Opening Night: The Batman

Good day Crewmembers and welcome to “Opening Night: The Batman.”

The purpose of the “Opening Night” feature is to give newcomers the foundations and basic information to be able to enjoy the program more fully. We work to avoid probable spoilers and speculations to allow everyone to enjoy “THOSE” moments together. We take our focus from the trailers and on-the-record news confirmed by the cast and crew.

“The Batman” is a live-action reboot that is said to ignore all previous programs including Ben Affleck’s recent run as Batman. For new fans, that makes it much easier to jump right into “The Batman” without seeing/knowing other programs. There is an interesting caveat for this film reboot though. The director, Matt Reeves, has confirmed that despite the story focusing on a young Batman early in his crime-fight career, the movie will not rehash Batman’s origin. I mean, how many times can you kill poor old Thomas and Martha Wayne anyways, right?

With that in mind, here are the basics of Batman’s origin. While still a young child, Bruce Wayne (Batman) witnesses his parents’ murder in an alleyway during a family night on the town. While the murder, motive, and other details have shifted and adjusted throughout the years, those items have remained generally intact. The trauma of that event sends Bruce down the path of becoming a vigilante for his crime-ridden hometown of Gotham City.

Another interesting note is the movie’s almost 3-hour runtime! With no origin story to hold down the first act, there is hopefully plenty of time for detective work and crime-fighting on the screen.

Other confirmed characters set to join Bruce Wayne/Batman are Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Edward Nashton/Riddler, James Gordan (Gotham City PD), Carmine Falcone (Gotham Crime Boss), Alfred (Bruce’s Butler/Guardian/Confidant), and Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin. With the extensive runtime of the movie, we would expect to see some in-universe origins for most of these characters, so we’ll save their comic book origins for a possible future date.

At this point, you should have everything you need to be ready to see “The Batman” when it opens in theaters. After we get a chance to see it ourselves, we’ll do an updated “Second Run” post with anything we may have missed.

Until then, enjoy the show!