Movies

There 'Might Be' A Space For Robin In The Batman Sequel, Matt Reeves Says

The Batman Warner Bros.
By Jeremy Mathai/

For those who've seen director Matt Reeves' "The Batman" this past weekend (and for those of you who haven't, be warned of general spoilers from this point forward), Robert Pattinson's version is depicted to be much younger, less fully-formed, and more inexperienced at building out his connections with the character's sprawling cast of fellow misfits scattered throughout Gotham City. Until Zoë Kravitz's Selina Kyle shows up on the scene, it's basically Batman, Alfred (Andy Serkis), and Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) against the world — or, in this case, the entirety of Gotham's criminal underground. Though Batman remains staunchly anti-gun and anti-killing, certain other recognizable qualities commonly associated with the Caped Crusader haven't quite developed just yet. Stay tuned, though. Who knows what Reeves might have up his sleeve should we get more sequels down the line.

One of those characteristics in particular happens to involve Bruce Wayne's penchant for adopting sidekicks into his "family" of superheroes (in the comics, various shows, and a couple of misguided movies, at least). We've yet to really see the Bat-family get the proper adaptation in glorious live action that they deserve, unfortunately, and the especially grimy, lone-wolf personality of Pattinson's character in "The Batman" naturally raises questions about whether we'd ever see this version of the hero eventually take on the challenge of mentoring and working alongside his very own Robin. That's exactly the question that Josh Horowitz posed to Matt Reeves on the latest episode of the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast and, while remaining noncommittal, his answer at least provides some hope that fans may get to see Batman and at least one integral member of his team join forces in a sequel. You can hear what Matt Reeves had to say about this in the clip included below.

'There might be something in that'

The Batman Warner Bros.

In a video posted on Twitter, Josh Horowitz talked with director Matt Reeves about some of the specifics that could come in the years ahead, following up on the strong foundation laid in "The Batman." Elsewhere in his podcast appearance, the filmmaker revealed some details about the planned HBO Max spin-off series, which initially was pitched as a Gotham Police Department procedural but, according to Reeves, has since evolved into something a little different. That would seem to confirm Reeves' earlier comments that he'd like to focus more on Arkham Asylum. But things certainly get interesting once Horowitz brings up whether this version of Gotham could lend itself to Batman partnering with his very own Robin. Here's what Reeves had to say.

"Maybe. We'll just say maybe. I don't know. Here's the thing, I have a lot of ideas about what I want to do. I'm not sure what the next story is. For me, whatever that story's going to be, it's going to be to take these characters — and specifically Batman's character — and put them in some kind of emotional jeopardy. So when you talk about what you're talking about, there may be a really interesting story. There'd have to be emotional stakes to get drawn into that character's story.

I don't want that character to become a cypher. I don't want to be like, 'Okay, so we saw it wasn't an origin tale, but you know what, that was kind of [Batman's] origins and now he's just perfect.' No, you need to test the character again and again and again. And for me, yeah, there might be something in that. I don't know. There's a deep-dive that already happened at the beginning and now I'm gonna have to deep-dive again if we have the chance to make another one and so we shall see."

Reading a little bit between the lines, Reeves certainly seems open to the possibility. This doesn't quite seem to be the same case as Christopher Nolan's Batman, who inhabited a world so grounded and realistic that Nolan's version of the character in "The Dark Knight Rises" didn't even appear to be Robin in the first place, until a last-minute reveal. In a world with Colin Farrell's hilarious Penguin, let's just say I could see Robin fitting in as well.

"The Batman" is currently playing in theaters.

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