Director Matt Reeves revealed a slew of new details about The Batman at DC FanDome over the weekend, including some hints about the film’s unique take on the iconic Gotham City and how it varies from past cinematic portrayals of the Dark Knight’s home. The Batman will pack Gotham with an extensive collection of classic comic characters, played by a star-studded cast that includes Robert Pattinson, Paul Dano, Zoë Kravitz, Colin Farrell, and Jeffrey Wright.

Reeves’s deeply-stylized take on the caped crusader has been highly anticipated since its announcement. The film follows Pattinson as Bruce Wayne in the second year of his quest to free Gotham from its plague of crime and corruption, with Dano’s Riddler serving as the primary, murderous antagonist. Kravitz’s Catwoman and Farrell’s Penguin will also feature prominently, creating a “rogue gallery” of dangerous characters to face-off against Batman. Of course, Gotham itself is as significant a character to the Batman mythos as any villain he’s fought. The trailer Reeves debuted over the weekend gave fans a glimpse into the latest iteration of Gotham City.

Related: The Batman: Here's The Solution To The Riddler's 'Liar' Riddle

During a Q&A segment at his virtual The Batman panel for DC FanDome, a fan asked Reeves what to expect from his take on Gotham. Reeves said that his goal was to make Gotham “feel like an American city you’d never been to.” He also paid respect to the versions from Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan’s beloved movies. You can read his full quote below:

“The nature of what this place is, and the history of it, is critically important to our story, and one of the things that I really wanted to do – because it is the center of this story, especially the history of corruption in the city – was, I wanted to present it in a way that was really fleshed out. I wanted it to feel like an American city you’d never been to. I mean, other iterations, obviously the Burton one had very, very theatrical, beautiful, beautiful sets, and Nolan had the version that he created in Batman Begins and that was a particular thing, parts of Chicago and parts of Pittsburgh, and what we’re trying to do is create a version of it that you haven’t seen before.”

Tim Burton's Gotham City in red and black like Matt Reeves's The Batman

Reeves mentioned that a particular location from the movie – Gotham Square – was shot in Liverpool, rather than a more recognizable area like New York City, to create a unique look and feel from real-life cities. He also confirmed CGI would modify and add to the existing architecture on location to create a fully realized Gotham.

If the trailer is any indication, The Batman will bring a substantial amount of noir style to the world of the Dark Knight. Taking Reeves’s words in that context, his Gotham will likely be less realist than Nolan’s version, if not quite as colorful and theatrical as Burton’s. This middle ground of combining striking real-world architecture and stylized CGI modification bodes well for the director, who used the same strategy to gorgeous effect in the two most recent Planet of the Apes films.

The Batman's apparent focus on Gotham’s history is also significant, and will likely play into how the city is portrayed in the present day. Though Gotham’s lineage of crime and corruption is an essential part of every Batman story, The Batman's year-two setting presents a unique opportunity to show both the way these characters respond to the city’s past, and the roles they play in shaping its future.

Next: Which Characters Are Talking In The Batman Trailer

Source: DC FanDome

Key Release Dates