Despite Batman existing in films almost consistently in the past decade, it has been a long time since he has appeared in a solo movie. The Batman is yet another reboot, and it comes with problems, though most of these issues are easily ignorable. This is seemingly why the film has been doing great in reviews.
As far as storytelling goes, The Batman finds itself closer with its animated counterparts. Batman is finally a detective in one of these DC movies with most action set-pieces being minimal. That's good, but there are some plot holes and lingering questions that even the great detective may struggle to answer.
Warning: There will be spoilers ahead.
8 Was That The Joker?
The obvious answer is yes. The man in the prison cell next to The Riddler was most definitely The Joker within a 0.09% margin of error. It is a bit disappointing. He is Batman’s greatest villain, but that doesn’t mean the live-action films have to keep bringing him back — Joker stories are as out of date as origin stories are for Batman.
It’s a bit odd to see him again, but there is still hope for some originality in the sequel. In case fans didn’t catch it, that was Barry Keoghan. He is credited as an unnamed Arkham prisoner but no one hires Barry Keoghan to be a nobody.
7 Two Candidates For Robin
There are two characters in The Batman that could have been setups for possible Robins. The first viewers see is the clown thug with the half-painted mask who runs away. He is played by Jay Lycurgo, who is credited as “Train Gang Young Member.” Interestingly enough, Lycurgo is set to play Tim Drake in the third season of Titans.
Tim Drake was the third iteration of Robin right after Jason Todd. Now, while Todd wasn’t in the movie, he could have gotten a nod. The opening scene has Don Mitchell Jr dressed in a red ninja outfit. This could have been referencing Red Hood, an alter ego of Todd. Could Don Mitchell Jr. be the essence of Jason Todd?
6 Will There Be A Catwoman Spinoff?
Instead of bringing Catwoman back into the sequel with a clustered cast of characters, the writers sent her away. Where? She says she is going to Bludhaven, which is indeed a section past Gotham City in the comics. This is an interesting move that might be a setup for a solo Catwoman movie.
The first solo act failed terrifically, and she has never gotten another shot at the big time. Instead of making a larger DC universe, this might be the first sign that they are more interested in a smaller Batman universe. It would be a similar strategy to the Spider-Man universe Sony is trying to build.
5 The Memorial Service
There are a few things that don’t make sense about the memorial scene in The Batman. One of the whole aspects behind The Riddler’s plan was to flush Falcone out of hiding. He is there in plain daylight and yet The Riddler doesn’t take him down. He instead wheels in the DA with an elaborate bomb scheme.
This is another strange part. This service is in the daytime and Bruce doesn’t return as Batman until hours later. The Riddler was calling that whole time? Also, when the bomb explodes, why didn’t Batman receive any facial damage?
4 Why Didn’t The Police Unmask Batman?
The memorial service questions keep on racking up. After the explosion, Batman passes out. The police capture him, bring him into an interrogation room and then seemingly wait for him to wake up. Why didn’t they remove the mask and his gadgets? There are seemingly a hundred cops around him? Surely one of them would have gotten antsy and removed the mask.
It’s the one thing that doesn’t make sense in a lot of Batman fiction. The mask should always be the first thing removed in the event of his capture.
3 The Riddler’s Plan
Overall, The Riddler’s plan is like a magic show. He, and the movie, want viewers to think his scheme is leading toward some big reveal. It ends up being yet another terrorist attack against Gotham City. He blows up the sea wall to rush the citizens to a shelter. He then recruits gunners to shoot said citizens while they are trapped.
Why? He fights corruption throughout the movie and yet, in the end, he wants to kill random citizens? It doesn’t fit with his character. It still feels like he is hiding something from Batman at the end.
2 Using The Floor As A Conspiracy Board
One of the stranger things Bruce does is turn his living room floor into a conspiracy board. He compiles all of the evidence and lays it down on the floor. He then sprays paint around to connect the proverbial dots.
The airborne shot looks cool in the movie, but only to viewers. What does Bruce see? Surely he can’t read any of that from his angle. Wouldn’t it have been more efficient to feed this data into his computer and then make a virtual board?
1 The Car Chase
There are two moments where viewers may outright scoff or groan in The Batman. There was the aforementioned reveal of the Joker and then there was the car chase scene with The Penguin. The Batmobile versus whatever car The Penguin was driving was a high-impact scene. It had everything a fan would want in a car chase movie scene.
However, it is hard not to laugh at the absurdity of Batman finding a ramp at the perfect time to jump the flames. Also, all that driving probably killed dozens of innocents. So, way to go, master of justice.