New set photos from The Batman have comics fans wondering if the Court of Owls might have a role in the upcoming movie, which stars Robert Pattinson as a young Bruce Wayne just starting his career as the Dark Knight Detective. The photos, which have also drawn comparisons to the Batman: Zero Year storyline from Court of Owls co-creators Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, give fans a look at Batman’s costume — complete with gauntlets that closely resemble the ones worn by the antihero Talon, who has close ties with the Court of Owls. Both the Court of Owls and the Talon agents who work for them previously made their live-action debuton Fox’s Gotham.
In the comics, the Court of Owls have a legion of highly-trained assassins called Talons to control their interests. One of those Talons, Calvin Rose, escaped the Court, and now uses the mantle to strike back at them, eventually getting his own comic book series for a while and becoming part of Batman’s “family” of allies rather than an enemy.
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The Court have long ties to Gotham’s history, and so have been tied into the prequel story of Gotham and would be a natural fit for The Batman, although it would be difficult to weave them into Bruce’s own personal backstory without feeling like they were retreading ground that Nolan already covered with the League of Shadows in Batman Begins.
That said, the gauntlet worn by Robert Pattinson’s stunt double in the new photos and the one used by Talon in the comics are…pretty similar. And even if Bruce does not have a direct connection to Talon or the Court of Owls, it would not be surprising to see him taking some kind of inspiration from the disguised, shadowy figures who have made themselves urban legends skulking through Gotham’s history.
Pattinson will be playing a version of Batman who is in his second year as a masked vigilante in The Batman, according to various sources. The movie is expected to dial into the noir detective angle that first defined Batman’s comics, rather than the colorful and fantastical superhero stories that he has since been inserted into.
Directed by Matt Reeves, The Batman also stars Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth; Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle; Colin Farrell as The Penguin; Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon; Paul Dano as The Riddler; and John Turturro as Carmine Falcone.
The Batman is set to premiere in theaters on June 25, 2021. With no planned Justice League follow ups in the near future, it seems likely that DC’s shared film universe will be going without a Batman for a while, leaving Pattinson to redefine the role before we get either him or someone else stepping back onscreen with Superman and Wonder Woman down the line.
Original photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images
