During the DC FanDome digital event in late August 2020, Warner Bros. released the first
trailer for The Batman, the upcoming 2021 feature that stars Robert Pattinson as a younger,
even broodier Dark Knight.
While the trailer doesn't give away much, seeing how only 25 percent of the film was
shot before the pandemic halted production, it's peppered with numerous clues and at least
one big, secret tease that possibly hints toward a grander conspiracy.
The Batman writer-director Matt Reeves hinted at such when he spoke at DC FanDome, teasing
that the film will peel back the layers of Batman's origins and take a closer look at
Bruce Wayne's family, particularly what role they played in Gotham City declining into
corruption.
"You start to see as it starts to describe this epic history of corruption in Gotham,
that you start to understand, 'Well, where did my family sit in that?'"
Reeves' statement, revealing that the movie will touch on Bruce Wayne's origins and question
what involvement his family might have had in corrupting Gotham in the first place, has
set the internet ablaze with a mind-blowing theory.
While there's almost certainly some degree of misdirection going on, if you take The
Batman trailer at face value there are several big takeaways presented.
One, the Riddler is the central antagonist, and he seems to be taking things a little
bit more seriously this time.
"Does anybody else feel like a fried egg?!"
Two, this is a younger, angrier Bruce Wayne, still learning the ropes of this whole "being
a vigilante" thing.
And three, the Riddler, for whatever reason, is not only leaving clues for the Batman,
but also creepy personal messages, foreshadowing a personal vendetta that seems to be a mystery
for even Bruce Wayne.
"You're a part of this, too."
"How am I a part of it?"
"You'll see."
From here, many fans have theorized that a deeper conspiracy is afoot, one that revolves
around the Riddler potentially knowing far more about the Batman than he lets on.
There's some basis for this in the comics: The Riddler is often presented as a brilliant
but socially awkward manipulator who plays people like chess pieces, albeit in weird
ways.
In the storyline "Hush," he deduces Batman's secret identity.
So, what if he's done the same thing in The Batman?
What if the Riddler knows Bruce Wayne is Batman, using that information as a motivator in his
twisted games?
Well, if this ends up being true in The Batman, the classic narrative of the Riddler leaving
clues out of an abstract, intellectual desire to match wits with an equal might be completely
upended.
Furthermore, if this theory is correct, then the Riddler isn't just leaving riddles to
tease Bruce about knowing his weird little nighttime habit, he has bigger ambitions.
What ambitions, though?
As a number of eagle-eyed fans have noted, the trailer for The Batman depicts the Riddler
leaving Batman a card with an owl on the front, and that points them to another area of the
Waynes' lives that the Riddler might know about.
"How did you figure this out?"
The Batman has consistently been described as more of a noir-inspired mystery film than
the character's previous movies.
With that framework in mind, every clue matters.
The choice to use owl imagery is probably not an Easter egg, but rather, a clue toward
the involvement of the Court of Owls, a secret society comprised of Gotham's wealthiest leaders,
businessmen, and politicians.
In the comics, the Court of Owls have spent centuries controlling Gotham's underbelly,
enforcing the wealth inequality, crime, and corruption that make the city so infamous.
Now, remember what Reeves said before regarding Batman being forced to question where his
family sat in Gotham's history of corruption: The odds are, given all this, that the Waynes
have a bloodier history than Bruce's parents might've ever told him.
And while the comics have generally depicted Thomas and Martha Wayne as being charitable
and decent figures, whom the Court of Owls directly opposed, the same might not be true
in this film.
It's entirely possible that they may have even been members of the Court of Owls, or
perhaps supported the organization's goals, knowingly or unknowingly.
Alternatively, their opposition to the Court's corruption might have, in this movie at least,
directly led to their deaths.
"It's got of course action, and, you know, all that kind of stuff, but at the end of
it, it also is incredibly personal for him, even though it is this story in which he is
trying to understand and unravel this mystery."
Either way, the Riddler's statement that "You're a part of this, too," implies that the entire
goal of his puzzles might be to force Bruce Wayne to confront his family's dark past.
And if this hypothesis actually proves accurate, it still remains to be seen where the Riddler
stands on all of this.
Is he serving the Court of Owls, for instance, or trying to take them down?
Who knows?
All of this might be wrong, anyway.
In the meantime, it's fun to speculate.
"What does it mean?"
"It's a riddle."
The Batman hits theaters on October 1, 2021.
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