Everyone has an opinion in the world of superheroes (and in every other world, to be honest). So, back when Robert Pattinson was first unveiled as the latest Batman, film Twitter and DC Twitter linked arms to cough up a fairly big chunk of cynicism. "Excuse me for my language but that is just f****ing awful!" tweeted one particularly irate fan. "This may very well be the first time I don't go see the movie." We can assume he will, in fact, go see the movie.
The skeptics had their reasons. Given the intense backlash in the wake of Ben Affleck's casting for two Batman chapters, the latest instalment could be seen as another downgrade from the franchise's apex during the Christopher Nolan era. The one-time Caped Crusader was publicly as despairing as the critics in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly: "I had a really nadir experience around Justice League for a lot of different reasons... I didn't think it was interesting." Nor did anyone else, really.
But like all threadbare narratives about Gotham's demise, there's a glimmer of hope. On the campaign trail for The Batman, Pattinson felt like he was going a bit method. For all those that said the 35-year-old would NEVER, EVER fill Bruce Wayne's shoes, he was doing just that. At a special screening in London, Pattinson elected for Jil Sander: big boxy overcoat, billowy trousers, black roll-neck. In what looks to be an emotionally wrought reimagining of Gotham City, this is what Bruce Wayne would wear. Moody, but immaculate. Look to the media tour's Parisian leg. Pattinson went black-on-black-on-black by Dior, and was less Sicilian mafioso, more minor European royal at a state funeral. Again, this is what Bruce Wayne would wear in the Gotham of The Batman.
In superhero terms, it's easy to assume that a leading man is prone to a little flash. Like Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man, Wayne has a vast fortune at his disposal, and a secret lair of silly gadgets. Robert Downey Jr played up to that in his own Marvel press tour wardrobe. But unlike Iron Man, Wayne is an old money industrialist; the son of wealthy neo-aristos, the sort that instil one guiding principle in their heir apparent: money talks, wealth whispers.
If Pattinson can look this Bruce Wayne off-screen, there are high hopes for what he can do on it.
