One of the most anticipated superhero movies of 2022 is The Batman directed by Matt Reeves. News around the film has gone kind of quiet since its second trailer dropped at DC Fandome back in October, but the dark knight is starting to come out of the shadows with a new plot synopsis for the film that gives new hints of the film’s story. The synopsis starts off as followed:
Two years of stalking the streets as the Batman, striking fear into the hearts of criminals, has led Bruce Wayne deep into the shadows of Gotham City. With only a few trusted allies—Alfred Pennyworth, Lt. James Gordon—amongst the city’s corrupt network of officials and high-profile figures, the lone vigilante has established himself as the sole embodiment of vengeance amongst his fellow citizens.
There is not much new in the beginning of the synopsis as we have known for a while that this is very much an early-career Batman story in the same vein as The Long Halloween, but some of the word choices they use here are interesting. Things like calling Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne a “recluse” instantly draws comparisons with Michael Keaton’s version of the character who was portrayed as this awkward shy person who no one in the city really knew. This is in contrast with how many interpretations, like Batman: The Animated Series or The Dark Knight Trilogy, show Batman’s alter ego as this partying socialite who always knew how to keep up appearances. The first part of this synopsis also mentions the “city’s corrupt network of officials” and how this has led, “ Bruce Wayne deep into the shadows of Gotham City.”
This on the surface might seem like your typical scenario to find Batman in, but with all the talk of this version of the character being the dark knight detective we all know and love from the comics, this could lead some to believe that there could be some undercover elements to this particular film. Those type of elements have popped up briefly in films like The Dark Knight, but could we see another one of Batman’s alter egos make an appearance like Matches Malone who has been seen many times in the comics as well as The Animated Series. However, the synopsis only gets juicier from there as it continues on by saying:
When a killer targets Gotham’s elite with a series of sadistic machinations, a trail of cryptic clues sends the World’s Greatest Detective on an investigation into the underworld, where he encounters such characters as Selina Kyle/aka Catwoman, Oswald Cobblepot/aka the Penguin, Carmine Falcone, and Edward Nashton/aka the Riddler. As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.
Batman films are known for having many villains in them and Reeves has hinted before that this film could have the most villains out of any of his past big-screen adventures. The question is who is behind this grand scheme and the final main part of the synopsis talking about Batman “forming new relationships” as well as the culprit being “unmasked” only adds to that compelling mystery. Villains like The Joker are an obvious guess to be at the end of this film’s bread crumbs, but maybe it is someone rooted deep in the Wayne lore as it is teased that “the evidence leads closer to home”. This may very well throw Bruce Wayne’s dark lifestyle into scary uncharted territory for the series.
Whatever the case may be, this new glimpse into the plot of Batman’s upcoming war on crime only adds more questions to the mysterious allure of this film’s world. We will not have to wait long as the clues will be revealed when The Batman finally comes out on March 4, 2022 .
via Collider