hugely effective work of Hans Zimmer — evolution, then, rather than revolution.

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'The Batman' Review: The Darkest Dark Knight is a Horror Epic on HBO Max Now

Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz are Batman and Catwoman in an apocalyptic, operatic comic book saga that's a million miles from Marvel movies and available on HBO Max.

The new Batman movie for 2022, streaming on HBO Max.

You've seen a loads of Batman movies, but you still need to steel yourself for the darkest Dark Knight yet. Starring Robert Pattinson as DC's Caped Crusader, 2022's new movie The Batman was a hit in theaters and arrived streaming service HBO Max on Monday . From its horror movie opening to the teasing final credits , it's an intense, apocalyptic cinematic experience.

Following the murder of his parents (you know that bit by now), a young and troubled Bruce Wayne is two years into a bat-themed crusade against Gotham City street crime. He's formed an alliance with upstanding cop Jim Gordon, but nothing prepares them for a chillingly planned series of atrocities by a macabre masked murderer who leaves fiendish puzzles with each victim. As Batman unpicks the cryptic clues, the investigation peels away a greater conspiracy. But the real riddle is how the ranting killer's twisted motive ties back to Batman himself.

As that synopsis suggests, The Batman is barely a superhero movie. Director Matt Reeves , who co-wrote the script with Peter Craig, shovels previous Bat-films into one roaring furnace: There are notes of Tim Burton's gothy angst, Christopher Nolan's criminal politics and Zack Snyder's operatic brutality , combined with the standalone Joker movie's psychological backstory, vaguely timeless design and layers of dark irony.

But it's also more of a detective mystery than previous Bat-flicks, borrowing in particular from David Fincher's serial killer chillers Seven and Zodiac. And it's a gangster movie. Also a '70s conspiracy thriller. And a relentlessly bleak film noir.

Most of all, though, The Batman is a horror movie.

In 1989, pearl-clutching parents were shocked and appalled by Tim Burton's Batman. The tights-wearing funny book hero who biffed, powed and zapped cartoon villains was replaced by a traumatized weirdo in black rubber fetish gear, trading blows with a giggling, acid-scarred psychopath. In Britain, they even had to invent a new rating category for the movie.

Let's not get into the perennial argument among fans about whether superhero movies should be for kids or for grown-ups. Let's just say you absolutely 100% can't show The Batman to a child. This new flick is PG-13 in the US, but it's on a whole other level to the relatively bloodless Dark Knight movies -- and on a different planet from any Marvel film -- immersing you in a nerve-shredding three hours of escalating dread and simmering pain garnished with some astonishingly nasty touches.

The Batman takes on a serial killer.

This explicitly scary Batman film opens with a sinister scene of jaw-tightening suspense, adding serial killer scares and even a few dashes of torture porn. The people of Gotham are introduced as a swirling crowd of faceless, Halloween-masked figures. Jagged horror movie strings and Michael Giacchino's relentless score ratchet up the tension. There aren't any baddies plundering diamonds from charity galas, but a ghoulish serial killer who plunges the city into a simmering cauldron of creeping panic. Batman himself stalks from the shadows with a heavy tread and heavier fists, meting out pitiless vengeance with a chilling lack of affect behind his mask.

Pattinson's Batman (Battinson? Pattman?) is a lank-haired mess, a world away from Christian Bale's slick professional or Ben Affleck's graying grump. Hunched in the basement listening to Nirvana with mascara running down his face, this younger Bruce Wayne is unformed and yet already unraveling, muttering a Taxi Driver-esque voiceover as he drowns in a filthy tide of lawlessness and degradation. Pattinson genuinely inhabits the Batman, expressing despair with just his perfectly angled jaw and soulful eyes staring from beneath the black mask. Still, you could probably shave down the epic two hour and 47 minute runtime if there was a bit less of Batman slowly... walking... and... meaningfully... staring...

For all his formidable fighting skills and detective prowess, this Batman is barely holding it together. And that gives the film a vital charge.

Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne.

As Selina Kyle -- the Catwoman to Pattinson's Bat -- Zoë Kravitz is eminently watchable. But the film struggles to get under the character's masks, piling on schlocky twists rather than exploring character with any depth. The same is true for Jeffrey Wright's buddy cop Jim Gordon, given the thankless task of standing next to Batman and frowning as they growl exposition at each other. The bad guys clearly have more fun: a barely recognizable Colin Farrell channels Robert De Niro's Al Capone from The Untouchables, while John Turturro's purring menace recalls Brando in The Godfather.

So if you were wondering whether there's any room for a fresh take after 14 movies, it's actually surprisingly invigorating to see a Caped Crusader who's more human -- not just Bruce Wayne, but as the Batman himself. This Batman doesn't magically disappear from a room, but has to run for his life sometimes. One of the highlights of the film is when Batman does something we've seen the character do a million times, but it's clear from Pattinson's little wince this is the first time he's done it. Suddenly a superhero cliche becomes a genuinely perilous and thrilling moment.

While the sleuthing drives the story, the action scenes really are hair-raisingly exhilarating. The fights unfold as long lingering shots and show the Batman wading through each fight with economical ferocity. The use of light and shadow adds to the drama of the punch-ups.

Perhaps most thrilling of all is an apocalyptic car chase. Instead of a glossy high-tech speedster or city-conquering tank, Pattinson's Batman drives a car that's as unhinged as he is. This Batmobile is a demonic hot rod snarling with rage as it races to devour its prey, lit only by blood-red taillights and infernal flame. It's an incendiary highlight in a deliriously intense film.

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There's a lot to unpack in The Batman's psychological and political leanings, not least the film's treatment of women. There aren't many, despite the sprawling cast. The plot hinges on the grisly-sounding murder of a woman, which is replayed more than once. A fairly major twist introduces a horrific backstory for a significant woman in Bruce Wayne's life. And Selina Kyle is a driven badass, but she's still introduced with a lingering pan up her stiletto boots to her tight skirt, before the camera (and Batman) voyeuristically watch her undress.

Batman is clearly linked to the Riddler's voyeurism and violence, questioning the caped crusader's methods more than previous films. The level of moral ambivalence is much closer to the darkly ironic Joker film. When Batman first appears, for example, a mugging victim sees little distinction between his attackers and this demonic figure who savagely beats them. It's also the first Batman film to engage with the revisionist take that Bruce Wayne is a wealthy man whose hobby is hospitalizing poor people. Like the Joker movie, The Batman explores the radicalizing effect of inequality on a repressed populace. But Joker focused on a villain, and so the ironic conclusion required you to be in on the joke. The Batman, meanwhile, focuses on a hero -- a conflicted, dubious hero, but still -- and so there's opportunity for a more hopeful moral underpinning buried under the crushing gloom.

It's long, it's frequently slow and it's crushingly bleak. But The Batman deserves that definitive article. It's "The" Batman because it evokes many previous incarnations of the Caped Crusader while still bringing something distinctive. This darkest Dark Knight may not be for everyone (and certainly not for kids), but it's a gripping and nerve-shredding Bat-thriller.

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“The Batman,” Reviewed: Eh, It’s Fine

By Richard Brody

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It’s cause for modest celebration that “ The Batman ” achieves, for much of its nearly three-hour running time, a baseline of artistry: it’s eminently sit-through-able. There’s a category of movie that used to be the Hollywood stock in trade, which a dear departed relative used to call “brain cleansers”—one kicks back, the time passes with some rooting interest, some excitement, some curiosity about what’s coming next. For its first two hours or so, “The Batman” largely fulfills the commitment to be engaging and clever; its deftly inventive director, Matt Reeves (who co-wrote the script with Peter Craig), conveys the impression of substance where it’s hardly to be found. The movie is good with an asterisk—an asterisk the size of the financial interests at stake in the franchise’s intellectual property. As free as Reeves may have been to make the film according to his lights, he displays an element of custodial, even fiduciary, responsibility. It may well win him favor with the studio, with the ticket-buying public, and with critics who calibrate their enthusiasm to box-office success, but it gets in the way of the kinds of transformative interpretations of the characters that would make the difference between a baseline movie and an authentically free and original one.

The Batman is a vigilante who works with the coöperation of the police, who project a bat-sign into the sky, with a bright light, as a call to him and a warning to evildoers who anticipate him swooping in. Yet, as he lands on a subway platform and lays low a gang of young miscreants, made up Joker-style, who are assaulting an Asian man, the victim is also struck with fear and pleads with the Batman not to hurt him. The Batman describes his uneasy role as an avenger—indeed, he says, as vengeance itself—in a voice-over that holds out hope that the superhero will be endowed with at least an average level of subjectivity and mental activity. No such luck: that voice-over might as well be a part of the explanatory press notes for all the insight it offers into the protagonist’s thoughts. Yet his haphazard thwarting of random street crime in the chaos of Gotham City gets sharply focussed on one criminal, the Riddler (Paul Dano), who, in the opening act of his crime spree, virtually summons him.

The Riddler gruesomely murders the mayor of Gotham and tapes to the victim’s body a greeting card for the Batman and other clues to his motives and to his next victim—to the conspiracy that he has discovered and the perpetrators he’s targeting. In taunting the Batman by dosing him with knowledge, the Riddler is also making him an unwilling but inextricable ally, both forcing him to join in the same fight and informing him of the underlying and overarching truth about Gotham, about the social order that the avenging masked man is dedicated to defending and preserving. The Riddler has learned that many of the city’s officials, particularly ones involved in law enforcement, have been on the take from gangsters (I’m avoiding spoilers here and throughout); decisions to prosecute are tainted by the self-dealing of politicians and police.

The Batman is drawn even further into the tangled conspiracy when he accidentally encounters another masked avenger, Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), who, as Selina Kyle, works in a night club run by a gangster named Oz, who is nicknamed the Penguin (Colin Farrell), and frequented by other criminals, such as a mobster named Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and corrupt officials. When her roommate and lover, Annika Koslov—whom the Riddler linked to the conspiracy—vanishes, the Batman helps her to investigate, and she helps him to untangle the web of corruption that the Riddler has discerned and capture the Riddler himself. Meanwhile, the Batman is working closely with a police detective named Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), who, in collaborating in the pursuit of the Riddler, is playing the dangerous game of unmasking corrupt colleagues and superiors.

The reason for dwelling on these details is pleasure. The intricacy of the movie’s intertwined plots has a plain and simple efficiency that undergirds the onscreen actions like an architectural framework, and Reeves adorns that framework with a vigorous variety of visual twists and dramatic tempi. The opening scene, in which the Riddler spies on the mayor before doing him in, involves a telescope that Reeves (working with the cinematographer Greig Fraser) mimics with a telephoto lens, while, on the soundtrack, the masked Riddler wheezes with a huffing eeriness out of David Lynch. The best gizmo in the Batman’s bag of high-tech tricks is a pair of contact lenses that are also video cameras beaming their signal to the devices of his choice. The movie’s design also offers a handful of piquant touches, from the infinitesimal points of Catwoman’s mask-ears to the cable zip line that the Batman discharges for rapid rescues and escapes. (The Batmobile, however, is definitively outshone by the vintage black Corvette in which Bruce Wayne, out of disguise, shows up at a funeral.)

There’s a car chase that, if not especially original, at least conveys its obvious patterns in images of taut precision and culminates in the film’s money shot, which brings it to a rooting conclusion with a strikingly clever and simple twist of visual logic. There’s a fight scene in a dark room at night where the only light comes from bursts of gunfire; there’s a jolt of superheroic vulnerability when the Batman makes a midair misstep in his flight suit. In a movie deprived of humor, one moment of it bursts out with a gleeful surprise, as the gargle-voiced Penguin cuts loose with a rant attacking the Batman’s linguistic skills. That’s as good as it gets, though; the laundry list of moments that pop hangs on the framework as if to conceal its essential emptiness.

The crucial marker of the movie’s faux earnestness is visual darkness—the movie is set largely at night (explained in part by the Batman’s own nocturnal habits), which furnishes the bland metaphor, or cliché, for grim doings. The sleek foreground of elaborate yet functional design doesn’t reverberate with symbolic power; it has no loose ends for the free play of imagination. Its coherence is impressive, overwhelming—and deadening. The energy of directorial intention doesn’t reach offscreen—it implies nothing beyond the action. (It’s the kind of enticing visual beauty, conveying above all the realm of power, that Kogonada questions in “ After Yang .”)

The emptiness below the movie’s surfaces reflects the emptiness of the characters it depicts; they’re reduced to a handful of traits and a backstory, defined solely by their function in the plot. Even though the title character bears two identities and lives a double life constructed of careful and elaborate ruses, “The Batman” makes shockingly little of Bruce Wayne. Robert Pattinson’s performance provides the only hint of substance: in both personae, he maintains a stone face throughout. The utterly repressed expression that he lends them could suggest anything from self-discipline to existential anguish, though I see it as a superhuman effort not to burst out laughing at the simulation of seriousness, of any personality at all. The movie’s solid dramatic architecture is essentially uninhabited—“The Batman” is a cinematic house populated only by phantoms with no trace of a complex mental life.

The indifference to characters as sentient beings rather than pawns in a plot emerges in a twist that’s a long-standing marker of action-film superficiality: apocalyptic chaos. Again avoiding spoilers, the Riddler doesn’t only target individual high-level miscreants in Gotham but decides that the entire city deserves to go down with them. (The possibilities, with its Biblical implications, are endless—and remain untapped.) When his monstrous scheme is unleashed, crowd scenes conjure mass destruction as a plot point, the staggering loss of life as a generic and inchoate jumble. Extras, whether live or digitally created, are anonymous collateral damage in a city that “The Batman” presents only as a stage for the clash of its protagonists. The movie’s inability to imagine its superheroes and supervillains with any meaningful psychological identity is of a piece with the failure to imagine ordinary people with any degree of individuality. Nothing that distracts from suspense or excitement, no details of personality to get in the way of superficial identification with flattened-out heroes, nothing that suggests a world of possibilities beyond the sealed-off borders of the screen, is allowed to seep through the movie’s solid and opaque surfaces. Its triumph of superficial pleasure is chillingly triumphalist.

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‘The Batman’: The Dark Knight Returns, More Moody, Emo, and Enraged Than Ever

By David Fear

The dude’s scary-looking. You have to give him that. And when he clomps out of the shadows of a subway station where a hate crime is in progress, the guy with the cape and the cowl cuts an incredibly intimidating figure. Why the gang members in garish, smeared face paint — they look like whacked-out Juggalos; just don’t call them jokers — choose to underestimate someone who’d dress up in Kevlar and sport a mask with bat ears in the wee small hours is, frankly, a mystery. But they roll up on the guy in the costume nonetheless, and are each rewarded with particularly brutal beatdowns. “Excessive force” is not a phrase this man understands to be negative; to him, it’s the only type of force there is.

Having wiped the floor with these clowns, the savior turns to the victim to make sure he’s OK. Please don’t hurt me, the scared man whimpers. It’s the most natural reaction in the world after what this poor guy’s just seen. The panting, glaring figure standing over him doesn’t exactly scream “hero.”

He does scream “tortured antihero,” however, and The Batman — director Matt Reeves’ addition to the ever-expanding, never-ending canon of an intellectual property, a pop icon, and a comic-book-cinema cash cow — aims to build off the character’s established legacy as the darkest of knights while connecting him to a long line of God’s lonely men. The filmmaker has been upfront about how the gritty movies of the Seventies (your French Connections, Taxi Drivers, Chinatowns ) influenced what he wanted to do with the Caped Crusader. And while his approach stops short of the blatant Scorsese cosplay of something like Joker, you can feel Reeves and new-bat-on-the-block Robert Pattinson reaching back to those New Hollywood gumshoes, obsessed cops, and on-the-brink urban vigilantes for inspiration. (There are also a lot of elements being cribbed from a certain stylish Nineties thriller as well, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.)

Reeves has mentioned 1980s comics being touchstones as well, and while most Burton-and-beyond Batman films have leaned heavily into Frank Miller’s seminal The Dark Knight Returns — essentially the ur-text for all “Batman be crazy!” revisionism — he and fellow credited screenwriter Pete Craig ( The Town ) instead pivot toward the project Miller did as a follow-up: Year One, a Gotham noir take on the superhero that rewinds back to very early days of Commissioner Gordon joining the police force and Bruce Wayne deciding to play dress-up every night. Longtime bat-fans will see traces of the legendary Denny O’Neill-Neil Adams Seventies run here as well, when Batman flipped back from being a campy crusader to a twilight sleuth extraordinaire. But the gist is that The Batman is less interested in returning to the origin story of a 1930s creation so much as his dime-store-pulp roots. He’s giving off big Travis Bickle energy, sure, but he’s also got Philip Marlowe and the Continental Op in his DNA. They didn’t subtitle those comics “The World’s Greatest Detective” for nothing.

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This Batman isn’t quite there, however — he’s not even the greatest detective on his block yet, much less the world. It’s his second year of fighting crime, or as Pattinson says in the gloriously over-baked voiceover, “two years of nights [that] have turned me into a nocturnal animal.” He’s already formed an alliance with Commissioner Gordon ( Jeffrey Wright , solid as usual), enough that when a prominent mayoral candidate turns up bludgeoned to death in his den, he can shuffle into the crime scene at will. His reputation precedes him; none of the cops trust this guy at all, even if he is observant enough to spot clues they miss. Plus, there’s a card taped to the victim addressed directly to him, “the Bat man.” “What does a liar do when he’s dead?” it asks. He lies still. There will be more riddles to come. Other victims, too.

The connection is corruption, which runs bone-deep in Gotham City, and the more breadcrumb trails Batman follows, the more prominent politicians, district attorneys, police officers, and gangsters are implicated. The same goes for the city’s upper crust, which includes the Wayne family — not that Bruce associates with his fellow patricians. Forget the idea of young master Wayne as a socializing playboy, supermodels on each arm and a pressed tuxedo at the ready. This is a man still suffering from PTSD over the death of his parents, and Pattinson plays him as a walking, talking open wound. The only time he’s engaged at all is when he’s solving cryptic missives this mystery killer leaves him or pummeling his way through nightclubs and back alleys. Batman’s superpower has always been his pathology: He needs to put on the mask and dish out payback. Without giving too much of the plot away (although at a whopping three hours long, you could devote several paragraphs to story synopsis and maybe only get through one-third of the actual narrative), it says a lot that the arc of this particular Batman story is that it’s not just enough to protect society; you have to engage with it as well. The knight is always darkest, it seems, before the dawn.

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‘The Batman’ Review: A Tortured Robert Pattinson Goes Even Darker Than ‘The Dark Knight’

'Cloverfield' director Matt Reeves brings a tough new vision to DC's most easily reimagined character, channeling elements of film noir and hard-R horror movies.

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The Batman - Film Review - Variety Critic' s Pick

Where do you go after “The Dark Knight”? Ben Affleck blew it, and even Christopher Nolan, who brought unprecedented levels of realism and gravitas to that franchise-best Batman saga, couldn’t improve on what he’d created in his 2012 sequel. So what is “Cloverfield” director Matt Reeves ’ strategy? Answer: Go darker than “The Dark Knight,” deadlier than “No Time to Die” and longer than “Dune” with a serious-minded Batman stand-alone of his own. Leaning in to those elements doesn’t automatically mean audiences will embrace Reeves’ vision. But this grounded, frequently brutal and nearly three-hour film noir registers among the best of the genre, even if — or more aptly, because — what makes the film so great is its willingness to dismantle and interrogate the very concept of superheroes.

Sure, that’s been done before — “Who watches the Watchmen?” Alan Moore memorably asked, influencing decades of spandex-clad savior stories — though Reeves does something relatively unique here, at least by comic-book-movie standards: He strips the genre of its supernatural elements (even more than the Nolan trilogy did) and introduces a more complex version of a classic pulp hero who’s only a whisker’s breadth removed from the story’s bad guy, morally speaking. Whereas these movies are typically defined by their villains, “ The Batman ” gets under your skin by asking: What if the good guys aren’t really the good guys? What if the person we were counting on to protect us might actually be making the situation worse?

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While Batman — who’s played here by gloomy “Twilight” star Robert Pattinson , representing the orphaned character’s tortured psychology to an almost painful degree — focuses on punching out petty thugs in shadowed alleys and on subway platforms, the Riddler (a genuinely disturbing Paul Dano ) emerges to expose/dispose of the white-collar scoundrels embedded at the highest levels of power. Both men are vigilantes, though one is preoccupied with helping the police, while the other targets the systemic corruption that undermines our faith in such institutions — in Gotham City, for sure, but off screen as well.

In ways far more unsettling than most audiences might expect, “The Batman” channels the fears and frustrations of our current political climate, presenting a meaty, full-course crime saga that blends elements of the classic gangster film with cutting-edge commentary about challenges facing the modern world. It’s a hugely ambitious undertaking and one that’s strong enough to work even without Batman’s presence, not that it would have any reason to exist without him. But by incorporating the character and so many of the franchise’s trademarks — Catwoman (a slinky Zoë Kravitz), the Penguin (Colin Farrell, all but unrecognizable), loyal butler Alfred (Andy Serkis, fully analog) and an epic car chase involving the latest iteration of the Batmobile — Reeves electrifies the dense, ultra-dark proceedings with an added level of excitement that justifies the film’s relatively demanding running time.

From the beginning, the director breaks from the stylistic influences of the genre, establishing a tone that almost never feels derivative of other comic book movies. That said, one could certainly point to Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s killer serial “The Long Halloween” as a common thematic influence between this and “The Dark Knight.” That’s where crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) comes from, though practical action sequences hew closer to Korean films (like “Old Boy”) than Nolan’s nouveau-’70s style.

“NO MORE LIES,” reads the blood-red indictment scrawled across the face of the Riddler’s first victim, no less a figure than Gotham’s unsavory mayor (Rupert Penry-Jones). That’s just one of several grisly murders perpetrated by this maniacal avenger, who’s as twisted and self-righteous as that sicko from the “Saw” movies. Edward Nashton, aka the Riddler, wears greasy Coke-bottle glasses and what looks like a leather fetish hood (it turns out to be a winter combat mask), livestreaming his mind games on a message board for conspiracy crackpots. But here’s the twist: There really is a conspiracy among Gotham’s most powerful, one that traces back to the Wayne family, and it falls to Bruce to untangle it before it tears the city apart. Why him? The Riddler has drawn Batman in, leaving handmade cards loaded with ciphers and other puzzles at each of his crime scenes.

Part of the film‘s “reality” is to avoid calling comic-book characters by their traditional names. You no doubt noticed the “the” in the title of “The Batman” and asked yourself what it’s meant to signify. In using the definite article, Reeves isn’t necessarily trying to say that he’s created “the” definitive screen incarnation of the character. If anything, that tiny extra word casts an air of existential mystery around its masked and anonymous hero, who doesn’t even know what to call himself early on. When the imposing leader of a violent street gang taunts, “The hell are you supposed to be?” the bat-clad vigilante growls back, “I’m Vengeance.”

That’s how Bruce Wayne thinks of himself when we first meet this version of the character — no origin story, but rather, in medias res — two years into defending Gotham from the brink of anarchy. Ravaged by a major narcotics epidemic, courtesy of a street drug called “drops,” the city finds itself facing a level of disorder somewhere between a pre-Giuliani Manhattan and the final minutes of Todd Phillips’ “The Joker,” though the two films exist in different dimensions of the same Gotham multiverse. Reuniting with production designer James Chinlund (with whom he worked on the “Planet of the Apes” sequels), Reeves presents the most robust version of Gotham we’ve seen since Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman.”

Clearly modeled on New York City, amplified through set extensions and stunning CGI, this seedy metropolis plunges us into the Big Apple’s rotten core: The midtown equivalent of Times Square is illuminated by even more giant digital screens, a black cluster of buildings looms where lower Manhattan would be, and you don’t want to go anywhere near the Madison Square Garden-like arena where the finale takes place. At times, Batman surveys the city from an upper floor of a half-built skyscraper. Otherwise, he zooms around at street level on his Batcycle, eventually upgrading to a souped-up muscle car (the unveiling of which is one of the film’s big thrills).

Except for hidden-camera contact lenses, his technology is mostly realistic, and unless one counts a rooftop BASE jump, he can’t fly. Unlike so many DC comic book heroes, Batman is neither a god nor an alien; he has no fantastical abilities. Bruce Wayne’s superpower is his billion-dollar fortune, but the guy behind the mask breaks and bleeds just like anybody else — a point Reeves reminds us of with a shot of Pattinson’s bare back, covered in scars. Rather than leaning on a theme, Michael Giacchino’s score surprises, ranging from tense tribal drums to Nirvana to opera, while editors William Hoy and Tyler Nelson avoid obvious angles, leaving quiet spaces for audiences to process (and question) what’s happening.

As the Batman or Vengeance or whatever he’s called, Pattinson is the most sullen of the actors to have played the character, which reads as a kind of daredevil nihilism whenever he’s in costume: He doesn’t seem fearless so much as ambivalent about whether he lives or dies. Once the cowl comes off, however, Pattinson’s interpretation gets more intriguing: Brooding and withdrawn, he’s a damaged loner with unresolved daddy issues, saddled with all kinds of complicated emotional trauma. It’s tough to see a hero hurting so much, and yet, his troubled past informs every relationship, including the one with a lunatic who counts Bruce Wayne among his targets.

The Riddler’s schemes are genuinely scary, far more than seems reasonable for a PG-13-rated movie (like the remote-controlled exploding collar clamped on Peter Sarsgaard’s drugged-out district attorney, Gil Colson). The idea here is that some of Gotham’s top-ranking officials — plus cat burglar-cum-cocktail waitress Selina Kyle (Kravitz) — are somehow mixed up with Falcone, and the Riddler has taken it upon himself to purge the system of such elements. The “Chinatown”-intricate specifics of just how intertwined city government is with organized crime can make your head spin, though Reeves lays it out relatively elegantly, such that audiences can follow the many twists of Batman’s investigation.

This is first and foremost a detective story, unsentimental as they come — one half-expects Gwyneth Paltrow’s head to show up in a box at some point — and though the authorities take the Riddler into custody well before the end, the movie’s most shocking stretch is still to come, just when Gotham seems ready to celebrate its next chapter. It’s hard to imagine how Reeves (who was shooting “The Batman” during the early days of the pandemic) could have anticipated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and yet, the signs must have been there all along, for the film’s chilling climax hinges on activating susceptible citizens to conduct a mass terrorist attack. In “The Dark Knight,” Heath Ledger’s anarchist Joker felt like he’d stepped right out of your nightmares, but there’s something even more intimidating about the way the Riddler operates. He literally triggers others to become vigilantes as well — and judging by the real-world copycats previous Batman movies inspired (such as the Aurora, Colo., shooting), that could have consequences.

A movie like this will inspire countless debates: Does “The Batman” really need to be this dark? Can it hold a candle to Nolan’s trilogy? There’s room enough for both to exist, and space for sequels to build on this foundation, which assumes a certain familiarity with the character’s mythology. That’s the beauty of Batman, who transcends all the other heroes in the DC Comics stable: Like Dracula or Hamlet, this iconic antihero stands up to endless reinvention. Whether campy or pop, self-questioning or complicit, he tells us something new about ourselves every time he steps out of the shadows.

Reviewed at AMC Century City, Los Angeles, Feb. 17, 2022. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 176 MIN.

Production: A Warner Bros. Pictures release and presentation of a 6th & Idaho, Dylan Clark Prods. production. Producers: Dylan Clark, Matt Reeves. Executive producers: Michael E. Uslan, Walter Hamada, Chantal Nong Vo, Simon Emanuel.
Crew: Director: Matt Reeves. Screenplay: Matt Reeves & Peter Craig; Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, based on characters from DC. Camera: Greig Fraser. Editors: William Hoy, Tyler Nelson. Music: Michael Giacchino. Music supervisor: George Drakoulias.
With: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, Paul Dano, John Turturro, Andy Serkis, Peter Sarsgaard, Barry Keoghan, Jayme Lawson.

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Batman, The (United States, 2022)

The Batman , a reboot of DC comics’ most popular character, brings the franchise back into the shadows successfully embraced by Christopher Nolan’s phenomenally popular take but without the fetishism of the Burton/Schumacher years or the excesses of Zack Snyder’s more recent indulgences. Although “grounded” might not be appropriate, this iteration is less gritty and focused more on the human component than superhero tropes, although the latter are certainly present. Essentially a serial killer movie with fantastical, comic book elements, The Batman ’s aesthetic owes a debt to film noir with occasional visual nods to Westerns. Stylistically, the film is closest to Nolan’s Batman movies, although there are no overt acknowledgments.

Like any crime movie, The Batman deals in secrets, questions of identity, and unexpected reveals. The hero is a troubled, tortured individual. The antagonist is more of a force of nature – a twisted, malevolent one – than a human being. There are plenty of crime lords and crooked cops. No one, not even Batman, is imbued with any innate special abilities or magical powers. There are no gods or devils to be fought. The story focuses on a series of murders and the lengths to which Gotham City’s bat-costumed vigilante will go to uncover the culprit and stop his spree while at the same time battling his own personal demons. Reeves has adopted at least as much from ‘40s films and Fincher’s neo-noir efforts as from traditional superhero movies. Never has the chasm between the MCU and DC been more evident. Warner Brothers might be “lightening up” Wonder Woman and Aquaman, but Batman remains steeped in darkness.

Gordon uses the Bat-signal to call the Caped Crusader for help with the Halloween night murder of Gotham’s beloved (but crooked) mayor. The killer, who is dubbed The Riddler (Paul Dano) because of the clues he leaves behind, is no common assassin and it doesn’t take long before the trail of bodies lengthens, with each fresh killing being someone highly-placed in the government or police hierarchy. As Gordon works to uncover the assassin’s identity using traditional police procedures, Batman does the things that Gordon can’t. This brings him into contact with Falcone, The Penguin, and Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz), a young woman with a penchant for cat burglary and a score to settle.

Ben Affleck’s departure from the role during preproduction required that Reeves (who replaced him in the director’s chair and completely rewrote the script) embark on a recasting project. This took the film out of the so-called DCEU and put it into its own pocket universe (much like Nolan’s version). Robert Pattinson, who coincidentally appeared in Nolan’s Tenet before donning the cape and cowl, was chosen to fill the main role. Although Pattinson is fine as Batman, I’m unsure about his interpretation of Bruce Wayne. As written, Wayne is supposed to be sullen and withdrawn – a man warped by his past and struggling to find meaning. But Pattinson’s performance is a little too one-note. He never finds the humanity underneath the character’s pain (contrast this with Bale, who struggled with some of the same issues) and that diminishes the character’s arc. It’s a weird dynamic because Pattinson is the first Batman who is more animated when wearing the costume than out of it.

For the supporting players, The Batman employs an out-of-the-box approach. Zoe Kravitz isn’t the first woman of color to play Catwoman – Eartha Kitt was one of several actresses to essay the character during the 1960s TV show and Halle Berry took over the role for a movie whose existence DC would like to ignore . Kravitz focuses more on the “Selina” aspect of her personality than the “Catwoman” one and the script treats her like a femme fatale. Colin Farrell is unrecognizable as The Penguin – the makeup job is impressive. The character is underused but that’s likely because Reeves has big future plans for him (including his own HBOMax series). Paul Dano looks nothing like any previous incarnation of the Riddler and is masked for most of the film. Once out of costume, however, he appears deceptively normal – likely one reason why the unimposing Dano was cast. Andy Serkis, who has now moved beyond merely doing motion capture work for WETA, provides a capable performance as Alfred. Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard round out the cast. Although Wright and Turturro have previously appeared in big-budget franchises, this is Sarsgaard’s first such foray.

The Batman is arguably the best superhero movie since Avengers: Infinity War and the best movie to feature the title character since the middle chapter of Nolan’s trilogy. Its strengths lie in its differences and the ways in which Reeves is able to deliver the money shots while avoiding the cookie-cutter feel that handicaps many superhero movies. At a time when many comic book franchises are seeking to go bigger, with cosmic beings and multiverses, The Batman ’s down-to-earth approach offers a welcome reprieve.

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The Batman Movie Review: Does It Live Up to the Hype?

The Batman has been a long time coming. Not only have fans been waiting since Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises for another solo film featuring the Caped Crusader, but Matt Reeves, the movie’s director, was first hired for the project back in 2017––half a decade ago. Well, now it’s finally here, and Robert Pattinson’s take on the famous DC Comics hero is days from hitting the big screen.

But fans want to know: is it any good ? Did Reeves live up to the hype? Well, that’s a complicated answer.

Robert Pattinson as Batman

How is Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight? Well, his Batman is great. Maybe a bit too stoic at times, but generally speaking, he nails the part.

The Batman perfectly showcases The World’s Greatest Detective side of the character. Sure, there are fight scenes, but not as much as one would think, and all of them focus on serving the greater investigation instead of simply existing to have a brawl.

His costume isn’t news to most, but it’s worth noting how fantastic it looks. The suit is intricately designed and perfectly represents where the character is in his vigilante career . Pattinson also has the honor of possibly the best Batmobile introduction yet.

It’s his Bruce Wayne that falls through the cracks , though, to no fault of Pattinson’s. The entire movie showcases the same depressed, angsty billionaire with not much personality or anything for audiences to grab on to. He’s only ever given the same one beat to play from the script, over and over, with nothing more. Bruce really needed more range for Pattinson to play with, as his one-note angst just wasn’t cutting it.

As for those closest to Batman, Jeffery Wright’s Gordan is fantastic, and their dynamic gets plenty of time to shine. This film may be the best live-action take on the duo’s partnership, and audiences really get a feel for their mutual respect.

Then, of course, there’s Alfred. Sadly, Andy Serkis’ take on the character isn’t all too notable. While he isn’t bad by any means, there’s nothing here that elevates him from those who came before.

Catwoman’s Nine Lives

It doesn’t take long before Batman has a run-in with a familiar cat burglar: Zoë Kravitz’s Catwoman . She’s excellent in the role and brings a unique elegance along with her.

The sad part about it all is how her story both works and doesn’t. Some themes at play in regards to her relation to Batman, and her own struggles, service the story well. However, a good chunk of her time in the film could have been taken out with little effect on the wider Riddler plot and, in doing so, would have tightened up the film––something that was very much needed.

Selina’s partnership with Bats also seemed a little too easy , but it obviously wasn’t too hard to swallow in the first place, knowing the history of the two from the comics.

However, on that same note, the chemistry between the two of them left a lot to be desired. When the movie makes those moves to play on their romantic history, it just doesn’t land as well as it should.

Feeling Every Minute

The weakest part of the piece, by far, is its pacing. The story clocks in at a whopping three hours, and you feel every minute of it. There’s a good third of the runtime that could have been trimmed, making the entire story flow better.

For most of the film, it’s point A to point B; here’s a riddle, investigate, solve, next riddle, repeat. Of course, that’s an oversimplification, and things are thrown in to mix the formula up, but not nearly enough for it not to strain the overall flow.

A majority of the scenes throughout the movie feel prolonged, with shots staying on someone’s reaction a little too long for dramatic effect and some tedious setups to bigger plot elements.

The Batman also inherits the problem of multiple endings, something which exacerbates the pacing issues present.

A Visual Spectacle

This adaptation of the Dark Knight is , without a doubt, the most gorgeous outing he’s had yet. Every frame is a work of art, and the color palette is equally impressive.

Some shots were simply breathtaking. From an explosive car takedown to the Cat and the Bat’s silhouetted kiss, or even a simple shot of the Dark Knight’s cowl—the project is truly a visual feast for the eyes.

Thankfully, when it comes to the fight sequences, they were all-engrossing and interesting to watch. The choreography, while not groundbreaking, was solid, and the brutal moves of Pattinson’s vengeance echoed throughout the theater.

One battle sequence in a pitch-black hallway was a particularly fun and satisfying experience.

It would be remiss of me not to mention some sporadic clunkiness in the action scenes, however, which can be attributed to not switching between practical and visual effects with grace.

Riddle Me This?

When it comes to The Riddler , don’t go in expecting a comic-accurate take on the character, something that was likely clear to anyone who has watched the trailers. Instead, go in expecting a mix of the Zodiac killer and Jigsaw.

Paul Dano is fine, for the most part. Though, there is no doubt that his performance will click with some viewers more than others. Either way, his demented mind comes across, which is what matters most for the plot.

The best parts of Dano’s performance don’t happen until closer to the end of the film, and there isn’t nearly enough of it. Speaking of which, the villain is also oddly absent for prolonged times throughout the story, leaving a feeling that he should have been more involved than he was.

When it comes to the look the villain sported, it was honestly entirely forgettable . Sure it was creepy, but nothing about it will stick with audiences after the credits roll, which is a shame given the character’s fairly iconic over-the-top looks that he sports in his various comic appearances.

Those Other Cronies

The Riddler isn’t the only member of Batman’s rogue gallery to make their appearance in the film. There are also the likes of Penguin and Carmine Falcone.

Colin Farrell takes on a new version of Oswald Cobblepot , and he’s great. He isn’t the big crime boss that many fans might be used to, but this is him taking the steps to get there—in a similar way to how Bruce is growing as the Dark Knight and a more heroic presence for the city.

Despite being absent for a good chunk of the film, John Turturro’s Falcone makes a great impression once he starts factoring into the events. He plays the sleezy slime ball well and is sure to send shivers down the spines of viewers.

While the story generally juggles jumping back and forth between its various villains decently, sometimes it can feel like continuous detours. Yes, even if they are all tied together, in some way, to the central mystery of the story.

The Sound of Vengeance

The main theme for Gotham's protector, “The Batman,” by the film’s composer Michael Giacchino , is next level. The melodies at play perfectly evoke the Dark Knight, so much so that it’s now hard to associate anything else with the hero.

The rest of the score is great as well, though there are many occasions throughout the runtime where the movie leans too heavily on musical cues, almost as if trying to push for audiences’ reactions more than it needs to.

Then there’s the iconic Batman voice. How did Pattinson’s take fare? Well, it was the usual lower, intense voice, but no particularly unique flare was present. At the very least, his intimidating vocals shouldn’t insult any fans, which is a win in and of itself.

A Good, But Flawed, Batman Story

While this still isn’t the quintessential take on Batman, there’s plenty to merit its existence. Robert Pattinson made for a good Batman, Gotham had more personality than ever before, and the cinematography was a sight to behold.

It’s a shame Matt Reeves feels the need to take the gritty “grounded” route and nothing else. It almost feels like a step back in the genre, where the storytellers have returned to avoiding aspects of characters from the comics that made them who they are; a key example being how Riddler has very little in common with his source material counterpart, except by name.

The film could have benefited from pulling back, even just a little, on the gritty angst and easing its intense focus on being “grounded” . After all, Batman has worked for decades now, and he’s had plenty of stories outside of those tight boundaries.

Though, with the teases of what may be in Pattinson’s Dark Knight’s future , the story can still go to some exciting places. Hopefully, Reeves and co. can clean up the sequel a tad more and loosen their “grounded” grip. Then they might have something truly great on their hands.

The Batman hits theaters worldwide on March 4.

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Pg-13 | superheroes | 2 hr 56 min | 2022.

When a killer targets Gotham City’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, The Penguin, Carmine Falcone and The Riddler. As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans becomes clear, The Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.

Matt Reeves’ The Batman stars Robert Pattinson in the dual role of Gotham City’s vigilante detective The Batman and his alter ego, reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne. Starring alongside Pattinson as Gotham’s famous and infamous cast of characters are Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle (Catwoman), Paul Dano as Edward Nashton (The Riddler), Jeffrey Wright as the GCPD’s James Gordon, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson, Jayme Lawson as mayoral candidate Bella Reál, Andy Serkis as Alfred, and Colin Farrell as Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot (The Penguin).

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The Batman 2: 10 Villains Fans Want to See in Matt Reeves' Sequel

The Batman Part II is easily one of the most anticipated upcoming superhero movies, despite the fact that the sequel to 2022's The Batman is likely not being released until at least 2026 . Many fans are looking forward to seeing where director Matt Reeves takes his more street-level version of the Caped Crusader. This includes the villains that he faces, with the Dark Knight's next foe being just as important as the development for Bruce Wayne himself.

There are several classic Batman villains that can work within the world established by The Batman . Others might need some tweaking, but fans want to see them, nonetheless. Likewise, there's a certain Clown Prince of Crime who's almost certain to show up in some capacity. Thus, the potential foes to face Batman and his allies are endless, though they have to fit in Batman's world.

Mr. Freeze Can Unleash Winter in Gotham City

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One character that fans want to see in The Batman: Part II is Mr. Freeze. The character is usually portrayed as one of Batman's more over-the-top and "comic booky" villains, having little to do with the more grounded world of gangsters and crime lords. His most iconic portrayal also makes him a tragic villain, with his condition all being tied to the search for a cure to his wife's terminal illness .

One area that Mr. Freeze might thematically work is the flooding of Gotham City seen in the end of The Batman , with his usual gun being particularly potent in that environment. At the same time, he really doesn't fit in the world seen in the first movie, and casual audiences will likely find him too silly, especially given his infamous characterization in Batman & Robin . Thus, if he does show up, it will likely be in a more grounded capacity.

Clayface May Work on One Condition

Clayface is another Batman villain who feels more at home fighting more fantastical heroes beyond the Dark Knight. As a shapeshifting mass of mud, he doesn't immediately sound like someone that Matt Reeves might use. This hasn't kept rumors from persisting about the villain showing up, though this might be a version of Clayface that fans are unfamiliar with.

The classic Golden Age Clayface wasn't a mud monster, but someone who literally used masks as a disguise to commit crimes . This concept can be used to great effect in the noir world of The Batman , and it makes much more sense (both narratively and thematically) than a giant CGI wad of goop. It will also highlight a lesser known variant of Clayface, illustrating the entire breadth of Batman's history.

Adding Firefly Can Redeem a Controversial DCEU Cancelation

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Firefly is a rather underrated Batman foe , with the character usually portrayed as a pyromaniac. Beyond that, there isn't much in the way of defining traits, with the villain usually lacking in iconic stories in both the comics and outside media. An interesting way to use him might be as a henchman to another villain, burning down areas of Gotham to decrease property values in the already ruined city.

Adding Firefly to The Batman 2 would also redeem the villain after he was set to appear in the unreleased Batgirl movie . This film was set to take place in the DC Extended Universe before that shared universe ended to make way for the new DC Universe films, with many fans anticipating to see him portrayed by Brendan Fraser. Bringing the actor into The Batman 2 in the same role can finally make that happen. In fact, he might even vex this universe's version of Jim and Barbara Gordon as he was meant to do in the DCEU.

Hush Might Be a Blast From Bruce Wayne's Past

Another rumored villain who might appear in The Batman 2 is Thomas Elliot, aka Hush . Debuting in the eponymous comic book storyline of the same name, he was portrayed as a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne's who returns to Gotham City as a ruthless killer in adulthood. Given that a lot of the past for Robert Pattinson's Batman is still unknown, adding Hush would be a great way to flesh the hero out .

The main caveat is that Paul Dano's version of The Riddler in The Batman was already redesigned to where he heavily resembled Hush. He even had ties to Bruce Wayne's past to some extent, and this might make Hush a bit redundant. The best way to handle him might be for Thomas Elliot to only appear in his civilian identity and possibly become a villain in a sequel.

The Court of Owls May Appear in The Batman 2

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The Court of Owls debuted during the New 52 era of DC Comics, with the cult-like group having ties to the distant past of Gotham City. Operating under the noses of everyone, including Batman himself, they were secretly behind several events involving the city. In the present day, they finally struck against the Dark Knight and his family, with one of their ranks even having connections to Dick Grayson's family.

The Court of Owls is a highly popular group of villains that fans want to see show up in some capacity in Matt Reeves' Batman series. It would be a great way to put the villains on the big screen, especially since they've now existed in the comics for over 10 years. Likewise, the Court of Owls is a way to increase the scope of this cinematic iteration of Batman while still remaining grounded .

The Joker Is Certain to Appear In Some Capacity

Barry Keoghan's version of The Joker briefly appeared at the end of The Batman , and he had a somewhat more substantial role in a deleted scene from the theatrical cut. Given the popularity of the villain, it's highly likely that he's going to be a continued presence in The Batman's continuity. Of course, Keoghan is competing with several other iterations of The Joker , so his role might not be as big as those takes.

One way to feature the villain without sucking the air out of the room for other antagonists is to showcase a flashback at the beginning of The Batman: Part II . This can showcase the first encounter between The Joker and Batman that landed the former in custody. By doing this, his antagonism toward Batman is firmly established without focusing on him too much.

The Penguin Is Bound to Show Up In The Batman's Sequel

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The Penguin aka Oswald Cobblepot already debuted in The Batman as a grounded gangster . He's also set to receive a spinoff series, The Penguin , that will air on Max , showcasing his rise to power. With The Penguin being more than a mere criminal lackey, his increased influence will certainly draw the attention of Batman.

Some fans are wondering if Batman will show up in an episode of The Penguin , and if the same holds true in reverse. The Penguin may have at least a small role in The Batman: Part II , proving that he's no longer the small-time crook that Batman can "lean on." The attention will certainly cement The Penguin as one of Batman's greatest enemies , and he might even bring out one of his iconic umbrellas.

Hugo Strange Would Fit Perfectly Into The Batman 2

Hugo Strange is a Batman foe who debuted in the Golden Age , with the character being an archetypal mad scientist. Essentially Batman's equivalent to Lex Luthor, he's appeared sporadically in comics and adaptations over the years. Sadly, he's never had a truly mainstream portrayal, though The Batman: Part II might change that.

Hugo Strange can be portrayed as a researcher using the down-and-out citizens of Gotham City for heinous medical ventures. He might also be involved with organ harvesting, again using the downtrodden nature of the city's population to take advantage of them. There are several ways in which the character can horrifyingly be brought to life on the big screen, and they all spell disaster for Gotham's citizens.

Zsasz Can Begin a Massacre In The Batman 2

10 weirdest facts about the batman movies.

Mr. Zsasz is one of Batman's most ruthless foes , with the cruel killer being far from a cartoonish joke. A vicious serial killer, he cuts marks on his body to signify all of his murdered victims. Taking delight in killing, he's the type of foe who, if done correctly, will be easy to make into a terrifying threat.

Zsasz briefly appeared in Batman Begins , though this was more of a cameo than anything. Likewise, his appearance in Birds of Prey was far too goofy and comedic than what fans wanted. Thus, he's in need of a proper adaptation, and the already grisly world of The Batman is the best place for this to happen.

Killer Croc's Original Characterization Deserves an Adaptation

In recent years, Killer Crock has been portrayed (both in the comics and movies such as Suicide Squad ) as essentially a much weaker version of Marvel Comics' The Lizard. More reptile than beast, he's a foe who feels more in line with other heroes' rogues galleries. That wasn't originally the case, however, with his original portrayal being less monstrous yet much scarier.

Originally, Killer Croc was merely a gangster with a skin condition , with this diagnosis being an extreme form of a real disease, ichthyosis vulgaris. Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo's Joker took this in a more realistic direction than ever, with Croc's condition not being portrayed as making him an outright animal. Thus, he maintained his actual humanity and was a ruthless street gangster, something which will definitely be a factor to Batman in The Batman: Part II .

The Batman Part II

Director Matt Reeves

Release Date October 2, 2026

Studio Warner Bros.

Cast Andy Serkis, Robert Pattinson, Jeffrey Wright

Writers Mattson Tomlin, Matt Reeves, Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Peter Craig

Main Genre superheroes

Genres Drama, Action, Crime, superheroes

Franchise DC

prequel(s) The Batman

The Batman 2: 10 Villains Fans Want to See in Matt Reeves' Sequel

Every Batman Movie of the 20th Century, Ranked by Rewatchability

Holy rewatchable movies, Batman!

Batman is arguably the most popular and enduring comic book character. With a prolific oeuvre and a decade-spanning legacy, the Caped Crusader has been a major part of pop culture since his debut in 1939. Naturally, the hero made the jump to the silver screen as early as the 1940s but reached the peak of his fame during the last decade of the 20th century and well into the 21st.

Pretty much each of Batman's big-screen efforts is quite entertaining, one way or the other. The 1943 serials are more a television series than a proper movie—indeed, Amazon offers it as a single season—and 1949's Batman and Robin isn't available to stream. However, the six other big-screen Batman movies released throughout the 20th century are famous for their rewatchability . Even so, some Batman are far more enjoyable than others, making it easier for fans to want to revisit them every once in a while.

6 'Batman' (1966)

Directed by leslie h. martinson.

1966's Batman builds upon the eponymous television series to deliver another silly adventure featuring the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder. The plot sees Batman ( Adam West ) and Robin ( Burt Ward ) facing numerous threats, most notably The Joker ( Cesar Romero ), Catwoman ( Lee Meriwether ), The Penguin ( Burgess Meredith ), and The Riddler ( Frank Gorshin ).

Anyone who enjoys the campiness of the 1966 TV show will adore Batman . It was the first full-length theatrical adaptation of the character, and it is very much a product of its time. It has silly jokes, over-the-top sequences, and self-aware humor that finds the humor in every situation. 1966's Batman is the opposite of the dark, overly gloomy, noir approach of modern Batman movies , but that's what makes it so special, if not necessarily rewatchable. Indeed, seeing this colorful romp once should be more than enough , although some might find themselves revisiting it, if only to hear Robin's ridiculously funny puns.

Batman: The Movie

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5 'Batman & Robin' (1997)

Directed by joel schumacher.

The now-infamous Batman & Robin sees Oscar-winner George Clooney stepping into the caped crusader's nipple suit. The plot follows Batman and Robin ( Chris O'Donnell ) as they face Mr. Freeze ( Arnold Schwarzenegger ) and Poison Ivy ( Uma Thurman ). However, they're not alone this time, receiving some last-minute help from Batgirl ( Alicia Silverstone ).

It's well-known that Batman & Robin is among the best so-bad-they're-good superhero movies . It's loud, dumb, overblown, and ridiculous, echoing back to the campy approach of the 1966 show with a heavy dose of director Joel Schumacher 's neon-colored sensibilities. However, Batman & Robin is also a wonderful guilty pleasure, making it a good rewatch . Schwarzenegger's puns, Thurman's over-the-top portrayal, and Schumacher's borderline kitsch style make for an incredibly funny and entertaining experience. It's not good, but at least no one can say Batman & Robin is boring.

Batman & Robin

4 'batman forever' (1995).

Schumacher's first Batman movie was 1995's Batman Forever , starring Val Kilmer in his first and only appearance as the Caped Crusader. The plot centers on Bruce Wayne as he considers abandoning the Batman mantle to focus on his personal life, especially a relationship with psychologist Chase Meridian ( Nicole Kidman ). However, the city is under the threat of the psychotic criminal Two-Face ( Tommy Lee-Jones ) and the deranged Riddler ( Jim Carrey ).

Batman Forever might be the most unhinged Batman movie ever. Carrey and Jones are doing the most in their roles, crafting two of the most exaggerated yet amusing villains in the Bat's rogues' gallery. Coupled with an interesting plot that dares to venture into Bruce's psyche and a self-aware tone, the film becomes a rather worthy entry in the Dark Knight's movie gallery. In fact, Batman Forever doesn't get enough credit for how entertaining it is —nor does Kilmer get enough recognition for his solid take on the iconic hero. Although far from perfect, Batman Forever is far more enjoyable than some might think, making it a very easy rewatch.

Batman Forever

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3 'Batman' (1989)

Directed by tim burton.

Tim Burton brought his highly stylized and Gothic sensibilities to Gotham City with 1989's Batman . Oscar nominee Michael Keaton stars as the titular hero, who must face the violent and deranged Joker ( Jack Nicholson ), a former criminal who becomes a supervillain after falling into a pit of acid. Meanwhile, Bruce finds love with the intrepid photojournalist Vicki Vale ( Kim Basinger ) and must decide if he reveals his secret to her.

Batman was the first major motion picture starring the Caped Crusader since the 1966 film, and it successfully reinvented the character for a new generation. Gothic, eerie, and atmospheric yet still self-aware, Batman is the perfect balance between the noir tone that modern films starring the character would take and Burton's trademark style. The film is incredibly rewatchable, largely thanks to its trio of leading actors . The chameleonic, three-time Oscar winner Jack Nicholson is especially memorable as The Joker, embodying the character's Clown Prince of Crime persona to a tee.

Batman (1989)

2 'batman returns' (1992).

Michael Keaton returned for another round of Dark Knight awesomeness in 1992's Batman Returns . The film sees Batman facing two new threats: the Penguin ( Danny DeVito ), a deformed and nihilistic criminal hellbent on taking over Gotham City by any means necessary, and Catwoman ( Michelle Pfeiffer ), a newly-liberated woman seeking revenge on the man who killed her.

Like most Batman movies, Batman Returns soars on the strength of its villains. DeVito is incredible as the Penguin, playing a more disturbing, grotesque, and fantastical version of the character. However, it's the brilliant Michelle Pfeiffer who commands the movie. As Catwoman, Pfeiffer is utterly stunning, stealing every scene she's in and delivering one of the most nuanced, layered, and mesmerizing performances the comic book genre has ever seen. With villains like these, it's no wonder Batman Returns is so rewatchable , especially around the holiday season, to the point where it could be considered an unofficial Christmas classic .

Batman Returns

1 'batman: mask of the phantasm' (1993), directed by eric radomski and bruce timm.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is among the few animated Batman films to receive a theatrical release. Based on the revered Batman: The Animated Series , the film sees Bruce Wayne deal with the return of a former love, Andrea Beaumont, while facing a dangerous enemy, the Phantasm, a killer targetting Gotham City's crime bosses.

To put it quite simply, Mask of the Phantasm is the best Batman movie ever made. It achieves something that no other movie, director, or actor has even been able to replicate: it makes Bruce Wayne the main character, sidelining the Bat to focus on the man. Whereas future Batman movies rely heavily on the "Bruce Wayne is the mask" aspect, Mask of the Phantasm places Bruce front and center, proving that he is every bit as crucial to the iconic hero's characterization as his masked counterpart. Thrilling, tight, and featuring a twisting narrative that goes toe-to-toe with the best psychological thrillers out there, Mask of the Phantasm is incredibly enjoyable and a constant watch for any self-respecting Batman fan .

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

NEXT: The Best Quote From Every Batman Movie

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Product Description

The Batman legend continues in this story that tells of Batman's most difficult battle, as well as his confrontation with a mysterious killer, who holds the key to Batman's secret past.

Product details

MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.77 x 5.35 x 0.55 inches; 2.89 ounces
Director ‏ : ‎ Bruce Timm, Eric Radomski
Media Format ‏ : ‎ Digital_copy, 4K
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 16 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ September 12, 2023
Actors ‏ : ‎ Kevin Conroy, Dana Delany, Hart Bochner, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
Producers ‏ : ‎ Benjamin Melniker
Studio ‏ : ‎ Warner Bros.
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CBQPHLG9
Writers ‏ : ‎ Alan Burnett
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
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Every Batman Movie And TV Show Available On Blu-Ray Right Now

By Darryn Bonthuys on May 13, 2024 at 5:50PM PDT

GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

There's never a bad night for some Dark Knight entertainment, and if you're craving a Batman film, these days you're spoiled for choice. An icon of cinema, Batman has appeared in dozens of films and TV show projects over the years. The live-action movies are arguably where Batman has left his biggest mark on mainstream media, but you'd be surprised to see just how good some of his animated adventures are.

If we're talking big-bat-budget escapades, then you can't go wrong with classics like Tim Burton's one-two punch of Batman and Batman Returns . Starring Michael Keaton under the cowl, these films combined a dark atmosphere with an all-star cast of actors rising to menace the Caped Crusader. There's a timeless quality to these films, as they were produced before CGI enhancements became commonplace, and the performances from Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Danny DeVito helped cement Burton's tour of Gotham as legendary entertainment.

Shifting ahead to the current age, we've had some interesting interpretations of Batman over the last decade. Christopher Nolan introduced a Batman who could actually turn his head in his Dark Knight trilogy , while Zack Snyder and Ben Affleck created a vigilante who was a terrifying mountain of muscles hellbent on murdering Superman in his first outing. A few years later, we got Robert Pattinson in The Batman --or The Pattman--a grounded take on the hero where the focus was on detective work.

On the animated front, some of the best Batman projects of all time can be found in this department. Batman: The Animated Series is the gold standard for the character, while Batman Beyond offers a fascinating departure from the status quo that features an all-new hero wearing the mantle of the Bat in a far-future version of Gotham. Batman: The Brave and the Bold is pure Silver Age silliness at its very best, while 2004's The Batman is a surprisingly cool take on the hero with radical redesigns of his sinister enemies--did anyone expect a Spongebob-voiced Penguin who had mastered Kung-Fu in this series? And the animated Justice League show puts Batman a global stage on which to wage his war on crime.

Then there are the DC Universe animated films, which are a collection of one-shots and connected tales that have been regularly produced for two decades now. These include fantastic adaptations of beloved comic stories like Batman: Year One , The Dark Knight Returns , and Under the Red Hood , as well as several original one-shot films.

As you can see, there are dozens of great Batman stories to watch, and the good news is many of them are available right now on Blu-ray. So, to help you track them all down so you can add them to your collection, we've we've compiled all the Batman Blu-rays currently available into a giant list below. You'll find almost every Batman film and TV show on there, minus some gaps for the few films that haven't made it past to Blu-ray yet--such as the awesome Batman vs Dracula--but we've also added a section for Batman-adjacent projects. These are mostly animated films featuring Batman, like several Lego movies, Justice League team-up appearances, and crossovers with other IPs like RWBY.

Batman: The TV Series

The '60s Batman TV series starring Adam West as the Caped Crusader and Burt Ward as Robin is goofy, silly, and effortlessly charming—Silver Age Superhero antics at their finest. This Blu-ray collection packs the entire 120-episode run onto several discs and comes with over three hours of extra content.

Batman: The Movie

Batman's 1966 film has everything you could ask for in a movie featuring the dynamic duo: Supervillains on the loose, sharks being punched, and a memorable scene where Batman simply can't get rid of a bomb! A cult-classic, they don't make Batman movies like this anymore.

Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film reinvented the vigilante for a grittier era with a dark and gothic adventure pitting Michael Keaton's Dark Knight against Jack Nicholson's Joker. The film still holds up pretty well 35 years after it was first released, and this 4K cut is loaded with extras, Prince music videos, and a fascinating documentary examining Batman's impact on cinema.

Batman Returns

Tim Burton and Michael Keaton return for another round of superheroics in Batman Returns, which just also happens to be one of the best Christmas movies of all time (if you don't mind being weirded out by Danny DeVito's Penguin). Michelle Pfeiffer puts in a show-stealing performance as Catwoman, and this film looks better than ever in 4K. Once you're done watching, you can enjoy more behind-the-scenes extras chronicling the creation of this iconic sequel.

Batman Forever

There's no denying that Batman Forever is a kid-friendlier take on Gotham's protector that lacks the dark fantasy nature of Tim Burton's movies, but director Joel Schumacher went all in on this direction and created a fun movie for all ages. Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee-Jones chew up all the scenery whenever they're on screen, Val Kilmer nailed the duality of Batman and Bruce Wayne, and Chris O'Donnell made an impact as Robin in this weird but memorable film.

Batman and Robin

Batman and Robin might be a toy commercial, but it's one hell of a toy commercial. It's film a campy, zany, and colorful homage to the '60s-era of Batman, featuring an amazing cast that includes George Clooney as Batman, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, and Alicia Silverstone as the newest members of the Bat-Family, Batgirl.

Batman Begins

After Batman and Robin's critical flop, Warner Bros. rebooted the franchise once again, this time for a more modern take on the hero. Director Christopher Nolan opted for a grounded approach to Batman, and recruited Christian Bale as his Dark Knight. Batman Begins is a fascinating reimagining of Bruce Wayne's journey to becoming Batman, featuring amazing art direction and one of the best Batsuits of all time. It also has one of the coolest versions of the Batmobile yet. Along with the movie, this Blu-ray release comes with a library of interesting extras charting Batman's return to the big screen after a lengthy absence.

The Dark Knight

The second film in Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight, is an action-packed exploration of the toll Batman's war on crime has on their personal life. For many, The Dark Knight is the best Batman movie. But even if you disagree, there's no denying it's a brilliant crime film. Much of the movie's critical and financial success is owed to Heath Ledger, whose Oscar-winning performance as Batman's arch nemesis, the Joker. Sadly, it would be Ledger's final on-screen performance before he passed away 2008 shortly before the film's premiere.

The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises closes out Nolan's Batman saga by putting Batman through the ringer. Exiled and broken by Bane-- a terrifying new powerhouse with grand designs to destroy Gotham--Batman must learn to conquer his fears if he wants to save his city from destruction.

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

While Man of Steel kicked off DC's short-lived "Snyderverse," Batman V Superman cemented it as an interconnected cinematic universe. The film features Ben Affleck under the cowl, turning in one of the most savage live-action renditions of Batman. As the name implies, the movie follows a conflict between Superman and Batman that lays the foundation for Snyder's Justice League movies. This Blu-ray is also for Snyder's director's cut, a longer version of the movie that is much better than the theatrical version.

Suicide Squad

Technically, Batman is only in Suicide Squad for a handful of minutes, but this still counts for the list! Suicide Squad is not a good movie, but if you're looking to have a complete Batfleck collection, then you'll have to compromise and add this average action flick to your shelf. On the plus side, you're getting a pretty solid selection of extras with this Blu-ray.

Justice League

Like Suicide Squad, the 2017 cut of Justice League is mediocre at best. Joss Whedon took over for Zack Snyder after he left the production due to a personal tragedy in his life, and the end result is a by-the-numbers movie that looks average and lacks Snyder's artistic vision. Fortunately, there's a much better version of the film available to purchase--but this one is worth grabbing if you want a full collection on the shelf.

Zack Snyder's Justice League

Zach Snyder's version of Justice League, aka "The Snydercut," would eventually see the light of day in 2021, some five years after the original version's theatrical release. Snyder's Justice League features all of his signature filming and editing traits, including a long run time that will push your bladder to the limit. It's also presented in a new aspect ratio to help center your gaze on all of the explosive slow-mo action unfolding before you. If you're a fan of Snyder's work then you'll love this finale to his Age of Heroes saga.

We've seen Batman as a ninja-punching vigilante and a god-slaying badass in previous films, but director Matt Reeves wanted to focus on the detective side of the Dark Knight in 2022's The Batman. With Robert Pattinson in the lead, The Batman offers the most realistic big-screen take on Batman yet, with a gritty and dirty tour of Gotham that sees a rookie Batman work to expose corruption and bring a murderer into the light.

Proving that he hadn't lost of any of his dark charm, The Flash saw Michael Keaton once again suit up as Batman to help the Scarlet Speedster save the Multiverse. Like the other Blu-rays on this list, you can kick back with several featurettes, deleted scenes, and more.

Detailing the evolution of Bruce Wayne into Batman, Gotham focuses on the city before it had a vigilante keeping the streets safe. It's weird, campy, and occasionally hamstrung by a low budget, but this is still a fun show that regularly puts its own spin on the Batman mythos. It's a shame it ends with a glimpse at what is easily the worst live-action Batman costume ever made.

Batman: The Animated Series

Batman starred in several animated series over the years, but Batman: The Animated Series soars above them all. A killer combo of quality storytelling, classic influences, and stellar voice-acting by the late Kevin Conroy, Batman: The Animated Series offer 109 episodes of the Dark Knight at his best.

Batman Beyond

When age catches up to Bruce Wayne and he finds himself no longer capable of protecting Gotham from a new generation of criminals, a new, untested hero inherits the legacy of Batman. At the time it first aired, Batman Beyond was a bold new direction for the franchise, setting up a new world full of fresh threats for this new version of Batman to face off against in a futuristic version of Gotham City.

Batman took a step into a bigger world in Justice League, as he joined his fellow heroes to save the day from cataclysmic threats. If you loved the Batman or Superman animated series, then Justice League is a worthy followup full of multi-part adventures featuring DC's greatest heroes.

Justice League Unlimited

Justice League Unlimited is sees DC's best and brightest working together toward a common good. While Batman isn't featured in every episode, he still makes a big impact whenever he does appear. With intricate plots, excellent animation, and an all-star cast of famous voices, Justice League Unlimited is a love-letter to DC's past.

The Batman reimagines the Dark Knight as a younger and cooler new hero, one who still has plenty to learn. This particular series featured bold reimaginings of fan-favorite characters and supervillains, mixing a family-friendly approach with top-notch animation. It's a forgotten chapter in the history of Batman, but this series is an underrated gem that's worth having in your collection.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Another throwback to the Silver Age, Batman: The Brave and the Bold features the Caped Crusader teaming up with DC's best, brightest, and strangest heroes across multiple episodes--including the best version of Aquaman. Silly but never goofy, this is a fun show that'll put a smile on your face as you see Batman explore the DC Universe.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season 1
Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season 2
Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season 3

Beware the Batman

While not the best reboot of the Dark Knight, Beware the Batman is still fascinating to see a new direction for the vigilante. Combining slick CG animation with strange villains, and expanded roles for the supporting cast, Batman would hone his skills against foes like Anarky, Ra's Al Ghul, and Deathstroke in this forgotten series.

Beware the Batman Season 1 Part 1
Beware the Batman Season 1 Part 2

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm isn't just a fantastic animated film, it's one of the best Batman movies of all time. It might be aimed at a younger audience, but this movie pulls no punches with its portrayal of Bruce Wayne as he sacrifices the chance to have a happy life for an opportunity to become the Batman. Throw in stellar animation and Mark Hamill in his prime as the Joker, and you've got an all-time classic to watch now that it has received a 4K restoration.

Lego Batman: The Movie

Who has the coolest gadgets? Batman! Who has the tricked-out ride? Batman! Who has the best Lego movie? Batman! Who always pays his taxes? Not Batman!

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

The one-and-only Batman Beyond movie is an action-packed ride through Gotham, but the real fun here is the mystery at heart of this film as Bruce Wayne deals with ghosts from his past. Just how is the Joker alive when he's supposed to be very dead in this timeline? That's a case both Batmen will have to investigate if they can survive the return of the clown prince of crime.

Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero

Mystery of the Batwoman

Batman: Gotham Knight

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Batman: Year One

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Lego Batman: The Movie - DC Super Heroes Unite

Son of Batman

Batman vs. Robin

Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem

Batman: Bad Blood

Batman: The Killing Joke

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders

Batman and Harley Quinn

Batman vs. Two-Face

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight

Batman Ninja

Batman: Hush

Lego Batman: Family Matters

Batman: Death in the Family

Batman: Soul of the Dragon

Batman: The Long Halloween

Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham

Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Batman Team-Up Movies

Justice League: The New Frontier
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
Justice League: Doom
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
Justice League: War
Justice League: Throne of Atlantis
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League
Justice League: Gods and Monsters
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Cosmic Clash
Justice League vs. Teen Titans
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Gotham City Breakout
Justice League Dark
Justice League vs. the Fatal Five
Superman: Red Son
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War
DC League of Super-Pets
Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons
Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One
Leave Blank

New ‘Batman’ TV Series From Matt Reeves and JJ Abrams: Everything We Know

This year, Batman finally returns to the small screen for a brand-new Amazon Prime Video television series from executive producers Matt Reeves and JJ Abrams.

The Dark Knight is no stranger to television. While he typically dominates the movie theater arena, whether it’s under director Tim Burton ( Batman , Batman Returns ), Joel Schumacher ( Batman Forever , Batman & Robin ), Christopher Nolan ( The Dark Knight trilogy ), Zack Snyder ( Batman v Superman: Dawn Justice ), or Matt Reeves ( The Batman ), he’s beaten just as many iconic Gotham City villains to a pulp on the small screen.

Batman (Ben Affleck) costume in the 'Batman v Superman' trailer

The Batman (1966 — 1968) was the first series in the franchise, which saw Adam West and Burt Ward suit up as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Dick Grayson/Robin, respectively. The only other notable live-action series is Gotham (2014 — 2019) , which focuses on a young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) and Detective James “Jim” Gordon (Ben McKenzie).

There are a few other shows you probably didn’t even know existed (with good reason): Birds of Prey (2002 – 2003), Titans (2018 – 2023), Batwoman (2019 – 2022), and Gotham Knights (2023). The next live-action series is HBO’s The Penguin (2024) , in which Colin Farrell reprises his role as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin from Matt Reeves’ The Batman , which stars Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight.

However, the animated version of Gotham City continues to be the most dominant on television.

Batman animated shows date all the way back to 1968. The first one, The Adventures Of Batman (1968 — 1969), was centered around the live-action 1966 series, however, Adam West and Burt Ward only reprised their roles as the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder in animation in 1977’s The New Adventures Of Batman . But Batman: The Animated Series (1992 — 1995) remains the gold-standard cartoon series of the entire franchise. It was so popular that it was followed by another series, The New Batman Adventures (1997 — 1999).

Related: Batman: Every Returning Version of the Dark Knight Explained

Batman: Caped Crusader

Harley Quinn, Batman, and The Joker in 'Batman: The Animated Series'

Now, a brand-new animated series set for Amazon Prime Video is in the works from Bruce Timm, the creator of the cult classic Batman: The Animated Series , which starred the late Kevin Conroy as the Dark Knight and Star Wars ‘ Mark Hamill as The Joker.

Originally set for HBO but later picked up by Prime, the series comes with a huge twist that breaks new ground for the 85-year-old franchise. The first Batman comic was released in 1939 (“Detective Comics #27”), and now, Gotham City is set to go back to that era in Batman: Caped Crusader (2024).

Related: Confirmed: Michael Keaton’s Batman Will Finally Return in Direct Sequel to 1989 Film

A Different Kind of Gotham City

Batman on a skyscraper with lightning behind him in 'Batman: The Animated Series'

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly , Bruce Timm talks about the decision behind the period-piece setting, explaining that all the modern technology seen in most iterations of the world-famous superhero were a no-go for him and character designer James Tucker:

“James [Tucker] and I are both really big fans of movies from that era [the 1940s], so we decided to really lean into that in terms of the clothes, the cars, the architecture, and the level of technology. Early on, we decided there would be no computers and no cell phones. That changed everything.”

How will he manage without his grapple-hook, smoke-bombs, and ear-pieces?

Related: Michael Keaton’s Batman History Explained as Official “Burton-Verse” Sequel Looms

Batman: Caped Crusader Characters

Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga) and Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) in 'Joker: Folie à Deux'

While the upcoming series starring “The World’s Greatest Detective” abandons the modern era for a 1940s-set detective noir aesthetic, Caped Crusader still features many Gotham City characters, including Selina Kyle/Catwoman , Clayface, and Harley Quinn.

The two former Rogues Gallery villains’ new look is inspired by their appearance from the original comic, but this time, Quinn is portrayed as Asian-American and has undergone a complete character makeover (and no, we aren’t talking about her jester outfit).

“I co-created the character, so I have a lot of love and affection for her,” Timm says, “but I thought there might be something interesting about bringing her on the show, just not as Joker’s girlfriend. So how do we do that? A big part was just doing a basic flip. The original Dr. Quinzel was a little bit more serious, and then when she became Harley, she got really goofy and weird. So we thought, what if we reverse that? When she’s Dr. Quinzel, she’s a little bit more whimsical and fun, and then when she’s Harley Quinn, she’s scary.”

In recent years, Harley Quinn has been made famous by Margot Robbie in the DC Universe (DCU) Suicide Squad movies. Later this year, however, superstar Lady Gaga will take on the iconic role in the highly anticipated sequel Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) .

Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn looking happy in 'Birds of Prey' (2020)

In Caped Crusader , Dr. Harley Quinzel doesn’t occupy her usual Arkham Asylum setting. Instead, she’s assigned to treating Bruce Wayne of all people. But even the Gotham vigilante won’t be the one you’re so often used to seeing across all forms of media . This time, he’s described as “a really weird human being” who isn’t “obsessed with his parents’ murder” but that “he’s still not adjusted to being a human being.”

Ben Affleck as Batman in 'Batman v Superman'

“He’s literally Batman; inside, that’s who he is,” Timm explains. “Whenever he’s Bruce Wayne, that’s not just him with a mask off, that’s him wearing a person suit. He’s trying to pretend to be something that he’s not.”

Tucker adds, “The idea was to keep him so removed that no one knows who he is, and no one knows what he’s about. We try to wipe out the foregone conclusion that he’s a hero, whether it’s for the police, regular citizens of Gotham, or the viewers.”

Variety has shared a set of first-look photos from the series which show Bruce Wayne/Batman, Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Clayface, Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn, and Commissioner James “Jim” Gordon.

No voice actors have been confirmed. The late Kevin Conroy, who voiced the iconic hero in several animated shows, movies, and games, would have been an obvious choice, however, there are plenty of other “legacy” actors who could reprise their roles in the new series, such as Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, and Robert Pattinson.

What’s Batman: Caped Crusader About?

Here’s the official logline for Batman: Caped Crusader :

“Welcome to Gotham City, where the corrupt outnumber the good, criminals run rampant and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear. Forged in the fire of tragedy, wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne becomes something both more and less than human—the BATMAN. His one-man crusade for justice attracts unexpected allies within the GCPD and City Hall, but his heroic actions spawn deadly, unforeseen ramifications.”

After Caped Crusader was scrapped at HBO, Prime Video ordered two seasons of the show.

When’s It Available to Stream?

The first season (which has 10 episodes) will be available to stream on August 1.

Batman: Caped Crusader is produced under Warner Bros. Animation, Bad Robot Productions, and 6th & Idaho. JJ Abrams, Bruce Timm, Ed Brubaker, James Tucker, Daniel Pipski, Rachel Rusch Rich, Sam Register, and Matt Reeves (director of The Batman ) are all onboard as executive producers.

Are you excited about the new animated series? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!

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