48 Fun Facts About The Batman (2022)

Who directed The Batman?

Matt Reeves took over after Ben Affleck stepped down as director, then rebuilt the story from scratch around a younger Batman outside the DC Extended Universe.

Who stars as Bruce Wayne in The Batman?

Robert Pattinson's casting drew a fan petition to reverse it, but he called the reaction 'less vitriolic than I was expecting' and said being the underdog was more fun.

Which piece of music is the first thing heard in The Batman?

Ave Maria opens the film in place of the usual action scene because the director wanted viewers off-kilter, and the villain's theme is a minor-key twist on its melody.

Which actor plays the Riddler in The Batman?

Paul Dano had himself wrapped in plastic wrap under the costume, reasoning that the Riddler would take extreme care not to leave DNA at a crime scene.

Who plays Selina Kyle in The Batman?

Zoë Kravitz studied footage of cats and lions fighting to work out how Selina should move in a fight.

Which actor is unrecognisable under prosthetics as the Penguin in The Batman?

Colin Farrell tested the disguise by walking into a Burbank Starbucks in character and ordering an oat-milk latte, drawing only 'a couple of stares'.

Who plays Lieutenant Jim Gordon in The Batman?

Jeffrey Wright looked to real Black police figures for his Gordon, among them Eric Adams, the former NYPD captain who became mayor of New York.

Which actor plays crime boss Carmine Falcone in The Batman?

John Turturro decided that Falcone needed 'a mask', so he went to the shop where he buys his own vintage glasses and chose the pair the mobster wears.

Who plays Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman?

Andy Serkis had played the ape leader Caesar for the same director in two Planet of the Apes films, and was sounded out for Alfred while they finished the second.

Which actor makes a late cameo as the Joker in The Batman?

Barry Keoghan was announced as playing a Gotham policeman called Stanley Merkel, and the director even shot fake scenes with him in that role to hide the cameo.

What is the Riddler's real name in The Batman?

Edward Nashton comes from the comics, where one story makes it the villain's birth name before he changes it to the punning Edward Nygma.

What is the Riddler's day job in The Batman?

Forensic accountant is his day job, and it is at work that he discovers a renewal fund set up by Thomas Wayne has become a slush fund for the corrupt.

Which Gotham official is the Riddler's first victim in The Batman?

Mayor Don Mitchell Jr. is killed at home in the middle of his re-election campaign, and the Riddler leaves a greeting card at the scene addressed 'To the Batman'.

Selina Kyle works as a waitress at which Gotham nightclub in The Batman?

The Iceberg Lounge is run by the Penguin, and Batman first walks in to ask about a city official who was seen leaving the club with a young woman.

Who is elected mayor of Gotham during The Batman?

Bella Reál wins the election, only for the Riddler's armed followers to turn up at her victory celebration in a flooding arena.

Where is the Riddler locked up after his arrest in The Batman?

Arkham State Hospital is where the Riddler finds a friend in the next cell, a closing scene the director kept to show that Gotham's troubles were far from over.

The Riddler's trail leads Batman to the ruins of what kind of institution?

An orphanage first funded by Thomas Wayne, it was left to rot after his murder as his renewal money was siphoned off, the root of the Riddler's grudge.

Under what working title was The Batman shot?

Vengeance is also what this Batman first calls himself, growling 'I'm vengeance' at a street gang, before the story pushes him to stand for hope instead.

In which city did filming of The Batman begin in January 2020?

London was where the cameras first rolled, but the pandemic shut the set two months later with only about a quarter of the film shot.

Which Warner Bros. studio, home of Harry Potter, housed The Batman's Gotham sets?

Leavesden had hosted only three days of resumed filming in September 2020 when the shoot stopped again: the film's star had tested positive for COVID-19.

Which cinematographer of Dune also shot The Batman?

Greig Fraser built every shot around Bruce Wayne's point of view, strapping cameras to the vehicles so the Batmobile chase is seen the way its drivers see it.

The Batman's LED-wall sets were pioneered on which TV series?

The Mandalorian's wall of LED screens, known as StageCraft, let the crew shoot the rooftop Bat-Signal scenes in a sunset glow they could never have held on location.

Who composed the score for The Batman?

Michael Giacchino was so excited that he finished the main theme in October 2019, months before filming began, which let the studio use it in the trailers.

Which Nirvana song plays twice in The Batman?

Something in the Way was playing as the director wrote the first act, and it led him to model his reclusive Bruce Wayne on Kurt Cobain.

Ben Affleck's abandoned version of The Batman would have pitted him against which villain?

Deathstroke was to be played by Joe Manganiello, cast in 2016 while Affleck was still set to direct; the script was shelved when he stepped away and the film restarted from scratch.

The Batman's star screen-tested in a Batsuit made for whom?

Val Kilmer's suit from Batman Forever was the only old one that fitted; its new wearer found it far too small and called the test an arduous experience.

Which comic about a serial killer preying on Gotham's mob families inspired The Batman?

The Long Halloween gave the film its killer who exposes ties between Gotham's pillars and its criminals, and the idea that Catwoman is a mob boss's daughter.

The Batman's director credits its voyeuristic binocular opening to which filmmaker?

Alfred Hitchcock's films treat watching as voyeurism, the director said, so he opened with the audience spying alongside the killer instead of with an action scene.

Batman and Gordon's partnership was compared to the reporters in which 1970s film?

All the President's Men was the model: the director saw the pair as Woodward and Bernstein, meeting in secret to work out how high the corruption goes.

The Batman's director compared the underestimated Penguin to which member of The Godfather's Corleone family?

Fredo was the director's note to his actor: like him, this Penguin is crippled by feeling insignificant in a crime family of stronger, more capable men.

In The Batman, what does the bat emblem on the hero's chest double as?

A knife: the designers thought a plain leather badge was unrealistic, so the emblem became a removable blade, this film's take on the batarang.

Warner Bros. pulled The Batman's release in which country days before its March 2022 opening?

Russia lost the film over its invasion of Ukraine: Warner Bros. paused the release shortly after Disney became the first big studio to do the same.

Which pandemic-era film beat The Batman to a $100 million US opening?

Spider-Man: No Way Home did it in December 2021; The Batman's $134 million start then beat, in one weekend, the whole US run of any other Warner Bros. pandemic release.

At the 2023 Oscars, The Batman was nominated for sound, visual effects and which third category?

Makeup and Hairstyling was the third, for the prosthetics that hid the Penguin's actor; the film lost all three awards on the night.

The Batman's viral site rataalada.com takes its name from Spanish for what?

'Winged rat' is the Riddler's clue to a mob informant: Bruce Wayne first reads it as a stool pigeon, and the real website let fans trade messages with the killer.

The Batman's Batmobile swaps the tank-like look of earlier films for what kind of car?

A muscle car that Bruce could have built himself was the idea: the designers used the roof of a 1969 Dodge Charger and looked to Stephen King's killer car Christine.

The Batman's director revealed its new Batsuit in 2020 footage drenched in which colour?

Red: the director posted the camera test online himself in February 2020, and the unfamiliar colour set off debate about how far this Batman would break from earlier ones.

Which actor did 2026 trade reports name as Harvey Dent in The Batman: Part II?

Sebastian Stan's casting was confirmed by the director in May 2026 without a named part; trade reports had him as Gotham's district attorney, and he teased playing 'many roles in this one'.

Which actress won a 2025 Emmy as Sofia Falcone in The Batman's spin-off series The Penguin?

Cristin Milioti won lead actress in a limited series for playing Carmine Falcone's daughter, who fights the Penguin for control of Gotham's underworld.

What is the name of the shared universe that The Batman is intended to launch?

The Batman Epic Crime Saga takes in a planned film trilogy and The Penguin; in late 2024 DC Studios' James Gunn said he had 'contemplated' merging it into his DC Universe, adding 'I contemplate everything'.

The Batman was the first comic-book film to reach Chinese cinemas since which DC release?

Wonder Woman 1984 had been the last, in 2020; a run of 2021 films including Shang-Chi, Eternals and the Venom sequel were all denied Chinese releases.

The Batman's director modelled the Riddler on which real-life criminal?

The Zodiac Killer, who taunted police with ciphers in 1960s California, struck the director as a real-life Riddler in a home-made costume.

How long has Bruce Wayne been operating as Batman when The Batman begins?

Two years in, this Batman is still working out how to do the job; the director skipped the origin story to show a hero who is not yet succeeding.

What puts Alfred in hospital midway through The Batman?

A letter bomb meant for Bruce Wayne goes off after Alfred opens the post in his place, the attack that finally turns Bruce's attention to his own family's secrets.

Which detail did Alfred's actor suggest adding to the butler's look in The Batman?

Facial scars were his idea for hinting at a soldier's past; the script already gave Alfred a walking cane for the same reason.

What does the Riddler leave in his first victim's car for Batman and Gordon to find?

A thumb drive plugged into the car holds photos of the victim with a young woman outside a nightclub, the lead that sends Batman to question the Penguin.

What do the Riddler's bombs destroy to flood Gotham in The Batman?

The seawall gives way to a string of vehicle bombs, a flood the film borrowed from the comic 'Zero Year', in which the Riddler also drowns Gotham.

The Batman's director co-created which TV drama with JJ Abrams?

Felicity is where he learned to spend an hour on one camera angle instead of rushing five, the habit that had one scene of this film run to about 200 takes.