The Batman Star Jeffrey Wright Teases Another Major DC Comics Influence

One of the most persistent rumors surrounding Matt Reeves’s The Batman, the latest iteration of the Dark Knight’s adventures, which will hit theaters next year with Robert Pattinson in the title role as Bruce Wayne/Batman, is that it would be an adaptation of — or at least significantly inspired by — the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale hit The Long Halloween. The miniseries, which has been one of DC’s best-selling collected editions since it was released, centered on a mysterious villain who kills one victim a month, and the year-long struggle to stop the rampage. The comic took place early in Batman’s career, and included a version of the characters where Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle were seeing each other socially independent of being Batman and Catwoman.

Now, an Instagram post from actor Jeffrey Wright — who plays Jim Gordon in the movie — has fans even more convinced that The Long Halloween is going to see some love in the upcoming film. The movie, which also seems to draw inspiration from the Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo run on Batman as well as Brian Azarello and Lee Bermejo’s take on the character, is currently in production.

You can check out Wright’s post below.

Reeves has said that the film will have a number of comics influences, but will not actually adapt any one story. Fans have been parsing out set photos and dissecting interviews in the hopes of getting some clues about the movie, which reportedly takes place early in Batman’s career and will be a mystery with a noir feeling to it.

Batman: The Long Halloween will be adapted into a DC Universe animated film soon, something that has often been a sign that something was ready to be used in feature films. There was a Suicide Squad animated movie shortly before the live-action version went into production, and both The Dark Knight Returns and The Death of Superman had been made into animated movies before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice borrowed heavily from both.

The cast of The Batman will also include High Fidelity star Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, There Will Be Blood‘s Paul Dano as Edward Nygma/The Riddler, The Lobster‘s Colin Farrell as Oswalt Cobblepott/The Penguin, Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘s Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Barton Fink‘s John Turturro as Carmine Falcone. Newcomer Jayme Lawson has been cast in a currently-unknown role.

The Batman stalks into theaters on June 25, 2021.