Article by Adam Poncharoensub
In case you’ve somehow managed to miss it, Robert Pattinson is our new Batman. He was officially cast as the titular character in Matt Reeves’ The Batman back in June. Since then, we’ve been finding out that he’s been preparing for the role by reading up on comics and coming up with his own take behind the character. However, researching just isn’t enough because, as much brain as Batman is, he’s just as much brawn.
RBatz mentioned a couple weeks ago that he was in the early stages of training to be bulk up for the character. Now, we have photographic proof of his training.
A picture has appeared on Instagram of Battinson observing a man rolling on his back in what clearly looks like a gym. The caption reads, “Batman is coming.”
Take a look below:
Batman is coming
Thankfully, that caption provided some context, because otherwise, I would have had nothing to be exited out, as I don’t know, nor care about, what RBatz is into. (Hey, he could be into some weird stuff. No judgement here.) So, exactly what does that caption mean? Well, if you look at the person who posted it and if you recognize the man in the photo, you’ll know that he’s not just any random rolling man. A perfunctory Google search tells me that he’s Rigan Machado, an 8th degree red and black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He’s also a teacher to the stars, having taught Vin Diesel, Charlie Hunnam, and Chuck Norris. If you check his website, there’s a photo of him with Keanu Reeves. Now, that’s not any proof that he’s taught him, but if he did, this might be our mightiest Batman yet. A Batman with a better pencil trick than Heath Ledger’s Joker.
My only concern here is that Batman, while likely trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, isn’t really known for that fighting style. Batman is generally more of a grounded brawler, whose objective in most fights is to knock out his opponent with swift, deliberate blows. This type of fighting style is simply too agile and something more so suited for Dick Grayson. Chris Nolan and Christian Bale really nailed it when they had Batman become a practitioner of Krav Maga. Well, it’s very likely that this is simply part of RBatz’s training regiment and there’s likely a lot more to come. Either way, we now for certain that Battinson is training for Batman, and that’s all we can ask for at the moment.
Like I said, if Machado had any hand in training Keanu and is helping Robert Pattinson with his training for Batman, then our new Dark Knight is in good hands.
The Batman hits theatres on June 25, 2021.
