Two years into the never-ending mission to rid Gotham City of violence and municipal corruption, reclusive billionaire and masked vigilante Bruce Wayne realises that the vast metropolis still oozes with crime. With the mayor killed at the hands of the Riddler, a psychotic terrorist hitting corrupt high-profile targets, Bruce joins forces with Commissioner Gordon to piece clues together and take down the elusive killer obsessed with the Wayne family and Bruce himself. As Gotham's self-appointed dark knight tries to find his feet, a white-knuckle, cat-and-mouse game attracts cryptic allies and dangerous adversaries, and no one is safe from harm. But is The Batman a blessing or a curse? A friend or a foe?
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Before it settled on the simple, blunt title we all know, Matt Reeves' film was going by the working title 'Vengeance' during production. Given how much the movie leans into Bruce's obsession with payback (and that improvised line he screams at the train station), it's honestly a fitting alternate name.
Reeves has said he had Nirvana's 'Something In The Way' on repeat while writing the first act, and that's what led him away from the classic playboy Bruce Wayne. Instead he pictured a grieving recluse holed up in a decaying mansion, basically a fictionalised Kurt Cobain in a cape.
Every other live-action Batman has taken the cowl off and the black eye makeup just magically vanishes. This is the first version to actually address it, with Bruce's smudged, running eye makeup treated as part of the character rather than a continuity error nobody talks about.
Pattinson's screen test for the role happened in May 2019 while he was mid-rehearsal for Tenet in LA. He told Nolan he had a family emergency to slip away, and Nolan immediately clocked what was actually going on and called him out on it.
Reeves has pointed to Fredo from The Godfather as a direct inspiration for Colin Farrell's Oswald Cobblepot, the idea being a guy everyone underestimates and writes off, but who's actually got real ambition and menace bubbling under the surface.
That brief, unsettling Arkham scene where Keoghan's scarred prisoner chats with Riddler almost didn't make the final cut of the movie. It's easy to miss on a first watch, but it's the character's first live-action appearance in this new universe.
Kravitz's history with Selina Kyle didn't start on this film's set. She actually voiced Catwoman for a cameo appearance back in 2017's The Lego Batman Movie, years before Reeves cast her in the live-action role.
Kravitz tried out for a small, unnamed role in 2012's The Dark Knight Rises and was reportedly told the studio wasn't going 'urban' for that part. A story she's told a couple of times since, long before Selina Kyle ever ended up being hers.
Cinematographer Greig Fraser called this the most complicated lighting job he'd ever tackled, saying the real challenge was finding the right balance of darkness and light specifically for how Batman himself needed to look on screen.
There's apparently a tradition of Batman actors passing down survival tips. Pattinson got advice from Christian Bale, and Kravitz got hers from Michelle Pfeiffer, and it all boiled down to the same practical thing: figure out how you're going to use the toilet while wearing that suit.
