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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For his audition, Pattinson didn't get a custom suit, he was put in Val Kilmer's actual Batman Forever costume. The cowl was way too big and made him look like a bobblehead, so the crew swapped it for George Clooney's cowl from Batman & Robin instead. Funnily enough, Christian Bale went through basically the same setup for his own Dark Knight screen test years earlier.
Eagle-eyed viewers on HBO Max spotted that Riddler's rundown apartment sits directly across from the Iceberg Lounge, the exact spot where most of his incriminating evidence photos would've been taken. Reeves personally confirmed the detail was intentional once fans clocked it.
There's a mention of Blüdhaven tucked into the film, the neighbouring city that first showed up in 1996's Nightwing #1 comic. In the wider DC mythology it's where Dick Grayson eventually sets up shop as Nightwing, so it's a nice bit of world-building for anyone who clocked it.
By the end of the movie Bruce consciously shifts his mission away from vengeance and toward hope for Gotham. That exact turn is lifted straight from the graphic novel Batman: Ego, which Reeves has repeatedly cited as one of the single biggest influences on the whole film.
