Over the years, DC Comics has introduced a plethora of characters, but there are only a few that can rival the popularity of Batman. Considering many artists have drawn the character for DC Comics, it’s evident that there are several different designs of the Dark Knight.
Moreover, when the character has been adapted for live-action films, directors like Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan or Matt Reeves have used different versions of the iconic character in their Batman movies.
Christopher Nolan and Matt Reeves’ Batman Movies Had One Connection
Tim Sale had a huge impact on Batman in DC Comics during the early 1990s. Sale’s Batman was a bit different from the traditional appearance of the Dark Knight. While Tim Burton didn’t adapt his design for the iconic character, Christopher Nolan and Matt Reeves did.
An excerpt about Tim Sale in The Comics Journal explained how the two great directors adapted the Caped Crusader into their live-action films.
Sale’s Batman wasn’t always as handsome as other artists’, but his eyes burned with cold minimalistic focus. Sale’s and Loeb’s Gotham City, a wonderland of holiday darkness the likes of which Tim Burton could only dream of, made its most celebrated appearance in the 1997-98 series Batman: The Long Halloween, a 13-issue whodunit with capes that would inform director Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy as well as Matt Reeves’ recent The Batman.
As mentioned in the excerpt, the most accurate representation of Sale’s design was in the Batman: The Long Halloween series. It’s the 1997-98 series that did justice to Sale’s Batman, not the recent 2021 series.
On the other hand, both Nolan and Reeves’ movies featured the Dark Knight with a cold yet minimalistic look in the character’s eyes. Not many fans are aware of the connection between the two franchises despite being released in a gap of more than a decade.
The Batman 2 Will Most Likely Feature the Same Design For The Dark Knight
On one hand, Ben Affleck has played Batman in the DCEU. However, after the events of The Flash, it is confirmed that Affleck’s Batman will no longer be part of James Gunn’s soft reboot of the DCEU.
While Affleck has bid farewell to the role, fans have already found another actor who has proved that he is perfect for the role. Yes, it’s none other than The Twilight Saga fame Robert Pattinson. He portrayed the iconic antihero for the first time in Matt Reeves’ The Batman in 2022.
However, the franchise is separate from the DCU, so fans shouldn’t expect Pattinson to be in the current version of the Justice League anytime soon. Fortunately, it doesn’t mean that Pattinson won’t return as the character.
In fact, Pattinson will portray the Cape Crusader in The Batman 2. As of now, the film has been given a 2025 release date, unless it gets postponed for a date in the future.
