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The First Look At The Batman Turned Robert Pattinson Skeptics Into Believers

Ineye Komonibo
Last Updated August 24, 2020, 5:18 PM
Photo: Tibrina Hobson/WireImage.
When word spread that Robert Pattinson had been cast to play Batman in the next iteration of DC films, superhero fans were less than enthusiastic about the casting. After all, why would Edward Cullen of all people take up the mantle of the beloved Caped Crusader? But after seeing the first official trailer for The Batman, the naysayers are singing a different tune — the teaser was just that good.
On Saturday's DC Fandome virtual event, Warner Bros. shared the first full-length trailer for The Batman, blowing even the most diehard DC Comics purists away. The trailer features Pattinson as elusive billionaire-turned-vigilante Bruce Wayne/Batman, attending posh events by day and stalking the crime-ridden streets of Gotham by night. This iteration of comic book canon will follow the events of Batman's second year of crimefighting, in which he races against time to foil the nefarious plans of The Riddler (Paul Dano) and Penguin (Colin Farrell, if you can believe it).
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Stories about Batman have always skewed towards the darker side of the spectrum, but the Tenet actor's turn as the character is strikingly emo, all floppy hair and smudged eyeliner. Fans were blown away by the brief but exciting glimpse at the film, pleasantly surprised by Pattinson's take on the Dark Knight.
If we're being honest, the odds were stacked against Pattinson from the very moment he was cast, so the excitement about his movie is a relief. Batman is one of the most important superheroes in the superhero zeitgeist, especially within the DC Comics universe, so the expectations have always been high for actors cast to bring his story to life. The star is following in the footsteps of Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck, but the Matt Reeves-directed film will clearly take a different turn.
How Pattinson's Batman will fit into the rest of the DC canon is unclear. Batman is a founding member of the Justice League, but Pattinson's hero is not part of the DC Extended Universe, so it is unlikely that we'll see him suit up alongside Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Henry Cavill's Superman (a real shame, if you ask me).
"There’s one earth of this beginning Justice League, and there’s another Earth where there’s this growing Year Two Batman," explained DC Films head Walter Hamada at theMultiverse 101 DC FanDome panel. "Matt Reeves can continue to build out his Gotham. Those are things that we can do because we don’t have to worry about how that would impact Aquaman 2 or The Flash, because it’s all just part of the multiverse.”
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However, we very well may catch Pattinson facing off against Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker in films to come. And before you start comparing that matchup to the 2008 masterpiece The Dark Knight, stop right there — multiple Batmans can exist, and we don't have to pit them against each other.
The Batman will hit theaters on October 1, 2021.
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