After releasing my full movie breakdown for The
Batman, there were still many things to discuss surrounding the plot events and teases in
this new take on Gotham that director Matt Reeves
has brought to the big screen.
From the big villain cameo, to potential teases of other villains in sequels, to where the
current main characters are left in this first film, I'm going
to be answering some of the biggest questions from The Batman in the aim to extend our knowledge
and add to the conversation of this epic comic book film.
This analysis will also contain spoilers, so if you do happen to be someone
who hasn't seen the film yet, then I would recommend watching this video after you've
seen it.
Also, a lot of things I discuss continue or build on what I explained in my full movie
breakdown the other day, so I would definitely suggest checking that video out first, which
will be linked in the description below.
But if you want to keep up to date on any of my future
content on The Batman, then don't forget to support this video by giving it a like rating,
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But without further a do, lets dive into some of the biggest questions from
The Batman explained.
So with many fans watching The Batman in it's opening weekend, many have come out of the
film with questions surrounding some of the events and wondering what the teases could
mean for the future.
Maybe some of these are just easter eggs or loose ends, but based on how they were introduced
and tackled, I'd put my money on at least some of them being addressed in future
movies or spinoff shows.
While The Batman was a detective thriller that wrapped up most of it's main plotlines
by the concluding act, we were still left with some big questions,
especially with those that relate to the history of the comics, so it's time to address some
of these and do some detective work surrounding what they could mean and the likely answers
for each of them.
Starting with the first big question, one of the things we see occur towards the final
act of The Batman and in particular the moment where the caped crusader is on the brink of
being killed by one of Riddler's goons at Gotham
Square Garden, there comes a point where our protagonist uses a special kind of green liquid,
a performance-enhancing drug if you will.
But what is this fluid, as leading up to that moment,
the film never really touches upon Batman carrying these and we are left to wonder what
it could be.
Of course, this is mainly tied to being a sort of adrenaline that allows the caped crusader
to have one big final burst to stop the last goon.
It's quite comic-booky in that regard and I think that's why it has a lot of people
theorising that it could be something else.
And that something else could connect more to the DC Universe, as for instance, Bane’s
green venom is a kind of steroid that makes the villain
have the super strength we know.
Maybe they are planting the seed for a villain like Bane to come down the line and maybe
he's formed through this venom that Batman used at the end of
the film.
Or maybe it's just another one of the dark knight's tools as a final option to turn too.
Like I say it did seem very fictional and it would be a way of bringing in a character
like Bane down the line, but really that's all we have to go on surrounding that question.
Especially if we consider how much villains Batman has and that any of them could be brought
into the spotlight come the sequels.
And speaking of that extended rogues gallery, it's not just Bane that could have been referenced
in this film, because another reference seems to have gone under the radar for a lot
of viewers, and understandably so.
And I'm speaking of an easter egg surrounding the villain Hush that was showcased during
one of the Riddler's many news reports.
During a scene in the film, it’s revealed to us that Edward Elliot,
a Gotham City journalist, was investigating Thomas Wayne for his connection to Carmine
Falcone and it turns out that he was the reporter shot dead by the mob boss.
Why is this significant to the character Hush, well the name Elliot relates to the surname
of Thomas Elliot, who turns out to be Hush.
And in the comics, Edward Elliot is the Great-Great-Grandfather
of Thomas, known as being one of the men responsible for the construction of this modern-day Gotham.
So with the first film being highly connected to the history of Gotham's corruption
and one of the big plot reveals focussing on the death of a reporter that Bruce at first
thinks his father was solely part of, that would
mean an introdcution of Hush in a sequel, a character who would want revenge, would
be fitting in the current detective storyline.
And not to mention that in the comics, Elliot would
eventually make his return to Gotham following an encounter with Riddler.
He began planning his revenge on Bruce by manipulating other villains.
So could this be a prime way to introduce Hush and especially considering that this
version of Batman is very detective inspired.
Well I think it would and it would make for a complelling next step of this story, continuing
to build on the history of the Waynes and Gotham.
Things could only get deeper and extended to maybe even the court of owls come a third
movie to round out a detective trilogy with these
kind of villains.
It would make for new villains in live-action films but also connect to Hush using the iconic
villains most people know of.
Hush is also the perfect reverse of Batman and it would continue the theme of villains
that are an intellectual and emotional challenge for him.
And not to mention that Hush would be quite the physical challenge too.
But whether or not this tease was just a easter egg or
is actually used in a future movie, it's clear that if there’s one villain in Gotham that
feels right to be brought into Matt Reeves universe,
then it's totally Hush.
Reeves also talked about the character in a recent interview, saying, "I think Hush
is a really interesting one to do.
That doesn't mean that the next one will be Hush.
I just want to say, there are so many interesting characters.
And what we would do next, what we're going to do next if we have that opportunity...
it's still in the planning stages and I have a lot of ideas.
So please don't latch onto this and say, 'Hey, they're doing the Hush movie!'".
So clearly, Reeves hasn't fully decided on Hush or any villain yet, but
it seems he would definitely be a candidate within this ever-growing story and Reeves
definitely considers him an interesting candidate.
But then again, he did speak to a similar regard
on Mr Freeze so it really could be anyone.
But coming to a character who is most likely going to be a part of the sequels, it's time
to discuss the reveal of Barry Keoghan's Joker and what kind of version we could be getting.
Now I am going to be discussing the joker more
in a Batman 2 predictions video separate video in the coming days, but there are some things
that we can discuss about this new potential clown
prince of crime.
So at the end of The Batman, Edward Nashton meets a new friend in the cells of Arkham
Asylum and it's someone we all expected.
The Joker is briefly shown behind the window of his cell door and it raises some
big questions surrounding his future role.
Is this Joker already established and has he already carried out brutal crimes that
lead to him being put in the Asylum?
Has Batman already come in contact with this character beforehand?
Well according to Matt Reeves in a recent interview there was originally going to be
another scene with the Joker in the first Batman film,
and it's one that based on leaks... was actually shown to some test audiences.
He does confirm that this scene will be shown at some point
and I'm guessing it will most likely be seen on the home entertainment release of the film.
The scene included Batman visiting the Joker in jail because he wants advice from a known
killer on how to catch the Riddler.
Obviously, this scene missed the final cut and it's understandable that Reeves wanted
to use the scene in the film as more as a tease of what's to
come.
And according to the filmmaker, the Joker that we do see in this film is not fully the
clown prince of crime we know him to be yet.
Like the other year one influences on the other
characters, that Joker is still forming and the villain we know and love will most likely
be built as the story progresses.
Reeves also said that he’s not even sure that the second film
will feature the Joker.
So this will most likely act as the first seed of a long buildup to when we do eventually
get the the true Joker.
We know he's eventually coming back and will break out of Arkham at some point and maybe
we'll even get an appearance by him in that Arkham Asylum HBO Max show that was announced
the other day.
Reeves also added to his description of this Joker, that he is someone who from
birth has a permanant smile, something you can just about see if you look very closely
and it's heavily inspired by the man who laughs, the
original inspiration for the character of the Joker.
So whenever we do get him, I'm sure we will getting a much more formed version of the
Joker or least see him become the version we
know.
And based on that description, it sure does make this interpretation seem like it's going
to be a pretty terrifying one once fully realised.
What we do know from all of these endings too is that The Batman sequel and
beyond are really going to be exploring a lot of the Batman's rogues gallery, who will
eventually come into the foreground, so expect even more
introspection surrounding Bruce Wayne and deeper psychological dives into some of his
greatest villains like the Joker.
But with the villains out of the way, it's now time to come to some of the other smaller
questions that The Batman left us with.
One that I think a lot of people had surrounding the
central story and relations to that was... who really killed Bruce Wayne's parents?
Towards the end of the film, Batman is given conflicting information by both Alfred and
Falcone about who really was the killer.
Falcone suggests to him that rival crime boss Sal Maroni ordered a hit on the Waynes, whereas
in the hospital scene with Alfred, his Butler tells him that it
was actually Falcone who was responsible, unless it was just a random individual who
carried out the crime.
Both of them aren't fully certain and it leaves Bruce without an answer to the
question that has fueled his trauma and pain, leading him to ultimately becoming a vigilante
of vengeance.
Obviously there's all different interpretations of the waynes death in other
live-action adaptations and comics, so there can always be a differing answer to this.
Or maybe this is part of the genius of Matt Reeves to not have an answer to that very
question.
It is the lingering trauma for Bruce that led
him into becoming what we saw at the beginning of this film and by not having an answer,
maybe it works as an agonizing part of his character
to which there is no definitive answer.
Something he'll have to overcome and move on from.
We'll have to see and this could always be answered as a shock twist in a future movie,
and while we presume it could have been Falcone,
the fact that it wasn't answered in this movie and with Falcone also dying, it suggests to
me that if anything, it would have been someone else.
The question that remains is whether it's just being used as a form of long-term tragedy
or whether it will come back to be an integral element of a future Batman film.
Only time will tell but I am really interested to hear
your thoughts on this question.
Moving on, A little easter egg that I wanted to add into this video, relates to the opening
moment of The Batman's detective story.
One where the Riddler murders Gotham's mayor Don
Mitchell.
This of course develops as the Riddler's games progress and Batman relates and learns more
about the role his parents played in Gotham's corruption.
But a few moments that really resonate with him are the scenes where
he looks on the mayor's son, a boy who is also left without a father.
We see it soon after the opening scene, we then see it at the funeral
scene and it's really just a few of times that Bruce understands the feeling that this
child is going through.
By putting a surpising emphasis on the mayor's son, including when Bruce
further saves him from being hit by a car and then also at the very end when the boy
appreciates Batman's actions during the flooding, are we seeing the beginning of a Robin in
this Batman universe.
This might be reaching but I can understand why some fans may be feeling this way and
it's something that was definitely going through my mind while watching the film.
We don't get a name for the Mayor's son and this could ultimately lead to him being known
as Dick, Jason, Tim, or Damien as he is in the comics.
Also during that opening creepy scene with the Riddler spying in on the mayor, when
the mayor's son is first seen, he's wearing a red ninja costume for Halloween and playing
with a sword.
Robin's costume is of course primarily red, which could be the first of
many hints towards that being the case.
And don't forget that during a Q&A of the critics screening in LA, Robert Pattinson
and Matt Reeves commented on the possibility of seeing a younger
Robin, saying that they'd love to do it justice.
It could just be them finding an answer to that question or stating that they love the
character, but it also could be a way to launch things off with a Robin in the sequels too.
It would also link perfectly into the central orphan themes from this first movie, acting
as a form of Robin's long-lasting pain after
the death of his father.
It's another case of waiting and seeing what Reeves does but there's always the possibility
there.
So coming now to the final question, what will happen next to certain characters from
this first film and in particular, will Catwoman and the Penguin be apart of The Batman 2.
At the end of The Batman there's the small hint that
Batman has never really been able to resist the charms of Selina Kyle's Catwoman and she's
definitely one of his few weaknesses in that regard.
The romance and teases between them became one of the films biggest assets and it get's
us wondering whether we'll see a continuation of that.
The Batman seems to have at least answered half of this question using it's
closing cinematography by Greig Fraser, with a parting shot of Batman and Catwoman riding
their motocycles in eventually differing directions.
Catwoman is off to Bludhaven, and Batman is staying in Gotham to hopefully become the
hero it deserves.
Of course, this scene leaves things open for Selina Kyle to return in a future
movie and maybe what we are looking at is a character that is on the road to becoming
an evolved Catwoman.
Right now, she wants to get out of Gotham and wants Bruce to come with her.
This was never going to happen because Bruce is commited to making Gotham a brighter place.
It'll be interesting to see whether Catwoman does eventually come back and also when will
we see her?
I think Reeves might take a similar route to what he might do with the Joker, in that
she'll come back, but maybe in a third movie.
He could be using this as a time gap for Catwoman to grow into the Catwoman we know
with a new suit and they might even take a similar route to penguin of giving her a spinoff
show to fill in the gaps at Bludhaven.
It's again unclear, but it's something that has us thinking
about the future of this character, who was great in this first film.
And in the mention of Penguin, he's another character who is on the
path to becoming the version of the character we know as time goes on.
His part in the The Batman's story becomes more vital once Falcone dies, and it possibly
leaves him in control of the iceburg lounge and a whole new wave of
crime in Gotham City.
Batman literally narrates this kind of idea to a concluding shot of the penguin at the
end of the film and it seems that he will be an integral villain going forward.
Whether that's in his own spinoff show or in a Batman sequel, we'll have to see.
But what we do know is that all of the damage done by the
Gotham floods leaves Batman, Gordon and the GCPD with a lot of problems when it comes
to patrolling certain areas of the city.
The Penguin is frustrated for much of the film because he
knows that he can become so much more then Falcone ever was, and this will likely play
out in the future.
We'll have to see how Matt Reeves addresses some of these things in future
movies, but right now it has got us all talking about what he could potentially do.
But that was my video discussing some of the biggest questions from The Batman.
It'll be interesting to see how some of the things mentioned will transpire in the next
films and I'm looking forward to seeing where Matt Reeves
vision will ultimately go.
Also, I'm sure there will be many other things that pop up on rewatch from this film and
other examples which you guys may have picked out, so don't forget
to let me know down below in the commnets section.
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