How The Batman Director Would Introduce Superman Into Bat-Verse

The Batman director Matt Reeves explains how he would introduce Superman into his Bat-Verse. Reeves is the latest filmmaker to tackle the character of Batman in a solo film, with Robert Pattinson taking over the iconic role in a non-DCEU connected standalone feature. That last solo Bat-film to grace theatrical screens was Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises with actor Christian Bale in the role. Since that time, Batman has appeared in team-up films, the latest of which were Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, both of which starred Ben Affleck under the cowl.

Batman V Superman is the first time that both Batman and Superman appeared in a feature film together, which continued in Justice League. Henry Cavill has played the most recent DCEU version of Superman, starting with Man of Steel in 2013. There are multiple Superman-themed projects in the works, but it’s unclear if any of them would involve the character interacting with Batman in any capacity. Interestingly, Reeves’ The Batman operates in its own “Bat-Verse,” which is separate from the same DCEU where BVS and Justice League took place, meaning it may or may not have super-powered beings.

Talking to Collider, Reeves was asked if Superman existed in his Bat-Verse or, if not, how he could be introduced. Reeves went on to explain that his take on The Batman (as well as Cloverfield and his POTA films) was to be as “grounded as possible” by focusing on only one fantastical element to have everything else revolve around so that it could “feel emotionally real and to make everything feel very believable.” The director said that the introduction of an alien-like Superman would be a “shock” to that universe. The only way he could potentially make something like that work would be to shift the one fantastical element to be about the introduction of a super-powered being, such as Superman, rather than simply have him show up in this “practical, believable version” of Batman. Reeves says that if the challenge presented itself, he’d ultimately have to do it through the same lens as The Batman. Here’s his full quote:

Look, we should be so lucky that this is a world that people embrace and that they say, oh my God, we want to see what would happen when those things collide. I think if that challenge ever presents itself, it would be an exciting one to explore, but I’d have to try and do it through this lens. You know what I mean? And that is absolutely right, that at the moment, to me, this world is the place that I want to focus.

The Superman projects currently in the works both involve a Black version of the character, with no clear agenda on whether or not Cavill’s version will appear again. J.J. Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates are working to bring a reported reboot of Kal-El as a Black Superman to the big screen, while Michael B. Jordan is working on a mini-series for Val-Zod, an alternate dimension Superman. Recently the current DCEU version of Superman appeared (in shadow and without Cavill in the suit) for a scene in HBO Max’s Peacemaker, but as far as any future appearances go, little is known.

Reeves’ take on how to introduce Superman into his Bat-Verse is not all that dissimilar to Zack Snyder’s version, which treated Kal-El’s arrival like an alien invasion that changed everything, rather than just ushering the character in without explanation. By that token, a Superman in Reeves’ Bat-Verse is entirely possible, but it sounds like the director is keen to focus on the characters within The Batman‘s world, particularly Gotham City. Even by the standards of all the previous Batman films, there’s still a ton of Batman mythology, characters, and locations to explore well before it ventures into the rest of the DC universe, so Reeves sticking to the Bat-Verse, for the time being, is a welcome venture.

Source: Collider

About The Author