Perhaps the most splendid payoff from Matt Reeves’ The Batman is that it has the potential for opening up an entire Batverse of movies and TV shows. This is a movie that resets the dark knight mythos in the same way Batman Begins did in 2005 after the debacle that was Batman & Robin. For long-term fans of the caped crusader, it’s like a warm bath in all that Gotham City good stuff, with the implication that more mysteries lurk around every corner for Batman as he cuts through corrupt cops and hardboiled gangsters.
So what comes next? We already know that Colin Farrell’s remarkable, unrecognisable turn as Oswald Cobblepot is to be rewarded with a spin-off TV show that will screen on HBO Max in the US. And there are also rumours that Arkham Asylum, which by the end of Reeves’ movie has been revealed as the new home of not just Paul Dano’s Riddler but also Barry Keoghan’s Joker, will form the basis of a second segue to the small screen. It’s more than possible Robert Pattinson’s Batman might turn up from time to time in either, but both shows will have to find storylines that swirl far beyond his immediate sphere of influence.
