While Matt Reeves is keen to establish his take on The Batman as being entirely separate from the DCEU, speculation as to future movies and the introduction of other characters such as Superman is still rife, despite the film not even being out yet.
The trailers, images and posters for The Batman all point towards a darker, more realistic and grounded version of the characters, in the vein of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy. For example, The Riddler is a sadistic serial killer in Reeves’ film, as opposed to a man in green spandex jumping around saying “riddle me this.” Therefore introducing fantasy, superpowers and supernatural elements won’t fit into this world seamlessly. After all, it’s easy to forget that Clark Kent is an alien.
In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Robert Pattinson said that he and Matt Reeves have discussed whether a “powerless” Superman could work in their universe. Another idea that’s been discussed is introducing “grounded” versions of silly, cartoonish villains such as Mr. Freeze.
Pattinson said; “We’ve been talking about how to get the fantastical elements in because Matt’s world, his take on it is so grounded. Like, we were talking the other day, like, ‘Can you add Superman into it but he just doesn’t have any powers? He’s just a guy in a cape? He’s just like, ‘I’m Superman!’ And they’re like, ‘So?'”
Reeves added; “In my view, I just feel drawn to finding the grounded version of everything. To me, it would be a challenge in an interesting way to try to figure out how that could happen. Even the idea of something like Mr. Freeze, that’s such a great story, right? I think there’s actually a grounded version of that story that could be really powerful and could be really great.”
If you’re planning on brushing up on all things Batmen before the new one is released, check out our guide on how to watch the Batman movies in order.