Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Batman.
The Batman was released to critical acclaim, with many praising Matt Reeves’ direction, the writing, and the acting. As Warner Bros. prepares for the film’s sequels, fans all over the internet continue to debate which Batman villains should appear. As interesting as the villains are, the story is just as important.
Over the years, DC Comics has published a wide array of Batman stories. While many filmmakers in the superhero genre sometimes prefer to create their own story, there have also been several instances where some famous storylines are adapted.
No Man’s Land
The Batman‘s ending perfectly sets up the No Man’s Land storyline. Written by Jordan B. Gorfinkel, this story had Gotham City completely isolated from the rest of the world after an earthquake severely affects the city. People are evacuated, and the government destroys all the bridges, leaving all who stayed stranded. This gives criminals the perfect opportunity to take over the city and gives an impossible task for Batman.
After The Riddler flooded Gotham in The Batman‘s climax, the whole city is in ruins, and criminals are at large everywhere trying to take advantage of this. This can set the stakes much higher, giving Batman the duty to protect the entire city. It can work similarly to Arkham Knight as he goes around the city fighting crime and attempting to keep the city in check.
Heart Of Ice
Before his appearance in Batman: The Animated Series, Mr. Freeze was regarded as a pretty goofy villain, with Adam West’s Batman series being his only portrayal in film or TV. The Heart of Ice storyline from the animated series, exceptionally written by Paul Dini, really gave the character humanity and made a lot of people feel sorry for the DC villain.
Matt Reeves has heavily hinted that Mr. Freeze may in fact be the next villain of the series. Per Collider, Reeves stated, “I think there’s actually a grounded version of that story, which could be really powerful and could be really great.” Mr. Freeze’s tragic backstory would be an excellent way to follow up The Riddler, and fans would be over the moon to see the iconic villain finally adapted to the movies faithfully.
Court Of Owls
After The Batman showed just how corrupt this version of Gotham City is, there’s no better story than Court of Owls to follow up the last film. The court is a secret organization comprised of wealthy Gothamites, which has been pulling the strings behind the scenes since colonial times. The potential villains for the sequel would be an excellent addition to the story.
In The Batman, Bruce is shown to be very reclusive and rarely attends public events, but by the end of the film, he realizes he must be a symbol of hope, not only as Batman. A natural progression of his character would be to be more involved in rebuilding the city as a place of good. Of course, this will make him a target of the Owls, just like in the comic.
Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth
While it isn’t as well known as many other Batman comics, Arkham Asylum remains one of the most influential Batman storylines to date. The Batman: Arkham series was greatly inspired by this book. Written by the great Grant Morrison, the book goes down a rabbit hole of the mysterious history behind the fabled Arkham Asylum.
The story is extremely psychological, creepy, and is unlike any previous Batman story. This story arc would be the quintessential one to adapt for the upcoming Arkham Asylum HBO Max series, set in the world of The Batman. Speaking with Variety, Matt Reeves said “[…]it’s like a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham. The idea, again the way that Gotham is a character in the movie, I really want Arkham to exist as a character.” There’s no better story than this one to adapt for the Arkham show.
The Killing Joke
The newly released deleted scene featuring the Joker generated a ton of buzz. Even in his brief screen-time, Barry Keoghan really just chews the scenery, giving a fantastic performance. A very small detail in the scene could set up something huge for the sequel. As Batman gives him files on the Riddler, there’s a paper clip on one of the photos. When Joker hands it back, the paper clip is gone, hinting at his eventual escape.
Adapting The Killing Joke would be the best way to top The Batman. In many ways, The Batman is a character study of Bruce Wayne. Shifting the focus to Batman and Joker’s relationship would be genius. The two already seem to have history, and beginning the sequel with Batman going to Arkham, only to find Joker gone, would make any comic fan extremely excited.
Year One
The Batman was the first introductory film since the 60s Batman that ignored Bruce Wayne’s origins. Matt Reeves has established that during the events of his film, Bruce Wayne is in his second year of crimefighting. An interesting story thread to follow in the sequel would be to go backward and discover more of Bruce’s past, similar to how The Godfather: Part II is intercut with Vito Corleone’s origins.
Viewed by many as the best comic book origin story from either DC or Marvel, adapting elements of Year One could show how Jim Gordon’s relationship and trust in Batman began. There’s a lot of intrigue into the Gotham that Matt Reeves created, and offering more world-building could fill in some gaps.
Dark Victory
A lot of the inspiration for The Batman came from The Long Halloween, so there is no better way to follow up that film than with the storyline that followed The Long Halloween, called Dark Victory. In the Batman comic lore, the book is chronologically Batman’s third year and is also a re-telling of Dick Grayson’s origins as the first Robin.
The series follows a copycat serial killer in the wake of Holiday, who terrorized Gotham, and the power vacuum left in the Falcone crime family. Dark Victory feels like the perfect continuation for The Batman as it can show Penguin taking over the family, a copycat Riddler serial killer (especially after the movement he started), and Bruce recruiting Robin. It makes perfect sense.
A Death In The Family
Arguably one of the best Batman comics, A Death in the Family would be way too early to adapt for the film’s first sequel, but as the final film of the trilogy, killing off Robin would be just heartbreaking. In a genre of films where dying no longer has any weight, keeping things grounded and permanent in The Batman franchise will definitely make things resonate more with the audience.
Although fans have gotten just a little taste of Barry Keoghan’s Joker, it would be awesome to see him go fully chaotic. Keoghan has shown he’s very capable of being intimidating and creepy. His performances in The Green Knight and Marvel Studios’ Eternals undeniably left hints of that. The Joker’s future is very exciting.
Hush
When asked in a Twitter Q&A which character from the comics he’d love to introduce to the world of The Batman, Reeves said “There are so many. I think Hush is a really interesting one to do. I’ll choose Hush.” Hush is a very fascinating character from the Batman mythos.
Initially a close friend of Bruce Wayne, Tommy Elliott went down a dark path, becoming the anti-Bruce Wayne. After attempting to kill his parents, his mother is miraculously saved by Dr. Thomas Wayne. This enrages Elliott, and he blames Bruce, going on a vendetta against him to exact his revenge. The similarities between the two are striking, and Elliott somewhat acts as a dark reflection to Bruce. The themes of corruption and revenge from this story unequivocally work for the world of The Batman.
Crisis Event
While this storyline may be controversial to some, there is a huge demand for Robert Pattinson to crossover with other members of the DC universe. Although Matt Reeves has maintained that his world is grounded and doesn’t contain other superheroes, there’s a way that the multiverse can make all of this happen.
The Flash director Andy Muschietti stated, “[…]all the cinematic iterations that we’ve seen before are valid…all that you’ve seen exists, and everything that you will see exists, in the same unified multiverse.” DC Films President Walter Hamada also mentioned that there could be future crossovers within the multiverse. A film project where fans could see Robert Pattinson’s Batman interacting with DCEU and Arrowverse characters could happen in the future.
