AEW's Tony Khan Explains Why He Loves Robert Pattinson's Performance in The Batman

By Connor Casey

AEW president Tony Khan is a big fan of how Robert Pattinson portrayed Bruce Wayne in The Batman, which officially arrived on HBO Max on Monday. During some interactions with fans, AEW color commentator Tony Schiavone was asked to give his thoughts on the movie. While he admitted to being lukewarm about certain aspects, Khan jumped in to explain why he enjoyed it so much. Regarding the ending, which sees Batman saving citizens after Riddler's followers have flooded the city, Khan wrote, "I loved it. I thought that made sense because this film is early in his crusade, and I think that him helping the victims during that catastrophe represented the big step where the city realized he actually cared about the people + that he's not just some mindless violent monster."

He also touched on the subject of Pattinson portraying Bruce as a "goth," something that has been a popular talking point among fans and critics. Schiavone tweeted, "To me, he Came across as a goth Bruce Wayne who was in a trance most of the time."

Khan responded with, "Yes, he's goth because he's still mourning the death of his parents + seems like he's in a hazy trance because he's worked all night every night for years, so whenever you see him as daytime Bruce it means he's on no sleep + being a recluse goth guy is a great cover story for him."

Director Matt Reeves recently sat down with KCRW and talked about how Pattinson's physical awkwardness helped him land the role as Batman. He explained, "Not only is it a facet, obviously, of who he is, because obviously that's partly him, but it's something he's in control of as well. One of the things I found so fascinating about working with him is he works in a way that feels almost like a method actor. And yet, you can see that he has great access to his emotions, and he puts himself into a state. But he's also in incredible control of his instrument, the way he moves. It's all very technical, and it's very intentional. So I could say to him, I need this to be hotter, and he could access that very easily. [And I could say] but I also, because of this cowl and the way the light is hitting your eye, I need you to lean a little bit more to your left, because otherwise I won't see your eye. And he could do both those things at once."

"He had a tremendous ability to access his emotions, but also be in control of his movement, so all of that stuff is coming from a very internal place. But he has a tremendous facility with himself physically. He's just very able to access all of that stuff, but also weirdly at the same time, while he can be out of control, he can also be incredibly in control in terms of how to calibrate his voice, the way he's leaning, where he's standing. And so all of those choices I think he's making are on some level, very conscious, too, even though I know some of it has to be unconscious because it is coming from a very instinctual place," he added.

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