The Batman star Robert Pattinson, who will be donning the cape and cowl this time around, is already looking ahead towards the film's sequels, sharing that he has "mapped" out where his character's psychology leads to.
The Batman will focus heavily on a noir-driven, detective version of the Dark Knight. The film will take place in Bruce Wayne's / Batman's second year of fighting as he is forced to deal with corruption and tracking down a new enemy known as the Riddler, who has a connection to his tragic past. If the trailers are any indication, director Matt Reeves' film appears to be more faithful to the original comics, with an even grittier, more gothic Gotham City that is closer down the path of Tim Burton's Batman films rather than Christopher Nolan's more grounded, realistic trilogy.
Speaking with Empire, Pattinson shared his thoughts on where he would like to take the character next in the upcoming Batman sequels. "I’ve made a kind of map for where Bruce’s psychology would grow over two more movies,” Pattinson says. “I would love to do it.” The Batman producer Dylan Clark added to Pattinson's comments, noting how the latest reboot can set up future stories. “As the first standalone Batman in ten years, the hope is we can lay a foundation that you can build stories upon,” Clark said.
After Ben Affleck's Batman served as more of a side character in Zack Snyder's pre-existing Justice League franchise, which also starred many other iconic heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Flash, The Batman, much like Nolan's trilogy, will solely have its attention on Pattinson's character. While the actor may be looking ahead already, everyone's focus at DC is on the release of Reeves' first film and having it lay the groundwork for future stories.
Even with all of the focus trying to be entirely on The Batman, it's difficult to avoid looking ahead. On top of the two direct planned sequels, two other spin-off series are in early development, one following Colin Farrell's Penguin and the other focusing on the Gotham City Police Department. The latter series was revealed to be set during Batman's first year of crime-fighting, from the perspective of a corrupt GCPD officer. In the meantime, though, let's just hope that The Batman lands with enough audiences (which it looks like it will judging by Reeves' direction and Pattinson's gritty performance).
The Batman also stars Paul Dano as The Riddler, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Peter Sarsgaard as district attorney Gil Colson, and Barry Keoghan as young officer Stanley Merkel.
The Batman is scheduled to be released in theatres on March 4th, 2022.
Source: Empire