The Batman trailer debuted at DC FanDome on Saturday, promising a slick new take on the Dark Knight and the world of Gotham. Fans praised the visuals and action shown in the footage, as well as the element of mystery that hung over the entire narrative of the trailer. During an interview panel, Reeves revealed his version of Batman is still very much in the early stages of becoming an effective crime fighter.

"You know the whole idea this is all an experiment in the movie. The idea that we're in Year 2, it's the Gotham experiment, it's a criminal logical experiment, trying to figure out what he can do to finally change this place. And in our story, as he's in that mode. That's where you meet him and you see that he's charting what he's doing and he doesn't seem to have any effect that he wants to happen."

The rage and confusion experienced by Bruce Wayne in The Batman is on full display in the trailer, as he brutally pummels a downed criminal and grows increasingly frustrated by the main villain's deadly games, which, according to Reeves, reveal unexpectedly deep and uncomfortable truths about Gotham.

"That is when the murders start to happen, and then the murders begin to describe sort of the history of Gotham in a way that only reinforces what he knows about Gotham, but it opens up a whole new world of corruption that goes much farther. But as that story starts to come out, without being an origin tale for him, it ends up being something that touches on his origins."

It seems the war between Batman and the film's main villain, who is assumed to be the Riddler at this point, is going to be much more personal than simply bringing a criminal to justice. Reeves went on to hint that Bruce's own parents might have a role to play in the storyline beyond setting him on the path to becoming Batman.

"You start to describe this epic history of corruption in Gotham that you start to understand 'well, where did my family sit in that' and in that sense... is a way to take a story, a point-of-view story, a mystery. It's got, of course, action, and all that kind of stuff, but at the end of it, it's incredibly personal for him even though it's in the story where he's trying to understand and unravel this mystery."

The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves and co-written by Reeves and Mattson Tomlin, features a lead cast of Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton/The Riddler, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone and Peter Sarsgaard as District Attorney Gil Colson. The film is set to be released in theaters on Oct. 1, 2021. Matt Reeves dropped this interesting insight into The Batman while appearing at DC Fandome.