While The Batman cast has been confirmed for a while now, what we've all been waiting for is a teaser trailer, or some promotional shots, or just something for our eyeballs to enjoy.
Thankfully, Matt Reeves has delivered. The director posted an apparent camera test for The Batman, which features Robert Pattinson in the Batsuit, on a newly formed Vimeo. Watch the video – which is almost a minute long – below.
This video is moody, immediately bringing to mind Marvel and Netflix's Daredevil series. The colored lighting, the slow-building music, the out-of-focus shot that slowly forms into Pattinson in the Batman suit. It's the opposite of DC's colourful and loud, yet still brilliant, Birds of Prey.
What else can we glean from the camera test? First, we should not that a similar "camera test" was released in the run-up to Joker, and that one likewise gave us our first glimpse at Joaquin Phoenix's character in full make-up.
Here, we see Batman in a more obscured light compared to the Clown Prince of Crime. Judging by the logo on his chest – which looks to be made of pieces of metal layered together – it's plain to see that this outfit's more handmade than Batman's other fits. The rest of the suit is a utilitarian matte black, and the mask is riddled with imperfections, giving him a very raw aesthetic.
The suit makes perfect sense when you take Pattinson's comments about his take on Bruce Wayne into account. The actor told the BBC that Matt Reeves' take on The Batman will not be a typical mainstream Hollywood superhero film, and that this version of Bats is a "crazy and perverse" character, aking to the more arthouse characters Pattinson has portrayed in his post-Twilight career.
The Batman is set to reach cinemas on June 25, 2021. The cast includes Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner James Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot (The Penguin), Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle (Catwoman), and John Turturro as Carmine Falcone.
Find out about the best iterations of Batman's arch-nemesis with our best Joker rankings. Plus, see how Bats' previous movies has fared previously in our newly-updated list of the best superhero movies.
