Before he was Batman, Robert Pattinson burst onto the Hollywood Scene as Edward Cullen in the teen-romance epic series Twilight. Much has changed since Pattinson portrayed the sparkling vampire. But one thing that has remained the same is his character's fondness for moving helpless damsels out of the way of speeding vehicles. That is what happened in a scene in Twilight, and that is what happens in a scene from The Batman trailer unveiled recently. And fans are loving it.
In Twilight, one of the early interactions between Edward and Bella occurred when a rogue truck careened into their school's parking lot, directly in Bella's path. Before she could react, Bella found Edward's hunky body protecting her from the runaway vehicle, which was her first clue that there was more going on with her ridiculously good looking classmate than met the eye.
Meanwhile, in Matt Reeves' The Batman trailer, Bruce Wayne is attending a dinner when a car crashes into the hall. Seeing a woman caught in its path, Wayne puts his Bat-muscles to work, snatching the woman of the way in the nick of time. Clearly, Pattinson is the action hero you need when there is a car moving improbably towards a sole woman in a crowded area.
The fact that the two movies share such a scene is ultimately nothing more than a coincidence. The world of The Batman is as far removed from The Twilight Saga as it is possible to be. The latter was at its core a story of teen romance, set in the world of sparkling vampires, brooding werewolves, and oblivious humans.
On the other hand, The Batman trailer that dropped at DC FanDome established the film as a grounded take on the Batman mythology where the focus will be on a young Caped Crusader. Reeves explained while introducing the trailer for his film that Pattinson's Batman is only in his second year of fighting crime, and is still very much in the process of finding his way as a vigilante. The film is also said to be an examination of how the roots of corruption were first formed in Gotham and a possible role that Bruce Wayne's own parents might have had to play in that story.
Warner Bros. is probably happy to have the Twilight demographic also showing such enthusiasm for a movie trailer that is geared specifically towards the comic book crowd. While Pattinson has made his distaste for the Twilight franchise repeatedly clear in the past, the fanbase for the series is still very much in love with him, and will doubtless turn out in droves to see him play another bat-themed loner with control issues. That can only be an advantage for the actor, as he takes his shot at becoming a Hollywood leading man for a second time after Twilight ended.
The Batman is directed by Matt Reeves and co-written by Reeves and Mattson Tomlin. The film stars 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, and is set to be released in theaters on October 1, 2021.