The Batman’s Revenge Story Makes Man-Bat The Perfect Sequel Villain

With how they are setting up the revenge-driven story for Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne in The Batman, DC’s Man-Bat would serve as the perfect antagonist for a sequel. The Dark Knight is being rebooted once more for the big screen, with director Matt Reeves telling a new story for Batman. The first installment will follow Bruce in his second year as Gotham City’s legendary crime fighter as he goes up against The Riddler. With Reeves helming the reboot, the director has talked about seeing The Batman as the start of a new trilogy, allowing different stories to be told from the Caped Crusader’s universe.

From what is known about The Batman thus far, Pattinson’s Bruce is still in the early stages of setting the foundation for his moral center. Despite his choice to dress up as a bat to stop Gotham’s criminals through fear, Batman still has to walk the fine line between being an inspiring hero or a brutal monster. While other villains like Catwoman and The Penguin will be part of The Batman, the new trilogy has the opportunity to explore other foes who haven’t been in previous Batman franchises. Many of them are some of DC’s darkest villains in existence. But there are Batman baddies who have complex themes behind them while also parallelling Bruce’s journey. One of them is Dr. Kirk Langstrom, a.k.a. the Man-Bat, one of Batman’s physically challenging enemies.

Whether in the comics, the TV shows, or the movies, Batman is constantly trying to stick to an imperative rule which is not to kill. Breaking that one rule is what Batman defines as the final nail in the coffin from losing himself as Gotham’s symbol for justice. If Batman ever turns into a murderer, he becomes another monster to Gotham. What is excellent about Man-Bat is that Kirk represents everything Bruce is trying to prevent from becoming. Even if it doesn’t involve physically transforming to a bat, Man-Bat represents the creature Batman doesn’t want to become. Bruce may only wear a bat costume, but that is what sets him and Kirk apart.

Kirk’s literal transformation to Man-Bat symbolizes someone willing to give up his humanity to achieve power and control in Gotham City. Even if it costs him to have to mutate into a Man-Bat creature physically, those are the lengths Kirk is willing to go. For The Batman, Pattinson’s characterization will be working on finding a balance of being his dark, brutal self without losing himself and become another monster like Man-Bat. Some might see Man-Bat as one of Bruce’s non-human enemies to give Batman a difficult opponent to fight. But Kirk’s characterization is what makes him stand out from other rogues.

Even the comics have taken some intriguing routes with Man-Bat, where he is more than a super-villain. Aside from being a thematically compelling antagonist, Man-Bat would be intriguing to see in live-action. Having Man-Bat in The Batman 2 would allow the reboot to explore some of the super-elements of the Batman comics. Additionally, given how far movie technology has come today, seeing Man-Bat visually in a future installment of The Batman would be exciting and potentially horrifying.