FIRST ‘The Batman’ Trailer REVEALED at DC FanDome

Matt Reeves revealed the first official trailer for his upcoming DC film “The Batman” during DC FanDome on Saturday.

Reeves, who both wrote the script for the film and is directing the film, went into detail during “The Batman” panel about his movie and what we can expect for next year.

Reeves could not have iterated enough how his version of Batman (being played by Robert Pattinson) is much different than anything we have ever seen before on the big or small screen when it comes to adapting the Batman character. Reeves, a massive Batman comics fan, brings his passion and knowledge of the source material and the character into his adaptation.

Reeves went into detail about how when we meet Batman in this film, he is in his second year as the Caped-Crusader. He refers to this point in Bruce Wayne’s life as “a criminological experiment” as he is still learning and figuring things out, charting unknown waters. And we, as the audience, are along for the ride. Reeves refers to this film as a unique type of origin story, as we are not seeing Bruce becoming Batman, but we see him already as Batman becoming the type of hero he is going to be.

This version of Batman, according to Reeves, is driven by an urge and a compulsion to solve crimes, and particularly the murders that are the focus of this film. His Batsuit is practical above all else, and his suit and his tech is still evolving as he is still finding his way as a fledgling crime fighter, seeing what works and what does not.

Reeves promises that comic fans will be very pleased with the versions of his characters, as they have touches on the comics so fans can see familiarity but he put his own and his actors’ own creative liberties into them so they seem original and personal to each performance. Along similar lines, Reeves teases that a lot of Batman’s villains are fledgling too, as Selina Kyle is not strictly “Catwoman” yet and Oswald Cobblepot is just emerging as a criminal kingpin and resents being called “the Penguin.”

From what we can see in the trailer, the star performance for villains will be Paul Dano as The Riddler, who appears to be the main villain for the movie and the driving force of the plot. Reeves relayed how the main plot of the movie revolves around Batman trying to solve this string of murders in Gotham City. From what we can gather from the trailer, it seems these murders are personally linked to Bruce Wayne and Batman. As Reeves promises, these murders will be a key for Bruce to unlock more levels of corruption in Gotham than anyone ever thought possible.

Reeves’s influences seem clear in the trailer, as Reeves cited detective cop thrillers about corruption such as “Chinatown” and “The French Connection,” and in general 1970s street-grounded crime stories as inspiration for the Gotham in his story. This fits with “The Long Halloween” storyline that this story will adapt.

What we see of Pattinson in the trailer is that his version will be raw and dark. We get the sense of the dark cloud that always hangs over Bruce, tormenting him. And from what action we were given, we can clearly see that his Batman will be rough, tough and gritty driven by his own inner rage and turmoil, and the fans could not have asked for a better portrayal.

All of this trailer comes from just 25% of the film having completed filming, which leaves it only to the most anxious and eager minds to see what amazing sequences Reeves can fill the remainder with.

“The Batman” will resume filming this September and is on track for a theatrical release on October 1, 2021.

Check out the full trailer below: