THE BATMAN Might Be Taking On Half His Rogues Gallery
Do you think you’re a big enough villain to menace Robert Pattinson in Matt Reeve’s The Batman? Well get in line. In addition to the Penguin and Catwoman, casting calls suggest that The Riddler, Firefly, The Mad Hatter, and Two-Face will also appear in the Caped Crusader’s latest reboot.
Keep in mind, this news comes by way of casting breakdowns (courtesy of DiscussingFilm and The GWW), and The Batman doesn’t begin shooting until early next year. It’s quite possible the script hasn’t even been finalized yet and only a fraction of these characters will appear in the final product.
What might make some people skeptical is GWW’s report that The Riddler will likely be “the main villain,” even though all the rumors and casting announcements before now have placed so much emphasis on The Penguin. Although, with all of Reeves’ claims that this film will bring out the detective side of Batman, it’s hard to argue there’s a much better villain to do that with than The Riddler.
If the dust settles and The Batman really does end up casting all these characters, I’d like to view it as a sign that Reeves and co. are making an all-hands-on-deck murder mystery, in the style of The Long Halloween. That comic brought together many of Batman’s most famous foes while he investigated a city-spanning whodunnit (and thwarted a couple of nefarious subplots in the process.) While my interest in yet another Batman film featuring familiar names like Riddler, the Penguin, and Catwoman is negligible, I can never turn down a well-written, sprawling murder mystery.
The Batman is set to come out June 2021, with Robert Pattinson under the titular cowl. Expect him to tussle with one or all of the villains reported above, depending on how much faith you put in casting breakdowns. Me? I’ll be standing by holding out hope that Batmite (played by Patton Oswalt) will be the final villain when it’s all said and done.
