Two days ago the fans of DC films were struck a hefty blow as Ben Affleck confirmed that he would not be donning the cowl again in the Matt Reeves solo film The Batman. While Affleck's casting may have initially sparked a great deal of controversy, he won over most people with his dynamic performance that brought the veteran Batman we saw in the Frank Miller classic: The Dark Knight Returns. While Ben Affleck's tenure in the cowl had been a topic of debate for some time (starting with his exit from the director's chair for the solo Batman project), there were many (myself included) that had hoped for him to stick around for his own solo outing and bring the character to a whole new level.
With Ben Affleck gone, the topic on the tip of everyone's tongues is obvious: "Who will play Batman now?" It is rumored that Reeves is looking for a younger, but not too young actor and that Warner Brothers wants a "familiar face" to carry the franchise. What this tells me is that, for starters, this film will NOT be an origin story, but instead will more likely focus on a Batman in his prime (i.e his late 20s early 30s). However, while everyone has their top fan picks for who they would like to take up the cowl next (I am personally hoping for either John Hamm, or Armie Hammer), I feel like the most interesting topic is that of just what exactly is this film looking to set up.
Matt Reeves has spoken many times in interviews on his direction for The Batman being a detective noir piece, focusing on elements of the Dark Knight that have sadly fallen by the wayside in his silver screen adaptations. However, in addition to this Reeves had also mentioned a desire for this to be the first of a trilogy of films, and considering both the age Reeves is looking for and the direction this standalone seems to be going I have a few guesses of my own, or at least I know what I would be building towards.
Reeves has recently given us some hints as to the scope of this film, that it will have several members of Batman's iconic Rogues Gallery. With that in mind, I feel like this movie will serve to humble The Batman with a particular purpose in mind, Batman taking in Robin. While it has certainly been done on the film before, it was no picnic as Joel Schumakers Batman: Forever and Batman & Robin are blights on both Batman and the comic book movie genre in general. Properly depicting the relationship of Batman and Robin are I feel the only route that Reeves could do with a trilogy given the age he is looking for with his Batman.
This doesn't count for much, and this is purely conjecture, so please DO NOT take this as gospel, I have no sources to back this up as fact, only my own deductions based off of Reeves' statements in interviews as well as how I would envision to do the film myself. That being said, I am going to take a stab at how I personally believe this film is going to or should go:
I feel that the film is going to start off with Batman being about 5 years or so into his carrer as Batman. This will give him ample time to have been established and have quite a few members of his Rogues gallery established as well. For the most part he has the criminal element of Gotham on the ropes and they are all terrified of him which has given way to Bruce become a bit more wreckless and arrogant. The members of his Rogues will more than likely be brought together by one of the big names in the gallery (if reports are correct I would bank on this being the Penguin). Throughout the film Alfred is going to be pressuring Bruce into either dialing back his nighttime activities or at the very least look into recruiting a partner to have his back, but Bruce pushes back, that what he does is needed and that he doesn't need someone slowing him down. However, throughout the film Batman is in a two way man hunt that puts all his abilities to the test. His villains have declared open season on bats in Gotham and with all his enemies working together on a unified front, Bruce has to find a way to dissolve this deadly alliance and bring down the head of the operation (again I would assume this would be Penguin). By the end of the film, Bruce will have barely been able to stop this threat and the experience will humble him and it would close with Bruce confiding in Alfred that he was right, Bruce can't do this alone forever and that he's going to keep an open mind to bringing in a partner. The end of the film should then be a post credit scene that shows the crime scene of the Death of the Flying Graysons and Bruce Wayne meeting Dick Grayson.Matt Reeves has talked a lot about exploring avenues of Batman that have not been explored before, and probably the biggest of those avenues to be explored is the role of mentor and father to the Robins. While Robin has appeared in movies before, they really give this dynamic the short end of the stick as Robin in the Schumaker films already had the skill sets needed to be Batman's sidekick (which by the way is ridiculous). This is a golden opportunity to show both Bruce at his most empathetic as a man still stuck in a single moment in his childhood (the death of his own parents), while also showing his brutal side as a trainer. Bruce does not hold back on these kids at all. Most people would hold back when training a kid, but not Bruce. His logic is: "The thug in the alley isn't going to, so why would I. Train like you fight!" Given Reeves' statements a few months ago on the dual nature of the character, comparing him to Jekyll and Hyde, I really feel like Bruce's relationship with the Robins is the perfect example of this.
To reiterate again, this is not something I can prove, so I hope that this isn't blown out of proportion as a rumored report. I have no sources, I am just making my own deductions based off of what has been said, what has been done with this character in the past, and what fans would like to see from the character, and as such I feel like it's about damn time for a good Batman and Robin film.
This has been another edition of Comic Relief! I hope you have enjoyed and we will see you again next time!
-Michael
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