With the premier of the DC and Warner Bros. film The Batman just one week away, fans are excited to see Robert Pattinson take the superhero industry by storm. As the movie's titular character, Pattinson’s Batman will be forced to confront enemies that no live-action Bruce Wayne has dealt with for a very long time, in a world that looks much different from the DCEU viewers have come to expect.
The Batman is set to be a standalone piece, meaning the project currently has no ties to any other DCEU projects that have been created thus far. This means there shouldn't be tons of Easter eggs for viewers to search for, and the chances of there being a cameo from other DC fan favorites is slim to none.
Rather than building upon a universe that's already been created, The Batman explores uncharted territory in a world that's entirely Pattinson’s own. The story is meant to focus solely on Pattinson’s Batman, and the other characters associated with him, detailing his journey into heroism in a unique, DC inspired setting.
Having become separate from all other DCEU heroes that have been given their time on the big screen, The Batman appears to be returning to the original, “small scale” superhero-style film. The characters and conflict are grounded in a single reality, with the attention on what’s happening to Bruce Wayne alone. As of right now, nothing fans have seen implies that Pattinson’s Batman will have any major connections to other DC characters, like Superman, Aquaman, or even versions of Batman that have existed in the DCEU prior to Pattinson's revival of the hero.
Taking a step back from the larger DCEU, Pattinson’s Batman and others like Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman have been given the opportunity to shine all on their own. Without any connections to other DC projects that have been released, The Batman is a refreshing change of pace that will either fail or succeed on its own merit. Deviating from the classic DC narrative has effectively removed The Batman from all other renditions of the character, opening doors for Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne that fans haven’t seen in quite some time.
The tone of the film, for example, is much darker than anything the DCEU has made (based on what can be seen in the trailers). Pattinson’s Batman is very much a vigilante, having no qualms about doing whatever it takes to preserve the greater good. Yes, DC and Warner Bros. have done similar work with characters in movies like The Suicide Squad, but what sets Pattinson’s Batman apart from the other characters is how unapologetically human he feels.
A lot of DCEU heroes come off as being so super, they’re untouchable and entirely non-human.The characters that do feel more human, like Harley Quinn, have an added flare of humor and vulgarity, which is something The Batman doesn’t really have. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with characters who fall into this “untouchable” category, it just means that Pattinson’s Batman is different from the rest of the DC characters, plain and simple
Additionally, the choice of villain for the film sets it even further apart from the rest of the DCEU, because the Joker will not have any impact on the storyline. The “Batman vs Joker” conflict has been overworked and redone so many times, in so many formats, that the story feels tired. The phenomenal performance Heath Ledger gave as the Joker in The Dark Knight trilogy has made it almost impossible for there to be a better retelling of this classic comic book feud and fans are still obsessed with how well he played the character.
As a result, any other live-action Batman and Joker showdowns are already doomed to fail, because fans have such high expectations, thanks to Ledger’s ability to flawlessly embody the character. Having the Riddler be the primary antagonist of The Batman offers fans a sense of nostalgia for the popular villain, without going down the same, predictable Batman and Joker storyline that’s been in the media for many years now.
If The Batman were to be connected to the DCEU, the film would look much different from how it does right now. The story would have to have some sort of connection to the storylines other characters are dealing with in that larger universe, even if it’s something as minor as having Superman appear from the neck-down, like he did in Shazam!.
With so many mixed reviews and conflicting emotions from fans about the DCEU, distancing The Batman from all the franchise’s other failures and successes was the best thing DC and Warner Bros. could have done for the character. There aren’t any major expectations for the film to fix past plot holes, or pick up where another movie’s story has left off. Ditching the complications of preceding films and creating a strong standalone piece is what will make The Batman so great, and the film will surely succeed because of what it isn’t, along with what it is.
The Batman flies into theaters March 4th, 2022.
