The Batman Director Matt Reeves Confirms What We Suspected All Along About A Future Batverse
Warner Bros.' upcoming film "The Batman," which is set to premiere in theaters on March 4, follows Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) in his second year of fighting crime in Gotham City as Batman. In this latest case, he is going after The Riddler (Paul Dano), a serial killer targeting Gotham's most high-profile residents. The film also features Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Colin Farrell as Penguin.
"The Batman" is easily one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, with fans likely already wondering if Pattinson will get to reprise the role for a sequel movie. While the possibility for another chapter of "The Batman" may still be up in the air, we know for a fact that the world director Matt Reeves has created will go beyond "The Batman." In July 2020, it was reported that Reeves was developing a spin-off show for HBO Max about the Gotham City Police Department (via Entertainment Weekly). Information shared in the press release through EW revealed it would be a part of "a new Batman universe across multiple platforms." In December 2021, Variety reported the new "Batman universe" was expanding again, with a second spin-off confirmed starring Farrell, who will reprise his role for a Penguin-focused series.
Fans definitely have a lot to look forward to with the premiere of "The Batman," as well as both shows, on the horizon. But, for those curious what exactly the director has planned for the overall Batverse, he has opened up about his plans in a new interview.
Reeves wants The Batman to kick off a new universe
In the recent Entertainment Weekly cover story about "The Batman," Matt Reeves revealed that, with his new movie, he intended to "create a Batverse." The director continued, "You don't do a story and go, 'This is Chapter 1,' because you might not get to do Chapter 2. So, the story had to stand on its own. But the thing about it is that the Bat world is so rich with character that as you're starting to come to an end, you can already start thinking about the next thing. Because the idea, of course, is that Gotham's story never ends."
The Penguin spin-off series will track the character's rise to becoming a crime boss. However, in "The Batman," Penguin is a mid-level mob lieutenant who is not yet at the height of his power. Reeves told EW that he pitched the series to HBO Max as a "kind of 'American dream in Gotham' sort of story." He went on to say the Penguin show will chart the character's rise up the ranks, someone fans know " will achieve mythic status." He also revealed just how enthusiastic the HBO Max team was at his pitch: "They were like, 'Oh my God, we're in!' And that was really exciting because, by that point, Colin had already given life to this character."
Penguin is not the only figure Reeves has in mind for a solo show, but he didn't reveal any additional details to EW. However, he did say that what excites him most about these projects is that a series allows for the stories to be "more character-focused than you can even do in a feature."