How The Batman Is Learning From The DCEU's Early Mistakes
Matt Reeves' The Batman is learning from the DCEU's early mistakes. DC's shared universe launched off the back of 2013's Man of Steel, and it got off to a rocky start. Warner Bros. was clearly inspired by the success of the rival Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they didn't really have much of a solid plan for how to build their own version. The first phase of the DCEU was riven with conflict, with the studio continually course-correcting even while films were in production. Matters came to a head with 2017's Justice League, a Frankenstein's Monster of a film that was received with derision.
It's easy to focus on the behind-the-scenes drama, but in reality, the first phase of DC movies did have very real problems; the studio's first course-corrections were the result of legitimate criticism, which led them to overcompensate. Thus, if the various DC movies are to prosper, Warner Bros. need to cast a careful eye over their past mistakes and learn every lesson they can. It's not just a matter of limiting the amount of studio interference; it's also a matter of ensuring writers and directors have the right vision for DC movies. There are promising signs, with Patty Jenkins discussing her plans for Wonder Woman 3, James Gunn given the keys to The Suicide Squad, and David F. Sandberg returning for Shazam 2.
But the most exciting of these is undoubtedly Matt Reeves' The Batman - in large part because quite a lot is known about the project, which was partway through filming before it was disrupted before the coronavirus pandemic. And what is known suggests director Matt Reeves has learned from the DCEU's early mistakes.
Superhero fans tend to forget the importance of world-building. This is a term you'll often hear used by writers, particularly those who pen science-fiction and fantasy books. It describes the art of creating a fully-realized world around your main character, with well-developed secondary and even background characters, and consistent rules that allow readers or viewers to feel absolutely immersed in the story. Look to fantasy hits like Game of Thrones and The Witcher for top-quality world-building, with both franchises creating rich worlds around their main characters that are every bit as interesting as Jon Snow and Geralt of Rivia.
World-building is particularly important in comics, where the top-tier superheroes are the ones with immersive worlds. Take the example of Spider-Man, whose love life is as legendary as his powers, and whose villains almost all have personal ties and (mostly) well-thought-through motivations. Or, even more notably, Batman; Tim Burton's 1989 movie reinvented Gotham City as a character in its own right, and the comics aped the movies, taking the same approach. Batman's rogues' gallery is second to none, while his friends and Bat-family have all frequently starred in their own top-selling spinoffs. However much the Dark Knight teams up with Justice League, his true world is Gotham City, and that is where readers and viewers love to see him swoop through the night sky.
The early DCEU has a troubled history when it comes to world-building. Zack Snyder did a phenomenal job in Man of Steel, developing Krypton to the point where it felt like a real place. There was just one problem; Krypton, of course, was destroyed in the first act. The planet is Superman's origin story, not the world in which he operates - that is Metropolis, and his supporting characters are the likes of Lois Lane, Perry White, and Jimmy Olsen. Snyder largely failed to make Metropolis feel like a real place in Man of Steel, or to make of any of those characters distinctive and recognizable. When Jimmy Olsen was killed by terrorists at the beginning of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, nobody mourned. Few even realized who he was.
Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman was one of DC's more successful films, receiving rave reviews and grossing over $820 million in the global box office. But Jenkins made the same mistake as Snyder, devoting substantial time to the island of Themyscira - the world Diana is exiled from, rather than the one she would continue to operate in. It's actually quite telling that Jenkins felt comfortable to ditch the First World War setting for the sequel, and instead base Wonder Woman 2 in 1984. Clearly she didn't feel the setting was especially important for her portrayal of Wonder Woman. The only secondary character well-developed enough to be essential was Steve Trevor, mysteriously resurrected in 1984, acting as an unwitting symbol of the fact Diana doesn't really operate in a well-defined context yet.
Fortunately, Matt Reeves is avoiding the same mistakes. He's given countless interviews in which he rhapsodizes about the importance of making Gotham City feel like a fully-realized world in its own right; he clearly gets that Gotham should be a distinctive character in any Batman movie. Warner Bros. seem to approve of the approach, because they've agreed to turn Reeves' vision of Gotham into a transmedia franchise. They've signed off on a Gotham City PD spinoff series, and in an official statement HBO confirmed their intention to launch "a new Batman universe across multiple platforms." Reeves is personally involved in the spinoff, serving as producer of this "Gotham Central" series, ensuring there will be consistency of vision.
Reeves' focus on world-building means The Batman is easily one of the most exciting superhero projects in the works right now. Not only does the film itself promise to position Robert Pattinson's Batman in a rich and well-developed context, it will continue to establish that world through tie-in TV shows. World-building is actually much easier for a TV series than for a movie, simply because a show has more time to explore the city. Unlike Superman, Batman will exist in a carefully established world surrounded by secondary characters who have their own arcs and motivations; unlike Wonder Woman, he will be indivisible from this context.
The interesting question is whether Matt Reeves is the one who has learned his lesson from the early DCEU - or whether, instead, it is Warner Bros. who have figured out some of their mistakes. Reeves is an experienced director who has past form in the fantasy genre, meaning realistically this was the kind of approach he was always likely to take. It may well be that this was why Warner Bros. signed off on his vision for The Batman; because they realized he could bring a skill at world-building into their superhero films that would otherwise be missing.