Theory: Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s The Batman Is A Reboot of the Character
Whether the DC Extended Universe is being reset is the subject of debate. There is still a question of if The Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman 1984 are sequels, reboots, or fall somewhere in the middle as soft reboots. You can wonder the same of Shazam!, Aquaman, and future installments of those franchises.
One film in the slate, however, stands out because it is shaping up to be a total reboot. That, of course, is The Batman and Armin of the Comic Book Cast makes the case in his latest news vlog. In short, between its casting rumors and updates and the standalone nature of related properties such as Joker, Matt Reeves is setting up for a restart, by all accounts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX3VfFWJwfI&feature=youtu.be
Moonlighting as Police Commissioner
Armin says to look at reports and the big sign The Batman will be a full-on reboot is the potential casting of the Oscar-winning Mahershala Ali as Jim Gordon. The Commissioner of Gotham PD was played by JK Simmons in Justice League and for Reeves’ story to be any kind of prequel, Gordon could not start out as another race and wind up white when he gets older. That makes absolutely no sense, obviously. (Related: Graphic Artist Imagines Mahershala Ali as Marvel’s Blade)
Explains Armin:
“This is where it becomes obvious that things aren’t lining up with the DCEU anymore. I mean this puts it into a weird scenario where Jim Gordon completely changes into another actor…in every regard…that’s a problem, right?”
Twilight of the Bat
Robert Pattinson can be viewed in a similar way. Though younger, he doesn’t grow up to be Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight. Hardly looking the same as Batfleck, Pattinson is a different Bruce Wayne. (Related — The Batman: Robert Pattinson’s Quest to Become the Dark Knight )
More importantly, as Armin says, Reeves is not plugging someone into a scenario without stakes that had its outcome spoiled from the beginning:
“Naturally, they cast a much younger version of Batman…they’re not gonna try to make us believe…grows up into being Ben Affleck. That’s just not gonna happen for story reasons but also appearance reasons…having to shove him into that world…where you kind of know how his story ends just takes away a lot of the mystery…”
No More Shared Universe
Echoing the words of Warner Bros. chairman Toby Emmerich and producer Peter Safran from months ago, Armin notes WB Pictures is moving away from the shared-universe model, focusing on unique visions, and may reassemble the Justice League, later on, worrying not about what came before. (Related: DC Entertainment Producer Peter Safran Confirms Batman and Joker Can Have A Dark Tone)
Armin concluded:
“And to me…this sort of solidifies why Matt Reeves took on this Batman. It’s his story, it’s gonna be his vision, and he doesn’t want to be beholden to everything that came before.”
With that, Matt Reeves’ The Batman could be a total reboot of the character. The film hits theaters in 2021. It’s said to be a detective story based on The Long Halloween. Reeves is rumored to still be looking for his Catwoman, but may have already cast Andy Serkis as one of the villains. Besides Catwoman, expected rogues include Penguin, Two-Face, Riddler, Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy, and Firefly. (Related: Rihanna Addresses Whether She Will Be Poison Ivy in The Batman)
Do you think The Batman is a reboot? Are you looking forward to a brand-new DCEU? Reply below.
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