Bruce Wayne’s decision at the end of The Batman means that the sequel will be missing one of the first movie’s major draws, but not all is lost.
Matt Reeves’ The Batman brought a younger and darker version of the Caped Crusader, played by Robert Pattinson, but the upcoming sequel, The Batman – Part II, has already lost a major strength of Pattinson’s Dark Knight. Batman has been adapted to the big screen various times, with some versions being more successful than others, and after Ben Affleck’s Batman failed to connect with the audience, Warner Bros. decided to bring another adaptation of the Caped Crusader separate from the DCEU, giving it a darker vibe and exploring his earlier years of crime-fighting in the streets of Gotham City.
The Batman, then, follows the Dark Knight in his second year as Gotham’s vigilante, and he came across some of his most notable enemies. Batman teamed up with James Gordon and the Gotham City Police Department to catch a serial killer known as The Riddler, and this mission also took the Caped Crusader into Gotham’s criminal underworld, where he met Carmine Falcone, Oswald Cobblepot a.k.a. Penguin, and Selina Kyle. At the end of The Batman, he, along with Selina, managed to stop The Riddler’s plan to flood the city, but this nearly catastrophic event also led Batman to make some decisions that will change his character in The Batman 2.
Why Pattinson’s Dark Knight Will Be Different In The Batman 2
A major draw of The Batman was its darker, more violent, and intense version of the hero, as he’s still learning and perfecting his combat and detective skills, and he had some truly brutal fight scenes, such as the one against a clown gang. As a younger Bruce Wayne than in previous versions, Pattinson’s Batman is still mostly driven by revenge, leading him to be more violent, but he had an important change of mentality at the end of The Batman. The Riddler had everything planned and not even his arrest stopped him, as he had planted car bombs around Gotham and gathered an online following that would carry on with his plans. The bombs destroyed the seawall around Gotham, flooding the city and damaging houses, buildings, and more, and so at the end of The Batman, the Dark Knight was aiding recovery efforts.
In a voiceover, Bruce explained that he realized that he changed something in Gotham but not what he wanted, and vengeance won’t change the past. Batman also realized the people of Gotham need hope and to know that someone’s there for them, and he needs to be more: the figure of hope that Gotham needs now. This inevitably means that in The Batman 2 Pattinson’s Dark Knight will be less dark, violent, and intense, which is part of his character development, but those characteristics were a big part of what made this version of Batman so interesting and popular with the audience.
The Batman 2’s More Hopeful Batman Won’t Be A Problem
While a more hopeful and less vindictive Batman means no more of that darkness and brutality seen in The Batman, these changes won’t be a big problem for The Batman 2. The sequel doesn’t necessarily have to have a different and lighter tone than its predecessor, and it can still be dark through its villains and settings. With Carmine Falcone now gone, and depending on the events of the TV series The Penguin, The Batman 2 could see a battle between Gotham’s mob leaders, and if Clayface also joins the fun, the sequel can definitely continue the first movie’s dark tone and intensity, though not through its title character. Robert Pattinson playing a more mature Batman has to happen at some point as the character can’t stay the same and needs to evolve, but Gotham’s darkness and violence tend to stay the same or get worse.
