The Batman 2 Should Focus On This

Key Takeaways

• Pattinson’s Batman did not need an origin story but lacked depth on Bruce Wayne’s life.
• To enhance his role, the sequel should show Bruce’s playboy persona and comfort as Batman.
• The Batman 2 should showcase Bruce Wayne’s life outside the cowl to differentiate and expand the on character.

When the Robert Pattinson version of The Batman first hit theaters, it ran the risk of running into a bit of character fatigue. After all, over the last few years, fans of the popular DC Comics character had seen Christian Bale and Ben Affleck put on the cowl in the last few years alone. Bringing in Robert Pattinson to offer a totally new version of the character was running a risk. Especially since bringing him in essentially reset the entirety of Gotham City lore. And this all came at a time when James Gunn was just working to take over the DCU and people were already pushing back against the idea of a whole new Batman.

In the end, Matt Reeves version of The Batman is going to go down as among the best of the entire bunch. While it’s never going to get the same kind of love that Michael Keaton’s original big screen version got, but it’s pretty clear that people welcomed Pattinson’s version of the hero with open arms. Part of the reason for that is that it didn’t try and do a Bruce Wayne origin story. It trusted people knew the character and how he came to be. But by ignoring that origin story, The Batman also ignored some aspects of the man Pattinson was playing that need to be touched on in the sequel.

Bruce The Playboy Coming To The Batman 2?

While The Batman was almost universally beloved, and the approach from Matt Reeves seems like it was picture perfect, if Robert Pattinson is going to be the DCU Bruce Wayne for longer than these two movies, the audience has to get more of a picture of the entire man.

What fans of the movie got in the first one was well done because no one had to sit through watching Bruce watch his parents get killed. They didn’t have to watch him have to learn how to fight or come up with the idea of being The Batman. All of that was handled off screen. But what was almost entirely offscreen was Pattinson’s life as Bruce. Other than a few interactions with Alfred and a couple of scenes where he was being chided for working so hard, there was almost no time at all spent at Wayne manner. Does anyone know who the lady was that told Bruce Alfred had been hurt in the attack by The Riddler?

The longest period of time the audience ever saw Bruce just being Bruce was when he went to the Mayor’s funeral. And that’s why there needs to be more focus of the rich, pillar of the community who is allowed to go just about anywhere in Gotham. The lack of a backstory also didn’t fill in the blanks as to why Bruce was invited to such an event. It’s not like any random citizen and not even any random rich person could get an invite to that funeral. That takes someone who is on another level.

It’s not as though any of the Batman movies spent a ton of time on Bruce the Playboy because there’s rarely enough time to do that sort of thing. However, the movies with Christian Bale did at least play with that concept a little bit. It showed him enjoying the finer things in life. It showed him driving fancy cars and hanging out with models. And it showed that he was a luminary of Gotham. He was someone who had power, even when he wast wearing the cowl.

It’s also worth pointing out that Bale’s portrayal of Playboy Bruce offered at least a little bit of comic relief.

It’s also worth pointing out that Bale’s portrayal of Playboy Bruce offered at least a little bit of comic relief. It loosened up the character a bit. And that’s definitely needed for Pattinson’s version of the character. There’s a reason why Nirvana was such a perfect pick for The Batman. It fit the character and the mood and the city. But there has to be more in the sequel.

More Comfort In His Role

The point of showing more of Bruce as Bruce is more than just filling out the character as a person too. The Batman might not have showed much of his beginning, but the audience is to understand that he’s still relatively young in his career as the Dark Knight. He hasn’t reality been accepted by the police (outside of Jim Gordon) and he’s still learning on the job.

If The Batman 2 doesn’t immediately pick up where The Penguin leaves off, there’s room to time jump. There’s room to have a Bruce Wayne who is far more comfortable with his alter ego. That comfort will allow him to mesh more into the high society of Gotham City. It might even work very well to introduce the bad guys that have been talked about for a while in The Court of Owls.

The Batman 2 has to offer up some plot points that allow it to stand apart from its predecessor. Showing Bruce Wayne when he wasn’t jammed into his cape and cowl should be the way to go. Especially if he’s sticking around the DCU for a while.