The Batman director and producer explain why the upcoming movie exists outside of the DC Extended Universe. While the superhero franchise has had its own Caped Crusader played by Ben Affleck, who will reprise the role in next year's The Flash, this film from Planet of the Apes filmmaker Matt Reeves will introduce Robert Pattinson as a new version of the popular character. After enduring some pandemic-related delays to production, The Batman is currently scheduled to hit theaters on March 4, 2022.

Earlier in its development, The Batman was intended as the first solo-project for Affleck's Batman, with the actor also set to direct, write, and produce. Once Reeves was brought on, however, he expressed the desire to explore a Bruce Wayne still in the early days of his vigilante career, and Affleck ultimately left the film entirely. Rather than have Pattinson play a younger version of the DCEU character, however, the filmmakers opted to have the movie stand apart from their shared continuity, much in the vein of Todd Phillips' Joker in 2019.

Related: What Ben Affleck's Solo Batman Movie Was About (Snyder Cut Setup)

Now, as part of a feature on The Batman in Empire, Reeves and producer Dylan Clark explain the reasoning behind the decision to make a standalone movie. For the director, it was most important that he "be able to create an iteration with a personal aspect to it," and having to "connect with all these other things" in the DCEU would've been an impediment to that process. Clark notes that the studio behind the franchise, Warner Bros., has been interested in exploring their characters from as many angles as possible, which allowed The Batman team to ignore anything else being done with the same hero. Check out Clark's quote below:

Warner Bros. has a multiverse where they're exploring different ways to use the character ... We don't get involved in that. Matt is interested in pushing this character to his emotional depths and shaking him to his core.

The Batman Riddler Paul Dano

Based on The Batman trailers released so far, Reeves is pursuing a darker version of Bruce Wayne than has been explored on the big screen before - and that's saying something. Numerous big-name villains feature alongside Pattinson's hero, including Colin Farrell as Penguin and Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, though the main antagonist seems to be Riddler, played by Paul Dano. While many previous depictions of Riddler have played up the character's cartoonish qualities, Reeves based his interpretation on the real-life Zodiac Killer, who famously taunted police and the press with cyphers en route to never being caught.

Given the direction it seems to be heading, establishing The Batman as a standalone certainly makes sense for WB, as they're unlikely to be eager to make a Zodiac-esque Riddler canon in their family-friendly franchise. Clark's description of the studio's approach as multiversal is also interesting, given that their competitors over at Marvel Studios are embracing the multiverse in their storytelling in a very different way, pulling outside characters into their shared continuity. Only time will tell if audiences embrace The Batman in the way they seem to have embraced Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Next: Penguin's Spinoff Hints His The Batman Role May Be Disappointing

Source: Empire

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