On Thursday, The Batman director Matt Reeves shared the first look at Robert Pattinson in the iconic Batsuit. The minute-long clip, set to music by the film’s composer Michael Giacchino, served as The Lighthouse star’s camera test and shows him in the menacing costume that strikes fear into the hearts of criminals. On first glance, there’s not much else to the footage, but if Batman fans look closely, they might notice a dark Easter egg.
If you can divert your eyes away from Pattinson’s cheek bones (it’s hard, I understand), take a look at the Bat symbol on his chest. It appears to be made from a gun, but that would be an odd choice for Batman, who famously prefers to not use firearms. Unless, of course, the gun is symbolic, as DC detectives (not the world’s greatest) are theorizing.
In the Detective Comics #1000 story “Manufacture For Use,” Bruce Wayne tracks down the gun that was used by the wonderfully-named Gotham City petty thief Joe Chill to kill his parents, Thomas and Martha. It’s something you may have seen in a movie, or 12. Instead of getting revenge with the firearm, however, Bruce melts it down and, as ScreenRant explains, “reforges it as a metal plate that goes underneath the Bat symbol on his chest, so that it can serve as protection rather than causing harm.” As seen here:
Shout out to @mattreevesLA for referencing the source material. pic.twitter.com/lphQb9efA9
— It Was All a Dream, I Used to Read Wizard Magazine (@UpToTASK) February 14, 2020
This theory is already picking up steam.
https://twitter.com/JesabelRaay/status/1228202467579445249
Pieces of the gun that killed his parents, that’s Metal AF pic.twitter.com/4rbnA5hM3D
— KC Walsh (@TheComixKid) February 13, 2020
https://twitter.com/TyDingess/status/1228130760403628032
So much is said w this one glimpse:
From destruction to hope & protection. Showing a Batman that has used the gun Joe Chill used to kill Bruce Wayne's parents as the symbol on his chest let's us know what type of Batman we're getting #TheBatman we deserve 🖤 #Cameratest— Markeia McCarty (@markeiamccarty) February 13, 2020
It could also be, y’know, regular-ass metal, but this would be a nice way of presenting Bruce Wayne’s tortured past without (hopefully) showing Batman’s origin AGAIN.
The Batman, which also stars Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler, Colin Farrell as the Penguin, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, and Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, and Andy Serkis as Alfred, opens on June 25, 2021.
