Article by Eric Lee
The Batman director Matt Reeves has confirmed that the film will not focus on another origin story of the character.
When talking with Nerdist, Reeves made it clear that the origin will only be acknowledged. According to Reeves, his Batman will have some experience under his belt, but he is still figuring himself out.
I wanted to do not an origin tale, but a tale that would still acknowledge his origins, in that it formed who he is. Like this guy, he’s majorly struggling, and this is how he’s trying to rise above that struggle. But that doesn’t mean that he even fully understands, you know. It’s that whole idea of the shadow self and what’s driving you, and how much of that you can incorporate, and how much of it you’re doing that you’re unaware of.
It sounds like Reeves is trying to hit that sweet spot in Batman’s career where he is not a beginner, but still naive to certain elements of crime fighting. It seems similar to Marvel’s approach in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Many popular Batman tales are set in that time period, including the acclaimed The Long Halloween and Dark Victory.
It’s a wise creative choice to start Batman at a pivotal moment in his career. At this point, Batman is so well-known to most people around the world, it would be repetitive to do another origin story. Also, Batman Begins covered that ground so well, so why try to top that?
Reeves on the Psychology of the Character
Reeves went on to describe The Batman as a more “humanistic” movie. It will greatly appeal to the psychological underpinnings of the character.
There’s something in there that feels very psychological, very emotional, and it felt like there was a way of exploring that along with the corruption in this place, Gotham. That feels very current. I think it always does. There’s almost no time when you can’t do a story about corruption. But today, it still seems incredibly resonant and maybe, from my perspective, maybe more so than maybe at other time.
Honestly, many themes that Reeves wants to explore sound like they’ll share familiar ground with Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, but Reeves is right, because themes of loneliness and corruption will forever be resonant in society.
The Batman is scheduled to come out on June 25, 2021.