Christopher Nolan’s Tenet will likely be canonized as a rather mystifying film. That said, Nolan’s latest release provides a unique perspective on the rest of his films – particularly The Dark Knight trilogy – in regards to what more modern versions of the movies may have looked like. Would Nolan’s take on Batman look any different if he made it today?
The Dark Knight trilogy marked a new era for superhero films, ushering in a generation of darker, grittier takes on the genre. It also responded to the political climate of the time, with elements such as the sonar device in The Dark Knight standing in as commentary on the U.S. government surveillance in response to 9/11. With new hot-button issues to tackle – as well as an entirely different societal attitude towards superhero films to work through – Nolan’s Batman films would look markedly different if he made them today.
While the entirety of Nolan’s trilogy dealt with time and memory in some capacity, the films didn’t focus on these topics in the same overt manner that Nolan has employed with so many of his other films, including Tenet. Nolan’s latest film saw the director with a newfound willingness to assault his audience. Whereas Nolan has always been interested in misdirection, Tenet intentionally overwhelms viewers, with one character literally suggesting that viewers just “feel it” as opposed to trying to unravel its every narrative thread. If Tenet is any indication, a contemporary take on Batman from Nolan would likely be even more complex and layered than his previous iterations. Here are all the other ways Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy would change today.
An All New Gotham City
Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy offered an unprecedented glimpse into Gotham City. The films combined locales in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Pittsburgh to create a unique vision of an American city. Nolan’s Gotham, however, has met mixed reception over the years. While some fans loved his realistic rendition of the city, others felt it was missing some of the more gothic elements that have defined the city in the comics.
Gotham didn’t always play a vital role in the events of the Dark Knight trilogy, and Matt Reeves’ upcoming film The Batman is expected to correct this mistake. Nolan has always been impressed by realistic, opulent displays, so a new take on Batman from the director may not diverge too much from this path. Still, superhero films have become exponentially more popular in the decade since Nolan’s trilogy began, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the director take a bit more influence from comic books in crafting a new Gotham.
A Mind-Bending Villain (But Not The Joker)
For the purposes of this thought experiment, it’s worth considering what kinds of villains Nolan would like to play with outside of those he used in his original films. While Heath Ledger’s Joker remains arguably the most iconic version of the character in any medium, there’s no denying the extent to which the character has saturated superhero stories in recent years. Still, it is safe to say a new Batman film from Nolan would look for a villain interested in deception. Prior to The Dark Knight Rises, rumors swirled that David Tennant would play The Riddler in the trilogy capper, which makes a lot of sense. The Riddler does mesh rather well with the themes that Nolan has worked with throughout his career.
Related: What Each Dark Knight Trilogy Movie Really Represents
Implementing a character like The Riddler into the Dark Knight trilogy would allow Nolan to push the trilogy towards the more complex structures seen in Tenet or even Dunkirk. The original trilogy did utilize a lot of cross-cutting, something Nolan has become known for over the course of his career, but it was still told linearly. If the trilogy released today, it is unlikely that Nolan would be content with telling such a straightforward story. Instead, he’d use a character like The Riddler, or even a lesser-known villain such as Dr. Hugo Strange, to complicate not just Batman’s journey, but the viewer’s as well.
A Brand New Set of Politics
Nolan’s original trilogy was both emotional and invigorating. It was also, however, highly political. The Dark Knight dealt with issues of governmental surveillance, while The Dark Knight Rises concerned itself with the Occupy Wall Street Movement. These sorts of political themes were relevant in the 2000s, but if Nolan made his trilogy today, he’d have an entirely new set of political topics to incorporate into his films. The rise of right-wing leaders like Donald Trump or Boris Johnson, for example, would likely inflect Nolan’s Batman films in some capacity. Nolan’s actual perspective on these political events, however, is a more complicated idea.
The original trilogy offered a strange mixture of conservative and progressive ideals. In The Dark Knight, Nolan is critical of his own protagonist’s willingness to spy on the citizens of Gotham in order to defeat the Joker. But just one film later, Nolan seems willing to support Batman’s squashing of Bane’s movement, which, at its core, is simply aiming to close the wealth gap in Gotham. The Dark Knight Rises has been viewed as contradictory towards the other films in the trilogy for a number of reasons, and its muddled politics are just another example. If Nolan made his Batman trilogy today, there is no doubt that he would continue to engage with the politics of our time. Those politics just so happen to look markedly different from how they did just a decade ago. In Tenet, Nolan even expresses frustration over global warming and the destruction of our planet. A new take on The Dark Knight trilogy would likely deal with these topics in several unexpected ways – with the potential assistance of underutilized villains such as Poison Ivy to lead the charge.
