‘The Batman’ Director Matt Reeves Wishes the Dark Knight a Happy 80th Birthday

The Batman director Matt Reeves is among those celebrating the 80th anniversary of the world’s [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

The Batman director Matt Reeves is among those celebrating the 80th anniversary of the world's greatest detective, wishing the caped crusader a happy birthday with a Twitter post paying tribute to 1939's Detective Comics #27, Batman's first appearance. Reeves ended the post with the hashtag "Long live the Bat."

Reeves previously listed the early works by Batman co-creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger as some of his favorite comics, which could influence Reeves' spin on the Dark Knight. Other titles listed were Batman: Year One, Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory, and Batman: Ego, as well as the works of Neal Adams among "many others."

When revealing details surrounding the project in September, Reeves said his DC Extended Universe entry will not serve as an adaptation of any one comic but will instead borrow from across Batman's 80-year history.

"Year One is one of the many comic books that I love. We are definitely not doing Year One," Reeves said at the Television Critics Association press tour.

"It's just exciting to be focused very specifically on a tale that is defining for him and very personal to him. Obviously we're not doing an origin tale or anything like that. We're doing a story that is definitively Batman though, and trying to tell a story that's emotional and yet is really about him being the world's greatest detective and all the things that for me, since I was a kid, made me love Batman."

Story details remain under wraps, but Reeves said he's interested in telling "a very point of view noir-driven definitive Batman story in which he is investigating a particular case and that takes us out into the world of Gotham."

"I went on a deep dive again revisiting all my favorite comics. Those all inform by osmosis," Reeves said. "There's no continuation of the [Christopher] Nolan films. It's very much trying to find a way to do this as something that for me is going to be definitively Batman and new and cool."

The role will be filled by a new actor set to play a younger Bruce Wayne who is a "more starting-out version" in lieu of Ben Affleck's veteran crimefighter.

Warner Bros. has dated The Batman for June 25, 2021.

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