Matt Reeves revealed why the people of Gotham fear the Dark Knight in his upcoming film, The Batman.
During The Batman panel at DC FanDome, Reeves spoke about his version of the Caped Crusader, particularly the way the people of Gotham City view him. He said their fear is based on Batman vigilantism and his recent debut in the city. "I mean, if you were in a city, and there was a guy who dressed up as a bat, and showed up out of the shadows and sometimes confronted those people and beat them up because he felt what they were doing was wrong so that he could put the fear of God in them about the crimes that they're committing, I think we would wonder, 'Well, gee, that, that guy sounds a little dangerous,'" Reeves teased.
Reeves also revealed that the film takes place a year and a half after Batman arrives in Gotham. He "is not yet the vision of the character that he becomes, where he becomes a symbol of hope for the city," he confirmed. "So yeah, the public is afraid of him. I mean, that's one of the things I think that he will confront in the course of the story and that Rob has to sort of deal with in playing the character, which is the idea of how he's perceived."
The Batman is directed by Matt Reeves and co-written by Reeves and Mattson Tomlin. The film stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton/The Riddler, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone and Peter Sarsgaard as District Attorney Gil Colson. The Batman is set to be released in theaters on Oct. 1, 2021.