‘The Batman 2’ Writer Mattson Tomlin Confirms He Considers Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight To Be On The Autism Spectrum
Call it woke if you want, but Matt Reeves indeed injected a greater amount of diversity into his Batman where there wasn’t before. Jim Gordon and Selina Kyle were both Black, for instance, even if it was only a result of casting Jeffrey Wright and Zoe Kravitz. However, that’s not the end of it, according to one writer on the film.
‘Representation’ potentially took another form that will sound like a joke to critics of Reeves’s Bat-Verse, but for screenwriter Mattson Tomlin, it’s completely serious. He answered an X user in the affirmative that Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne/Dark Knight is neurodivergent or on the autism spectrum.
“Since you alluded to it in The Imposter [Tomlin’s DC Black Label Batman book], was there any intent in Bruce possibly being read as autistic or neurodivergent in The Batman? As someone on the spectrum, there were a lot of little moments where I really connected to him on that level,” wondered Smart Alec.
Tomlin quoted the post and responded, “Of course.” On the surface, you can write this off as pandering to a certain crowd, but other comments he made back up his answer. Coming from anyone else, this would be a fan theory. However, Tomlin is no amateur theorist or armchair quarterback; he was a writer on The Batman, which he is quick to remind everybody, though his services were called upon late in the game.
“Yeah, I’ll be honest about it. It was a painful thing to have happen. I put a lot of time and a lot of heart in. I had a really, really great time working with Matt on that first movie. And when I got brought in, it was kind of said, ‘Look, we’re so late in this process that you’re probably not going to get credit.’ So nobody did anything to me. I wasn’t screwed over,” he recounted to The Hollywood Reporter in 2024.
“We ended up doing so much, not just on the third act, but then heightening things in the mystery, and the first two acts – that then there was kind of a moment of, ‘Oh, wait, maybe there’s a chance [I’ll get credit].’ But that’s all that it was. And then my name got out there in public, which is always kind of a bad idea. So, then I’m associated with this thing,” Tomlin added.
“So I found out the day that the Fandome trailer came out [in August 2020]. On the one hand, it was like, ‘Wow, there it is!’ And on the other hand, it’s like, ‘…and I don’t have anything to do with this anymore.’ And that was a little bit of a heartbreak, and there was a level of, dare I say, having to grow up and having to go, ‘You know what? They paid me. I’m a professional, so be a professional and try not to take that too hard,'” he said.
Writing credit went to Reeves and Peter Craig due to Writer’s Guild rules, but Tomlin has full-fledged involvement with Part 2’s script, meaning his vision is partially crafting this world and who/what its Dark Knight is supposed to be. If Reeves’ version of the vigilante has a form of autism, it’s the intention of the writers, who probably had more of a say than Pattinson in how cold, emo, and aloof the depiction was.
“There was such a tremendous emotional catharsis for me, because Batman means a ton to me. And I think that when you’re a writer, a director, a creator, you’re trying to do things that matter to you, but also that matter to audiences. And all the scary thoughts came. The [impostor] syndrome came, and the thoughts of, ‘Oh, am I going to be the footnote in a Wikipedia article of, ‘Oh yeah, he had something to do with that one, and that was his career?” Tomlin went on to say to THR.
“All that dark, scary stuff happened. And it’s still there, by the way, but it was kind of this moment of, ‘OK – it’s not even a redemption arc. It’s more like, now I get to prove myself. Now I get the big boy job.’ And so, all of that is to say, I am forever, forever in debt to Matt Reeves. He’s changed my life three times over now,” he added.
Tomlin still has to prove himself to fans, but whatever he and Matt Reeves came up with won over James Gunn. After three years, The Batman 2‘s script is finally done, and Reeves posted a cryptic reveal of the cover page on Instagram, tagging Tomlin.
While everyone speculates what characters and surprises are in store, the story contained within those pages is under lock and key. Still, that doesn’t stop the Internet and some in the media from dreaming or manifesting as hard as they can, only to be shot down.
In the case of sidekicks, despite a rumor that caught fire, James Gunn denies that Robin will be in the film. “Guys please stop believing this nonsense. I think six of us have read the script. No one knows anything about the Batman 2,” he said on Threads.
The Batman 2 is finally on track for a spring 2026 start to production with the aim of an October 2027 release.
