There’s a whole lot going on in the excellent new DC FanDome trailer for “The Batman.” Catwoman definitely has a thing for our boy Bruce Wayne; the Riddler is definitely up to some serious no-good; and damn, the Batmobile definitely kicks The Penguin’s ass almost by itself.
Yes, it’s fantastic, but you don’t have to take our word for it; just watch it for yourself at the top of the page right now.
This new trailer is still very much just a fairly vague teaser, but it does have a lot to offer. It opens with Paul Dano’s Riddler sitting in a diner as a Gotham PD S.W.A.T. team arrests him… which feels like a bit of a twist. Last year’s trailer suggested Robert Pattinson’s Batman would spend the story hunting the Riddler down, but it appears to play out with The Riddler behind bars, and Batman trying to solve some kind of bigger mystery that The Riddler – described as a serial killer on a newscast in the trailer – has knowledge of.
Of course, we know that Reeves’ film is a brand new take on the Caped Crusader, unrelated to Ben Affleck’s version (which, for those keeping notes, will be playing a big role in “The Flash”). Zoe Kravitz is a sly and confident Catwoman, and the trailer suggests perhaps more explicit sexual tension between her and Batman then we saw in “The Dark Knight Rises.” But as we also see with Alfred (more on that below), she’s also worried about him.
And well, who can blame her. We also see Pattinson’s Batman both taking and giving out some serious beatings — and yes, he’s still “vengeance” — while also explaining a new Manichean philosophical bent to the batsignal: “Fear is a tool,” he says. “When that light hits the sky, it’s not just a call. It’s a warning.”
We also get a good look at Andy Serkis as trusted butler Alfred, reuniting with Reeves (who also directed “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and “War for the Planet of the Apes.”) As always, Alfred seems a bit concerned about what Bruce is putting himself through, which, again, who could blame him. After all, the kid he basically raised from age 10 is dressing up like a bat and beating people up.
But the real scene stealer here is Colin Farrell, truly unrecognizable as The Penguin — that is some genuinely astounding special effects makeup — who gets completely stomped in a literally explosive car chase by the new muscle car version of the Batmobile. It looks painful, but we suspect he’s going to survive those injuries though; there is after all that Penguin TV show in development at HBO Max. Still, buckle up kids. The life you save could be, uh, a supervillain’s.
We still have no idea if the film will deal with The Court of Owls, as fans speculated last year, but the trailer seems to be drawing our attention to Bruce’s father, Thomas Wayne, and not for particularly happy father-son reasons. Read more about that and some of our other takeaways here.
This film looks great, grounded and tangible (with what sure looks like a heavy reliance on practical effects) without feeling overbearingly gritty — thanks in no small part to talented cinematographer Greig Fraser (“Dune”, “The Mandalorian”). And to us at least, Pattinson’s Batman feels real and, most importantly, human. One of the most anticipated films of 2022 just got that much more exciting.
Check out the full trailer for “The Batman” above. The cast also includes John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard and Barry Keoghan. “The Batman” will be released exclusively in theaters and in IMAX on March 4, 2022.
