Matt Reeves’ long-awaited take on the Batman has arrived in the form of first teaser trailer. Will Batman (2021) meet the ridiculously high expectations? The new teaser has some answers.

Battinson might actually pull it off

When the first news about Robert Pattinson being cast as the Batman started circulating, fans were polarized. Although Pattinson has expanded his dossier exponentially over the years by adding independent gems such as The Rover (2014), The Lost City of Z (2016), Good Time (2017), and The Lighthouse (2019), most viewers will still see him as the soppy vampire from Twilight.

In the Batman (2021) teaser trailer, Pattinson looks like a more weary, psychotic and violent version of Batman. One scene stands out in particular, in which the caped crusader brutally beats the crap out of a face-painted thug. Pattinson’s moves are quick and deadly, unlike the heavy and choreographed fighting style that many criticized Christopher Nolan for.

It’s also cool that this Batman skews conceptually from both Affleck and Bale. Pattinson looks jacked in comparison, while his Batvoice isn’t distorted or weirdly raspy (a quality that felt awkward in Nolan’s trilogy).

Paul Dano’s The Riddler will be nothing like Jim Carrey’s over-the-top prankster

So far, The Riddler has been always seen as a prankster, dressed in flashy green costumes. That’s a close-to-home call in reference to the comic books, however Matt Reeves opted for an entirely different take on the villain.

The teaser reveals that Paul Dano’s character will be the main antagonist of the movie. As seen in the opening scene of the trailer, Dano wears a mask, and leans over a dead body. His appearance seems gruesome, much more grisly than Jim Carrey’s portrayal or Cory Michael Smith’s lovable lunatic in Gotham (2014-2019). My only worry is that Paul’s voice sounds like a rip-off from Tom Hardy’s Bane – deep and enhanced electronically. Let’s just hope that this is only a concept and not the actual voice The Riddler will use.

The Batman (2021) will be a gritty brother of Joker (2019)

I bet you had the same feeling. Matt Reeves obviously endorsed Joker (2019) as a benchmark, and why wouldn’t he? Joker (2019) killed the box office numbers, and had a tremendous run long after its premiere, leading up to multiple Oscars.

Reeves too chose a dark, realistic path. The Batman looks similarly to Christopher Nolan’s vision, and the climatic, ominous atmosphere is right there as well. Even the villains, whom we get a glimpse at in the trailer, look like regular humans.

The teaser nailed its score!

If the new Batman goes down the drain, we’ll always cherish the phenomenal Nirvana cover that plays in the background.

For real though, the uneasy vibe of Nirvana perfectly fits the dark teaser. Although I wouldn’t expect rock ballads to accompany the actual film, this is a good indicator of what we might expect – a more gothic, serious Batman film.

Anyways, here’s the full trailer of the movie if you haven’t watched it yet.