Audiences will be getting to spend a lot of time in Gotham City when The Batman comes to theaters March 4th. It will be a darker version of Gotham that we have seen before, and with an extended runtime, will come more suspense, more violence, and more scares. Touted as the "scariest Batman film to date” by director Matt Reeves, the run time of The Batman reveals that viewers will get to spend a lot of time in Gotham City, 2 hours and 47 minutes to be exact.
The film promises a dark tone as the Caped Crusader takes on the likes of Paul Dano’s Riddler and Colin Farrell’s Penguin. The runtime does not include a reported 8 minutes in actual credits, or the presence of mid or post-credit scenes, the latter not being confirmed yet. Superhero movies have been gaining more and more momentum, which has created the demand for longer runtimes, and as a result, they have slowly been going up as to both further a story, for better or worse, as well as to give fans more bang for their buck.
This incredible runtime for a superhero movie is only surpassed by Avengers: Endgame and Zack Snyder’s Justice League which ran 181 minutes and 242 minutes respectively for the same class of movie. Those movies have been heavily critically acclaimed, Zack Snyder’s cut of the Justice League movie more so than Joss Whedon’s re-shot vision. Unlike Justice League, The Batman will stand on its own outside of the DCEU, much like Joker.
Robert Pattinson's Bruce Wayne Faces a New Threat in The Batman
Batman is facing a threat he hasn’t faced much throughout his time in cinema, in that Paul Dano’s Riddler knows who he is. Certainly it’s happened before in movies, but the realization of whom the Dark Knight truly is will likely be addressed in the runtime, as well as other factors. Photos of the Riddler in particular have supported it is possible the movie may also address the Riddler’s possible transformation into Batman villain Hush. While that particular villain is originally Bruce’s friend Dr. Thomas Elliot, Batman: Hush improved the origin of the villain into a Riddler that knows Bruce Wayne is Batman.
Director Matt Reeves has promised a true type of detective movie with this iteration of the Caped Crusader, something that also has not been addressed much on the big screen. Batman is frequently referred to as the World's Greatest Detective. The newly announced runtime as well as the mystery surrounding many of the characters do back his claims of a slow-burn detective film, as well as exploring new facets of the character, his lore, and the mythology surrounding them all.
Be prepared to take a nearly three-hour tour of Gotham when The Batman hits theaters on March 4th. The Batman stars Robert Pattinson as the titular hero, Paul Dano as Edward Nygma’s Riddler, Colin Farrell as the Penguin, Andy Serkis as Alfred, Jeffry Wright as James Gordon, and Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle. This news comes to us from Variety.