The Batman story that helped inspire large portions of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy is perfectly positioned for the future of Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight. The ending of Matt Reeves’ The Batman and teases from the upcoming series The Penguin series imply that big changes are coming for Gotham City. To that end, part of that evolution could result in The Batman – Part II similarly adapting large sections of The Long Halloween (just like Nolan’s trilogy).

Largely considered a quintessential Batman story from DC Comics, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s The Long Halloween is a definitive tale that establishes much of Gotham’s overall mythos, taking place early on in the Caped Crusader’s career (much like The Batman). Establishing key origins and the changing status quo of the city’s criminals in response to The Dark Knight, it’s not hard to see the elements of The Long Halloween in both Nolan’s movies and the first Reeves film. However, The Batman – Part II could easily be set up by The Penguin to adapt the iconic Batman story even further.

Chris Nolan Was Always Right About The Long Halloween

“It’s An Epic Tragedy”

Christopher Nolan wrote the forward for one of DC’s trade paperbacks of The Long Halloween alongside his fellow Dark Knight trilogy screenwriter David S. Goyer. In it, Nolan confirms that “The Long Halloween is more than a comic book. It’s an epic tragedy.” He and Goyer then go on in the forward to describe just how much they were both influenced by this key Batman story, particularly the triumvirate of justice that was Batman, the GCPD’s Jim Gordon, and D.A. Harvey Dent as they sought to fight back against Gotham’s seemingly insurmountable corruption.

That said, The Long Halloween is far more than Harvey Dent’s tragic origins and dark transformation into the villain Two-Face. It also showcases how the city began to change over an entire year as members of the Falcone and Maroni crime families were murdered by the mysterious Holiday Killer/s, including both heads Carmine Falcone and Salvatore Maroni. With both families having turned on each other during the killings, Gotham begins evolving, deviating from organized crime alone as more super-criminals and “freaks” begin permeating and chaotically disrupting the traditional flow of Gotham’s underworld.

Keeping that in mind, it’s easy to see where and how Nolan and Goyer were inspired by The Long Halloween. The emergence of Christian Bale’s Batman began the shifts in Gotham’s status quo. Likewise, the triumvirate of justice was formed before it was undone by Dent becoming Two-Face, and agents of chaos like Heath Ledger’s Joker massively disrupted the city’s organized crime.

However, Reeves’ The Batman features its own exciting inspirations from The Long Halloween, including Carmine Falcone’s murder and his connection to Catwoman as her secret father. The movie also starts on Halloween night, which is a clear nod as well. There’s also a similar concept from the comics that Batman’s mere presence generated the creation of his rogues, such as Paul Dano’s Riddler, something The Dark Knight trilogy also suggests at the end of Batman Begins with the idea of escalation and Joker’s debut.

The Penguin Makes A Long Halloween Adaptation Possible

Introducing The Falcone Crime Family And The Dawn Of A New Gotham

At the end of The Batman, the implication is made that Carmine’s death at the hands of Riddler created a major power vacuum, one Oswald “Oz” Cobblepott intends to fill. This idea aligns with the comics where Penguin took over the majority of organized crime in Gotham following the deaths of Falcone and Maroni, having the ability to navigate both the old world of Gotham’s traditional corruption and the new with the emergence of Gotham’s classic rogues and “freaks”. Now, the upcoming Penguin series coming to Max could help introduce and establish more characters and arcs from The Long Halloween.

Seeking to claim a bigger piece of the pie, it looks as though Penguin will have to contend with both The Batman universe’s Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown) and the rest of the Falcone Crime Family, most notably Carmine’s children, Sofia (Cristin Milioti) and Alberto. Alberto (Michael Zegen) is a particularly noteworthy addition to the cast of The Penguin, seeing how he was one of the Holiday Killers in The Long Halloween (the one who killed Maroni). The Penguin series will also debut members of the crime families who were Holiday Killer victims in the comics, such as Johnny Vitti and Milos Grapa.

Please DC, Make The Batman 2 The Long Halloween

Long Halloween Is Perfect For This Version Of Batman

The overall tone of Gotham that was created in the first movie lends itself quite well to depict the epic tragedy of corruption and evolution that is The Long Halloween. Additionally, Robert Pattinson’s Batman has already proven himself to be the right kind of early Caped Crusader to make a version of Long Halloween work. While gifted at detective work, Pattinson’s Batman is still refining his crusade and how to protect Gotham City using the best methods possible in the face of its often overwhelming levels of corruption and evolving status quo.

With any luck, The Penguin series will help set the stage for Matt Reeves’ to create his very own full-fledged adaptation of The Long Halloween. The basic framework is there, and several more key characters will have made their debut in this version of Gotham by the end of the upcoming HBO series. At any rate, it should be very exciting to see how The Penguin will set up the next chapter in Matt Reeves’s Batman trilogy, especially considering all these elements which are strongly pointing to some kind of Long Halloween adaptation.

The Penguin is set to release on Max this Fall. The Batman – Part II is currently still in development.