WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Batman, now playing in theaters.
Arguments about who played the best Batman have been raging for decades. Now, with the release of The Batman, those arguments have been renewed with vigor. Some believe that Robert Pattinson’s rendition eclipses Christian Bale’s Dark Knight, while other fans consider that opinion blasphemous. The debate extends beyond the Caped Crusader, though, as many fans have started to debate whether Matt Reeves’ reboot could end up surpassing Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy in all of its insurmountable popularity.
With a sequel likely on the way, it’s clear that the debate between Reeves and Nolan’s universes will extend for many years. Regardless, Reeves’ first Batman film was an unquestioned success. As expected, it operated like an origin story for multiple villains. Among others, it focused on The Riddler and hinted at a massive Bane connection. However, there were a lot of things that fans expected that didn’t happen. Here are a few theories about The Batman that were totally wrong.
Barry Keoghan Didn’t Play Stanley Merkel
Originally, fans thought that Barry Keoghan was going to play James Gordon’s partner, Stanley Merkel. There were even leaked set photos that seemed to confirm Keoghan’s role as Merkel. That theory ended up being completely wrong because Keoghan played the mysterious proto-Joker known as "Unseen Arkham Prisoner." The funny thing is Matt Reeves confirmed that he filmed fake scenes with Keoghan as Merkel to throw fans off of his Joker trail, hence the "leaked" photos.
The Riddler Was Not The Joker
This theory probably started due to the sheer popularity of The Joker. The Batman's trailers largely avoided showing Paul Dano’s face as The Riddler. Because of this, someone started a theory that The Riddler was secretly The Joker in a mask. Of course, that ended up being ridiculous because The Riddler commanded the screen as his own, terrifying villain.
The Riddler Was Not Hush, Either
Because Reeves’ version of The Riddler was more direct in his violence than most iterations, fans theorized that Paul Dano’s character might secretly be another Batman villain called Hush. There were two additional clues. First, The Riddler’s mask looks like Hush’s bandages, and second, Edward Nashton knew a young Bruce Wayne, a commonality with Hush. However, that wasn’t the case. Others thought that The Riddler was an amalgamation of The Riddler and Hush, but that wasn’t true either.
The Riddler Actually Didn’t Know Batman’s Secret Identity
A lot of The Batman’s marketing material heavily implied that The Riddler knew that Bruce Wayne was The Batman. In fact, much of the movie seemed to hint at that theory. However, the interrogation scene proved otherwise. While speaking to Batman, The Riddler spoke of Bruce Wayne as "he," not "you." For that matter, The Riddler tried to kill Bruce while attributing his vigilante success to Batman’s inspiration. It would be hard for The Riddler to effortlessly kill his idol like that.
There Was No Court of Owls Connection
Ever since The Batman’s first teaser, where The Riddler left an owl-themed card for Batman, there were rumblings of a Court of Owls connection. Many people even thought that Thomas and Martha Wayne were going to be former members of the Court. If that were true, it would have explained why The Riddler was hoping to expose their lies. However, that wasn’t the case. There was no connection to the Court of Owls, but there are already rumors of their involvement in a sequel.
The Bat-Symbol Wasn’t A Gun
When fans first saw Robert Pattinson’s Batsuit, it was clear that his Bat-Symbol was special. It was heavy-looking and metallic, and it kind of looked like two halves of a gun. Thus, many people thought that Batman had made his emblem out of the gun that killed his parents. That ended up being incorrect, but the symbol was still notable. It was actually a glauca knife, and fans can see Batman using it a few times in the film.
To see what theories about the film were true, The Batman is now in theaters.